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I was thrilled to read the review of my book Internet Your Way to a New Job - How to Really Find a Job Online on The Daily Machete. Here's a brief excerpt:
"When a great job seeking book comes out, The Daily Machete likes to review it for our readership. That's why it's such a pleasure to showcase one of the best job search books in a long time - Internet Your Way to a New Job, by Alison Doyle… Doyle also covers some extremely important aspects of modern job hunting, such as writing a blog, optimizing yourself and incorporating SEO (Search Engine Optimization)... Be sure to get your hands on a copy of Internet Your Way to a New Job. It's one of those books that all job seekers should read and absorb so they can compete in the job market."
Read the entire review: The Daily Machete
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Read what top career experts and leading job search sites have to say about Internet Your Way to a New Job.
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I'm interested in hearing from anyone who is using Twitter as part of their job search and how it is working. I know that One Day One Internship has found listings on Twitter and I know there are recruiters and job sites using it, so your feedback would be appreciated for an upcoming article. And, just in case you have an interested in following me on Twitter, you can find me here: Twitter / Alison Doyle.
I've been having fun working on building my professional brand this week. I've updated my LinkedIn and Facebook profiles. I've polished up my VisualCV and I've signed up for Twitter.
In addition, I've been having some interesting discussion with colleagues on how their work, their career, and their online presence has benefited from spending time on all this stuff. It is time consuming, but the bottom line is that there wasn't one of us who said they hadn't benefited from the time they spent creating profiles, networking online, getting the RSS for their blogs out there, and communicating with contacts. It works and once you get your profiles set, it really isn't that much work to utilize all these online networking sites effectively.
Here's a look at where I am with building my brand:
And, if you Google "Alison Doyle" you'll see how these have helped enhance my presence in the search engines - providing good information to anyone looking me. Nine out of the top 10 search results are my links.
I mentioned tools the other day and how they can help you save time. There are also plenty of job search tools available you can use to help job search.
You can add applications to Facebook, so you see new job listings while you're there. You can add buttons to your browser, your desktop, and your toolbars. Other options including adding widgets to your blog and managing your LinkedIn contacts from Outlook email. As I said before, check to see which widgets or gadgets will help you save time and find job listings fast, then choose tools to expedite your job search.
I look forward to reading Harvey Mackay's column every week in my local Sunday paper. This week's column is well worth the read for anyone who gets a little overwhelmed with all the web-based, desktop, and electronic tools and gadgets you can use that (supposedly) make your life either.
Mackay suggests not justing using tools because they are there: "Look for the trends that are right for your niche. Don't just pump up your Internet presence to be techno-chic." That's good advice for business owners and for those of us who use tools to organize and manage our lives. Before you add a tool to your toolbox, consider if it really will save your time or could it actually create more work for you to do?
For me, any tool I add to my collection has to have an added value and be a proven time-saver or it's not going to be worth it. There are job search tools, like JibberJobber, for example that will definitely save you time. So, pick and choose, and select the tools that work best for you. You don't need to use them just because they are there.
It's my 10th About.com anniversary this month. I started with what was then the Mining Co. back in January, 1998. I was the Guide for the Albany, NY site. I took over the About.com Job Searching site in June, 1998. I'm not quite sure where all those years have gone. My teenage daughter was in kindergarten when I first became a Guide. I don't think she has any recollection of life without About.
It's amazing how much online job searching has changed since I started writing about it. There weren't any job search engines or networking sites. Uploading your resumes and letters was a cumbersome process. Email didn't have all the bells and whistles it has now back then, either. There was no YouTube, where, today, you can find candidate videos and company recruiting videos. Second Life was a figment of someone's imagination and who would have thought you could, one day, get hired virtually for a real job?
Sometimes, I wish I had kept track, so I could have written a history of online job searching, but keeping up with the changes is more than enough work!
Another anniversary to note is my husband Mike's second anniversary as the About.com Skiing Guide. He's built a terrific site, and best of all, he's had lots of fun, and gotten in lots of skiing in lots of places, doing it.
Speaking of fun, I've written, probably too much, on how work should be fun and how important it is to do what you love. About.com has provided me the opportunity to do that for a long time - and I appreciate it more than I have the words to say. Thanks to all the staff there, and thanks as well, to the career experts who have shared their advice, and the job seekers who have shared their stories with me. I couldn't have done this without you.
