I have a major pet peeve and it’s probably high on your list as well.  You know exactly what I am talking about; it’s those people that you follow that bad mouth and trash talk about their company or manager or co-workers… and it is almost always during the business day and they are probably using company computers to post the message!  How does this reflect on you and your personal brand?

If you would like to see how much this is discussed, just do a Twitter search for #ihatemyjob and see all the messages that pop up.  The results are astounding., considering that not all of the whiners even put the #ihatemyjob hash into their messages about work.  But if you follow your stream at any time during the day, you are bound to see one or two (or more!) tweets sharing something negative about their day and the people involved.  Seriously?

I don’t care if you have a “private” Twitter account or not.  As a recruiter there is nothing worse than seeing a tweet with a negative message about your employer, manager or coworker.  Below are just a few helpful reminders as to what not to do and what you should do on Twitter for your personal brand:

Don’t: Tweet anything negative about your job, manager or coworkers.

Do: If you are not happy, do a Twitter search for #jobs and another hashtag that is in the field you are looking (#marketing #finance #accounting #sales #java #helpdesk just to name a few).

Don’t: Tweet anything negative during the workday, from either your work computer or your mobile device.

Do: Keep your messages during business hours conversational and engage on a topic of value to your followers

Don’t: Pretend to be something you are not.

Do: Be yourself, simple and sweet! Whatever your passion, this is the best way to tweet and add your own authentic value.  If you are a complainer by nature, maybe Twitter isn’t the best outlet for you (think about it).

Here’s a rule which you hopefully have picked up from this blog already: Don’t post something online, under your own name or pseudonym, that you wouldn’t feel comfortable saying in an interview.  Because odds are, your interviewer will find what you say online, and you will be held accountable for it.

It may seem simple and common sense, but it is something important to remember and definitely the best recommendation you will receive for what you put online and how you work to manage your personal brand.

—-

Keith McIlvaine is a Social Media Strategist within HR and Recruiting for a Fortune 500 company.  When he is not focused on leveraging social media and networking, Keith is also a personal branding coach and social media mentor.  He is passionate about his family and is a major soccer fanatic.  Connect with Keith on Twitter and LinkedIn.  The statements I have posted on this site are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

Support me by sharing this post:

It’s no secret that times are tough, and one way employers have found to save time and money is to do initial job interviews over the phone. But just because you won’t be sitting across the desk from Mr. Interviewer yet does not mean you can chill in bed watching TV while half your brain takes the call and the other half plays Cash Cab. Although a phone interview can be less stressful for you and the recruiter in many ways, you still have to work extra hard to impress on the phone because you can’t send or receive visual clues.

This week, I compiled five of the best posts on the web about how to perform better in phone interviews.

1. Telephone Interview Secrets by hiremyparents

In this post by hiremyparents support, the author makes a phone interview sound a lot like method acting. The post suggests dressing in business attire for the interview so you will be in professional mode, practicing interview questions aloud before the call and smiling during the call. In a way you will be putting on a performance, one starring you as your best possible self.

2. Five Ways to do Better in Phone Interviews by Penelope Trunk at Brazen Careerist

Ms. Trunk’s post points out that standing up and walking around during the call can make you project a more natural and therefore more likable persona. She likens the interview to selling oneself and reminds the reader to close the sale by politely trying to get an in-person interview scheduled before the end of the call.

3. Win in Telephone Job Interviews by JobsDFW Blog

Blogger Julia Penny reminds us that the job candidate in a phone interview must overcome the lack of visual cues. For example, you must concentrate even more intensely on what the interviewer is saying so you can tell whether he or she is engaged in the conversation and you can act accordingly.

4. Don’t Say Hello in a Phone Interview by Interview Angel

Brent Peterson’s bluntly funny post underscores the importance of a professional demeanor from the first instant of the call. Answer the phone, he says, by identifying yourself . Act as though you are the receptionist for the corporation of you.

5. Telephone Interviews are as Easy as 1-2-3! by BullsEyeResumes Career Blog

BullsEyeCareers posts about what they believe are the three most important components of the phone interview: energy, tone and clarity. Especially striking is the blogger’s warning to limit sarcasm and negativity because, since you can’t see the interviewer, you don’t know how they are coming across. Remember, you won’t be able to use emoticons here.

Support me by sharing this post:

Your personal brand is divided into two parts, your Personal Brand Image and your Personal Brand Identity, where the Personal Brand Image is how your peers perceive you and your identity, personality, values, skills, and abilities. Your Personal Brand Identity is who you really are (identity, personality, values, skills, and abilities) and what you want to communicate to others.

There are a lot of ways in which you can align the two, but today we will focus on networking and events.

When you see someone at a restaurant, in a meeting room, or at a networking event, you will automatically add definitions to your image of that person. If she is having lunch with a head hunter that you recognize, it will probably empower certain areas of her brand image such as skill level and professionalism, while having dinner with her daughter will add to her image of being a good mother, emotional skills etc. The bottom line is, your brand image is affected by the company you keep.

Using Facebook and LinkedIn to meet with the right people

Let’s say you want to meet with a certain type of person, to pick their brain, to hang out or to make inquiries about if their office is a good place to be looking for work. The first thing I normally do is to find out if there is anyone in my network that fits the profile, or if there is anyone that knows someone with the profile I am looking for. So how do I do this?

First I go to my LinkedIn account, looking around for certain skills, positions and interests of the people that I know personally. If somene fits the profile, then I just contact them. I do the same on Facebook, but the search possibilities are much more limited. OftenI find that I do not know the right person directly but that my connections know someone, which is almost as good. Let your connection help you get connected.  Ask for an introduction.

Finding the events where you want to be seen

You have now met with the connections in your network and also with some of their connections, but you still wants more. Maybe you are looking at the local chamber of commerce and other traditional networks for the right events to practice your networking skills. If you do that, it is a great start, but I have found that looking at which events my connections go to is much more efficient as far as find the best ones. The good thing is that Facebook and LinkedIn lets you do that easily.

LinkedIn lets you list the events that your connections are visiting by going to the events section. Here you can see them ordered by date or popularity. You can also recommend events to your connections.

On Facebook, you cannot actually list the events of others, but you can keep track of the one you are invited to and who else is attending. Go to the events page where you will see upcoming events and also the upcoming birthdays of your connections.

How do you use the social media networks to network offline?  Share your tips and success stories in the comments section.

Support me by sharing this post:

Sorry, there’s no excuse. If you can use email, you can blog. And if you use Word 2007, you can use it to post articles to your own hosted blog.

Why blog?

Because if you can demonstrate your subject matter expertise, you’re going to get that job, promotion, or consulting gig you’re looking for. Last week I talked about doing things that are in your control – and top of the list is your blog.

Let’s get past the technical hurdles first. There are many ways you can blog, but to make your decision easier, I’m going to recommend three platforms.

1. Posterous – this is the simplest blogging platform there is. Your first email to them creates your account, and every subsequent email posts an article. You can include pictures, audio, and video, and Posterous figures out what to do with your content. More on this in a moment.
2. WordPress.com – this is the free WordPress site. Create an account, and WordPress will host it for you. It’s also free. WordPress is the most widely used blogging platform, which means there’s lots of online support – and if you need it, there are lots of consultants who can help you. They host over 300,000 blogs!
3. YourOwnDomain.com, using WordPress software. This is what I recommend if you’re going to be serious about blogging. It gives you the greatest flexibility, and you totally control everything you do. WordPress is still free, and there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of free templates. Templates dictate the layout and features of your blog. (In case you didn’t know it, this blog uses WordPress.)

Word 2007 allows you to write your post for WordPress and post it automatically. The first time you do it, you have to provide some basic setup information (URL of your blog, user name and password). When you finish a post, you hit the Publish icon and either post the article as a finished post or as a draft. I write all my posts this way now – the Word editor is way better than the WordPress editor, and almost everyone knows how to use Word.     

Posterous

So let’s talk about Posterous… Take a look at the Posterous FAQ (frequently asked questions) to get started. “Posterous lets you post things online fast using email. You email us at post@posterous.com and we reply instantly with your new Posterous blog.” It just don’t get any easier than that.

Multimedia? Posterous understands Word and PowerPoint file formats, PDF, JPG, GIF, PNG, MP3, AVI and MPG. If you don’t understand all those TLAs (three-letter acronyms), just understand that Posterous will intelligently handle most files you’re going to generate. And you don’t have to worry about photo size, because their software will automatically, and intelligently, resize your photos. If you’re posting a link to a YouTube video, Posterous will automatically embed a player for the post so your reader can simply start watching it.

Here’s another great feature they do automatically: when you post to your blog, it can automatically create updates to your Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr accounts. Blogging pros have been doing this for years – I do it with plugins for WordPress, but here it’s all nicely wrapped up for you. This gives you great Google Juice! And it should be an integral part of your personal branding efforts.

Are you wondering if this is a serious blogging platform? You bet it is – two of the most important bloggers in the world use it (Michael Arrington – TechCrunch, and Robert Scoble).

The route to getting that job you want is to get known as a subject matter expert. First be sure people can find you if they type your name in a Google search. Then start writing on your topic, and keep doing it until people can find you when they type a search for what you do. That’s what recruiters do – especially for higher-level positions. They are always looking for people who have distinguished themselves in their field. And today, and with Posterous, that’s under your control.

Support me by sharing this post: