Anatomy of At-the-Ready Social Media Job Seeker
This morning, the following showed up in my Twitter stream: @MNHeadhunter>RT @ymmat Our entire team was laid off this a.m. Need product manager? DM or see http://ow.ly/2B9Cn
Loving how this total stranger @ymmat had seized the social media moment to get the word out, without dwelling on the negative, I immediately retweeted the message. Kudos, by the way, to @MNHeadhunter, who did so first.
Three more tweets on @ymmat‘s profile:
I have the best Twitter (and RL) friends ever. It’s true. They gave me a pony.
@AnneMessenger @AnnaChow @ChrisFleek1 Thank you for your help!
@williamu Web & health care. I’m happy to forward a resume or check out my LinkedIn profile. Happy to connect: http://ow.ly/2Basb
Okay, now I’m really intrigued. I want to meet this person, who’s upbeat, polite, smart and at-the-ready with her info for potential employers. And wow, her Klout score is 37! I check out her LinkedIn profile and she becomes a real person to me, Tammy Young, doing LinkedIn really well:
1. Tammy has a great pic – a readily identifiable headshot, not a full body shot, so I can really see her face.
2. She’s clearly smart (Ph.D.) and a geek (member of the She’s Geeky: Connecting Women in Tech group), but she’s customized her LinkedIn professional headline in simple English: “I help make adopting and developing social tools simple and successful for companies and consumers.”
3. She has terrific recommendations, one from a peer, one from an indirect manager, highlighting both her professional credentials and personal qualities.
4. She’s a real person, rounding her personal and professional self out by listing some pretty cool interests: board games, cooking, photography, reading, technology, forensic psychology, memes, cyber psychology, film, theatre, terrible puns, travel, science, gaming.
5. She’s an award winner: 2003 – Recipient of Florida State Hospital ‘Great Job Award’ for outstanding service in women’s healthcare.
6. She understands how to fine tune her info, streamlining her public profile URL and identifying her websites. Her grasp of skills like that will help get her next employer some extra Google juice. Nice!
Tammy’s put time and real thought into how she projects herself. And – so important – she did it ahead of time, before really needing it, before the pressure of a job hunt was on. Now, the pressure’s on.
And her next employer is about to get very lucky.
Anne, what a fabulous example for people who don’t at first “get it.” You’re so great about calling people out who are examples of best practice.
Thanks, Michelle. This woman was such a great example of what we teach that I couldn’t resist. She inspired me, really.
Anne,
I was on the phone with Tammy yesterday and thought the same thing, “Her next employer is going to be very lucky.”
She has tremendous bandwidth, she’s incredibly articulate, and she knows social media platforms and Web integration.
If your company wants to stop “broadcasting” and start actually engaging employees and customers, Tammy can give you the infrastructure to do it.
Donna
Ohhh, I hope Tammy reads this, Donna. She can point to it in communications with prospective employers. I’m glad we agree — no surprise!
- Anne