Managing your online brand – Job hunting 2.0 means Chef Shane is moving fast

Job hunting 2.0 – LinkedIn Profiles, Twitter tweets and a blog – This guest post is brought to you by Shane Brierly aka chef-a-go-go

A hectic year of working hard and focusing on being an effective and valued member of an organisation hasn’t been the way for me to get recognition and further job opportunities, unfortunately.

Building my worth as a focused an manager and employee has meant that I have been too busy to meet peers and network. Neglecting my blog posts and cutting back on my social life has equated to me becoming an invisible man. That’s not a good thing when you want to find your next role.

I’ll give you some context. I was working in a small tropical location which was generally paradise, but without the vast communities that exist in cities and their associated networking opportunities. Social media has been a way of letting people know where I am, what I have been doing and more importantly, why I have been doing it.

Putting myself back on the job market, I needed to do a lot of ‘catch up.’ Step one was to update the resume. I found Google to be an amazing tool. Everything you need to know is on it “somewhere”. There’s a lot of clutter and opinion around a lot of self promotion and conflicting advice. The hard part is not finding information, but filtering it and taking the first step forward.

One thing I learned was that other peoples’ blogs ended up being more informative, engaging and inspiring than ‘websites’. Blogs are a real David and Goliath story. When did that happen? When did blogs suddenly become the bastions of scared knowledge on almost any topic? The specialisation is staggering – as is the interaction and scope of content. That’s how I met Karalyn.

Unlike corporate websites, blogs tend to have an author – a human – a PERSON behind them. I have almost had a brain overload. In fact I have about 30 tabs queued in my browser now as we speak. Like reading a book, only faster and easier to navigate and find what you want.

On average, I’d say it takes around 3 months to find and commit to a suitable new career move. So with time at hand I began reconnecting with, friends, colleagues, new contacts, industry peers, employers etc. via social media and updating my online profiles. Social media is not so scary, except for the hype and drama around it. It’s really nothing more than an on-line telephone, water cooler, pub  or coffee shop – a way to connect, meet and share info, views etc.

Like the difference between the pub, water-cooler and phone – each has their own type of interaction or conversation. I just began using the tools in a more organised way.

I already had the different social media presence happening – but LinkedIn – was the big surprise. It suddenly grew up this year. A few years back it was a fairly static collection of names, resumes and ‘connect’ requests. Now it is more like a yellow pages of everyone that you can or will ever work for.

Updating my LinkedIn profile effectively is getting me about 7-10 hits a day – without me having to run around. It has my credentials, career focus and endorsements on-line to refer people too and also allows me to meet others in my field. Another bonus is the ability to ‘reference check’ any prospective agents or employers to see if they are the type of people I would get on well with or want to work for.

This is now such an active community, that I would that suggest anyone who has a resume and is not on LinkedIn needs to address it today.

I have spent a page talking which could be broken down into “if it is not your area of expertise, than ask a professional” When doing your CV – you always over-think it. It isn’t about you – it is about what you bring to the table for the employer. A professional can give you a strategy, direction and advice on how best to get your CV noticed and read, land an interview and how to handle it. And that is what gets you on the short-list and into a job.

In my industry, chefs make a point to be different, to stand out, be unique, creative, inspired and to have an angle. It is ironic that most of us reply to job ads along with a hundred other applicants, using chronological CV’s with a statement and objective. That demonstrates exactly the opposite.

Importantly – when you have got the job – keep connecting, keep sharing, and stay in touch. You may never have to look for jobs again. LinkedIn and social networking will deliver opportunities and people that you identify with and want to work with –  to your ‘bookmarks’, ‘favourites’ mobile phone or inbox.

I have two interviews next week – one connected on LinkedIn through a social media contact, and the other from an agent who I have known for years. After he referred me to the hotel group, my new look resume got me the call back out of a stack of applicants.

As Apple said back in 1997 when they hopped back in the saddle “Think Different”

Now I am actually getting more interest and response from the connections I have made and from LinkedIn, Twitter and social media – than I am from writing to job advertisements.

It is never too late – but it is harder to rebuild a network every few years than it is to consistently grow and maintain one.

Tagged as: Hidden job market, LinkedIn Tactics, online personal branding, social media mastery