Social Media is the future > picture by Stuart Miles

Many employers think social media should be banned from the office, some think that social media stops production. 

Let me tell you this, if you have a lack of production in your office that’s a performance issue not a social media issue. 

Social media grows everyday and it’s now a natural way for people to communicate, your customers communicate this way. 

If you ban social media from the office, would you ban your employees from using their phones?  What about when they go home? In the old days it was a chat on the landline with Mum “Yes Mum Grumpy boss said No to Twitter again even though I tried to show him the benefits” These days Mum is on Twitter & the message is also seen by 5,000 other people!

20million U.S households don’t have a landline phone they use their mobiles and they access social media from their mobiles. This is the way it's going, soon all conversations will be done using some type of social media.

There are many companies that use social media well within their organisations, from marketing the business to allowing ambassadors to naturally rise and preach the good message of the company to others. 

If you’re a good employer wouldn’t you want your staff to tell many others, let others know about the great training, how your company is planning to expand and that you’re looking for new talent. 

As a good employer you owe it to your employees to give them a social media policy and show them how to use Social Media for the good of the company 

Joe Gordon is widely known as the first British blogger to be dismissed for work-related comments made online. Gordon wrote a general, allegedly humorous, blog, entitled the Woolamaloo Gazette, about his life which sometimes touched on his work at Waterstone’s. The comments about work included complaining about shift work, he called his manager an  “evil boss” and a “cheeky smegger” for asking him to work on a bank holiday. He also referred to the firm as “Bastardstone’s” Gordon was dismissed from his position in early 2005 following a disciplinary hearing, but he successfully challenged the decision on appeal, following the case’s high profile in the media.

Catherine Sanderson is a British woman who worked in France for a British law firm.  Her blog was not strictly work-focused either but did occasionally contain references to her employers, without identifying them by name. Her comments about her employers mainly involved gently mocking the conservatism of some of the senior partners. When Sanderson’s employers discovered her blog, she was dismissed, provoking a huge storm of negative publicity. Sanderson took her employers to tribunal and received compensation for wrongful dismissal.

In these two cases and many more similar cases employees have been dismissed, many of those dismissals have been overturned or payouts have been awarded for wrongful dismissals. It’s easy to see why, the argument being they weren’t told that they couldn’t.

You know social media isn’t going to go away so you need to embrace it and educate your employees on it’s many uses.

Show them the good way they can use it, post photos of work charity events, videos of a great day in the office, great messages they can share with online communities.

Show them how you wouldn’t want it to be used, I say show as visual information is absorbed quicker.

Then make sure that everyone is familiar with the Social Media policy.

I would also recommend a private social networking platform which just your organisation gets to use, you are then giving your employees a platform to freely discuss employment conditions. 

That way you are giving your employees many options of communication and if your employees feel better communicating this way then isn’t it better to keep it contained if there's ever a grievance.  

Follow me on Twitter for advice and tips  @jobhopjulie

Tomorrows work place >>> why it’s changing                          

By 2020 Millennials (Gen Y)will account for 50% of the global workforce, attracting their talent to your organisation is imperative for your survival.

But how are you going to compete with the world? We’re not just talking about the U.K we are in fact talking about the world because this generation see the world as a much smaller place and will have no hesitation in leaving the U.K. Millennialls actually think it’s their right to go and work abroad & experience different cultures. 

China, Russia and India want our talent and considering we already have a shortage of it, how will we make sure we do not lose anymore from the U.K? 

I see that two things must happen

1. Know your Employment Brand 
2. Know how to communicate with Millennials

Your Employment Brand has never been so important. If you don’t know what it is then you need to find out quick and how do you do that? Ask your employees, they own your employment brand. 

I say more about employment branding here but just ask yourself about your own company “why would I want to work here?” 

Look at it’s culture,it’s story, the ethics, what training you provide, the environment, the support, the opportunities.

Having a good employment brand will attract talent even before they’re on the job market. Children as young as 12 already say that they want to work for Google or Apple or are joining the XBox Live talent community

If you’re thinking that these are attractive because they’re technology companies then you’re right, millennials love technology. If you think you can’t compete because of that you’re wrong because others have, you just need to know their language and be able to communicate.

So what do you do with a Millennial that is obsessed with technology, you offer them more technology! This is a shock to some organisations because I hear horror stories of technology being limited, social media being banned. Millennials have grown up with the ipad, laptops, smart phones, social media xbox, instant information, this is what makes this generation unique, if you take it away from them they wont be working for you for too long. 

If you’re worried that an employee isn’t going to be productive then you have an employee issue it’s not because of technology. Millennials shiny stuff is their technology the more you make it available to them then them more attractive the proposition is to them.

Working environments need to change to adapt to a collaborative style of working, they are digital creatives and love to brainstorm. Millennials will work hard but will feel stifled in a boring rigid office, you want them engaged so you need to offer a stimulating atmosphere.

Millennials are committed to personal growth and learning so you have to give them the ability to learn. They will learn quickly and they will expect to grow quickly, they will be looking to climb the career ladder in months not years so you have to be prepared for that. 

If you don’t invest in them they will have no hesitation in going to work with your competitor or even set up themselves and do it their way, as they’re very entrepreneurial. They’re high achievers and are natural leaders so you must plan for that, even if it’s a simple earn your stripes system, Millennials have to see that they are climbing the career ladder.

If you expect your employees to clock in and out then you want be attracting any Millennials.They will produce more work in shorter hours and they will question why do they have to start at 9am when they’re more productive from 10am. They want respect and trust, if they can get the work done whilst at home then they will ask “why do you want me to travel all the way in?”  which they won’t ask over the telephone but with a tweet! 

Whatever you promise them then make sure it’s honoured, to a millennial a promise means so much, they trust you not to break it, if you do then there’s always social media! 

Millennials really value mentors and that is the best approach is to mentor them, rather telling them what to do. You can learn a lot from them and in return they want to learn about leadership, industry, leadership, self management.

Every talented Millennial is a passive candidate unless you can give them reasons to want to stay. 

Follow me on Twitter  @jobhopjulie

Julie Bishop  Founder of JobHop  

Yesterday I listened to a speaker who completely spoke my language, who inspired me and motivated me not to give up with my quest to make employment human again.

The event was held at The Space in Norwich & the speaker was Mal Fletcher, social futurist, speaker and broadcaster. The topic was social change and Mal is the chairman of 2020plus, a London think tank on social change and leadership innovation.

Within Social Change there are many subjects which Mal touched upon and I will put a post about those on our Norwich Social Media Wk site but for JobHop I’ll just cover what was said that relates to employment.

What is obvious is that change is happening and employers need to start putting some plans together for the age of connection.

Employers need to be thinking how they are to engage with the Millennial generation and if they haven’t got a strategy in place now for that to happen theres going to be trouble ahead.

By the millenial generation we mean the under 30 age bracket, there’s been the Boomer generation age 50 -60’s ( the make love not war generation) the Gen X 30’s - 50’s ( how do we make it happen now generation) and now the Millennials, the under 30’s ( shaping the future generation) 

I repeat the message: If you haven’t got a strategy in place that includes the millennial generation there’s trouble ahead, well actually the message was “Your plan is screwed” 

The Millennial generation are the “Futurists” , the digital generation, they are digital natives, they’ve had a head start on this digital era. If you’re my age, lets just say Gen X, try having a game on X box , hold a conversation on the phone, eat a sandwich & sort out a bit of HTML coding on a website all at once! It’s not easy, for this generation is comes naturally.

As employers you need to be investing in this generation, getting their attention as they leave college and nurturing that talent within your organisation. 

If you invest in their skills then you will receive their loyalty, you’ll have given them a story and Mal speaks really passionately about having a story.

Only the other day I was speaking to a Millennial and she was saying how she started at the company on work experience, she was then taken on and absorbed all the training & knowledge that the company could offer. The story was that she very quickly climbed the ladder and is now a very loyal, passionate Managing Director of the company, what a story!! 

Mal says that Millennials are loyal to a good story and once that happens then WOW! make them the face of your company, they are your advocates, let them spread the word round like Wild Fire. We then get into Employment branding which I’ve spoken about many times before and you can read an earlier post on that here.

Over the next few years Business as we know it will change and Millenials will be the driving force of that. Mal says that you must have a digital team and you must get Millennials to run it, if you want to speak where people listen then you MUST be involved in Social Media. Barrack Obama understood the viral collectiveness of the Millennials and it’s time that Businesses also understand it.

Businesses have to realise that the Millennials bring collaboration and collaboration is an engine for change. 

I remember queuing up at Woolworths to get the new Adam and the Ants single ( Gen X ) Millennials download everything, it’s the age of the Wiki, collaboration & sharing. There is one thing that they would queue for though..Technology! Technology is the new Rock and Roll!

Businesses will become digital and collaborative, one warning of advice from Mal was “Don’t let your technology get out of date” 

Companies need the Millennials digital skills and in return mentor them and grow their talent in other areas. 

But for businesses wanting to attract talented Millennials a change must happen. Trust is a small word but some employers find it so hard to do. Millennials are in the era of Trust.. ie Ebay, it’s normal for them to trust the other person online to pay. If employers don’t trust their employees they will walk and that means trusting your employees to use technology within the workspace. Instead of having Social Media guidelines, many companies just ban Social Media use within the work place.!!  Remember that isn’t a social media issue thats a performance issue, just like someone using the phone all the time for purely non work activities.

If you don’t trust your staff then how can you expect loyalty? 

Employment is going to be very different and only those with the ability to change will survive. 

Mal Fletcher is currently on tour around Europe I would urge everyone to go and hear his message about Social Change, it will change the way you think for sure.

I think we all know that social media isn’t going to go away, it’s just going to grow and grow and grow.

What I don’t get, why isn’t it being discussed in a positive way in schools? 

Why is it that many teachers only see it as Facebook & something really bad that students waste their time on?

Students do use it to stay connected with their friends & yes that can be a distraction in class when they should be concentrating on what’s being taught, but social media can also be a great way for them to connect with key people in Industries. 

In my opinion students should be encouraged to use social media in a positive way, in a way that is going to help their future, in a way that is going to help them market themselves .

With an average of 23 applicants going for every 1 job, how can you get your students to get their heads above the competition? 

There are many many ways that social media can be used to attract employers, jobs, key people etc..

Firstly they should be taught about “digital dirt” & what they say online can stay online..forever! 

So if you only choose to give your students one piece of advice, let it be this, if you want to get an interview then think “damage control” 

8 out of 10 employers use social media to initially screen applicants. If they find negative comments, abusive language, drunken photos, scary friends then the student wont get an interview.

Students will say that it “isn’t fair” that they’re being checked out like this, but they need to accept that they are and it will continue to be like that throughout their working life.

Socially networking online is second nature to students so going one stage further & networking online to get a job should come easy. Students need to be shown how, where and who to network with and be shown how to have a strategy in place.

Show them how connecting with the right people can put them in the right place for when it’s the right time. 

There are many platforms where students can showcase their work., like youtube, vimeo, pinterest, screencast, the list goes on.

Show students how to tap into this power cleverly and how they use it to market themselves.

What they do now will pay off later... If they start curating their media presence after they leave college they’re behind, the earlier they start the better.  

Follow me on Twitter @jobhopjulie 

We talk about employers building talent communities but what if you’re a job seeker, what does it mean for you?      

A talent community is literally a community of talent that are communicating with each other, swapping information and engaging in conversation with an organisation. Wikipedia describes it as a “network of candidates, contacts, alumni, employees and job seekers allowing a productive two way communication between contacts”  This organisation maybe somewhere you would like to work and the more you chat with them the more you may want to work there. That is the plan, you get to chat to their employees in this community, even their suppliers are here chatting openly. Being part of the conversation should make you more aware of what type of employee they look for, what roles are available throughout the organisation, their culture, do they all go bowling together at the week end?, does the company offer flexitime?, what type of training do they offer?

Talent communities are a great way for employers to keep recruitment costs down as they don’t have to start advertising job roles, hiring recruiters or head hunters, they can go straight to their community and invite the people they’ve been sharing information with and participating in conversations with.

Employers benefit big time from talent communities, not purely on the cost effectiveness of    having one but it builds brand loyalty and it helps the employer in the retainment of staff.

So what do you do to get into a talent community? The first thing is to know what it is you want to do and the younger you can start the better. My 13yr old son has made himself known within the talent community of Microsoft. He has made up his mind that he’d like to work for them and is now chatting regularly with them and absorbing as much information as possible. Who do you think will get an interview at Microsoft in a few years? The younger you can join these communities the better.

You’ve decided what you’d like to do and what company you’d like to work for, or perhaps theres a few companies you’d like to work for so start tapping their names into google and see where they are and what they’re doing.

The trick is to find something you love and you know you can do it well. Next find the companies that do what you love to do,learn about the company, set google alerts so you receive all the updated news about them. 

Once you’ve built relations with key people within the organisation online a good tip is to turn up at their industry events and cement that relationship by meeting them face to face.

By this time it will feel like you’ve known them for forever, who do you think they’re going to think of when a job becomes available?

Still wondering why you should join a community?

• Exposure  By participating regularly in the communities you increase your exposure
• Advice   Theres so much advice going back and forth within communities
• Meeting your potential work team ... Chatting with employees from the organisation will build relationships prior to you getting a job there. They  may even help you to get your foot in the door.
• 65% of job placements are made based on recommendations ...it pays to get connected 
• Saves you hours of looking at job boards and adverts ..you have immediate access to jobs through your community, spend time on building relationships.
• Learn and keep up with the trends in your chosen profession. Being in a community will have you constantly learning about trends and industry related news
• No more CVs just falling into a black hole 
• No more wondering if you’ll get feedback from the company 

How do you find out about Talent communities?

• Search companies web sites and see if they have follow us on Fb twitter linkedin. Switched on organisations will have the follow buttons, click through and start joining in the discussions and in the groups.
• Go straight onto the social networking sites and search for the companies you’re interested in and see where the action is.
•  Does the company have a blog? Read it and add valuable comments regularly to it. 
• Can you subsribe to them on Youtube? 
• Does the company hold industry related webinars that you can attend? This is a great one for getting known, attend regularly and always make sure that you give some valuable input to the discussion.

Follow me on Twitter  @jobhopjulie

Attracting Talent using Social media

Employment Branding 

Attracting talent using social media 

When job seekers want to find out more about your company, do you know what they do?

If you said they go to the company website then you’re a little bit right because a few might tap in the whole URL address into a search bar but the majority will GOOGLE your company name! And yes, you’re web site should come up in the search ( if it doesn’t tut tut!) but now anything being said about your company can appear. Google isn’t just a search engine anymore it’s a social search engine and relies on relevance. If relevant people are saying relevant things about your organisation then it will appear in the search rankings. 

So what will a strong employment brand mean? 

It will mean that your organisation becomes like a magnet, attracting top talent 

It will mean no more pushing jobs

It will mean reduced recruiting costs

It will mean saving time 

It will mean not being bombarded with unsuitable C.Vs

It will help you with retaining talent 

It will mean a good message is being heard 

What do people think of your organisation when they hear the name?

Would it receive the same reaction as Google, Apple, Innocence, a cool place to work? 

Virgin, Zappos, Sheraton, adobe, America Express, Starbucks, Microsoft, KPMG, all of these companies have talent scrambling to get in.

So why should top candidates work for your company? 

Find out from your own employees why they love working for you, is it the flexible working hours, the great training, the fantastic career prospects, the creche facilities, the company ethics?

Survey your employees and start building case studies, if you get any negative feedback then use this opportunity to turn your employees into ambassadors. Every employee that talks about their experience whilst working at your company contributes to your employer brand.

"Employees have always owned the brand; they just haven’t had the tools to broadcast their opinions to large audiences as they do today."  Dr John Sullivan 

Your employment brand is not owned by you it flows from your employees and is spread by them and with social media it will spread faster than you’ve ever known it. 

You must let all your employees know that they are brand ambassadors and that they must represent the company brand when they're at work and when they’re not at work. 

When candidates source information about your company and come across positive comments from employees,it’s becomes apparent that they’ll be joining an organisation that they can trust. 

A couple of tips that help with employment branding and to give candidates a better insight to the organisation are:

1. Have a culture Blog

Where employees can blog & vlog about their work activities, company social events,    fund raising days, anything that is done in the name of the organisation.

Zappos does this brilliantly check them out http://blogs.zappos.com/blogs/inside-zappos 

1. Video Tour

Video is so powerful and your candidate will emotionally connect with your organisation if you do it well. Take them on a tour round the company, have different employees chatting, go to different departments, show how your employees unwind..you might have a TV room or have a gym. Show the environment, are you surrounded by lovely countryside or are you lucky enough to have a station across the road and a convenient bus stop.

So remember ask yourself the question “Why should top candidates work for your company?” 

Nick Clegg are you listening?

You’ve pledged £1billion to get the youth of today back into employment.

It’s called The Youth contract, a bit like YTS in the 90’s where firms secured cheap labour for menial tasks. When the Conservatives came to power there was another scheme in place, tarted up a bit & called The Future Jobs Fund which Labour put in place in April 2009 when youth unemployment was at it’s highest.   On March 18th 2011 David Cameron said “The Future Jobs fund has been one of the most ineffective job schemes there’s been” He then went on to say “The really damning evidence is that it’s a six month programme, but one month after it’d finished half the people that were on it are back on the dole. It failed.” 

So you understand my utter disbelief when I hear that the Future Jobs Fund is being resurrected, in a different name of course.

This time though employers only get a wage subsidy of £2,275.00 not the £6,500 that Labour use to dish out. 

The problems will still be the same though, employers exploiting youngsters, giving them false hope, youngsters taking crap jobs for fear of losing any benefits.

The Government has panicked, it needs to play with figures, it needs to get the youth off jobseekers benefit for a while & who will cough up for it?

Extra funding for apprenticeships I totally agree with however The Youth contract is making me feel doubtful. The feedback from The Future jobs Fund wasn’t brilliant, employers just using youths & not training them in any way, there were stories of youngsters not getting paid until the funding came through, some not getting paid at all & references not given if anyone protested. Don’t get me wrong there were some successes but not enough to be writing home about.

I think Talent hubs should be created where employers can outsource their work at a preferred rate because they know it will be our unemployed youth completing it for them.

These hubs will be supervised to make sure the youngsters are getting the right help.

Now I know a hub initially won’t cover every profession, however to start with it would have receptionists, taking calls for companies when they’re unavailable, web designers, web developers, youngsters good with I.T, marketing, social media, sales, cooks in the kitchen, maintenance & whatever is needed to make the whole organisation work. Whilst the youngsters are there they would have a responsibility for making it work, setting goals & targets, they would feel like they have ownership  etc.. Whilst in the programme they would all get help re getting in front of the employer, CV writing, Interview skills etc...

The thing is this model would also generate revenue & may only need funding initially.

Of course employers would be encouraged to drop in or engage via the online talent hub site where each youngster would have a profile.

Then again I’m not PM, maybe one day!

University applications down by 12% compared to last year, so it seems that school leavers have cottoned onto the fact that perhaps a University education is not the only way to get ahead especially when employers bang on about having experience.

So perhaps apprenticeships and learn whilst you earn roles will be the way forward 

The thing is theres now 991,000 16-24 year olds out of work and these are the ones we know about, there could be another 100,000 under the radar!  Youth unemployment is heading for the one million mark soon, so what can be done?

If University is something that you really want to do but the hike in fees are making you think twice about it, remember you don’t have to pay the money back until you leave and you’re earning over £21,000 a year. Personally I think this is a no brainer, still go to University.

You can do it a cheaper way & go to Uni abroad.. There are some that cater for the English/American students.. or if you have discipline there are plenty of courses to do at home with some requiring you to part home study and part go to Uni usually for just 1 year.

Becoming an apprentice is always an option, earn whilst you gain experience & get a recognisable qualification at the end of it. The working week is usually divided with learning on the job and then maybe a day out for college.

Prince’s Trust offers courses that can give 16- 25 year old skills and experience in particular sectors 

The government has also announced the launch of the work academies across the U.K which will offer training, work experience and a job interview ( I’m not so sure about the job interview mallarky ) 

The scheme aims to help up to 150,000 young people over the next few months and up to 250,000 within two years

Remember there are ways to gain experience, ok ,sometimes you may wonder when you’re going to get a decent wage...but it will come when you kick those doors down.

Volunteer...offer your services to a company for Free for 1 - 2 mnths, gaining experience and possibly a job

Commission Offer to work at a company for Commission only... As a Business owner myself I don’t think I could refuse someone with such great determination..

Freelance for a company & make sure they are aware that you are also in the market of being employed

Make a position for yourself...research the company, find out their weaknesses and then show them a plan where you can help their weak spots.

Become an outsourcer ... ie on Guru.com  Fiverr.com  Elance.com Getafreelancer.com and many more ...you’ll be paid for your work and you’ll also get testimonials which become your portfolio of experience

And lastly Don’t have too much pride to ask for help..Remember Pride is a useless asset 

Face Book targeting for a job                                          

When you look at the job adverts, in papers, magazines, job boards off line as well as on line had it ever crossed your mind to place an advert yourself?

Who is going to see my advert you may ask and admittedly if you place one in a shop window, a paper or a specific industry magazine then you are leaving it mainly to chance. The chance that the right person from the right industry, who is recruiting or collecting for their talent pool is in the right place at the right time to see your advert.

What if your advert can land right into the right persons lap, the chance that they would see it and read it would be far greater.

This is where Facebook becomes a great tool to use.

People just give information away freely on Facebook, it’s a marketing persons dream.

For instance if you have a Facebook profile and one of the interests that you stated was playing hockey, I bet you see a few adverts trying to sell hockey sticks.

If you liked a page  “like” cross country runners, how long do you think it will be before you’re looking at running shoes that you somehow came across on Facebook!  It’s all such a coincidence..let me tell you something “there is no such thing as coincidence”

So how does this help you get a job? 

Using Facebook adverts can get you in front of decision makers at companies you want to work for or in front of like minded people who can help you.

Facebook never asks for Job titles when anyone opens an account on it’s platform however it is part of a users identity so more often or not it is used somewhere.

So when you are placing your advert and you are working out the demographics ie you want your advert to reach people who live in London  Age 35+ who like.. veterinary surgeon, veterinary, manager, partner, director, owner, veterinary medicine  

Then you know that your advert is going to get in front of owners, partners, directors in veterinary or other veterinary people that can connect you.

Remember that the reason people love Facebook is because it’s social so you must keep the advert social, this all helps with your edgeranking on Facebook..like a score system which I won’t go into now. So how do you keep it social & professional? perhaps have a poll..in this case symptoms of a sick animal & a vote A or a vote B to what they think it could have. Then a link to ..Check out what Paul has to say about the prognosis and this links to a nice video of you chatting about the symptoms, what it actually is & what you prescribe. All of this is to get someones attention, by watching you in video they have connected with you & under the video you will have a personal Bio, your c.v a link saying Job offers here with a link to your e mail address.

So when your chatting to old school buddies on Facebook next give some thought to what you can really achieve with Facebook.

Want to find a job using social media?

Then make sure you are socially acceptable!

You know that thing, that search engine called Google? You know it 
right? Good, then you have an understanding as to how it works. It finds 
things. As well as finding jobs it also finds out information.

When was the last time you Googled your own name?

Stop reading, and go and search now and then come back and tell me what 
you see on the first 5 pages and then tell me you are happy with it all. 
Because if you are happy with it all then your potential employer will be happy.
 If you have anything at all that does not portray you as a normal, 
happy, hardworking soul now would be the time to remove it.

Those party pics on Facebook, you know the ones? Where you are falling 
out of a pub obviously as drunk as a rat.. you had a great night that 
night and guess what? You didn't check your Facebook privacy settings 
and now they are in Google images - you did do an image search as well 
didn't you?

Your new employer will also check out your Twitter account if you 
mention it on your application form...

And your blog, they will check out your blog as well.

Make sure you are socially fit for employment or you could find you 
don't even get an interview.

I read a social media blog where the blogger called various people 
"knobs" it wasn't funny and and I had no idea who they were calling 
knobs but I won't be hiring them to do my social media stuff. If they 
call publicly call people names then what are they going to be saying 
about me? Careful what you blog.

Ok, so the tweet above is a tweet from one of my own Twiter accounts - 
phew, but what if it was in your Twitter stream? It may turn up in 
Google as search engines index Twitter as well as Facebook and lots of 
other social media sites. and let's not forget the fully social sites 
such as dating sites...

Ever put your details up on one of those? No? Oh good, only lots of 
people have and again they have missed the privacy settings and that's 
how their partners found them online looking for love. Of course it was 
the divorce court for them, and it will be you too if you are not 
careful in with the information you share online.

Unhappy at work?

Share it on Facebook... only your mum reads your status updates and 
hey... all those new friends you made at your new job, well they can see 
it too. Not only can they see it, they can show it to your new boss. 
What can you say when they fire you? You were unhappy in the first 
place, they were doing you a favour.

Social media is a powerful tool, in the right hands

Using tools like Crowdbooster you can find influential people on 
Twitter, you can find casual work and you can find full times jobs. be 
yourself only better. Be the person that is the model employee and 
remember your search engines as well as sharing all your secrets will 
share the employers secrets too...

Sarah

Sarah Arrow is the director of special projects for 
href="http://www.arrowlighthaulage.co.uk" target="_blank">same day 
courier company, Arrow Light Haulage based in Essex. She is also the 
author of Always Be Creating - the 
href="http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/whats-this-site-about/advanced-blogging/" 
target="_blank">business bloggers guide to blogging. Subscribe for a 
free Zero to blogger ecourse whilst you are there and take a new skill 
into your new job.

How many times do we say "8 out of 10 employers now search on line for a candidate" ?

So could you lure the perfect employer by changing your Twitter name? perhaps to 

@carsalessteve  @phpdeveloperPaul  @ LandscapegardenerJill 

Do you make sure that your tweets are linking back to your professional profile? (preferably your Job Hop Profile ) Is your profile packed out with the expertise and skills that the employer is looking for?

Why not link your tweet back to your Job Hop Blog and your future employer can leave a comment for you.

Try stalking the companies on Twitter that you want to work for and engage in conversations with them. If they are asking questions then make sure you reply with the answers, even if you have to google the answers!

Set up TweetDeck for the companies that you want to work at and follow the conversations they're having.

Set up a Twitter list for Recruiters, check into it daily and see what new jobs they're looking to fill.

Why not try and get a job at Twitter  follow their recruitment department @JoinTheFlock

Twitter is another platform for you to build relationships with the right people. Before you know it you will be at the forefront of employers minds when it comes to them filling a vacancy.

Can you really say that you have thought of many different ways to get a job?

Have you tried changing your thought pattern & said "If I wanted to get in front of a particular person/company how do I do it?"

This question itself will open loads of doors for you.

Are you 1 of the 648 million registered users on Facebook?  Wow that's a big number, there must be lots of employers on there! 

Now there are so many ways of marketing yourself on Facebook & that would take hours, however a quick easy way to get in front of employers are Facebook Adverts.

It doesn't cost much & you can really target your advert to particular people in particular areas. A little bit of time studying how Facebook advertising works will enable you to tweak your adverts so they are showing up on the company decision makers profiles.

Remember Facebook is social so keep it social, keep your ad social. ie Should Mike The Events Manager be employed or be Freelance, you vote... once clicked it could link to a video of some super events that you have put on for clients, you get the picture.  It could be though that Mary from Cpp London is looking for an events Manager & your ad shows up on her profile!! hey presto!

As you know Version 2 of Job Hop will be live soon however we are already working on version 3 where we are going to tie in some of this marketing oneself from Job hop across to FaceBook.

Whilst we are working on that I really urge you all to be trying it out yourself.

Should I Stay or Should I go?
You keep hearing the same thing " Well at least you have a job" & it's true you do have a job but not the one that you really wanted.

2.5 million people are unemployed & rising so what do you do?

Everyone is saying "Stay put" "put up with it" but there are ways of attracting the ideal job without handing your notice in immediately.

Firstly look at your job role is there anything that you can discuss with your employers to make the position into more of the job that you wanted?                       ie Did you take the position originally because you thought you would be out there meeting the client but instead you're mainly behind a desk filling in forms. Talk first if that fails then you need to become a passive job seeker.

A Passive job seeker allows the job to come to you whilst you're still getting paid to do your current role.

First of all you need to know exactly what job you want, what role it will be, where it will be, how much salary you want, what skills you want to use etc..

A good way to do this is by creating a vision board. Don't freak out & think Wacky!! it's about creating Focus & the more visual you are the more you will have to focus on.On your vision board  paste pictures of the type of company you'd like to work for, the co car ( if one), the view from your office, your office, your salary  etc etc..

Vision board done now put it into writing, write down everything from your vision board & then give that piece of paper to a trusted friend or a family member, you will now feel that you have to honour everything that you have written down.

Now tell everyone that this is the type of job that you are looking for & it's amazing how many people will keep their ears to the ground for you.

Advertise yourself..Make sure all your on line profiles are geared up to you getting this new job.. Even the books that you choose to display can or will not attract the right people to your profile.. ie If you want a marketing position then you make sure you have Seth Godin in your reading list & delete Katie Price The Jordan Years!Scour the networking platforms & join groups, discussions & debates that all link back to the ideal job that you want.

Don't focus on the "I don't like this job but I'm here now" Focus on "I'm here for a bit & now I attract the job I really want"

New Year New JobThe definition of insanity is doing the same thing over & over again & expecting different results.

Get Results in 2011 by doing things differently.

Reflect back on 2010 & decide what needs changing, what should you be doing differently now?

Do enough people know that you are looking for a new job? If not you need to step up the networking. Studies show that lots of jobs are found informally. Before some jobs get published they are filled instantly because of word of mouth, it pays to network.

Have you had many interviews during 2010? Do you know why you weren't offered the job/s? If the answer is No you need to start asking for feedback. How do you know what to improve on when you haven't asked for feedback!

Do you look in the mirror & feel glum? If so this will come across at interviews, perhaps you should make an appointment with an image consultant. Adding some colour to your wardrobe could make you feel like a different person. If you feel different, maybe even dynamic then this will come across at interviews.

Have you been aware of your body language? Weak handshake, no eye contact, fidgeting, slumped in the chair. If you can relate to any of these then you need to change. Go along & visit a personal coach who can help with the signs that your body is giving out & build upon your self confidence. Make sure that at your next interview your body is saying the same as your mouth.

Is there somewhere that you'd really love to work or something you'd really like to do but never got invited for an interview there. Did you research the job thoroughly? Did you research the company thoroughly? Did you volunteer your services for a couple of weeks for free? How much did you want the job? Perhaps you should try something different this New year.

Make 2011 a different Year so do things differently!

We'd like to give you a phone interview. O.k it's not quite a full on interview however this is your chance & you must make it your objective to get a face to face interview.

If a representative calls you to make an appointment time with you make sure that you get the details of the person ringing you. You want their full name and their position in the company.

With this valuable information you are then going to google this person & find out as much information as possible about her/him. Have they recently won any awards? Has there been any press releases involving them? Do you have any mutual interests which you could slip into the interview somehow...  ie If you get asked "What additional skills did you bring to your last company that you worked for?" and you say "I use to voluntary organise the annual golfing tournament so that we could network with our clients in a fun way" Knowing full well the interviewer is a keen golfer then you will get a big tick!

It's also handy if their e mail addresses appear in the search as you could then send them an e mail just saying that today his/her colleague booked a phone interview on Tues at 10am with them and that you are looking forward to it. ( Little things like this can really impress an interviewer)

Whilst you are on Google I shouldn't have to tell you that you must find out as much as possible about the company and the position that you are applying for.

You will get asked "So tell me what do you know about our company?" and you say "I don't really know anything but I do see your vans now and then" Will not go down well.

So the day & time has been set & you know who is going to ring you and the number they will ring you on is... I hope you haven't given them a mobile number to ring you on. The reason being is that sods law they will be slightly early & you'll be driving, parking the car up, still in the middle of the shopping mall or worse still you have no signal! Always make sure they ring you on a land line & pencil out 15mins prior to the call so you are sitting by the phone in case they ring early.

Don't play games & wait 10 rings before you answer, you will be expected to answer  the phone immediately.

If the interviewer hears Jeremy Kyle, Loose women, or Countdown in the background they will be immediately put off. The television must be switched off. Even if you think it sounds cool to have the stocks and shares on Bloomberg going on in the background it's best not to, most interviewers will want the environment totally quiet.

Children and dogs must be as far away from you as possible, you do not want to be trying to talk over a dog barking madly at the postman or a baby screaming because it's hungry, or a child asking for a biscuit..no no no! The interviewer may love dogs and children but all they will be hearing at the end of the phone is chaos and they will think that you are chaotic.

Never let your children pick up the phone and then shout out Mummy/Daddy it's for you, or I had one once where I had booked a 2pm phone interview and the child answered and said Daddy is sleeping! I didn't ring back.

Once you are on the phone chatting happily to your interviewer remain standing as this up lifts your body & helps your breathing and remember to smile. An interviewer can detect in your voice if you are miserable, not smiling, stern or generally don't have a good attitude. Always smile and sound focused and positive.

Do not mumble or umm and err. Do not keep using the same word over and over again, like "you know what I mean, so I had to get the clients to use it, you know what I mean" or " Basically, yes it's simple really, basically what you do is basically" or "you know where I'm coming from, it was quite funny really but I had to say it, you know where I'm coming from"  I hear so many and I cringe. My advice is that perhaps you get a member of your family or a friend to regularly get you to talk for a few minutes at a time about any old object & you are not allowed to umm or err or say anything repetitive. Doing this regularly will definitely improve how you present yourself, you will become a lot more aware of what you are saying.

The interviewer will ask you a list of questions in front of them and they are either the same questions that they ask everyone or a couple will be swapped round.

They may ask about your present or last job, what type of person you are, what salary you're after, what are your strengths & weaknesses, why are you applying for the position with them and so on. You must be prepared to just reel the answers off.

Remember that your objective is get a face to face interview so ask them some questions, have your list in front of you. Saying something like " When I was looking at your web site I noticed that you were expanding the design side more, would my skills be useful here as well?" This sounds great because it shows you've really researched the company & that you could be put to many uses.

Always ask " What additional information would you like from me?" and give them a link to your professional profile on JobHop or LinkedIn.

When the time comes for them to say Good bye make sure that you say "When is the best time to follow up with you?" If they say give it a couple of days you must make sure to say that will give them a call at a particular time on a particular day, then proceed to say Thank you very much & I look forward to talking more on Tues, Weds,or whenever you'd arranged.

Good luck

So we've been told that on average 4 (unemployed)

 people are chasing every 1 job, in some places the

 average is 31 people chasing every 1 job

Just recently a full time minimum wage job in Colchester attracted 500 applicants and Colchester isn't an unemployment black spot.In reality theres probably a lot more people going for the limited job vacancies than what the Government are stating.

725,000 jobs are to go in the public service and a reckoning of 1/2 million jobs due to go in the private sector. More Government cuts = more job losses = swelling dole queues.

So it seems the mind set is; if you have a job even if you hate it just stay put at least it's an income but should you just give up so easily?There are things that you can continue to do to better your career even through these troubled times.

Tell everyone what you're good at.. Whatever your expertise is let everyone know so eventually it stays in peoples heads so when someone needs a ....whatever it may be...they will contact you firstNetwork  constantly stay in the loop..This doesn't mean that you have to go to early morning business meetings, it could be just joing groups, the w.i , coffee mornings, golf, football club..The key is getting people to know you and know what you do so of course they will recommend you.

Get known on line via social networking..  Twitter, JobHop, Linkedin, Facebook  Make sure that your profile reflects you favourably and let everyone know what you are looking for.   The jobs will come to you if you're the person they're looking for however you have to let them know you're out there!

The Best Tip to get a Job

is to Brand & promote yourself.

Make getting your dream job your business &  take tips from successful businesses.

A successful business has a brand & always promotes itself,  their aim should be to create a fan base.

If you wanted to buy a computer you would probably get loads of people who have & love Apple, they will try to convince you to buy an Apple.

If you wanted to buy a good quality beautiful smelling soap with no chemicals, then Fans of Lush may convince you to buy Lush.

So the same with you, you need to create a fan base via branding & promoting yourself.

How?

Lets look at what you want to do.

Make up artist, goes without saying your make up should be impeccable however there are lots out there that don't even try at their own & how many times have you come across a hairdresser with awful hair! A wardrobe stylist should dress well, a cleaner should have a clean home, A declutterer should have a well organised office & a  P.A shouldn't be dizzy & constantly losing their keys!

You need to become the person & start your personal brand, it's about how you look, how you act, how you talk, what makes you unique?When you are branding yourself make sure it follows through with everything ie if you are telling people you are a family man make sure you're not seen out every week end with a different woman. If You want a top job at a law firm then dont let the photos of you with your boobs out on Face Book be seen.

Get out there & promote yourself, let everyone know what you do & that you're available. Eventually you will gain fans,once you have fans they will talk about you & promote you. i.e If somebody asks me if I know a good builder, web site designer, haidresser, dog groomer there is someone  I would promote for each of those jobs because I am a loyal fan.

Become the person become the brand then promote & gain fans.

Searching for a job can be a task at the best of times but it can be soul destroying in this current climate.

There are literally hundreds of people going for the same job at some places.

So how do you get yourself noticed above everyone else?

NETWORK  Network with everyone and get the word out there that you are looking for a job. Tell them exactly what you are looking for and what type of salary you would expect. Network at clubs, groups, organisations, at the Gym etc..

Network online like Twitter, Facebook, Bebo, Msn and Job Hop.

Make sure that when you are networking on line that you are always coming across as professional and that your profile and c.v is up to date.

BLOG  Blog about your expertise and get yourself noticed to potential employers. Search on line for Job Blogs and leave comments with links back to your Blog.

RECOMMENDATIONS Ask people to recommend you and also ask them for recommendations. Do they know a good company you could try? Do they know a good contact?

COLD CALLING  Just go out there and get what you want! Because you haven't seen a position advertised it doesn't mean you haven't got a chance. Research the company, are they lacking something that your expertise could change? Could you make money for this company? Many people have got jobs this way, sometimes some companies don't realise they need you until you tell them.

VOLUNTEER If you really have the desire to work for a particular company or in a particular field but cannot find a way in then offer your services for Free. It could be one day a week for four weeks. Once you're in the door then hopefully you will eventually be offered a position.

Economists are saying that every 4 out of 5 jobs lost belonged to a man.

Approximately 287,000 people lost their jobs in the first 3 months of 2009 and the majority of that number were men.

How do men feel when this happens to them? A lot feel like they should be the bread winner, the head of the family and will feel shame and guilt.

A lot of men will start to be depressed especially after trying to search for a new job and find that most doors are closed.

Some women are taking upon themselves to get out there and get any work that will bring in the money jobs such as cleaning, school cook, carers, dog walking, child minding. When it comes to the man though a lot will not want to take on any work that they feel could be beneath them. Friction can start to happen at home and currently Relate reports a rise in marital problems due to the credit crunch and job losses.

Perhaps men need to take a back seat for a bit and don't beat themselves up about it. Job losses are happening so take this opportunity and learn a new skill.

Three million vocational qualifications were awarded last year and the number of schools offering them in the last 12 months has doubled.

So men don't crumble see this as a challenge and just do something different.

Ask yourself was that the job you really wanted to be in after all? sometimes something negative can turn into something positive....

400,000 graduates will soon be hitting the job market for the first time or should I say the jobless market! When you speak to the soon to be graduates a lot of them were hoping to find jobs in the banking and finance world, well a lot of these jobs have just gone. What will happen to our graduates?

Graduates use to be able to just walk into a job, it use to be drummed into you to get a good degree pass and you then get a good job.

There has been an increase in the number of people under the age of 25 who claimed jobseekers allowance in the last 12 months, the figures now say that 20% of young people are unemployed. This figure of course will grow.

What will our young people do? without a job they will be living at home for longer, this doesn't help with their independence. Will many of them turn to the army as a means of security?

It now goes back to survival I think where only the strong will survive, or perhaps our graduates will have to start thinking outside of the box.

When the idea of JobHop originally came about it was a case of how can people get their dream job and how can employers get their dream candidate. In todays climate lots of people are thinking that they are lucky to have any job.

U.K unemployment continues to rise now being the highest since 1997.

Youth unemployment is at its highest rate for 15 years and looks to get worse when fresh school leavers and graduates start looking for work in the coming weeks.

Many believe that unemployment will rise to 3 million by the middle of next year.

So Jobhop can be a great help for the unemployed, school leavers and graduates. However JobHop now becomes an even safer bet for those that are in work but not their dream job.

By stating what job you would ideally like, keeping your profile and cv updated keeps your options open to better offers whilst having the security of being in work.