Wednesday, March 28, 2007

5 Job Seeker Tips for Making Yourself Findable on the Web




ComputerWorld
asked a great question this week and it reminded me of the tree-falling-in-the-forest question:


If someone searches for you on the Web and comes up empty-handed, do you exist?
Tim Bray, director of Web technologies at Sun Microsystems Inc, says,

In today’s job market, turning up missing on the Web may not be a fatal flaw, and it’s probably better than having a search result in a photo of you in a hula skirt. But over time, the lack of a Web presence — particularly for IT professionals — may well turn from a neutral to a negative.
Bray believes that senior-level candidates looking for jobs with core technology providers should have some type of presence on the web:

If someone came looking for a senior-level job and had left no mark on the Internet, I’d see that as a big negative ... most companies would rather have somebody who has demonstrated the propensity to contribute, and one [sign] of that is going out and getting involved, joining in the discussion.”
To that end, Mary Brandel (ComputerWorld) offers up 5 tips for making yourself more "findable" on the web:

1). Know where people look
Check out Google and Yahoo - what will googlers discover about you?

Be aware that many recruiters also use tools such as Technorati, Daypop, and Blogdigger (if you are a recruiter and aren't familiar with these sites, you should be).

2). Start a blog
Some companies sponsor corporate blogs and encourage employee participation (in fact, I just read on ERE that Cingular (the new at&t) is starting a recruiting blog (of course, I wait with much anticipation).

But you can also establish your own through free blog hosting sites such as Blogger.com, (my personal home-away-from-home) LiveJournal.com, Blog-City.com,and Xanga.com.

3). Join the open-source code community (if you are truly a geek)

4). Build a Web page

5). Create a Web profile
I've created multiple web profiles - maybe I'm a bit overboard, but when it comes to recruiters in the wireless industry, I want to be found.

I have a Ziggs profile HERE (Ziggs was down so I couldn't get to my profile) ; a Jobster profile HERE; a Ziki profile HERE; a Naymz profile HERE; and of course, a LinkedIn profile HERE.

5.5). Join a Community
I'm adding my own personal touch to Mary's list - if you haven't joined a community related to your livelihood, you are missing out.

I recently created a Wireless-Jobs Community Group on Yahoo! HERE (you'll have to login to Yahoo to be directed to the Wireless-Jobs Community). Feel free to join and network with other recruiters engaged in the wireless community.

And......here's an open invitation to all job-seekers >>>>> please accept my invitation to join my Jobster community - just click HERE. Please add me as a "contact" and I'll reciprocate asap.

So, job seeker, let me ask you this... what are you doing to participate in the conversation?

*Read Brandel's complete ComputerWorld article HERE.

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