Transitions are not easy. Add unemployment to the mix and the stresses are amplified. Even though the nation’s unemployment rate fell sharply to 9.4% from 9.8%, a total of 14.5 million Americans were still out of work in December 2010 according to a USAToday January 2011 article. Maintaining your personal brand during career transitions has never been more important. Maintenance might not only magnify your presence among potential employers, it might just set you apart when it matters the most, getting noticed. Here are Five Easy Ways On How To Get Noticed During Job Transition.
- Keep It Social. Never has there been a greater floodgate of connected opportunity than on social media channels. Not only do referrals from employees sustain high value because they typically have a higher success rate, leveraging opportunity with reach in LinkedIn escalates exponentially as your connection count increases. It is recommended to garner at least 65-100 connections with most of them being people in your industry. Twitter also serves as viable employment on ramps with quick bursts of search and exchange. Tweetmyjobs.com, Indeed.com and Simplyhired.com lead the way. Profiles like @jobsintech and @twittin4job to @tweetmyjobs cater to specific sectors or the latest in search tactics. Bottom line, traditional job search methods are simply not enough. A 2010 survey by Jobvite found that “73 percent of companies use social media to support their recruitment effort.” LinkedIn is the most popular site among recruiters, with 78 percent using the site to recruit, followed by Facebook (55 %) and Twitter (45 %). Like a hot hand, play the percentages to your favor.
- Tap Into Your Six Degrees. According to career transition experts Lee Hecht Harrison, networking is hands down still the best method to land your next career opportunity. A whopping 85% of job seekers rely on networking for employment. On the lower end, 10-15% via job boards and 10-12% via recruiters. In today’s climate, you’ll also find people more willing to help than not, extending a hand that they know will only return in the future. Tap your network for job leads and advice on specific companies or industries. Better yet, let them introduce you to others. Expanding your professional clout might be slow at times but it’s still a symbiotic and organic process. Join professional organizations locally, volunteer in your preferred line of work and contact alumni or old fraternity members who are in your field. As my friend and chief enthusiast Jenny DeVaughn always stresses, pay it forward. Professional karma is infectious.
- Go video. According to the latest ComScore statistics , “172 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in December 2010 for an average of 14.6 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in nearly 5.2 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month.” That is an obscene amount of eyeballs with alot of them in the position to influence and hire. Create a video profile solidifying your position as a subject matter expert. Widen the gap between you and your professional competitors. Become a citizen journalist reporting the latest trends and opportunities within your sector. Let your voice be heard and face be known at a time when it’s never been more affordable to produce a video for the Web.
- Write. Blog. Share. Blogging or contributing as a guest blogger not only strengthens your brand as a subject matter expert in your respective field, you fuel channels of information exchange. Showcase your talents and how past employers have benefited from your contributions with examples or perhaps a highlight reel. Let core competencies such as effective writing style, communication skills and strategic thinking open eyeballs of opportunity to your favor. Being a human billiard ball of useful information might land you in the corner pocket (or office) of your next big thing.
- Stick with your core and follow your passion. What could be the most obvious reason, follow what truly make you happy. It positions you as a focused employee in the eyes of employers as well as solidifies your “brand” as genuine. Most importantly, it puts you on the path you truly want to walk in. Don’t be that person that realizes after 15 years, they’ve missed their calling to do professional good. Following your core beacons not only merges professional and personal goals, but they also accelerate you as an instrument of change in your family and work environment. What spouse or boss wouldn’t want that on their team?
Bottom line, be patient, follow your passion and have faith. If you are treading in a career nebula, realize you might actually be standing on a springboard of opportunity, waiting to catapult you from transition to permanency. It might not be readily obvious but it’s there.
What are your thoughts on Five Easy Ways On How To Get Noticed During Job Transition and tips for success? BTW did I mention I too am in job transition? Practicing what I’m preaching as they say.