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Monday, October 06, 2008

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Jon

My experience of LinkedIn despite pimping it up and getting recommendations is that it did nothing but attract spam, recruiters trying to reach other people in my organisation and time wasters. Not to mention nosy staff.

I agree with having an interactive Resume. I keep mine on Google docs and embed hotlinks to my blog and other websites but personally after 3 years on LinkedIn I ditched it and my career has been none the worse for it.

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=712406420

I totally agree. I had my blog but then I got totally sidetracked and I am trying to get to writing content regularly. One of my goals for 2010. I have been actively pursuing the rest and also attending networking events/tweetups and what not. Anywhere where I can meet people and volunteering at conferences seems to have been paying me off dividends.

Isao

Nice entry - being in the transition period I am encouraged by your recommendations: blog, LinkedIn, and so on. Your opinions are bold and to the point, but the colorful texts were a bit too hard on my eyes. (It also made this blog semi-NSFW since coworkers kept staring into my screen which says out loud about job-hopping ;).

Zuco

Totally agree. Anyway we cannot forget the traditional resume, because many companies still demand it.
It also depends on the country. My experience in Japan is that the resume is something that will be used in the interview and then everybody will forget about it.
I also realized in Japan that social media here is something related for private use (and almost always anonymously) than for public use.

So all these platforms will help, in fact they are helping me a lot, but just to put me in contact with a certain part of the world.

For example in south Europe, based on my experience, the only important thing to success is about "personal contacts" The more people you know the more opportunities you have.

Every country is a new world to discover :)

Interesting post, and good advices by the way :)

Sagem

Paper CV or by email may be rubbish, but most companies aren't so upto date to use new media.

Brian Burt

Thanks Dave. I really appreciate hearing about the fears that *other* entrepreneurs have faced. I have been feeling a contraction from my belly up through my chest lately, and it ain't what I would choose. Being in Oakland rather than the Valley, and having so far avoided VCs and most networking events, I don't know that many other folks who have been through this. So this has me feel more at one with the world.

rodel

this is exactly what i told my community on seo/sem's impact to your online reputation and client conversion.

Carl Pierce

I would say that the one thing you're overlooking is making sure your PersonRatings profile is loaded with good info because anyone can rate and review anyone else. Dave, you have nothing to worry about because you've been rated a '10' on everything: http://www.personratings.com/name/Dave/McClure/141

Josh Neumann

Very informative post, I agree, blogs will definitely help you stand out from the competition. Unfortunately, most people will be too lazy to follow the advice, but those who do won't have trouble finding a job.

Ted Murphy

I liked this post so much that I went out and added a couple of groups to my linkedin profile.

I do think you might talk a bit about the importance of being pro-active on the internet if you are job hunting. I've seen stats that indicate over half of job positions are filled by large companies through their own website and HR outreach.

I do wish you would add my new product to the monetization techniques you outline in your slide -- add paid personal interaction to ads, lead generation, subscriptions and ecommerce.

Ryan Graves

Absolutely awesome post. Really sums up a variety of tools that those of use who are in the process of building reputation online can use. Thanks man.

BTW-You starting following me on Twitter a while back after my Sweetcron post. http://ryanagraves.com/08/28/2008/sweetcron-the-automated-lifestream/

Think we could chat for 15-20 mins sometime? graves.ryan[at]gmail
http://ryanagraves.com

Cheers.

tom

Dave, I assume this advice regarding Linkedin is for the under employed. Anyone in an in demand field/skill set will be inundated by recruiter calls very quickly. As I read once, "a profile on Linkedin is the equivalent of writing your name on the bathroom stall" Linkedin is great for careers, like marketing, biz dev and sales. For engineers, it makes sense to use a pseudonym unless you are laid off.

Other than that, your advice regarding creating notable visual online media, rocks. I plan on putting it to good use in the near future.

Kevin Merritt

Great post Dave. I'd also suggest that people link their Linked In profile to their blog and blog with authenticity without worrying as much about me finding your blog directly through Google. Employers looking for candidates will find you and dozens of others through Linked In's advanced search feature. But from there, it's your blog that will set you apart from the rest. What percentage of Linked In profiles link through to a blog? My guess is < 5% so right away you're in the top 5% if you have a blog and link to it.

Oren Michels

Wow, Dave - you do all of these things...does that mean you're job hunting? I think we could find a slot here; by all means visit Mashery's jobs site and check it out :)

Mike Driehorst

I'll echo a bit what Shannon mentioned, that you almost need a hybrid -- a resume with links and references to the online you.

LinkedIn and the other great means and tactics you mentioned, Dave, are things we need to do -- so we can be found. But, not every worthwhile employer uses them. The tried and true resume is still the primary vehicle I'd say many, if not most employers use to weed out candidates.

This is definitely a post, though to keep for reference.
Take care,
Mike

Kevin Cimring

Absolutely true. We are busy recruiting at Jemstep, and when trying to evaluate prospective candidates in the early stage, I definitely get more out of LinkedIn (and other online sources)than I do from a resume. Great post.

Shannon Paul

Blogs and social networking profiles really mean so much more than the old resume or anything I can fit on a sheet of paper.

However, since most potential employers still want to see a resume, I added hyperlinks to everything, including my blog, social networking profiles and former employers, and then embedded it into the body of the e-mail. This may be a good step for some in the move away from the static resume as we move through this transition period. The learning curve for most is still pretty steep when it comes to online communication.

Great post, thanks for all the great advice and information! There's plenty here that I still need to work on.

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