Work Boxers

Out Of Work? Looking? Discouraged?

by Mark on March 3rd, 2008

Eilene Zimmerman has a nice piece posted today on the Career Couch. There’s even some methods for networking online!

Still Looking for a Job? It’s Time to Refocus

Q. You have been out of work and looking for a job for several months and feel discouraged. How can you re-energize yourself and your search?

“When a job search isn’t working we feel like a failure. You need to refocus and get outside of your own head,” said Martin Yate, an executive coach in Savannah, Ga., and author of “Knock ‘em Dead, 2008: The Ultimate Job Search Guide (Knock ‘em Dead)” (Adams Media).

Martin - I’m in Savannah and I’ve never heard of you… j/k

Here’s the part I want to pass along;

Q. What about social networking?

A. LinkedIn and Facebook are valuable tools, said Jason Alba, chief executive of the job search management site JibberJobber.com, and author of “I’m on LinkedIn — Now What?” and a co-author of “I’m on Facebook — Now What?” (Happy About).

Mr. Alba recommended that job seekers have at least 65 LinkedIn connections — those who have agreed to be part of a person’s network — and use the “answers” feature to get advice from other users.

“You can submit a question like, ‘I need someone in the marketing industry to talk to about changing jobs.’ You can also search by company name and see who shows up that you might have some connection to and contact them,” he said. On Facebook, you can find networking groups built around industries, interests and specific companies.

Starting a blog by using sites like Blogger, Typepad or Wordpress — or on the Web site Twitter, where users write small blogs called microblogs — lets you showcase your professional knowledge and opinions, said Kurt Weyerhauser, managing partner of Kensington Stone, an executive search firm in Irvine, Calif.

“This creates a pull strategy rather than a push strategy. Instead of waiting for a response to your résumé, you create something — a blog with forward-thinking comments and concepts — and it draws others to you,” he said.

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