My last unendeavor is an unblog post, a random stream if consciousness, no structure.

There are no social media experts, there are marketers, PR, HR, Recruiters, people who use social media applications to do what they have always done. This is just another tool. I went to the local community college today and spoke with 8 single mothers trying to make a life for themselves by juggling parenting, school and work. They were scared. They meet weekly to discuss life skills, I’m glad because they need it.

A local museum is closing due to State budget cuts, that’s not good for children who take field trips there to learn history and culture. Dancing with the Stars is reinventing Kelly Osbourne, she is maturing before my eyes. There must be a better alternative to the cat litter currently available. When I lived in Mexico there was no cat litter, I used to go the lumber mill and get bags of wood shavings. Sarah Palin just doesn’t go away.

Recently I purchased a Nikon SLR starter camera, a D3000 and I think I have a future in food photography. I took a photo of a tray of canoli today that I couldn’t stop staring at. I don’t sleep much during the week because I have a lot I want to accomplish but I make it up on the weekends. When someone asks me what keeps me up at night I can’t come up with anything. Nothing is worth losing sleep over.

Homes in Europe and other places last hundreds of years because they are built of brick and stone. Why are we like gerbils spinning wheels building houses of wood that get ripped apart in hurricane zones, rot and get eaten by termites. Aren’t we smarter than that? Why do I get mail order catalogs with website URLs in big letters on the front cover?

Having to renew dog licenses every year is ridiculous. Why are human births and deaths registered but not those of other domesticated animals unless they are pedigree? I’m trying to figure out what law of physics governs individual strands of fur to find one another and clump together to create fur balls, same with dust bunnies. Some enterprising person should go around neighborhoods and offer maintenance contracts just like condo communities have. I would pay it. Kind of a one stop shop for yard work, handyman stuff, snow removal, housekeeping, security, etc.

I want a necklace with a pendant that is a hard drive and mobile phone that I can activate by the sensor reading my thumb print and it projecting a touch screen monitor and keyboard on the surface of my choosing. I want seamless applications. I don’t want to have to sync my smart phone with my computer and I don’t want to have to carry them around either. I like to travel light. It needs to be scanable to pay for purchases and be stylish. It should be customizable like a locket with interchangeable covers to match your mood or your clothing. Actually, I’m disappointed. We have put people on the moon and we don’t have this yet? I’m sensing our priorities are mixed up.

Shouldn’t world hunger have been solved by now? I’m not a speciesist and I  view eating animals the same as cannibalism. If I had no food choices I might eat another animal to survive but I would only do it for survival. I can’t wrap my mind around murdering, cooking, eating and saying yum.. I think maybe it’s why nothing keeps me up at night.

I can be as abstract as the next person but I want some structure back in my conferences. Not lectures precisely, more workshop style. I feel like I’m unconferencing all the time, it’s one of the things social media is good for. If I want to have a discussion with like minded people I start a thread somewhere and now a wave, and ask people to join in. I don’t need to fly or drive somewhere to do that. To me that’s just good old networking so lets call a spade a spade..

That was cathartic. Now it’s time for some sleep.

Have you all seen that commercial from Verizon? The one where the kids are making fun of their parents for jumping on the Social Media bandwagon with their kewl new phones?

That is what most of my friends are like as well. Hell, in my [old] office, people didn’t even want to use Instant Messaging programs. I’m not suggesting you hop on every new SocMed website to pop up (I signed up for Plaxo, not really impressed), but you need to branch out and help establish your personal brand. In my case, I was able to get a great new job from it…

Twitter can be used to help get interviews. Simple as that. You obviously cannot approach it the same way you would a typical “job board”, you have to think outside the box. How do a lot of people get hired? They know somebody within a company. Well, Twitter gives you the opportunity to meet people within organizations and build relationships with them. In addition to making new friends, you can share articles (blog or news) and have conversations that help establish your credibility. If you aren’t a social butterfly, you can at the very least get tips on how to accelerate your job search.

Here is my story. A couple weeks ago I came to the realization (I was more or less told this directly) that I was not a candidate for a promotion any time in the foreseeable future. After smoking a few cigarettes, I realized I didn’t even want a promotion – I wanted a fresh start! Becoming a manager at my previous employer meant I would no longer be a recruiter. I would be more of an account manager and have to do 3 hour conference calls and tell people what to do. I’m more hands-on than that. My reqs are my babies – I do the sourcing and calling – I don’t want to just tell people what to do and how to do it without getting my hands dirty!

I decided to call one of the experts in our field for guidance. I reached out to Glen Cathey (you may know him as @BooleanBlackBlt or via his blog), because we have had a ton of great online conversations in the past and I wanted to finally get a chance to talk to him live. I told him about my background and what I did and didn’t want to do in my future. This early in the conversation, I had no real intention of asking for an interview because I still hadn’t done enough homework on his company, K-Force. After hearing what I had to say, he started to tell me about the career path for recruiters at his organization. I was all ears. We then both decided to start talking about the logistics of an interview in the immediate future. Glen had a Director in New England give me a call during my lunch break and the rest is history (had to do a face-to-face interview, fill out an application, etc.). I was extended an offer the day following my in-person interview and it was the best phone call I had received in years.

What do you know? I got a new job without going to Monster or CareerBuilder once. I didn’t send my resume to 100 different employers. I simply had a great conversation with somebody who felt that I would be an asset to his team. I am thrilled to be a part of K-Force and cannot thank Glen, Paul, and Abby enough for their time and support.

So what does this mean to you? If you are a job seeker and struggling to find a new gig, you really need to cut out the status quo. Recruiters are inundated with resumes (believe me, I know) and job fairs and networking events don’t really work for 99% of the attendees (based on my experience with in-person and virtual career fairs as a recruiter – this is an opinion, not a fact by any means).

Start by first figuring out what you want to do. Don’t just go on Twitter and post status updates saying “HIRE ME!” If you know the industry you want to be a part of, start doing searches for key players in that industry. Also, tweet tons of awesome material (either your own or link to other sites) to get ReTweeted. ReTweets are FREE ADVERTISING! Don’t forget to @reply other people to engage them in a 1-on-1 conversation (or invite them to follow you to Direct Message them).

Okay this has already been said and done on a million other blogs – time for some Fieldsy exclusive content.

I love Instant Messaging. If somebody you don’t know @replies you or ReTweets you, reply back and ask if they have a Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo, or AIM account. Twitter was never meant to be a chat program, and it certainly isn’t a replacement to Facebook, so use them all together. My latest example is with Jeff Moore, an internal recruiter for Google. Jeff ReTweeted me which obviously showed up in my @mentions column in TweetDeck. I saw that he was a recruiter and seemed really cool judging by his bio and tweets, so I immediately shot him a DM with my email and asked if he had time to GChat. We shared stories about our backgrounds and working in Boston and all that good stuff. I plan on meeting up with him soon since we work a train-ride away.

See? It really is that simple. Now I am obviously not trying to get recruited by Jeff or force-feed referrals down his throat (I know some pretty techy people), but I am looking to meet new people all the time because I love to talk and who knows, these relationships I am building now could lead to future opportunities for me.

I’ve been to TweetUps and networking events. I have over 1000 connections on LinkedIn. None of it really did anything for me. Facebook has been AWESOME for looking at pictures of people I never intend to talk to ever again – but that isn’t really doing much for my career. Twitter works. What more proof do you need?

@Fieldsy4Life Facebook LinkedIn

P.S. Hey, this is Karla. You know I love a success story and today when I congratulated Adam on his new job I  invited him to guest blog to help celebrate. He’s taking some down time to be LAZY and have fun before he starts his new gig. He’s on top of the world and I’m on top of it too, for him.

Nothing gives me goosebumps like some one telling me they got a job they really wanted. A few months ago when an opportunity dropped out of the sky on my head, I quickly assembled a team of amazing coaches.  Craig Fisher was my peer sounding board and coach. I needed one after not having personally interviewed for eight years. He was so supportive, crossed his fingers for me across the miles and sent me interview tips. How did I meet Craig? On Twitter.…..

What I found was a slew of @ replies filled with Follow Friday luv. Since I can’t turn back the hands of time to yesterday I thought I would express my appreciation via this post and info about what it is that makes these tweeps worth my Saturday afternoon.

Let’s roll!

@punkrockHR Laurie is funny and generous in the way she doesn’t mince words, extroverted and sweet with a healthy dash of cynicism, an expert at self-branding, an HR pro and she loves cats. Her blog Punk Rock HR is a Top 5 career site with a huge  and engaged following and I recommend you check it out.

@MrScrubby is Laurie’s cat and he pees in interesting new places.

@SMRecruiting is the Twitter twin of the LinkedIn Social Media Recruiting Group which should be pretty self explanatory but if it isn’t just go there. It’s safe and educational and good and you will make tons of contacts with other recruiters who are interested in using social media as a recruiting tool. Disclaimer: OK, I’m a co-moderator.

@CIMAPR Are you job hunting in Puerto Rico? Then check out CIMA Services. Tweets good job search tips too. It’s in Spanish but I guess if you are in PR or thinking of working there you won’t have any problems with that. Behind the tweets are @lucymfel,  a tweeter with a real heart who shares job advice in Spanish and English, and @ConsultantRC who owns a Benz and is vegetarian. His tweets are mostly in Spanish but his new Benz blog is in English.

@SignWerks Todd is the owner of SignWerks, located in Kingston, PA. That’s just over the bridge from my locale. He provides a great example of someone who leverages social media. There are no sales tweets just engaging conversation and help if you need it. He is also civic minded and always willing to lend a helping hand. At local tweet-ups Todd brings name badges he makes and even cool bumper stickers. He won a local contest I ran on Twitter to teach new users Twitter basics for business at THE Conference in Wilkes-Barre on October 6th.

@Fathercabbage Chet is a retired firefighter who hasn’t really retired. He loves his community and his profession and does plenty of volunteer work to support them. Let’s roll em’ down the hill in Honeypot!

@PeterParker_PA Chris is the Online Editor at Times Leader, on of the two local newspapers in Wilkes-Barre, PA.  He is often equipped with either a video camera and microphone or a laptop and air card to shoot video or post live updates of news events as they happen throughout the Wyoming Valley. He’s often funny and helpful too.

@mlb217 Mandy is an Advertising & PR student at Marywood University, SEO Specialist at Solid Cactus, Freelance Writer and lover of food. You can check out her writing samples on her blog, Miss Mandy’s stream of… well, something and if you need some copy writing done, well, you know… give her a shout out!

@JustinWaldrop Justin is a Writer/Blogger/Social media fanatic looking for opportunities in PR/Advertising/Marketing in the Chicago area. Check out @MotivelessCrime, his alter-ego and site. He’s a relatively new follower. I tweeted about how I liked his use of Google Sites for his job search and the rest is history.

@atenta Jan tweets for Atenta about recruiting, sourcing, customized search and data mining from Hamburg, Germany, mostly in German but there are plenty of English tweets too. The website can be viewed in several languages and the section about how to obtain employment in Germany is really interesting. The blog is cool, I stumble through it with my own early 80’s rusty German language skills.

@havrilla Chris tweets jobs from Hitachi Consulting and about recruiting and sourcing and the use of social media  in the profession. She’s really friendly and really knowledgeable. Recently, Chris wrote a rockin’ post, Why I Recruit — And You Should Career Search — Using Social Media you’ll probably want to read. She’s also co-moderator of Social Media Recruiting on LinkedIn.

@ki2mylife is Community and Marketing Manager at Glassdoor.com. The career blog at that site has good content for job seekers and the tweets are might interesting and helpful too.

@MikeStivala Mike is the Creator, writer, director of HILLERS, an upcoming series starring Joel Bryant, Tessa Munro, Tom Arnold & Henry Winkler. I have to give the Greater Scranton Film Office tons of credit for figuring out how to get TV and Film productions to come to NEPA.

@FSEnterprises Michael is a local NEPA social media geek who loves music and blogging. He’s funny, articulate and helpful. He has a new blog where he has a lot of interesting info on  insects. He also blogs about politics and other miscellaneous stuff.

@waltonsearch Shannon shares all kinds of great info on recruitng and sourcing via her tweets in addition to jobs. She is a super resource for social media recruiting tips and co-moderator of  Social Media Recruiting on LinkedIn.

@SakibKhan Sakib is a grad student in People and Employment in Auckland, NZ. His tweets are informational and he has a great positive attitude. His blog HR with Sakib Khan is just a few months old but very well done with great content.

@healthydocs Tamyra makes me feel good just following her. You never know, I could be out somewhere and need to tweet with a physician. She has the inside track on how to find them and all kinds of other health care professionals too. Plus, she tweets all kinds of cool medical stuff.

@jobtweet_de In addition to being a cool real-time symantic Twitter job search engine, you get bonus tweets chalk full of job seeking and recruiting with social media tips and news from Hamburg, Germany, in English and German.

@audreychernoff Audrey is Sr. Technical Recruiter / Abstract Artist and Co-Founder of Hirefinders.com, an innovative recruiting platform enabling Employers and Job Seekers to find one another quickly, enjoyably and efficiently.  She’s are looking for beta testers so get on over there now!

So wow, you can see what I missed working on Friday! I hope you’ll find some of these tweeps as interesting and worthy of following as I do…

Before I take off I have one more tidbit of interest. If you enjoy having really interesting reads put before you about a wide variety of topics, then follow @snipurl.

Ciao!

Now here’s Bill!

I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but Karla has an obsession for food. Could it be that it’s a diet phase, and hunger is bringing food in to all her writings. Barely a blog goes by without a mention of an éclair, bun or other pastry product. We were discussing this on twitter recently (it was a Saturday) when I commented on two things: 1) Being a Saturday I should really get a life & 2) that I talk about “cake making” in my training. Curious about this, and desirous to discuss food further, invited me to add a guest blog.

If you bake a cake as badly as I do, the reason is because I get bored of recipes and guess the ingredients. Forget the scales; chuck in a handful of this and a handful of that. Mix it in a pot, drink a beer then stick it in the oven. Surprise, one hour later I take out the smoking stodgy mess and then rush to the shops to buy a real cake made by an expert baker, so that we don’t have to spend another of my children’s a birthday singing happy birthday whiles they blow out candles stuck in a potato covered in tinfoil. (This is true!) And a wife expressing an opinion that makes Gordon Ramsey sound like a priest.

Where did it all go wrong? Despite my blaming the cooker and banging the thermostat, I know in my heart of hearts I should have really paid more attention to the traditional recipe handed down from grandmother to grandmother, before deciding that actually I knew better than those that had gone before, and winging it. More preparation to get the ingredients and timings right, following the words of the wise and I would have ended up with a cake to be proud of.

O.K., that’s a wise culinary lesson but what has this got to do with a blog aimed at job seekers? For me, it’s simple. While putting together Career Carnival, I collected over 30 expert blogs and twitter tips on every aspect of the job seeking process. This is the recipe you need to follow in your search for your next big step. From reading all of this material I can give you my 10 commandments for the job search. Be sure to follow the recipe!

1. Before you start anything define what you want. Be clear what will be right for you, why you want it and use this to define your search. Check with people who know if you are being realistic in your expectation.
2. Create an on-line presence that includes a linked in profile fully completed including references. Check Facebook etc., and see what it says about you. Change it if you think it wouldn’t look good to hiring managers.
3. Collect references from past managers and create a brag file that illustrates your achievements.
4. Conduct at least 4 mock interviews with friends who you trust to be critical.
5. Apply for one job at a time, make each resume and cover letter personal to that job and keep a track on a spreadsheet of every job you apply for and where you’re up to. It’s not impressive to say “Sorry, what was the role again?”
6. Make friends of recruiters. They are not the enemy and your relationship with them will determine where you are in their thinking. Be professional and courteous, and always ask for (and more importantly accept) feedback.
7. never be late for an interview and spend time preparation. The right ingredients for the interview are 80% preparation,20% presentation.
8. During the interview take notes and ask 3 types of questions:
   1. Questions about something you’ve been told by the interviewer. Shows you have listened and are interested.
   2. Questions that show you have done your own research about something you haven’t been told.
   3. Qualify what the next step is, and if you want it, ask for it.
9. Make sure you close for any job you want by stating that and asking for reservations. If there are none, ask for the job.
10. Always plan and follow the plan. An old cliché but “Fail to plan, plan to fail!”

This is my recipe for success. Follow the instructions to avoid ending up huddled round a burning potato rather than pulling out a masterpiece, testament to your ability.

Good luck!
Bill

You can follow me on twitter: @BillBoorman (I highly suggest you do ~Karla)