10 Key Take-Aways from Patrick O'Malley's LinkedIn Presentation by Ian McGonnigal

I noticed an interesting blog about LinkedIn written by Ian McGonnigal titled "Prompt Access To Relevant Information Containing Knowledge". The post was in response to a presentation given by the infamous Patrick O’Malley. Patrick is one of those guys who has mentored me in the past and shares a wealth of information about LinkedIn. I would recommend reading Ian's blog and his 10 key take-aways from Patrick's LinkedIn presentation.

http://connect.amaboston.org/profiles/blogs/prompt-access-to-relevant

Twitter on Wikipedia

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 bytes in length. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can send and receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS (receive only), or through applications such as Tweetie, Twitterrific, Twitterfon, TweetDeck and Feedalizr. The service is free to use over the web, but using SMS may incur phone services provider fees.

As of March 2009, Twitter has received extensive visibility and popularity worldwide. Twitter is often described as the 'SMS of Internet' in that the site provides the back-end functionality (via its APIs) to other desktop and web-based applications to send and receive short text messages often obscuring the actual website itself. This extensibility of the service has earned it more popularity than it would have gained if users had to visit the site to use the service.

CareerDFW.org Article - Dallas Morning News - Sunday, March 22, 2009

Check out the following article by Cheryl Hall  from The Dallas Morning News for Sunday, March 22, 2009 about CareerDFW.org. Cheryl calls CareerDFW.org "Unemployment Central". I mentioned Jeff's website back in my initial blog as one of the websites to check out in the DFW area. 

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/columnists/chall/stories/DN-Hall_22bus.ART.State.Edition1.4a8ca38.html

Do You Have a Job Search Survival Kit?

From linkedin_expert on Twitter. Do you have a job search survival kit? Check out the following :  

http://blog.linkedin.com/2009/03/20/do-you-have-a-job-search-survival-kit/

Practical LinkedIn by Randy Hain, Managing Partner of Bell Oaks

Randy Hain, Managing Partner of Bell Oaks has written a good article entitled "Practical LinkedIn". You can read his article at : 

 http://www.belloaks.com/documents/Practical%20LinkedIn_Bell%20Oaks_final.pdf  

Thank you Randy for allowing me to share your article.

Phil Rosenberg - President of reCareered - Blog

Phil Rosenberg - President of reCareered has several good posts on his blog at  http://www.recareered.blogspot.com/ . Please take a moment to check them out. Phil, thanks for sharing your information.

Lessons from Landing a New Job

Finding a job on LinkedIn Groups: Amanda Sundt, iExplore is worth reading:

http://blog.linkedin.com/2009/03/17/finding-a-job-on-linkedin-groups/

CareerDFW.org : New - Networking Groups - Maps

I had mentioned in an earlier post about CareerDFW.org as a good source of information for job search. Jeff Morris created the website for people who are unemployed or under-employed in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to assist in their career search. 

New on the site is 'Networking Groups - Maps' using Google Maps. Just click on a blue location pinhead and obtain all the information concerning that particular networking group. Great job ... Jeff. Click on the following link CareerDFW.org to take you directly to 'Networking Groups - Maps' . 

Job Search Tips for Older Workers

Another good article by Alison Doyle (About.com) - Job Search Tips for Older Workers. Check out: 

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/resourcesforseni/a/jobsearchtips.htm  

Ten Time Saving Tips to Speed Up You Job Search

Check out Alison Doyle's (About.com) Ten Time Saving Tips to Speed Up Your Job Search at: 

http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/jobsearchhelp/a/jobtips.htm

Check out ... "5 Tips for Networking With People Who Are More Successful Than You Are" by Dan Schawbel.

http://personalbrandingblog.com/5-tips-for-networking-with-people-who-are-more-successful-than-you-are/

Unemployment Prayer

This prayer was sent to me by Anne Golias. She found it on someone's LinkedIn post and I wanted to share it with you. So to whoever out there in LinkedIn who wrote this prayer, thank you. Thank you also, Anne, for sharing. Be strong and encouraged!

Almighty and All-Caring God, 

Thank You for Your faithfulness in our lives. We lift up not just ourselves, but all of the unemployed to You for Your care and blessing. We pray that we will turn to You when fear, uncertainty and anxiety flood over us. We pray we will feel the warmth, strength and security of Your loving arms as You comfort us in our time of doubt and discouragement. Help us and our families to realize how much You do care for and bless us each and every day. Help us to understand how willing You are to nurture and provide for our needs. Help us to look back and recall Your countless blessings in our lives and give You thanks. Help us to feel Your constant presence in our daily lives and to know we are never alone. Bless us with strength, courage and endurance to help us through this disruptive storm in our lives. Help us to trust in the fact that You are working behind the scenes on our behalf for "we know that God will work all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." Help us to be positive in our thinking and in our actions. Restore our hope and renew our strength to keep on working when we feel down and defeated. Help us to realize we are children of a God who loves us and wants the best for us. We ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen 

The Path Before Me

Several years ago I wrote a poem for my brother's retirement ... yes retirement! I am re-publishing it here today to give people encouragement and hope.

The Path Before Me

I look ahead at the path before me,
As I cross the obstacles that abound,
I don't know what's beyond the tress
I'll stand alert on solid ground.

I'll push on forward,
Even as I take a glance behind,
Pressing on and never turning backward,
No fear of challenges that I may find.

So I stand at this place and time,
Not knowing what the future holds,
As I begin my years of prime,
Trusting GOD, I will be bold.

Now on Twitter

I am now on Twitter at http://twitter.com/robertboriack in case anyone would like to follow. You can see my Twitter Updates on the right-hand side of my blog. If anyone has information to share for job seekers, please send it my way so I can get it posted. My mission is to help others out there seeking employment. Be strong!

Internet Sites for Job Seekers

• 6figurejobs
  
• America's Job Bank
  
• Bureau of Labor Statistics
  
• Campus Career Center
  
• Career Builder
  
• Career Lab
  
• Career Mart
• Career Site
  
• Computer Jobs
  
• Dice
  
• Engineering Jobs
• Flip Dog
  
• Hot Jobs
• Monster
• Recruit USA
• USA Today
• Vault
• Wall Street Journal
• Women in Technology International
  
• Yahoo! Employment

I attended the Career Transition Workshop at Crossroads Bible Church yesterday and the information shared by the professionals was priceless. Topics covered were: Resume Survival Guide, Sample Resumes, Resume Psychology, Cover Letters, Traveling the Super Highway, Power Interviewing, Fundamentals of Negotiating the Employment Offer, Personal Resiliency, Winning Job Search Tactics, and Personal Branding.

Crossroads Bible Church's Career Transition Network is one of the Dallas area's first church-based groups to help people searching for employment. Human Resource professionals specialized in recruitment and staffing teach advance skills, techniques and secrets for job-hunting strategies.

Dates / Times: Workshops are typically taught on the second Saturday of the month 7 times a year from 9am - 4pm. To register, send an email to ctw@crossroadsbible.org . Note the subject line will already be populated once you click on the e-mail link.

Job Seeker's Jump Start for Job Search

(1) Pray for GOD's will and direction in your job search daily.

(2) Be in HIS Word daily.

(3) Setup a separate e-mail address (gmail, hotmail, etc.) for job search. Don't use your home personal e-mail address.

(4) Setup a profile in the professional networking website LinkedIn.com (www.linkedin.com) and start getting connected with friends, past co-workers, etc. Be sure to join various groups (e.g. alumni, previous companies, occupation, etc.). Obtain at least 3 recommendations from previous co-workers or clients. Download the toolbar to show if you have any connections when reviewing a posted job.

(5) Create a professional business card. VistaPrint (www.VistaPrint.com) is cheap and looks professional. Also, you can go to Wal-Mart and buy Avery Matte Ivory Business Cards - 150 cards (27882) for under $7.00 and create your own professional looking cards with name, position, home phone and/or cell phone, email address, and your LinkedIn address.

(6) Create a positioning and exit statement.

(7) Create or update your resume.

(8) Develop a marketing plan for where you want to work and use that for networking.

(9) Create a 30-second elevator presentation where you have less than 30 seconds to describe your job search to someone.

(10) Develop your accomplishment stories that showcase your skills. 

(11) Create a 2-minute verbal resume consisting of your marketing statement, background/credentials, experience/work history, current status, and a transition statement.

(12) Network, network, network … know your target companies and do your research on them.

(13) Develop a project plan; goals and objectives for your job search ... just like your job ... your new job is to find a job. Pay attention to how you spend your time - computers do not hire people!!!

(14) Go to www.CareerDFW.org. This website offers a wealth of information on networking groups throughout the DFW Metroplex area.

(15) Setup a search agent on the indeed website (www.indeed.com). This site will send an e-mail to your inbox each morning with a listing of jobs based on your search criteria from numerous job posting websites (e.g. Monster, Career Builder, Hot Jobs, etc.).

(16) Register for the next available Career Transition Workshop held at Crossroads Bible Church in Double Oak, Texas by sending an e-mail to ctw@crossroadsbible.org . Note - the subject line will be populated when the email link is clicked. This workshop is one of the best in Texas and it's FREE. Hurry though … seats do fill up fast now.

(17) Create a reference list while names are still fresh on your mind (name, company, contact phone number and e-mail address).

(18) Find an accountability partner/group who will hold you accountable during your job search.

(19) Last but not least ... reward yourself for your hard work - do some fun things that you have been wanting to do, get involved in places you want to help support as well as volunteer, learn something new ... this is an opportunity to do more and grow!

Contributors for Job Seeker's Jump Start for Job Search:

Robert Boriack

Anne Golias

Susan Hummel

Tony Pottle

Keith Wilkins