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OK, so you’ve submitted a polished, professional resume and a carefully crafted cover letter for your dream job.

BUT, did you put the same amount of effort into creating, updating, and managing your virtual persona?

Today’s job seekers must assume that they will be pre-screened online. A scenario may unfold as follows… as resumes pour in for the dream job you recently applied for, the hiring official sorts the resumes into three groups: the Yes’s, the No’s, and the Maybe’s. Great, your Print effort paid off and you made it into the Yes group! But, so did six other top candidates. The hiring official now becomes “virtual detective” and goes to the internet to valid their Yes selections, prior to scheduling interviews. Unfortunately, you may be removed from the Yes group if you didn’t represent yourself well online.

Here are some suggestions on how to showcase your virtual persona and make the cut.

• Make sure you have an online presence. None, or too little online presence can hurt you. At a minimum create a profile on a professional networking site such as LinkedIn (other professional networking sites).
• Using a major search engine… find yourself online. Is it easy or hard? Your potential future employer will not want to spend more than a few minutes tracking you down. Ideally, you want to show up on the first few pages of the search results. If you have a common name, this can be challenging. Read on for ways to help them find you.
• Think how an employer might try to search for you. Likely, they will use your name, geographical location, and your current/past employer names as keywords when searching. Other keywords they may use include your job titles, projects, and awards/honors received. You should shape and edit your online content to include keywords from your resume.
• Beat’ em to the punch! One way to make sure the employer finds the right you, is to do the detective work for them. You could include URLs throughout your resume, pointing to past relevant online work examples. Consider this approach if the online content adds value to, or embellishes a particular job or skill noted in your resume. Another approach is to include a bibliography of your online work (with URLs) at the end of your resume, or on a separate page. Examples include: recommendations from peers and former colleagues on LinkedIn, a website re-design that you spearheaded, or an article you authored that spotlights your expertise.
• Verify that your online job begin and end dates, job titles, and former employers match exactly what’s on your resume. Keep the red flags down.
• If you actively use social networking websites, it’s important to manage your information that’s publicly available. If you decide to use social networking sites for professional networking, look carefully at your content from an employer’s perspective. Anything offensive? Any joking that may be misunderstood? Too many cryptic instant message abbreviations (OMG)? Too much information about your personal life? Typos? Keep it professional!
• Promote yourself! Start a blog related to your chosen profession or field of interest. Participate in professional online forums, message boards, and newsgroups. Doing so, will build your reputation, credibility, and increase your search engine visibility.
• Create a professional portfolio. Showcase your life’s work online in one central place. A good example of this is Interfolio’s Portfolio product. Highly customized pages allow you to include documents, videos, pictures, links and text to help you present your online identity in the best possible light, all in one place.
• Control your tweets! Don’t post the blow by blow details of your job search on Twitter or other micro-blogging sites. The last thing a prospective employer needs to read is how your other interviews went, how desperate you may be feeling in your job search, or that their position is not your first choice, but you’d take the job anyway because you really need the money.
• Review the search results for your name periodically to monitor your online “reputation”. There are a number of reputation management tools. One such tool is Google Alerts, a free and simple service that automatically sends you an email or RSS alert when there are new Google results for your search terms (e.g., your name, your works, employer, etc.). This is also a good way to make sure the major search engines are indexing your latest works. If you are relying on organic searches to be found by employers, you may need to work on search engine optimization and/or link building to increase your online visibility.
• Remember, what you post online today may be around for many years, even if the original source content is deleted. In particular, blogger content can have a long shelf life – thanks to article syndication, RSS feeds, and Creative Commons licensing (increases sharing and improves collaboration). So post thoughtfully today, and increase your odds of getting that next dream job!

ProAssociationCareers.org, your gateway to professional association jobs!

Author: Ron Herzog

You’ve just lost your job. Give yourself a few days to deal with the emotions involved and then get moving toward finding your next position. Under any circumstances, finding a job can be time-consuming. Given the current economic climate, those job-seekers that are organized and dedicated to the search will get the positions. It’s important to realize that conducting a job search is a full time job. Here are some guidelines for items you need to have on-hand for a successful job search as well as some help determining your daily structure.

Your New Workplace
Designate a place in your home which you can call your job-searching base. All your lists and notes should be in one place.

• Create an off-line file and an online folder dedicated to job search materials.
• Get a notebook solely for your job search in which you can take notes from conversations and research.
• Make sure you tag people as job search networking resources in your email contacts or address book.
• If you don’t have one already, you MUST get a calendar, there is nothing worse than missing an interview or scheduled call due to a scheduling error.

Getting Started – Deliverables List
Start by creating a list of the things you need to start your search. For example:
1. Resume
You always have to have an updated resume at your fingertips outlining your latest skills and contributions to your previous companies.

2. List of skills & potential contribution
While some of this is covered in your resume, some of it is not. You need to determine what your quantifiable contribution to your next company will be. What do you bring to the table? Essentially “why should they hire you?”

3. 30-second pitch
You never know when you are going to run into someone who can help you in your search. When someone you just meet asks “what do you do?” or a friend asks “what are you up to these days?” simply responding “looking for a job” will get you nowhere. You need to respond by saying “I was recently working as an X in the X industry. I’ve had a lot of success doing X for my last company. I am currently in the job market. Do you know anyone who I can network with?”

4. Networking contacts – professional
Make a list of everyone that you already know in the business world that you can network with. You will add to this list as you make new business contacts.

5. Networking contacts – friends and family
Remember that people you know also have professional lives. They may have contacts that you need to know. Make a list of friends and family who will be helpful networking sources. People want to help and they are better equipped to do so if you give them a really clear understanding of exactly what you need them to do.

6. Set up accounts on LinkedIn and other business networking sites
Business networking sites are growing at the speed of light. LinkedIn is adding a new user every second, according to some reports. If you are not using it yet, do it now.

Measurable, Achievable Goals
One of the biggest challenges of a job hunt is dealing with the emotional ups and downs. It’s important to keep a positive outlook during a job hunt, so one of the things you can do is to have small successes along the way to the ultimate goal of finding a new job. Set small, achievable goals such as “find 5 new contacts to network with today”, or “set up an informational interview” or “connect with 10 new people on LinkedIn.” Make sure they are realistic and achievable in a relatively short time span.

Since job searching is your new job, you need to show up to work every day. Set a realistic daily schedule with a do-able amount, so you don’t get burned out. A schedule will allow you to achieve some of your short-term goals every day. An example of a daily schedule may look like this:

Sample Day
Monday
9 – 11am
Log into networking accounts and locate new contacts relevant to your search, answer questions posed by others in your area of expertise to gain exposure and credibility. Add people to networking list to be contacted.

11am
Contact 5 new people

12pm
Lunch

1pm – 3pm
Research companies on LinkedIn to see if you know anyone at the companies you want to work for. Research contacts from alumni associations and add them to contact list

3pm Exercise – any form of exercise that you find invigorating or centering – get outside (if you can) and walk, run, bike or do yoga

4pm Contact 5 new people

5pm Set specific goals for the next day

If you have kids that are home, put time in your schedule to spend time with them. Family time is one of the things we miss most when we work, so take advantage of this time to reconnect.

You are Your New Boss
It may sound strange to think of yourself as your own boss, but you need to wear multiple hats in your job search. One of those hats includes the boss. Don’t let yourself give yourself excuses for why you don’t want to work on your job search that day. This is why your schedule needs to be comfortable enough that you won’t find yourself justifying why you really need to go fishing for a week. Build in enough time for yourself so you can focus when it comes time to focus.

Checks and Balances
It’s always helpful to have an accountability partner. Someone who, besides you, can be kept apprised of your progress. It can be a spouse, friend, relative or even kids can make great accountability partners. It feels good to report successes and activity to someone else. It doesn’t feel good to report no progress, so designate someone as your accountability partner and report your progress to them (daily or weekly, whichever is more appropriate.) Be specific with them as to what you need them to do.

Time for Yourself
Most people are employed for the majority of their adult life, so when you are in between jobs, you can build time into the schedule for yourself – reading, walking, exercising, or socializing. It shouldn’t replace the job search time, but feeling good is such an important part of how you project yourself to others, so schedule time for yourself into your day.

Time for Others
Volunteering builds self-esteem and is another networking outlet. It also gives a hiring manager a greater depth of understanding of who you are and what you are about to see volunteer roles on your resume. It will make you feel good about yourself and your contribution and that extra confidence is helpful during a job search, especially if it turns out to be somewhat more extended than you have experienced before.

Professional volunteering not only gives you a boost on your resume but it is an outstanding networking opportunity. Offer to give a talk to an association or company in your area of expertise. Host a networking event. Write a white paper for a publication. Any opportunity to get in front of your peer group is one worth taking.

In Summary
Provide yourself with structure and confidence and your job search will be much more focused and effective. If you are not used to networking, do some research to find out how to network effectively.

About the Author:
Ron Herzog, CEO and President for FPC (Fortune Personnel Consultants,) has spent a number of years developing extensive knowledge of the recruitment industry and successful franchising since joining FPC in 1995.

Ron is considered an industry expert and has provided insight into workforce trends for print publications, radio broadcasts and industry podcasts.

Ron earned his MBA in management and undergraduate degree in marketing and management.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Job Hunting Is Your New Job – Here Is Your Daily Plan

You’re burned out, but employed; or unemployed – either way you really want to get it right this time! Now is the perfect time to take control of your job search.

Don’t settle for yet another unfulfilling job. Learn how to proactively target the ideal position, with the ideal employer, at the ideal location, in the rewarding job sector of nonprofit associations.

Step 1. Pick Your Ideal Position
OK, dream big, think about what your perfect association job would be. Associations offer careers in many areas, such as: administration, education, public policy, human resources, finance, membership, marketing, meeting planning, publications, and technology. For illustrative purposes, lets say you have grant writing experience and that your perfect job would be in fundraising. The ideal position is where your passion, skills, and real world organizational needs intersect.

Step 2. Pick Your Ideal Location
Life’s too short for long, blood pressure-raising commutes. Define a maximum radius from where you live, to where you would be willing to commute to (the assumption is that full-time telecommuting is not available). An example would be that you would be willing to work at an association located within 15 miles from where you live.

Step 3. Pick Your Ideal Employer
By using the following research tools and resources, you can select organizations whose missions align with yours and who match the distance criteria you set in step 2.

• A good place to find associations seeking help near your home is to use a job search aggregator such as Simply Hired or Indeed. ProAssciationCareers.org (PAC) partners with Simply Hired and provides quality association searches by state, city, zip, and distance in miles.
• PAC also offers comprehensive, hand-picked resources for researching associations – great for identifying associations with interests similar to yours.
• A quick way to locate nearby associations is to use Google Maps. Simply enter: “category:”Associations Societies and Foundations” loc: 20219″ in the search box (omit outer quotes). This example will return a map displaying all the associations, societies, and foundations near the Washington, DC zip code 20219. You can replace the zip code with your own and narrow the results by distance as needed.

Step 4. Start Digging
Now that you’ve identified some top association prospects, it’s time for some in-depth research. Start by visiting their websites. Take close note of their latest news items, in particular look for any new programs, projects, or initiatives. Read their leadership profiles, and information about their governance, Annual Meetings, public policy, advocacy, etc. If their newsletters are available to the general public, read the last years worth in detail. See if they have an internal job board/career center. Even if there are no open positions of direct relevance to you, read a few of the other job opening descriptions to get a flavor of what the workplace environment may be like. You may also want to see if the career intelligence site the Vault has any anonymous employee reviews about the organizations – to gain an insider’s perspective. All this information will be invaluable in your interview (positive thinking!), but for now you are looking for one or two ways you can bring tangible value to the organization.

Step 5. Sell Yourself/Solve a Problem
Locate the name and contact information of the person who think would make the hiring decision related to your ideal position. The website may have a staff directory, or you may need to call the organization for this information. Mail this person an introductory letter stating how you may be able to add value and fill an organizational need. As an example, in your research you learned that Association X has just launched a new multi-year education initiative for underserved populations, a light bulb may go on in your head… they are going to need sustained funding for the project. That’s a nugget that you can incorporate into your letter. You would note your interest in the new initiative, and then describe your expertise in fundraising and how you might go about procuring long-term funding.

Step 6. Patience and Persistence
In the above scenario you are making a “blind” contact, not responding to current job announcement. A likely first response is that they will keep your information on file for future consideration. Ideally, they would see the benefit of creating a new position, but this may not be possible within their current budget cycle. This is where patience and persistence is crucial. You should ask your contact if it’s OK to follow-up periodically with a call or an email. Bookmark the organization’s website and check it weekly for new openings, promotions, or staff turnover. A job email alert could also be setup with one of the major job search engines (e.g., SimplyHired.com, Indeed.com) to automatically send you an email whenever the organization’s name appears in a job listing. You’ve identified your dream job – don’t give up!

ProAssociationCareers.org, your gateway to professional association jobs!