I attended the Social Media Breakfast – Minneapolis/St. Paul last Friday for the first time. I am surprised that this was my first event, but I am so glad I went. The speaker was Paul DeBettignies, and the event was held at Stanley’s Bar Room in Minneapolis. Paul is a well-known headhunter in the Twin Cities, and I was so glad he was the speaker. He is very knowledgable and is good about throwing jokes into his presentation to avoid that boring “someone talking at you” thing. I learned a lot of good things, and I’m glad to share a few of them with you.
Paul started off comparing job searching to dating – am I wearing the right outfit? Should I call two days after? Or should I email? Did they like me? To be honest, job searching is like dating! You should LOVE your career. Just like dating, you shouldn’t settle for something, but search for something that helps you be the best you can be. Enough of the corniness, let’s move on to the good information.
1. Quality, not quantity: You don’t need more contacts, you need deeper relationships with your current contacts. You’re connected to 200 people on LinkedIn and you barely know them? Send someone a message, ask them to join you for coffee and talk about your goals, ask them for advice.
2. Take control of your job search: Don’t wait for a recruiter to contact you, seek people out. Attend networking events. Make it clear that you’re job searching to your friends, find out who they know and how you can get in touch with them. Be proactive and sell yourself. Would you hire yourself? Would you call yourself back?
3. Create a portfolio: You need to show what you can do. What’s a better way to do that than to have a portfolio Whether it’s a website or blog, make sure it’s strong and a good representation of your work and your personality.
4. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a great tool, and there was a lot of discussion around this. First of all, do not link your Twitter account to your LinkedIn profile, unless your tweets are strictly business. If you’re connected with your boss on LinkedIn and you don’t want it known that you’re job searching, make your profile updates private while you update your profile. Then, when you’re done updating, you can make your updates public again. That way, those you’re connected to won’t see that you’re updating.
5. Resume: If you’re going to be making a move in the next 9 – 12 months, start looking at job posts now so you can get your resume in shape.
Whether you’re completely content in your career or ready for your next big move, all of these tips are helpful. Keep your LinkedIn profile up-to-date and never share or post anything that you wouldn’t want a hiring manager to see.
In addition to the great presentation, the 2012 Minnesota Blogger Conference was announced. It will be held on Saturday, September 22nd 2012 at Allina Commons in Minneapolis. I’m excited to be on the planning committee this year. Last year’s event was a huge success, I learned so much and left completely inspired. This year will be just as great! The website is actively updated and they’re active on Facebook and Twitter.