What You'll Find: Networking,
QuintCareers.com Anniversary Issue
Notes from the Editor
Feature Article: Making Social Networking Technology Work for You: A Recruiter's Perspective
Special Feature: Use Your Blog as a Resume? Part II: Tips and Examples
Bonus Feature: Surviving the Office Holiday Party: How NOT to Lose your Job or be the Topic of Conversation Around the Office
Extra Feature: Using Networking Cards to Build Your Social Network and Get a Job
A Quintet of Quick Questions: QuintZine's Q&A with a Career Expert
Quintessential Reading: QuintZine's Review of Career Books
Quintessential Site: Featured Career Web Site of this Issue
Latest Additions: What's New on Quintessential Careers
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search
Notes from the Editor: About this Issue...
This year, as I updated my book, A Foot in the Door: Networking Your Way into the Hidden Job Market,
for its second edition, due out in 2008, the bulk of the material I added related to branding,
especially online branding -- the emerging world of Web 2.0. Online social networking through sites
like LinkedIn and Facebook continues to be huge, and other ways of building an online presence,
such as blogging and publishing an online portfolio, are increasingly on the radar of smart careerists.
This issue, which celebrates the 11th anniversary of Quintessential Careers,
offers a full menu of features that explore this intersection between networking and branding.
Regular contributor Maureen Crawford Hentz has penned a terrific article from her recruiter's
perspective about how to get the most out of online social (business) networking.
I continue my exploration of using a blog as a resume in Part II of an article begun last issue, this part offering tips and examples.
Publisher Dr. Randall Hansen, arguably the world's foremost expert on holiday office
parties, tells us in his article how to avoid negative branding through bad behavior at these soirees.
Michael Bayroff explains branding through networking cards in his article.
And Kirsten Dixson, co-author with William Arruda of Career Distinction, wraps it all together
in the Q&A interview we did with her. Dixson, an expert on personal branding, explains the
relationship between networking and building your brand. We also review Career Distinction
in this anniversary issue. Dixson, by the way, holds the distinction of being our only Career
Expert interviewee to be interviewed twice. She has certainly applied personal branding
as she has reinvented herself from the resume-writer she was when we interviewed her in Nov. 2002 to
the personal-branding expert she is today.
--Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., Master Resume Writer, Credentialed Career Master,
Certified Electronic Career Coach, and editor at
kathy@quintcareers.com
Feature Article: Social Networking Technology
Making Social Networking Technology Work for You: A Recruiter's Perspective
by Maureen Crawford Hentz
Recently a job opening came up in my company for a recruiter. Naturally, I turned to my network to find candidates. Unlike the
strategy I would have used five, three, or even two years ago to access my network, in 2007, I now turn to social networking technology.
Social networking sites abound and confusion swirls about the appropriateness of using them for business. While some sites
cater primarily to the social needs of the millennial generation, others are not only legitimate for business use, but essential
elements for any successful networker's toolkit. While millennial generation-based, purely social sites (such as MySpace and
Facebook) have been recently trying to spin themselves as sites for business, most professionals I know
avoid them like the plague. As I tell my colleagues: Just as I don't look for potential employees on dating sites, I don't
go looking for them on purely social networking sites. I stick to business networking sites (such as LinkedIn).
Too often as I give workshops around the country, I hear people say that they've put a profile up on a business networking
site and "nothing happened." Putting a profile up is the equivalent of going to a business networking event alone, not wearing a
nametag, and standing in the corner by the stuffed mushrooms. Business networking sites are valuable ways to leverage your
existing networks and develop new ones. These sites also offer features that allow users to regulate the kind and frequency of
contacts obtained, making it easy to "work" your network, but you do actually have to put some work into it.
Are you thinking about engaging the services of a professional writer for your resume, CV, cover letter,
thank-you letter, or other career-marketing correspondence? Before you take this step,
consider how a professional resume writer could benefit you.
Surviving the Office Holiday Party:
How NOT to Lose your Job or be the Topic of Conversation Around the Office
by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Consider these holiday office party true stories:
Adam's company decided to have its office party in a local hotel's ballroom. As the evening progressed and more people
continued enjoying the party's open bar, Adam got the crazy idea to play what he describes as human bowling. Just outside
the ballroom, in an adjoining hallway, Adam lined up several of his co-workers as pins and then proceeded to use himself as
the human bowling ball, running down the hallway and crashing into his co-workers, knocking most of them down as he attempted
a strike. Needless to say, he no longer works at that company.
Susie tells the story of a pair of co-workers who decided the office party was the chance to get extra friendly with each other
-- out in the parking lot of the club in which their company's office party was held. While they were steaming up the windows with
their activities in the car, little did they know that a security camera was monitoring the parking lot. Through a combination of
people going outside to smoke and a security officer who agreed to share the video with the office manager, by the time the next
week rolled around, everyone in their office knew about what the two of them had done that night.
So, how can you avoid the fates of the people in these stories -- and the literally scores of others shared with me over the years
(two more stories appear at the end of the article) when I have been on radio shows and other events talking about the do's and don'ts
of holiday office parties?
Using Networking Cards to Build Your Social Network and Get a Job
by Michael Bayroff
As job-seekers, one of our best tools to discovering the unadvertised job market is networking, which can
take the form of a chat with a colleague or attending a formal, structured networking event. In either case,
time is usually limited to just a few minutes to explain what you're looking for, listen to the needs of your
new acquaintance, and exchange contact information.
In these environments it is all too easy to collect a stack of business cards only to realize later that you don't
recall much about the people who gave them to you. The real problem for us as job-seekers is that our card is probably
lost in the middle of other peoples' stacks as well. Unless you or your contacts make notes on your card there is a
good chance that you may wind up indistinguishable from others in the pile.
An effective solution is to turn your standard business card in for a targeted, memorable "Networking Card." This relatively
recent innovation will distinguish you from others and put you at the "top of mind" with networking contacts, prospective employers,
and others.
Kirsten Dixson, career management consultant and authority on building credible online identities for career success.
"Networking is a powerful component of the branding process because when your network is clear about your unique promise
of value, they extend your brand for you," said Kirsten Dixson in the Q&A interview we did with her. "When you are known for
something and remain visible to your target audience, you will be top of mind when opportunities arise.
Once you develop a strong brand and a strong network, you can spend less time directly promoting yourself -- an activity with which many are uncomfortable."
Read more about personal branding, including how it is being driven by the future of work, Dixson's assertion that personal
branding is more than a fad, the hottest online social-networking venues, and her take on the concept of blogs as resumes.
Read our full Q&A interview with her.
Personal branding gets a lot of buzz (see, for example, our
Quintessential
Careers section on personal branding) yet is
somewhat misunderstood, as Arruda and Dixson clearly point out in
their book's section on branding myths. Branding is not just for big
corporations, they write, and it doesn't require big bucks.
But the notion that personal branding is essential to career
advancement is the premise behind this book. The authors cite
ExecuNet, which asserts that personal branding is the No. 1 tool for
executives.
With all the material currently emerging on personal branding, I'm cataloguing the top 10 things I learned about the topic
from Career Distinction in hopes of helping readers decide whether they'd like to learn
these things and more from Arruda's and Dixson's book.
Ziggs describes itself as "your one-stop source for creating and managing your online brand." The site goes on to note that
"people who use Ziggs enjoy comprehensive online personal branding that they control, top visibility in search engines,
easy communications and a strong sense of community with people important to them, as well as networking opportunities
with millions of other professionals."
Ziggs offer users the opportunity to build a profile, receive an alert when someone visits the profile, search for people, receive private
e-mails through a Ziggs in-box, chat in real time, join public and private groups, engage in group chat and online discussions, ask
questions, participate in polls, upload photos, import contacts, and more.
No cost for basic services; $4.95/month for premium services.
Audio Resume --
an interesting site that allows job-seekers to record answers to
interview questions that can then be heard by any employer that browses your profile.
After registering, you call a toll-free phone number and answer a few interview questions that give you
an opportunity to "sell yourself" and create a high-impact first impression with employers. No cost for basic listing.
Career Peeks
-- a great career site for young women who are searching for an ideal career path,
helping bridge the connection between you and female business leaders and role models
from a wide variety of career fields. Monthly interactive sessions, along with a growing
video library. No cost.
eHort.com --
a cool horticulture career and job site, where students can learn more
about various horticultural careers and internship opportunities
and where job-seekers can find job listings by career fields
(which can be narrowed by location). No cost to job-seekers.
Pursue the Passion --
an interesting Website and blog that is designed to help people find your
career passion -- and includes interviews with people who are passionate about their
careers. Designed for people seeking to learn about life, passion, and careers. No cost.
Find even more career and job site additions to Quintessential Careers by visiting our
Latest Additions section.
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
A nice way to thank and maintain your network during the holidays is to send a holiday card to acknowledge those who have helped
you in your job search during the year, notes Minneapolis-based StarTribune.com. It can also be a way to network with others and
keep in touch with those you have built relationships with.
What the card does is put your name in front of the contact, and it's likely they will reflect, even if briefly, on how they know you,
have worked with you, or conducted business with you in the past. It's important to send more generic cards rather than
religious holiday greetings or even Santa-related greetings. Happy New Year is even safer. There are also cards that
creatively address all the holidays in one card.
Continuing the holiday networking theme, Debra Feldman of JobWhiz.com
offers an expanded view of how to make the most of your contacts at the end of the year: "December offers lots of
opportunities to get out and circulate, to network in person, over the phone, via email, and through
holiday cards. To maximize the value of your networking efforts, be sure to do proper followup on the
December contacts in January by getting back in touch and staying current on their radar screen.
Persistence is a guaranteed advantage in the job market. For any job-hunters who find setting up networking
meetings difficult, holiday time is an ideal chance to invite someone you need (or want) to know to join
you for a festivity -- offer them a ride, provide directions, give them an admission ticket, remind them
about location, time and date, etc.
"The holiday season offers so many occasions to make small talk about subjects most of us are comfortable discussing like family,
holidays, shopping, parties, the weather, special plans, etc. People find lots to share when it comes to the holidays;
these topics will help to break awkward silences or can be used to warm up a conversation. It's about connecting
with individuals, which further strengthens and builds relationships. Good interpersonal interactions promote positive
networking experiences that can be leveraged to identify unadvertised positions or openings in the hidden job
market. These may include leads about possible or planned restructurings, new initiatives, acquisitions
and divestitures, mergers, retirements and other situations that produce new challenges for an organization."
Much of the networking buzz these days is about online social networking -- aided by the explosion of
technology-enabled platforms -- but the art of building and maintaining personal and professional relationships
is as old as time.
In each of the 15 years ExecuNet, the executive career and business networking organization, has published its
Executive Job Market Intelligence Report, networking has consistently ranked as the single most effective method
for developing job opportunities - often generating nearly twice as many interviews at the executive level than any
other activity.
"While technology has proven to be an invaluable resource for maintaining a network, the operative word is maintaining," says
Dave Opton, CEO and founder of ExecuNet. "The most effective personal and professional networks are built on trust, which
remains largely a product of consistent, in-person interaction."
To help executives improve the quality of their networks, ExecuNet offers the following advice:
Offer Help Before Asking For It. The underlying philosophy of effective networking is to give before you take. By approaching
networking from the perspective of meeting the needs of others, you will not only earn greater appreciation and respect, but your
actions will often be quickly reciprocated.
Avoid "Needworking." A contact list of hundreds or even thousands of people is useless if you only reach out to them
when you are in need. To avoid this "needworking," start by contacting one person from your
existing contact list each day. Find out what they have been doing (or do a little research of your own for a great
conversation starter), what is going on in their life, and if there is anything you can do for them. You will be surprised how
helpful this approach can be when you actually do need something.
Don't Be Shy. The best networking technique is to simply make it a way of life. Whether you are standing in line at the bank, sitting in
a waiting room, or playing golf, don't be afraid to start up a conversation with a stranger. Start off with a general conversation and see where it leads.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Choosing a College Major: Future-Focused Strategies for Finding
a Field Where You'll Excel
Quintessential Careers Publisher Dr. Randall Hansen has a new book!
If you're college-bound, you may already be wondering which major to pursue. This new book is for you!
This guide to majors, careers, and jobs helps students:
plan their futures by examining lifelong interests, skills, and passions
conduct career search through personal and experiential sources
decide on majors and minors by determining what's best for them
Real jobs for real majors. Readers can find practical advice and information on real job titles and careers for college graduates
with just about any college major, from business and the arts, o science and music. Each chapter includes information on
typical majors, background on various careers, skills needed, sample job entry-level job ads, industry resources and professional
associations, employment outlook, salary information, and other features.
If your school, organization, business or other
entity has a Web site, we welcome you to link to Quintessential Careers.
If you already have a link from your site, we want you to know we
appreciate it. If you don't have a link to us, please
send a request to your site's Webmaster to establish a
link to Quintessential Careers. Thanks so much!
For more details (including sample HTML copy), see our
Link to Us page.
Need a career expert for a story or article you're working on? Searching for college,
career, and job news? Interested in learning more about Quintessential Careers?
Our Press Room
is your one-stop location for getting the information and resources you need.
QuintZine: Topics in Upcoming Issues
WATCH FOR feature articles on these topics in upcoming
issues of QuintZine:
* Office Politics
* Gossiping at the Office
* Defending Yourself at Work
* How to Transition Back to Work: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Parents
* Women as Breadwinners
* Maternity Leave
* Your Job Search IQ
* Jobs on the Cutting Edge
* Resume Bullet Points: Before and After
* Salary Negotiation Mistakes to Avoid
* Use Your Resume to Negotiate a Higher Salary
* GLBT Job-search Issues
* The Value of Internships Abroad and Study Abroad
* Top 10 Fears of Job-seekers
* For Job-hunting Success, Develop a Detailed Job-Search Plan
* Keep Your Career Dreams Alive
* MBA Career Portfolios
* Pre-Hire Background/Credit Checks
* Financial Aid/Scholarship Timetable
* Build Confidence and Avoid Insecurity in Job Interviews
* Empty Nest Job-seekers
* Lifelong Networking
* Networking for the Shy
* Working Night Shifts/Odd Hours
* Quintessential Career Profiles of YOU, our readers
* Q&As with well-known career experts
* Book reviews
. . . and much, much more...
This year, as I updated my book, A Foot in the Door: Networking Your Way into the Hidden Job Market,
for its second edition, due out in 2008, the bulk of the material I added related to branding,
especially online branding -- the emerging world of Web 2.0. Online social networking through sites
like LinkedIn and Facebook continues to be huge, and other ways of building an online presence,
such as blogging and publishing an online portfolio, are increasingly on the radar of smart careerists.
