The point of this article is to strongly suggest that job-seekers should only spend 20% of their time working the job boards and most of the rest of it networking. A lesson in hire economics helps explain why.
With Thanksgiving in our rear view mirrors, it’s easy to shift our thoughts to holiday shopping and put our special attention to thankfulness behind us, as well.
But I urge you to reconsider. If you’re a professional, who’s active on the web (and shouldn’t we all be?), being thankful and giving back can yield real positive results for your careers and professional brand.
You’ve Got to Give Love to Get Love
Showing others appreciation on social networks should is not only a great way to stay in contact with your network, but it also builds your brand. When you take the initiative by liking, commenting and writing recommendations for your contacts, you also encourage them to do the same for you.
I don't know how many times I've gotten positive feedback from others after doing something as simple as congratulating a friend on their work anniversary. Simple acts like this are easy for us to do and mean a great deal to those on the receiving end.
Social networking sites like TheProfessional.me, LinkedIn, Facebook and others make it incredibly easy to show your online connections a little love. In fact, on TheProfessional.me, we've come up with several simple ways to get engaged on social media that will not only remind your friends and coworkers that you've been thinking about them, but also build your professional reputation as well.
Easy Does It
All it takes to start showing the love is a few minutes each morning.
Before you get too deep into your morning routine, take five or ten minutes to read through your social network newsfeeds. Pay particular attention to coworkers and other people within your industry and like, favorite or +1 any posts, tweets, or statuses that catch your eye.
Major life events like a new job, work anniversary, publication, or promotion are the perfect opportunity to congratulate your friends.
But don’t stop there. Show you’re really engaged by commenting on a couple of those updates. One of the ultimate ways to show the love is to share someone’s original content. This shows that you think enough of their update that you don’t mind attaching your own name and reputation to that post. Just be sure that whatever you share is appropriate, as it will be broadcast to all your connections on that network.
The more likes and shares you give other people, the more likes and shares you’ll start getting in return. But that’s not it; when you focus your efforts on the influencers in your field, people will see your name pop again and again. This improves your reputation and visibility within your field and people will start taking you more seriously.
And all just because you took a few minutes each day to give back to your professional network.
Click here for more tips and tricks on how to get engaged during and after this holiday season.
Very thorough, good mix of lecture and lab work. Al is great! Keeps classes interesting and supplements required test material with need-to-know items from real world experience.
I attended a resume writing seminar & conducted mock phone interviews with a Microtrain career counselor. These two activities gave me a leg up on distinguishing myself from all the other people looking for work. Since the career counselor's at Microtrain had a track record of getting people hired, their insight and positive past experiences helped me tremendously in getting hired with a Cisco Voice Systems Integrator in the Chicago area. I was hired as a Cisco Voice Tech Engineer with a starting salary of $65,000 / year with a Cisco voice systems reseller located in the Chicagoland area. Microtrain was very instramental in making this a reality. From expediting my WIA grant, to providing excellent hands-on training from knowledgable instructors I was able to achieve becoming certified with my CCNP. Microtrain's career services was the final catalyst in connecting me with this company by communicating with them on my behalf and with me in setting up the interview. One week later and I was hired. No joke. Thanks Microtrain!
Great class, loved the interaction and team-building exercises. Plenty of materials and learning tools supplied. Although it was a full week's class, never boring. Donna [Russell] was awesome and gave many supporting examples for better understanding.
I was laid off for many months and not really getting many callbacks for my resume and no job offers. After I put the letters PMP on it, not only did I see an increase in quantity, but also quality of interviews. I had been spinning my wheels for 5 months, and after the PMP went on, I had 2 job offers in 6 weeks. It really was the "golden ticket"
Microtrain presents the course material in an interesting and concise manner. Microtrain gives the student all the resources necessary to pass the certification exams. Both the Chicago and Lombard facilities were excellent, and the staff goes to any length to accommodate any student changes.
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