Using Social Media to Build Your Brand – Quick Example

Blah-blah-blah: social media this, twitter that, zoominfo those.

What the hell, right?  Okay, so you’re reading a blog.  Whoopadeedoda!  What’s the big deal – just words on a screen, right?  I don’t know who’s reading this.  I don’t know where it’s going to wind up.  I make no money off of this.  Seriously, that’s weird to me.  The whole “if a tree falls in the forest, does anyone give a crap besides the squirrel it flattened?” has some sense of relevance here.

Ah.

Ah ha.

Wait.

I got an e-mail on Monday.  Nice person named Jackie Noblett asking a question (btw, I’m about to gleefully quote a journalist without their permission):

I just found your blog and saw it had a lot of interesting tips on how to use Web 2.0 in your job search. I am a reporter from the Boston Business Journal, and I was wondering if you would be willing to speak with me about how you are using your blog to attract talent to ZoomInfo.

The article came out today – here’s the link.

So here’s the lesson: build your brand online. Get random e-mails from cool journalists.  Win prizes (ie, job offers…).  Be a participant in the wholesale slaughter of the English language (see: “leet” “tweet” and “mismeeet”).  Be able to say “people know me”, and actually mean it.

You stay classy… planet earth.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Don’t Be a Stalker

Seriously.  There’s a line between getting noticed, and getting blocked.  If you’re right for the job, and you do the right things to get your resume/ blog/ whatever in front of the right person, they’ll call you.  If you know they’ve seen your information, and you don’t get the call – well, all the repetitive e-mailing/ insisting on “networking over coffee”/ yada-yada isn’t going to change the fact that you’re not right for the job.

What it will do is burn you into the memory of the people you’ve harassed – in a bad way.  If/ when a job comes up that you’d actually be a fit for, you won’t get called.  You might get slapped with a restraining order, but you won’t get called….

Right now, there are a lot of people – understandably desperate and scared, and I feel for them – who are going overboard.  They’re spamming every opening they can find, applying & reapplying for the same jobs, calling and insisting they’re a direct fit, etc.   This is a true story from a friend of mine, that I’ve modified: “I’m perfect for this job!” (despite the fact that it’s in Miami, and the dude lives in Duluth, and requires an in-depth knowledge of selling social networking tools) “But, I use Twitter, that qualifies me!”.  Then, he called my friend the next week.  And the next.  And… you get the picture.

Here’s a secret: recruiters talk.  A lot.  Mostly to each other.  Don’t get known as a stalker.  That said: if you’re good, but not a fit, we talk. A lot. To each other.  If we know of someone good we can’t hire, and hear that one of our buddies is looking for someone like that, we’ll pass that person’s name along.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

Honest.  Every resume that comes in, I’m looking to reject.  Let me repeat: I am trying to break your heart rule you out.  It’s not that I don’t like you – I have no reason to feel one way or another for you (unless you send me presents – there’s a chance that may change my opinion).  The sad fact is: we’re flooded with applicants right now.  I say sad, because I feel for you (a little – I’m not all that nice, so take that as a big deal).  It’s very hard to get noticed in a time like this, and any little mistake will probably cost you an interview.

Like: the 13 page resume I just got from a software engineer with 5 years of experience (and, no, it’s 5 – despite your claim otherwise, I’m not counting that two year gap you left off your resume).  I don’t care if you’re Obama post saving the world (or, grinding it under your heel – either way it’s gonna be a ride).  You don’t need a 13 page freaking resume.  My dad, with his PhD’s and papers and books and all that crap, kept it to 5, and that was only for conferences and stuff where he had to puff his academic chest out a bit.

Oh, and, if you send your resume to a friend to review (highly recommended, btw) – make sure you click “Accept all changes” after they mark it up with red lines and crap.  Don’t send it to me like that.  FAIL.

Lose is spelled “l-o-s-e”.  Not “l-o-o-s-e”.  Spell Check is not your friend.  Old, classic trick of proofreaders (of which I am gleefully not one): Read your resume backwards.  By that, I mean literally – start with the last word in it, and read right to left, bottom to top.  If you read it naturally it will flow and your sneaky, sneaky eyes will play tricks on you.  Going backwards foils those bastards.

Include a cover letter.  Understand that a cover letter is more than: “This sounds interested – I’m in!”

Don’t fall for my damned tricks: Just because I write in this (some would call it “cheeky”) style, and my job postings area  bit, mmm, left of center, doesn’t mean your cover letter should resemble a love note (seriously – I just got one of those: FAIL).  It needs to either brilliantly straddle the line between boring and “I’d love to drink with that guy, but there’s no way in hell I’m letting him in the building”, or be a basic professional “here’s why you want to hire me” kind of thing.

Don’t expect to land an interview in this economy if you’re not a dead-on fit for a job. Now is not the time to change careers – sorry.  I wish it was always that time, and we could all fly and be free to be you and me, but when firms are laying off and only filling strategic roles they get really, really picky.  Think about it: they make a decision to lay off.  They do so.  They still have some skills that are missing, and none of their former employees had.  Is it fair to the people that got fired if the company then hires somebody else who: “doesn’t have quite your desired skill-set, but I am eager to learn and this is a field I’ve always found fascinating, and my background as a high school gym teacher and private investigator makes me an ideal fit for a software engineering role”  (I wish, wish the last bit of that quote wasn’t direct….)?

(Btw: to my subscribers – those of you who are left – I”M BAAAACK!!! Sorry for the hiatus, life/ work/ insert lame excuses here got in the way.  Oh, screw it: I blame Santa).

And now, for something completely diferent: http://fuckyoupenguin.blogspot.com/

Software development jobs in Boston, QA jobs in Boston, UI jobs in Boston

Annnnd…. this is me just doing a little bit of blatant SEO.  If you stumbled upon me using some combo of the above, then you should hustle on over to our careers site- we’re hiring.  I haven’t gotten all of the officially signed reqs yet, but suffice it so say that the game’s afoot.

Here’s why we rock:

• Bleeding edge technology – we built an AI, fer the love of Pete, and we’re heavily into natural language processing.
• Focus on making money – hot technology is cool & sexy, but if nobody knows how to make money off of it, then well, it’s just vapor.  You need to make money off the initial idea, so that you can keep it growing.
  • Oh, and it’s nice to get those profit sharing checks.  And, to have all those stock options (everyone who works here gets ‘em).
• We’re not worried about the economy.
  • Okay, that one’s a stretch.  We’re human, so we worry.  But: we’re not worried about our job security.  We’re making money, staying ahead of costs, and have hugs cash reserves.
• We hire people we like, and who we think will help us keep ZoomInfo what it, so blatantly, is:
  • Fast paced
  • Innovative
  • Profitable
  • Fun

If you’re into it, cool.  I’m especially interested in engineers with innovative ideas and passion.  Some of the key pieces I need to fill are in: QA Automation; Web Dev/ CSS; Core Engineering (object oriented programmers who’ve built, or rebuilt, a system).

So, reach on out.  Tell us why your rock so hard: what have you done that you think’s really interesing, had an impact, all of that.  Tell us what you want to do next.  Even if you aren’t sure about a job change, reach out – if nothing else, you’ll get to talk to some great engineers, and might even find your dream job.

 

 

Why are you still here?  Click.  Click. Click.

VIVA, LAS-…. Err, Talent Management Summit…

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So, turns out Vegas isn’t just about gambling, and drinking, and eating, and… well, you know, the stuff that stays in Vegas.

Turns out: it’s also about Talent (no, not that kind – you’re sick, you are truly, truly sick…).  I’ve been invited to the 11th Annual Talent Management Summit, as a member of the press.  The event sounds ridiculously interesting, and barring some logistical challenges I’m hoping to get out there for it.

Fear & Loathing style, that is.  They have no idea what rough beast’s gonna be barrelling down I-15 at ‘em.

Once I’m ensconced, there’s going to be a _ton_ to do.  I’m going to get a peek inside of Zappos.com (no, not the shoe side – they happen to do a pretty kick-tail job on the recruiting and retention piece, too).   I’m also going to get the chance to hear from the heads of talent acquisition at some plum companies like MetLife & Harrah’s about how their focus on talent has been evolving.

Basically: I’m gonna learn a bunch, press some flesh, taunt some old enemies (both real and imagined), make some new enemies, and then go out in a mad fit of ether inhalation.

Annnnd… why am I writing about this? Because they asked me to.  And: to make a point.  This is good – no, great – for my career.  It’s interesting, I’m going to learn a ton, and, well, it’s Vegas.  It’s happening because I write this ridiculous blog on occasion – you owe it to yourself to think up creative ways you can get your name out there, too.  Time, it is awastin’ for all of us…

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