patti wilson's blog

Age Descrimination, Job Hopping and Other Search Tribulations

I was developing a branded linkedin profile for an executive client and once again came up against the issue of having to insert dates for every job. While my client's experience back in the 1970's and early 1980's was highly relevant, I didn't particularly feel like emphasizing how dated the work was. I have run into the same problem with someone who has held multiple short term jobs on a professional level. This most often has happened working for start ups that go under, or in rapidly contracting sector rife with mergers and acquisitions.

Given I can't get Linkedin to loosen up on their natural inclination to put structure and rules around everything on their site, I just work around them.

I suggest to my clients to not give each job a separate entry on Linkedin or any other social site, but rather clump titles and jobs together under one date range. Maybe your last two position, including your current one, would be listed out separately. The advantage is nobody knows how long you worked at any one position and you can decide on the earliest date you want to show.

Another tack is to not fill in work experience at all but focus on the summary section instead, using it to elaborate on your work history in way that brands and markets you. Then use the specialties section to add lots and lots of keywords.

Remember, Linkedin or any other social site is not your resume, so don't be duped into filling it out as if it was. Beware of Zoominfo's list of your employment history. You can modify your profile on that site and should. Many search firms use it exclusively. Find work-arounds to their structures to suit yourself. Use all social sites as marketing and branding tools not obituaries.

You will be better off doing a website-blog as a professional profile on line that you can control and guide the delivery of image and content. The cost has dropped to make it totally affordable. The ease of update with a dashboard instead of html code makes it feasible for anyone to own one and update it. If you want information or examples on how to do this, just shoot me an email: patti@pattiwilson.com

Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit Next Week

I attended last year and it was great networking. If you are in Silicon Valley next week do drop on by. This year, I will be in Scottsdale, Arizona presenting at the MBA Career Services Council on :

How to Use Social Media Tools to Brand, Network, and Connect in a Web 2.0 Job Search 

 

 

Mary Furlong and Associates and Santa Clara University are hosting the sixth Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit on June 16 and 17, 2009 at Santa Clara University. You are invited.

This marks the sixth year of bringing together academics, investors, entrepreneurs and industry experts to network and share deep insights into marketing to and developing businesses aimed at those over the age of 40.  This summit addresses Aging in a multidisciplinary way, and may provide a rich environment for you to network -- as well as share your expertise with our attendees.

They are pleased to extend a special SVBVS rate to my network of $85 (General Registration Rate is $99).  At registration, please use discount code: scupm09.  Please pass this around and share this opportunity. 

To review the program, and register, please visit www.scuboomerventure.com and click on the registration, use discount code scump09 to register.

Linkedin Adds Personal Category: Marital Status

Image via Wikipedia

In the back door, behind the scenes, the without fanfare product launch-style that Linkedin does so well, you will see that they have added a new section at the bottom of your profile called “Personal”. 

 

After years of railing against the gods and their own member base, admonishing them to not post their contact information on profiles , Linkedin is actually encouraging people to include their birthday, marital status, residential or business address, and phone numbers on their profile.

 

Of course this is all optional but still what a sea change in attitude and corporate strategy.  If contact information this brings into question how they plan to monetize the site. Of course few will have access to anywhere near 40,000,000 profiles but you can through your first degree contacts have them look and retrieve the contact information for you. But is all seems way to laborious to make it worthwhile. Maybe Linkedin finally figured that out. Further is was easy to just take someone's name on Linkedin and track them down through Google or Zoominfo so they might as well keep people on the site.

 

But this begs the bigger question. Since its inception, and I know this first hand as I argued with the then executive team against it, Linkedin as aimed to be a tool not a social network.. Since people are naturally prone to form community,  the social networks formed on the outside of Linkedin in Yahoogroups run by people like Vincent Wright. In the past year Linkedin has opened up Groups with a directory and discussion, added applications that expand profiles, and now has included Personal Information. 

 

All of these additions bring a breath of badly needed fresh air to what still is the absolute best place to build a professional brand. Stay tuned for what's next.

 

 

Pay Cuts Turn Ugly

Image by Roger Blackwellvia Flickr

Companies have moved beyond reductions in force to reductions in pay and not just at the top. This can range from an across the board 5% salary cut to more interesting and perverse variations on the theme.

The last scenario I heard yesterday was from someone working at a privately held company on the East Coast struggling to survive that cut back everyone to a 30 hour work week. Of course they are expected to produce the same results.  In addition they were being paid every two weeks but that has been extended to three weeks but with only two weeks pay.

In effect, this adds up to a 50% pay cut. These people would have been better off laid off so they could collect unemployment insurance and have the time to look for a new job.

Are there any protections against this egregious behavior? In some cases if you have an employment contract, and in some states, there is legal redress. And if any wages are withheld for work already done then you have a legal claim.

We life in tough times right now but this too shall pass. When the good times come again, then those companies who acted unfairly and unwisely in their treatment of their employees will rue the day that they did.

The best way for employers to mitigate problems is to proactively engage their employees in dialog about the needed reductions and to try to find common ground that everyone can live with. This then engenders buy-in and support resulting in a less demoralized, more productive and engaged workforce. 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Paul Krugman on the Problem of Falling Wages (shoppingblog.com)
• How Bad a Collapse? Gloomy, w/ a 15% chance of depression(3quarksdaily.com)
• Danny Schechter: Will The Stimulus Do the Job? What Should we Do?(huffingtonpost.com)
• Ford chief takes 30% pay cut (money.cnn.com)
• Sony freezes workers' salaries, others consider following suit(engadget.com)

Twitter on a Tear but is it a Career Enhancer?

The article in Social Times said Twitter Roars Past 14 Millkon doubling in one month. Predictions that it will reach 50 million users by end of 2009 are no longer far fetched. As a social communications tool, it has caught fire. How come? 

At a webinar on the ins and outs of Linkedin.com  I delivered yesterday to MBA alumni from a major Southern California University a question came up about the difference between Linkedin on one hand and Facebook and Twitter on the other. The focus of the attendees and the webinar was on how to use Linkedin as a social media tool to enhance a job search, build a network and grow your career.

Interesting the way the person paired off the comparison because it was very appropriate. On one side is staid, formal, structured, professionally presentable Linkedin and on the other side there is, well, the online equivalent of TED, Burning Man, Oprah and infomericals for Chamwow all kluged together. 

The difference is clear and simple. You want to talk to people and make new networking contacts, promote yourself or your business then you need to be Tweeting on Twitter. You want to extend the conversation and create a closer bond then move your Twitter friends to Facebook to show them  photos, videos, write on walls,share stuff and have communal conversations.

But if you want to look good professionally then strut your stuff on Linkedin. Fill out your profile, add some apps, join groups and ask pithy questions. You will shine on Linkedin but casually and informally chatting people up and subtly building relationships is not encouraged so go Tweet.

Tweeter has the amazing versatility to be big or small. It brings intimacy to conversations with the cool and famous, and revels in the totally mundane. You can follow me at @CareerTweets or @pattiwilson for more frequent updates than my blog. And I will follow you back...that's the etiquette.

Twitter is Not About Me (or You) in a Job Search

I was reading the top posts for the week on Web Worker Daily and came across one on How To Monitor Online Conversations . The gist of the post was  how to track online mentions about your company, business, profession, and yourself. It suggested using a dashboard, filter feeds, and the right Twitter clients. As good as the post was, the comments sections were even better, packed full of links to more tools to find, filter, sort, cull and monitor online conversation. It is obvious that this is on the mind of enough SW programmers that a small market is in the making. 

That's when the light blub went on  for me about how I was using Twitter. I had bought into the notion that bigger is better with Twitter. I thought that the more people following me and that I followed the better regardless if they had something to offer or not. In some situations, that premise may work but when using Twitter for a job search as it misses the whole point.

Yes, it can be a delightful ego builder to have people follow you, @ respond and RT your posts. But unless you already have a superbly branded and well established reputation in your field that is extended visibly online, well being noticed on Twitter can be fleeting and ephemeral not to mention irrelevant for a job search.

If everybody already knows you and your reputation precedes you then you don't need Twitter to find a job.  Anyways, let's face it, none of us are Guy Kawasaki who can well afford to have paid staff find pithy things to link to that get volumes of RTs by the Twittermondi. It is not worth having the Joneses for this.  By the time you hit the big time with your Tweets the recession will be over, unless Twitter gets a wild hair to feature you.

Better that you  uncover search specific  data, dig out opportunity focused leads and other stuff that will advance your search. That is done, not by grasping for followers to hang on your every Tweet but by selective, well-orchestrated following by you of the right people and companies.  Enough with random follows of incessant blah blahs who tweet about various and sundry inanities that have nothing to do with your goals and objectives. You can't build enough Tweetdeck columns to accommodate the noise. 

Stay focused, follow only those people whose position, industry connections and knowledge as reflected in their posts, and job titles, can do your search some good. This is not even about meeting them but about learning their thought leadership, opinions and wisdom.   If you want to break into a field or sector this is crucial and will do you more good than other forms of online intelligence gathering as it it what the right people are saying right now.

The bonus is that you just might be able to strike up a conversation, build a relationship or two and get to know these folks. But you sure aren't going to accomplish that when you are focused on you own Tweets. Who cares how Joe Cool you come off using all the latest # jive?  Who cares how much you too RT Guy or Scoble or God?   It is not about you, it is about them.  And from them, how well do you capture what you need to help your job search progress?

Hire a Success Coach to Follow the Yellow Brick Road to College Graduation

Inside Track posted a job description for acollege success coach recently. Apparently this is not a new title or company having been in business since about 2002. However, I found the mechanics of this coaching model interesting because it appears that universities hire InsideTrack to keep their enrollment up especially with first year students and in costly professional development/extension programs. Inside Track provides a "success coach" to hand-hold the student.

The company, Inside Track, says that they are: "enabling partner colleges to increase retention, enrollment, revenue and graduation rates". Presumably this coaching service also keeps state funding and/or raises a school's profile in US News & World Report's lists as well.

The success coach is tasked to removing roadblocks to success. Does this relieve Baby Boomer parent angst? Sure, because this is what Inside Track says on their website:

"It can be stressful for parents when their children start their post-secondary studies. Knowing that their children are receiving dedicated, regular guidance brings parents real peace of mind".

Peace of mind costs about $125 per month on top of tuition, room and board or at least that is one fee I saw on the website. These Baby Boomer kids get coached in the following: 

 "Commitment to Graduation, Finances, School Community, Academics, Effectiveness, and Health &
Support"

I can see the cost benefit/ROI of a school paying coaches to improve retention as well as how parents are relieved of the worry that their children will not find gainful employment upon graduation and come
home to roost forever. However, this certainly can inculcate in a young adult, much like handing them a credit card upon arrival in their freshman year, the notion of needing a coach just to succeed,
as in needing credit to consume.

Does this model imply that we are raising a non-empowered, non-responsible generation who can't successfully function on the planet without being coached to do it? Or does it also speak to the lack of efficacy of the current tenured professorial system who lack their own performance-based metrics on learning?

Does it also point to a broader broken socio-economic system that hands out credit cards to freshman then offers finance coaching so they don't drive themselves into debt? School concessions sell fast food while booze/drugs are easily accessible and then students are coached on health? Is there something wrong with this picture or is it just me?

Frankly, I find this coaching model disempowering to young adults unless they are from a high risk population where retention support would be desirable.  If that is then the case, unfortunately, with Inside Track that support comes from a coach with no in-depth training, expertise, or even knowledge to bring to the table in terms of academic advising, or career development aside from the cursory training delivered by the company.

No certification seems to be required of a success coach beyond a BA degree. In fact they promote this as a learning and growth employment position for the coach which I could translate to mean "we pay you squat". From their job description requirements, one could equally qualify for a customer service position at Enterprise Rent a Car.

The many that have persevered more than 20 years to require a California State license to lend crediblity to title of Counselor have got to find this new coaching twist, well, disconcerting.  Seems to me that the
whole coaching industry needs regulation, and oversight more than counselors need licensure. 

 But I do get it.

Wallace Steigner Country Where is the Wasatch Recession?

After spending the past week in Salt Lake City, an interesting hiatus from Silicon Valley, I have come to realize that the notion of a financial crisis is not absolute but relative to a commonly held baseline view of security. The banner headiine in the local paper, on the day of my arrival, screamed "Utah Joblessness Nears 5%", which apparently was considered a near calamity. Nears? Ironically, on the same day unemployment in California reached 10% .

During multiple business trips to Salt Lake City over the past few years, I fell into the habit of staying at one particular hotel in the suburbs close to a variety of restaurants and I-15. Over the years and seasons, this hotel has been packed with skiers, conventioneers, and contract workers building Micron and Intel plants. I fully expected it to be empty this trip. It was devoid of skiers who according to the folks behind the counter at Hertz weren't coming in for weeks at a time anymore but rather long weekends. Since the conventioneers didn't arrive until warmer days, I expected my pick of rooms with views of the  incredibly stunning Wasatch Mountains whose sharp  white peaks rise up from  the city.

But to my utter amazement, the construction guys packed the parking lot with their big SUVs and pickups.  Obviously the massive building spree that had been going on for a couple of years hadn't ended. Well, at least there won't be a line at my favorite Moroccan restaurant. Think again. I needed reservations. Hear tell from the wait staff, Valentines Day was booked for days in advance. The shopping centers' parking lots were full too.

The final straw was a flyer posted in the lobby warning guests that "in these desperate times" please don't leave any stuff visible on the seat of your car in the parking lot.  From my perspective, things actually looked pretty jolly compared to the strum und drang I left in California. Yes, real estate has lost value, about 11%, there are some foreclosures, and layoffs are are enough to move unemployment from 3.5% to 5%. But, golly, the state budget is balanced, there are no deficits, and communities are frantically organizing collecting donations of food, clothes and resources in case of darker days ahead.

From pioneer days, people here have struggled to build an economy and a community in the middle of nowhere next to a salty lake full of brine shrimp. Today there is a Hummer dealership, another Nordstroms is being built and IKEA is down the road, but where is the recession?  From a Californian's perspective, they are doing something right here and we could learn a lot, if we put aside our high tech/venture/startup/risk taking hubris.

Wallace Steigner,  the great environmentalist and famous author was appointed to Stanford University's Creative Writing Chair, teaching the likes of Ken Kesey in the 1960's. But he was raised in Salt Lake City where he sank his roots deep and learned well what it takes to stay true to one's core values.  They say there is nowhere to move to in this recession because it is everywhere. I'd say that depends on your perspective. 

Did They Get My Email? Did They Read My Resume?

We send an email with our resume, proposal, or business collateral and wait to hear back. We wait for a day or two, a week or two debating to followup or not. Are they just not that into you or did your message get lost in cyber transit?

Anyone looking for a job or doing business development knows the old refrain, "They just aren't getting back to me!" or "I haven't heard from them".  We can worry ourselves to death, wait too long and lose out, or follow-up too quickly and look over-anxious and too hungry. 

Maybe you have resorted to the built-in feature Microsoft provides that pops up a pop-up box on the email reader's screen asking if they want to send back a confirmation that to you that they have read your email. I always click no just because I think that box is intrusive and a bother that I have to click shut so I extrapolate that into assuming your are anal retentive, obsessive-compulsive as well.

I have found a handy little widget that attaches to all my out-going emails and let's me know when the person has opened the email at the other end without asking them or getting their permission to let me know. Ha!

When I first installed MsgTagI decided to only use it on selected emails and turn it off most of the time. Then I forgot and left it on and realized how much I had this little voice in the back of my head who was doing auto check-ins on sent emails and fretting about hearing back.

Not only that but I got unanticipated benefit from this widget because it told me how long from when the person opened my email, it took for them to get back to me. Believe it or not in some situations that can be a helpful gage of the affect you had on them through your email.

Do they know they are being email stalked? Well yes, and no. If you use the free version of Msgtagand they happened to scroll down to the bottom of the email they would see the one line ad from the company. If buy the Plus version you can personalize or hide their ad in the email footer. The MsgTag Status version provides a dashboard to track all your email messages which is perfect for inside sales, business development , customer support or lead generation. 

I see the application as a perfect job search accessory. No more wondering and guessing if they got your resume email. You will know. And, no, I am not in their affiliate program but I am a happy user spreading the word.

Try it, it's free, you'll like it.

Dear New York Times, You are a Social Network

I subscribe to your email news headlines and stories.You are free now, but I used to read you faithfully everyday as a paid subscriber. Your ads run on all the business channels imploring me to subscribe to the Weekender with fees starting at $4.75 per week. I know you are in trouble financially and are seeking loans and selling off some of your equities to create operating capital.

Seems to me there are some things about the Internet that you just don't get. You have the power to harness the allegiance, loyalty, and, yes, love of your readers but you don't. You could move to a viable income-generating news source on line but not the way you tried to do it.

As a Canadian, I read by daily email  the Globe and Mail. I have become a very loyal follower because I have a connection not only to the paper but to other readers, some followers of specific columnists. I would pay to continue to read the news in a way that allows me to be involved by voicing my  opinion, commenting and reading the opinions of others, and being in conversation with a community readers.

I would love to be able to read Paul Krugman, Thomas Friedman, and Maureen Dowd and comment on their editorials on the Times's webpage the next day after their article. But you close comments as soon as possible. Why? . I would relish having my own Times page and profile where I could bookmark articles, write my own editorials, chat with subscriber-friends, and have interest-specific ads sent to me.  I would pay for this.

A newspaper cannot be the arbitrator of thought online as it is on paper sending down the word to its minions of readers. It is a far more populist proposition that can derive greater benefits and profits by enjoining in a dialog, relationship, and interaction with its readership. The entire Internet is one big letter to the editor. Krugman and Friedman miss the mark totally with Twitter by using it just to post URL links to their articles rather than enticing greater readership loyality by engaging with some of the retweets to their tweets. By comparison, Guy Kawasaki, author and speaker, has engendered the largest following on Twitter by taking the time to reach out and connect to and talk back to those who follow him. His new book will sell well, just through his Twitter following.

It's up to you, New York Times, how to move forward into this century but you won't be able to make much progress with attitudes that engender thinking in Times Roman and acting like you are newsprint and ink. It's sans-serf in cyberspace, sans barriers, and a rethinking of the citizen as a partner in journalism not as an audience.