ABWA Beachwood Ohio

Looking for a job in these tough times?

We all know that you are not alone. I have found a couple of places that might make your job hunting a bit easier.

1.)    Get on LinkedIn. This is a great place to put your skills and experiences in one place. It is a wonderful way to showcase the things and people you know. Ask people you have worked with to recommend your talents and skills. Recommend people you know.  Now, do not fret - you won’t get your profile filled out in one day! This is a process. Give it some time and quality attention.

2.)    Add a Google widget to your Google Reader. I just found this the other day. I’ve only tested it on one job title, but the sky is the limit. Simply create a Google home page if you do not have one already, click on iGoogle, and search for “Jobs” widgets in the “Add Stuff” search. You can add any widget to your Google home page, you may as well make it a productive one!

3.)    Join oDesk. If you are a techy or an MBA grad, this is the place for you. This is a quickly growing  job bank. The process is: Read about oDesk (they have training also!), read and sign the contract (basically saying that you will allow oDesk to manage your billing, and that you will not take a client off line – thereby stealing their lead), sign up for job alerts, and watch the job offers roll in. You are now a contractor and can work your own hours. Be careful, make sure you read everything, the contract and the job listings. You are also competing with young wiz kids and talented folks outside of the US, so you may have to offer a low, competitive price in order to get a job.

4.)    Attend all the job fairs you can. Check out the “Women for Hire” web pages, LinkedInand Facebook. These keep you up to date on people who are hiring, the latest Women for Hire job fairs. WfH prides itself on bringing women quality companies and high paying jobs to their fairs. I have not seen a fair in the Cleveland area yet, but it may be worth your while to attend one anyway. We have their streaming video on our web site to get you charged up about women taking their careers by the horns.

5.)    Get good advice. In the LinkedIn “QA”, Women for Hire posted a discussion“Avoiding the 10 biggest job search mistakes”.  a LinkedIn member posted the Webinar that she attended and felt that it was worthwhile to share.  Check it out.

6.)    Join networking organizations like ABWA! This is a great place to meet wonderful people who care about your future. Take time to meet new people and develop relationships. You can do this by volunteering to be on committees, or come to all the meetings.  Even if you do not like small talk, the messages from the speakers are like breathing fresh air. The topics are timely and just what you needed that day!

Try what you think is best. Try more than one, more than one time. This is your future-take charge of it!

Networking requires an investment of time, money and effort. If you are networking for business or your career, you need to make sure you’re getting the right return on your investment. Here are four ideas to help you do that.

1. Decide what you want
Why are your attending networking events? Are you looking for a new job? More business? Social contacts in a new home town? Whatever your purpose, stay focused on it, or things can slide into just another long lunch.

2. Attend the right event
If you are, say, a graphic designed looking for clients, why spend your time at an event for graphic designers? OK, you might be able to pick up some overload business from some designer who is super busy, but that’s a very small poor to fish in. You’d be much better off mixing with folks from businesses who use design work. Seems obvious, but it’s surprising how many people make this mistake.

3. Talk to the right people
Don’t spend your valuable networking time chatting to people you already know, who ar not in your traget group. It’s tempting, of course, because it’s easy and fun-but it’s not networking! Look for new people and make the effort to meet and greet them.

4. Keep track of your results
Every month or so, track back through your networking opportunities. Who did you meet? Where did you meet them? How did they fit with your reasons for being there? Did anyone help you achieve your objective?

Of course, you’ll also meet people who are pleasant additions to your social circle, some of whom may even become friends. Do include them in your success picture, but if you find you make more casual acquaintances than the people you are there to meet, you may need to change your networking activites so that they bring you a higher Return On Investment.

Happy Networking!

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