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Posts Tagged ‘job hunting’

HireFinders

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

The following was written by our Social Media Intern, Neil.

 

The past year or two have been a bit of a struggle for me financially; the economy has my job search on lockdown, I have had to start paying my own health and car insurance for the first time, and the current price of Subway’s “five dollar foot long” combo meal is not for the faint of heart. I am not underprivileged or broke by any means, but I just feel that I am being more restricted than in the past, in many aspects of my life.

 

Until yesterday I usually related the state of United States financial system to myself, and how it affected my decision making and my future. I am not declaring Neil  to be egocentric but I believe I need to make the appropriate choices and changes in my life first, in order to eventually help other people.

 

Then it hit me…I came home from work at approximately 4:30 yesterday to the bewilderment of my father’s car in the driveway. I didn’t think much of it – perhaps he felt sick and needed to check out of work early to be a possibility. I walked inside and saw him in his gym attire, making a tuna fish sandwich, which is his niche but not for this early in the evening. Long story short, the conversation ended with me asking about his severance package.

 

It isn’t the end of the world, just a sign of the times. I’ve heard about so many people getting the pink slip but I never thought it would happen to me or anyone in my immediate family. At least now, my dad and I can look for a job together. Perhaps start our own pop and son family business. I’m sure he will now get a better feel for using HireFinders since he can actually use it for practical purposes.

How Recruiters and Hiring Managers Use Linkedin, Part 2

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

So, you have joined Linkedin, the next step is:

Today’s Tip:

Fill out your profile completely.
Filling out a profile on Linkedin is easy and should not be skipped. In most cases, you can cut and paste descriptions right from your resume.
If you go to the advanced people search on Linkedin, you will see how recruiters can search for keywords, location and other variables. If I were looking for a Lotus Developer with Perl Scripting experience (which I am right now), I would put Perl and Lotus Notes in the keywords field. If someone were a Lotus Notes Developer and only put a job title, they wouldn’t turn up in my search, even if they had years of Perl Scripting experience. So, your profile is the place to put your skills, your achievements and certifications. When I was recruiting for a Cisco Engineer who had to have a CCIE, that was the only keyword I used. So treat the profile exactly as you would a resume.

How Recruiters and Hiring Managers Use Linkedin

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

(And Why It Matters To You)

When a recruiter, Steve Cancel, told me about www.linkedin.com a few years ago, I had him spell the name to me. He said it was great for recruiters. I joined and didn’t get the site at all. Then I joined a group on Yahoo that has since changed its name to http://myvirtualpowerforum.com/ started by Vincent Wright and slowly began to understand the business networking site. My Virtual Power Forum is a truly great and free networking site on Ning and Yahoo, by the way, with thousands of members. (I am sure I will get another post out of that.)

In today’s market, recruiters and hiring managers are looking for candidates more than ever on www.linkedin.com. One, there is a perception even in this market, that passive candidates are best and Linkedin is one of the best places to find candidates who are not on the job boards. Secondly, compared to the major job boards, Linkedin is a great bargain for headhunters and everyone is looking to save money. Third, are the search capabilities that Linkedin has built into the site.

So whether you are happy with your current position or actively seeking work, you want to be found on Linkedin. If you are happy, you can use your network to pay it forward and help others and enhance your reputation for the future. If you are currently seeking a new or better position, you will want to let your network know. So follow this blog for simple tips on using social networking to shorten your job search or just solidify your reputation. I am starting with Linkedin, twitter and facebook posts will come later on.

Today’s Tip:

If you haven’t already, join Linkedin and use your real name.

I am an open networker on Linkedin, which I will explain later, but I am connected to someone named Eddy V. That is not how you want to appear to your connections. I have a neighbor who was concerned that his employer would assume he was looking for a new position if he created a profile on Linkedin, but unlike the job boards, this is not the case. Having a profile with your real name is just a professional thing to do and shows some knowledge of Web 2.0.
That was a really simple tip, but there will be some things I post that will be new for you. If you have had a great experience from using Linkedin and having a profile, I would love to hear from you. Oh, ok, if you have had a terrible experience, I might want to hear about that, too.

Welcome to HCR Group’s New Blog!

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Hi, my name is Audrey Chernoff and I work for HCR Group as a recruiter and account manager.

This blog will often be short and to the point, giving you tips on acing the interview, using social networks to help you market yourself and anything to do with careers and job hunting. We will have  guest bloggers, so check here daily for updates. Feel free to sign up for our RSS feeds.

Here is today’s tip:

If you visit my linkedin profile, I am easy to find by name, you will see that I have done everything from working in advertising to licensed massage therapist. I am the original career changer. In this economic climate, many people are thinking of changing direction, going back to school and some are not sure what to do.

Years ago, I read a wonderful book that helped me decide what I really wanted to be when I grew up.  It was “I Could Do Anything If Only I Knew What It Was” by Barbara Sher. All her books are great, including “It’s Only Too Late If You Don’t Start Now”. Barbara Sher actually wrote to me on twitter saying that is her favorite book, but that’s a story for another blog.

The book “I Could…” is one of the best self help and discovery books I have ever read. It reminded me how much I love to sing and I began singing and auditioning again after reading  it. So feel free to comment here. Have you read and enjoyed any of Barbara Sher’s books? Have you read any other books that made an impact on what you do for a living? I would love to hear about them.

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