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No Blogging Allowed

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Another great question from the AFP conference …

How can I build visibility if my company has a policy against personal and/or corporate blogs?

Unfortunately this is a roadblock many people face. Obviously, attempting to get the policy changed is one approach. Since corporate visibility and credibility also boost your individual visibility and credibility, corporate blogging is really a win/win. A legitimate argument for corporate blogging might include what the competition is doing, or not doing, as a way for your organization to get onboard the Web 2.0 phenomenon.

If there isn’t a corporate policy against writing and publishing articles, especially for industry–related websites, trade journals, and magazines, that can be a great back–up plan for increasing online visibility by including a link back to your Linked In profile.

Failing those two strategies, think about visible leadership roles you might assume and then create press around the benefits of what you’re doing. These leadership roles might include presenting at conferences, chairing the local chapter of an organization, or even holding an officer position in a national organization.

The inability to raise visibility through publishing or pontificating increases the importance of a professional, branded presence on Linked In, Facebook, Zoom Info, and Ziggs.

 

Reputation Management

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Some great questions came out of my presentation at the AFP conference in LA last week. I’ll cover a few of them here over the next few days.

How do I handle the situation where someone shares my name, has a high Google Quotient, and a less then desirable reputation?

This question points to the importance of knowing and understanding what Google is saying about you. While it is impossible to control other people and their reputation, you can raise your Google Quotient through posting, publishing, pontificating, and partnering … thereby pushing others behind you.

It also illustrates the importance of having complete profiles on some of the key sites (Linked In, Facebook, Ziggs, ZoomInfo) so there is NO question about who you are.

Move Beyond the Ostrich Position

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The current economic uncertainty is a perfect breeding ground for indecision and paralysis. And it has never been more important to be decisive then now! If you’ve been imitating the ostrich, here are a few action steps you can implement today …

––Adopt the “self–employed” mindset

If you haven’t read the great book by Cliff Hakim, “We Are All Self–Employed,” I highly recommend it. Log onto Amazon and order it or stroll into your local Barnes & Noble and begin reading. Those folks who embrace the “self–employed” rather than “other–employed” mindset will proactively control their careers rather then reactively respond to someone else’s control, whether that someone else is a CEO, Board of Directors, or investor group.

As finance executives, you understand the concept of managing your career the way you manage your company. Understanding though is different then doing. Create a 3–5 year career management plan and then work daily to execute your plan.

––Get visible

Linked In, Facebook, Naymz, Ziggs, Zoom Info, Twitter … to name a few of the “must” places you can create and maintain visibility. Begin today! If you would like a copy of my article, “5 Easy Ways to Beef Up Your Linked In Profile,” send me an email with “Linked In article request” in the subject line.

A quote pulled from the 2008 Recruiting Landscape report published by Zoom Info says, “Savvy recruiters know that the best hires come from candidates whose web presence speaks to their contributions to their companies’ success – not those who are likely to respond to a job ad.”

To be viewed as the “best,” creating a branded, visible presence is critically important. The people who need to know about you are already visible on the Internet and they are hunting passive, top–talent!

––Begin networking

Networking is time–consuming … and one of the most effective things you can do for your career. If you have been so busy working in your job to the exclusion of working on managing your career, today is the day to re–connect with at least one person and then add 10–15 minutes of networking time to your calendar as a daily appointment. With all of the online social networking outlets available, squeezing in 10–15 minutes can happen before dawn or at 11:30 at night … from the comfort of your home. The ROI will be well worth the effort.

So tell me, now that you’ve made the decision to read this post, what action step will you take today?

Passively Social

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I just returned from the Kennedy Recruiting Conference in Orlando. This was a hotel full of “internal” recruiters … those folks who are employed in–house to source potential candidates for their companies. And the four words and two themes we heard over and over were …

–Passive Candidates
–Social Networks

What internal recruiters want is the coveted A–player who is currently employed. Where they go to find them are social networking and job aggregator sites like Linked In, Ziggs, ZoomInfo, and Naymz.

If you want to play the game, you need to get in the game. If you aren’t where recruiters are looking, you won’t be found by them.

Email me with “Passively Social” in the subject line for a copy of my full article on this topic.

Zoom Into Visibility

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According to a recent statistic I read in the ERE daily, ZoomInfo is used by the top 10 executive search firms and more than 20% of Fortune 500 companies to meet their hiring needs.

In a teleseminar seminar by Marketing Professionals, branding guru William Aruda offered these updated statistics …

–87% of recruiters use Google to source candidates, and even HR is using Google to evaluate potential candidates

–35% of the 86% said they eliminate candidates based on what they find (or do not find), up from 26% last year

–23% of corporate employees Google each other

As I've mentioned in previous posts, building a visible online presence that brands you as unique and valuable is going to continue to be an effective job search strategy.

Look at it this way. Think of the job search as a football field. When you are  primarily playing the posted position game in the job boards, it is as if all the players from both teams are crowded into the end zone. Your chances of being "found" depend on where you are standing.

On the other hand, the rest of the field, 100+ yards, are empty. Being visible online means that you get to play in the very less crowded, very less competitive 100+ yards … which means your chances of being found are significantly improved.

What are you doing today to increase your visibility online?