Do You Feed Your Network Table Scraps?

I know it has been over a month since my last blog, but with job search and trying to find a good certificate program to gain web/e-learning skills, time is a precious commodity.

With this blog I would like your opinion. Are You Possessive with Your Job Leads?

I will be the first to admit that I don't forward every job lead that comes across my ears, my eyes, my screen, or my snail mailbox. Partly out of not enough time or laziness. Partly out of not having a legitimate connection within the target company that I can pass on along with the lead.

Anyone can pass on leads blindly to the various Yahoo, LinkedIn and other networking groups. We see this happening everyday on the Internet, within Twitter, Facebook, etc. Don't get me wrong. It is a benefit to everyone on the hunt, including me, that job leads are passing through the Internet. How many of us can view every single job posting site? Its impossible.

For me though, I try not to pass on a job lead if I don't have a connection. But that is not the subject of this blog.

The question is "Do you feed your network table scraps?" What I mean is, "Do you pass on leads that you are actively pursuing, or just the ones that either were not interested in you, or you were not interested in them?"


Recently, I read on one of my LinkedIn groups a discussion that was both interesting and, IMHO, a bit cold. The writer was commenting about how we need to share job leads. But then the writer said only those leads you are not interested in. *I am not singling out this person because that would not be proper network etiquette either. Every day this topic comes up in many networking groups.

At the Professional Services Group at New Brunswick's Dept of Workforce Development, I get some quizzical looks when I share that I pass leads on even if I am pursuing the same position. Why?

No one can argue the fact that there are more people looking for jobs than ever before. The candidate pool for any job is more experienced and diverse than has ever been in our lifetime. Because of this large pool of people to choose from companies are able to be more selective about who they hire. And they are willing to wait it, most of the time, to find that great employee.

I was recently submitted for a Technical Trainer position at CommVault over in Oceanport, New Jersey. This position has been open for more than 6 months. Companies want it all and are willing to wait it out.

Here's a scenario.
Suppose I am applying for a position as a Training and Development Specialist at XYZ Consulting. I am an excellent match for the position. I know that James, a close friend in my network is seeking a position as a Training and Development Specialist as well. I inform Jim about the position and tell me that he should apply. Jim is not competing against me on this job. XYZ is going to hire the BEST candidate. This not only includes skills and experience, but how Jim or I (or any of the other final candidates) will fit into the department, and within the company. And this "fit" includes one's personality, emotions, ethics, and the hiring manager anticipates they will be politically and socially within the organization. If I don't fit in with these intangibles, I am not receiving an offer whether Jim applies or not.

Potential Win-Win for me.
Let's say that Jim gets the job and I don't. It's a potential Win-Win for me. The next time a position opens up at XYZ Jim is going to being looking out for me. He will sing my praises to the hiring manager, and everyone else. I will have a very strong advocate/angel with XYZ Consulting. Also, there is the possibility that in future conversations Jim has with his new manager, he might tell them how I told him about the position. When the manager hears this they will recall my interview and think "Wow. Genesius was so unselfish that he shared a job lead with you, his competition. I should find some way to hire Genesius or create a position for him. I want that kind of integrity on my team."


Didn't you ever invite your friends in school to team tryouts knowing that there was only one spot open?

Yeah, I could be way off base, but "You never know."

Please let me know your opinion.

Do You Want to LinkUp?

Did you know when you submit your resume to the blackhole for a position you saw posted on a typical Internet job search board over 3,000 other people are submitting their resumes for that same position? Did you also know that when you submit your resume online it will most likely be scanned for keywords by a computer program before it ever is seen by an actual set of human eyes? Do you wish you could find jobs and send your resume directly to the employer and not have to go through the screening software used by recruiters?

First, I want to thank a good friend in my network for informing me about this website: Terrance Seamon. You can visit his blog at http://learningvoyager.blogspot.com/.

We all know about, or should know about, the two big aggregate job search engines on the Internet: indeed and SimplyHired. But there might be a new kid (at least to this blogger) on the block: LinkUp. And LinkUp might be the better of the three depending on what you are looking for. LinkUp positions itself as an aggregate that grabs postings from only the company websites – over 19,000. But I'll let the readers decide with the a sampling of results from each of the aggregators using the same criteria, which by the way, is my personal job search criteria while I am in transition.

A little research shows that LinkUp is registered through GoDaddy.com and might be housed out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Of course with the Internet, there doesn't need to a brick and mortar office with a web server being located anywhere.

When one looks at the site one has to wonder who LinkUp is trying to appear like. Anyone who has used indeed and SimplyHired can see the similarities between those two. However, I invite readers to comment on what major Internet branding LinkUp might be trying to connect up with.

Criteria used: 50 miles; training coordinator; employer websites only; last 7 days.

InDeed

If I had broadened my search to 100 miles, I would have found 41 jobs. Unfortunately, indeed is only aggregate job search engine that has a radius setting of "100 miles".

SimplyHired

LinkUp

There are some other interesting tools/functions that are available on LinkUp. There is a page where you can check out the Word Cloud. For those who don't know what that is (before this blog neither did I), a Word Cloud is…a tag cloud or word cloud (or weighted list in visual design) is a visual depiction of user-generated tags, or simply the word content of a site, used typically to describe the content of web sites. Tags are usually single words and are typically listed alphabetically, and the importance of a tag is shown with font size or color.^[1] Thus both finding a tag by alphabet and by popularity is possible. The tags are usually hyperlinks that lead to a collection of items that are associated with a tag. Click here to learn more about Word Clouds at Wikipedia.

The Word Cloud in LinkUp, http://www.linkup.com/job-cloud.php, lists a variety of different job categories. After clicking on a job category, the Word Cloud will be displayed. Here is the Word Cloud for…

LinkUp states that one can use these words for job search terms or those hard to find words for your resume. Personally, I think one should look for glossary sites related to their industry and bookmark them.

Because LinkUp posts only jobs from employer career websites you can start networking immediately. Then you can find advocates who can hand your resume to the hiring manager, and supporters who can help you gather intelligence in your target organizations.

Is That Company Closing?

Would you like to know if a company you are sending your value proposition is closing its doors in the next few months BEFORE you invest time and effort into a hiring campaign with them?

The State of New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development has this great feature on their website that will show you how.

1. Go to http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/index.shtml
2. Type "WARN" (include the quotes and uppercase) in the search field in the upper right hand corner of the page.

3. Click the blue/white arrow to the right of  the field to perform a search. A new tab will open.
4. Click on the first document that reads "Department of Labor and Workforce Development | Response Team/WARN Notices..."

5. Click on the month you are interested in. *Check at least 6 months past because some companies might have announced their closing more than a half year ago.

The LWD states...
"WARN offers protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs. This notice must be provided to either affected workers or their representatives (e.g., a labor union); to the State dislocated worker unit; and to the appropriate unit of local government."

For more details about how a company is added to the WARN list; go to this link to read the fact sheet: http://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/warn.htm

With this information, now you can decide if you are going to target a company for a permanent position (as permanent as can be expected is this economy) or pursue a consulting position, as companies that are closing up typically hire consultants to shut down their businesses.

 

While all of the information and screen shots pertain to The State of New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, I checked with one of my networking contacts in New York and another in California and it is applicable there.

Test your state and leave comment to let us know. I will compile a table and post it in the future.