Job Searching and Social Media: Facebook Profile Self-Evaluation

We recently came across a great graphic, put together by Socially Stacked, about how to perform a Facebook profile evaluation. The graphic and accompanying post are primarily written for entrepreneurs. However, what is good for entrepreneurs is often just as good for job searchers and career changers.

Today, more and more employers are utilizing Facebook to learn about candidates and to post new jobs, that to ignore your Facebook profile is to ignore a significant portion of your online job search activities.

Networking for Veterans, by Veterans

 Have you heard of Rally Point? It's a new social networking site created by two military veterans. We know that you're probably thinking, "Another social networking site, really?" But Rally Point caught our eye and we wanted to share it with you.

What made Rally Point stand out for us wasn't it's massive, all-inclusive networking style, but rather it's exclusive focus on member of the military and veterans. While we would never advise transitioning veterans to limit their networks to military personnel and veterans only, we do encourage our clients to take full advantage of the relationships and contacts they created during their time in the military. As is described in our Transition Stories in Mission: Career Transition, military contacts can not only lead to your first job out of the service but they can also open up career and entrepreneurial opportunities years later. 

So, take a moment and visit Rally Point. It will probably become one of the platforms you use to develop your network and find your next career.

4 Must Do Activities for LinkedIn

Having a LinkedIn profile is essential whether you are searching for a job or not. LinkedIn is a favorite site for headhunters!

Here are four must do activities for anyone who wants to get the most out of their LinkedIn profile.

1. Make sure you complete your profile in a way that complements your resume. You don't want your LinkedIn profile to duplicate your resume-just agree with it. Remember, LinkedIn profiles often come up high in the list when someone Googles your name. So you want your profile to make a positive first impression.

2. Make connections. When you first start out, look for people you already know on LinkedIn. Don't just ask any and everyone to connect with you. You could be seen as a spammer. Once you've connected with a few acquaintances, you can start looking for individuals with whom you want to connect who are "friends with a friend."

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Veterans Careers: Top 10 Federal Gov't Twitter Accounts to Follow!

Here is a quick list of our 10 Favorite Federal Government Tweeters to follow for veteran career advice, employment opportunities, resources, information and more! Many of these tweeters also talk about other important topics for vets, too, giving you even more reason to follow them! 

• Feds Hire Vets - @FedsHireVets
• U.S. Army - @USArmy
• Veterans Affairs - @DeptVetAffairs
• U.S. Department of State Careers - @DOSCareers
• USA Jobs - @USAJobs
• US Dept of Labor - @USDOL
• Joining Forces - @JoiningForces
• Veterans Benefits - @VAVetBenefits
• Navy Veterans - @NavyVets
• Retirement Services - @FedRetireInfo

What is Networking: Use LinkedIn to Build Your Reference List

Do you keep an updated list of potential references? Based on our career consulting experience we find that the most common answer is "no." It can be difficult to keep in touch with past supervisors and colleagues and it only takes a few years for detailed specifics about your work at the organization to get a bit fuzzy or lost. As such, quality references can be difficult to get.

Additionally, many job seekers we've worked with -- particularly those that are currently employed -- have simply put "References Available Upon Request" at the bottom of their resume. Inevitably, when they get the follow-up request for the actual contacts, they end up scrambling to find 2-3 people available to speak about their work. Calling up an old colleague or boss out of the blue to ask for a reference can be a bit off-putting -- for both you and the potential referrer.

This is where LinkedIn comes in handy.
The best time to ask for a reference from a previous colleague or supervisor is when you don't actually need one; when you have 4-6 months to make initial contact with an old colleague, connect on LinkedIn and casually request a recommendation. The best part about LinkedIn is that you can do it all online.

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