| Your Internet Presence alone isn't enough to land a job | | | | personally branding yourself on the Internet and building |
| when you find you need to proactively gain exposure | | | | an Internet presence. |
| to alternative employment opportunities. In order to | | | | If someone types your name (e.g., "John Doe" ) into |
| maximize your exposure to career opportunities, you | | | | Google, are you anywhere to be found? Or quote |
| need to get your arms around one simple fact: | | | | industry leading personal branding consultant Cindy |
| You're about to engage in the biggest networking and | | | | Kraft "Do you exist?" (see my related article: "Do you |
| marketing campaign project of your life. | | | | exist?") |
| As such, you want access to every business card, | | | | The easiest way to have Google find you is to write |
| contact and email address you've ever collected. | | | | blogs. But it is actually a little more complicated than |
| You want access to every tradeshow, symposia, | | | | going out and creating a blog. You can go to a number |
| conference, user group, relevant industry specific blog | | | | of free blog sites and grab your own blog (e.g., Blogger, |
| and website you can identify. | | | | BlogSource, et al.), but that won't mean your name |
| You want access to additional contact information via | | | | "John Doe" is going to return a hit on the first page of |
| free and subscription based research services and | | | | the search return in Google. |
| databases. | | | | You need to be exposed on a site that is frequently |
| You want to possess, ideally, ongoing memberships, | | | | indexed by Google, and has high page view numbers. |
| and as a result - a working familiarity with professional | | | | Ecademy is indispensable in this regard. It has an Alexa |
| business networking environments such as Ecademy, | | | | ranking close to 1500 (i.e., 1500th most trafficed site on |
| LinkedIn, et al. | | | | the Internet). That is similar to the amount of traffic on |
| Have you ever asked yourself, "Are there other | | | | a site like United Airlines. Google "loves" the site |
| networking sites that can compliment my networking | | | | because the content is constantly changing. |
| process/needs?" | | | | On a site, such as Ecademy, you can "blog" your |
| From the people that make up the membership | | | | brains out and write articles on the topics of your |
| demographics, to the platform capabilities from which | | | | choosing - all of which will be indexed by Google the |
| the members network, to the nature of networking | | | | same day you write it typically. In less than a month, |
| conducted on the site, to the philosophy of the | | | | and in some cases in a single day, you will show first |
| executive team that founded the networking site - all | | | | page hits on Google when someone searches on your |
| networking sites certainly are not equal. Each | | | | name (e.g., "John Doe"). |
| networking site has a unique capability which can be | | | | This is priceless from an exposure standpoint, and |
| leveraged in a networking process in support of a | | | | absolutely invaluable to a job seeker. No other |
| specific or ongoing networking need/objective. | | | | networking site can compete with Ecademy with how |
| Many people make the mistake of being "wedded" to | | | | fast you can personally brand yourself on the Internet. |
| a single networking site, and get frustrated with their | | | | Google even indexes your Ecademy Profile, and there |
| ability to accomplish their immediate and/or ongoing | | | | is virtually no limit to the amount of information you can |
| networking objectives. This would be equivalent to | | | | build into your profile on a site like Ecademy, as |
| attempting to build a house, and use the same type of | | | | compared to other sites like LinkedIn that only allow for |
| saw in every application requiring "a saw". | | | | a very limited profile. |
| There is a reason some wise person coined the | | | | That said, make sure to sign up and create a profile on |
| phrase "Use the right tool for the right job." | | | | LinkedIn as well. It's a great site too; it just doesn't offer |
| Just like some people have their favorite search | | | | the same capability as other networking sites. There |
| engine, some people have their favorite networking | | | | are over 67,000 Staffing and Recruiting professionals |
| site. If you really want to increase your ability to | | | | using LinkedIn as a database of candidates. I always |
| network, invest time in learning how to leverage the | | | | tell people to specifically make sure their LinkedIn |
| power of more than just your favorite networking site. | | | | profile has as much "resume" information about their |
| Don't think of other networking sites as competing with | | | | career as the character limited fields will allow. Why? |
| each other; think of other networking sites as | | | | Because then the 67,000 Staffing and Recruiting |
| complementing each other. | | | | Professionals in LinkedIn will be able to hit your profile |
| Develop a plan of attack. | | | | when they do key word searches in "Find People" |
| The old adage of "those who fail to plan; plan to fail" is | | | | when they are trying to identify candidates for their |
| absolutely true in a proactive job search campaign. | | | | searches - let alone the remaining +6.5 million members |
| You can't simply focus on approaching recruiters. | | | | who might want to network with you. |
| Read: E-Mailing Resumes to Recruiters Won't | | | | Just remember, it isn't that one networking site is |
| Generate a Big Response. | | | | "better" than another. As I said above, don't think of |
| Create a balanced plan. | | | | other networking sites as competing with each other; |
| Reaching out to recruiters and hiring authorities | | | | think of other networking sites as complementing each |
| executives directly by utilizing resume distribution | | | | other. |
| services and a desktop email campaign software | | | | When seeking your next career opportunity, don't kid |
| solution should be combined with direct networking by | | | | yourself; you are conducting a direct marketing and |
| leveraging professional business networking | | | | networking campaign. If recruiters and hiring authorities |
| environments (e.g., Ecademy, Linkedin, et al.). This | | | | executives don't know who you are, can't find you, |
| creates an effective job search strategy that will | | | | and don't know how to contact you, you will miss out |
| increase your exposure to more opportunities. | | | | on a lot of opportunities to advance your career. |
| Make sure your plan includes investing time in | | | | |