How to Build Your Personal Brand

Many job hunting boards talk about creating your own personal brand. And branding is a part of marketing. Large organizations even have "brand manager" within their marketing effort.

Being recognized as an expert, or even projecting an image that you are well-versed in your field, will help you in approaching potential employers. And -- done well -- it can draw employers to you before you even know about them.

The following is adapted from an entry on WikiHow:

A ‘personal brand’ is in many ways synonymous with your reputation. It refers to the way other people see you. Are you a genius? An expert? Are you trustworthy? What do you represent? What do you stand for? What ideas and notions pop up as soon as someone hears your name?

If you’ve been around for a while you’ve probably already developed a personal brand. People recognize your name, what you’re working on, what you offer and what you’re about. That being said, your personal brand might be a little weak and disjointed. If you’d like to make it stronger, this article will help give you the tools by outlining the components of a strong personal brand. If you don’t feel like you have a personal brand yet, this wikiHow will show you how to go about building one.

1. Look at your personal brand as an investment. Your personal brand has the potential to last longer than your own lifespan. While the projects you’re working on might get sold onwards or shut down, your personal brand will persist and (hopefully) add value to each new project you create. If you consider yourself to be in this particular game for the long-haul, whether it’s an online business, art, or selling cars, a good personal brand is an invaluable investment. People will follow your brand from project to project if they feel connected to it. When launching new projects, your personal brand has the potential to guarantee you never have to start from scratch again.
2. Set goals for your public image. Because your personal brand is built from the thoughts and words and reactions of other people, it’s shaped by how you present yourself publicly. This is something that you have control over. You can decide how you would like people to see you and then work on publicly being that image. Consider your goals for the brand. If you want to sell an expensive course in watercolor painting you’ll need to be seen as someone with the authority to teach others on the topic. If you want to get work for high-end design clients you’ll need to be seen as a runaway talent with a professional attitude. Two useful springboard questions are:
   
   
   • How would you like potential customers/clients to think of you?
   • How can you publicly ‘be’ that brand? This question is an important one, but a tricky one. Your personal brand is composed of your public actions and output in three main areas:
     
     
     • What you’re ‘about’. Think about the key ideas you would want people to associate with you. Seth Godin is about telling stories, being remarkable. Leo Babauta is about simplicity and habit forming. Jonathan Fields is about finding ways to build a career out of what you love doing.
     • Expertise. Every good brand involves the notion of expertise. Nike brands itself as an expert in creating quality and fashionable sportswear. Jeremy Clarkson (host of Top Gear) is an expert on cars. Even if you’re not interested in marketing your advice, you need to create the perception that you are very good at what you do.
     • Your style. This is not so much what you communicate about yourself, but rather, how you do it. Are you kind and unusually enthusiastic, like Collis Taeed? Are you witty and raw, like Naomi Dunford? Are you confident and crusading, like Michael Arrington? Hopefully you’re none of these, or at least, not in the same way. Your style of delivery should be as unique as any other aspect of your personal brand. This doesn’t mean you need to sit down and brainstorm how to be different. If you don’t actively imitate anyone else, it will happen naturally. Read widely and write a lot. If there’s one writer you love and read all the time, you’re probably going to ape them a little bit unless you catch yourself. We all do it.
3. Run a blog or website that is all you. It doesn’t matter if it’s not your first priority, or even your second priority, but it gives people a place to develop a stronger connection with you. (You might already be doing this!) Here are some content guidelines:
   1. Include a mini-bio at the end of each post, put time and effort into your About page and use it to paint a picture of your ideal personal brand. People will only remember a few things about you, so focus on telling the story that contributes most to your brand. Use your personal story as the basis for your expertise.
   2. Try to be personally ubiquitous without over-stretching or over-exposing yourself. If people hear your name enough they will check you out (maybe not the first, second or third time, but they will). Participate in social media.
   3. Help your projects become ubiquitous by writing viral content and guest-writing.
4. Keep your brand fresh. No matter how good your content is, you'll risk seeming stale and repetitive if you don’t continue adding new elements to your brand. You can’t ride one idea forever. Keep adding new layers to what you represent.
   1. Continue learning and updating your knowledge, especially if your expertise is based around the online world. The web changes drastically from month to month. If you were an ‘expert’ two years ago but have since stopped learning and challenging yourself, you’re not an expert anymore.
   2. Don’t just agree with other people you admire. In doing so, you’re building their personal brand, not yours. Focus on topics where you have something new to say or some more value to add.
5. Get people talking. Think about your personal brand each time you interact with someone - or don’t interact with someone. What impression are you leaving them with? If you don’t want to spend time responding to tweets and emails there’s no reason why you can’t make this part of your personal brand so that people do not expect differently. If you only have the time to answer 1/4 of the emails you get, why not mention this (with apologies) on your Contact page? The greatest source of negative feeling in these situations is disappointment. If you make it clear that you intend to behave in a certain way people have little right to be disappointed when you do so.
   1. Try to build relationships with as many people as possible. See How to Network. Get to know their real names and remember details about them. Not only is this fun and good karma, it leaves a strong impression on the people who interact with you. The ones who you know best and who feel most connected to you will talk about you to others - this is how your personal brand grows stronger.
   2. Build name recognition with influencers. In this instance an influencer is any person with an audience that you want to reach. Comment on their writing, keep track of them on social media, help them when they ask for it, if they have a blog try to guest-post (it must be your best stuff!). Not only do you have plenty to learn from people like this, but they are also the people who can give you that killer testimonial when you launch your product, who can tweet your links to thousands of followers, who can share the best opportunities with you. That being said, don’t pester them and don’t ask for more favors than you give them. If you are useful and not overbearing these influencers will remember you. View this as a long-term process. You can’t expect to become friends with influencers in a week. It takes months. (Tip: try to use non-intrusive forms of communication. Don’t write things that require a response in blog comments, that’s what email/Twitter is for.)

Using LinkedIn As Part of Your Search(Even if you have a job)

There is a lot of talk in the past few years about social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace and the granddaddy of business networking sites, LinkedIn.com. There are also Plaxo, Spoke and even the alumni-oriented websites like classmates.com, but LinkedIn -- with over five years of growth, remains the most accepted.

As the internet has grown in acceptance and universality, networking needs have remained critically important, while people change companies and locations with increased frequency. According to Wikipedia, LinkedIn "is a business-oriented social networking site founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003 mainly used for professional networking. As of February 2009, it had more than 35 million registered users, spanning 170 industries."

But if you haven't used LinkedIn, or haven't used it much, how do you get started, or make the most of your time there? Between networking, company research and posting your resume online, how do you use LinkedIn effectively but safely?

We recently discovered a reference to LinkedIntelligence.com on the RiseSmart Career 100 Aggregate Feed (which should be on your customized Career-Hunter portal page). LinkedIntelligence bills itself as the "unofficial source for all things LinkedIn" and the claim looks reasonalble.

Here are the pages listed on the website:

• About Linked Intelligence
• 100+ Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn
• LinkedIn Coaching & Training
• Books About LinkedIn

And here is the category list:

• b5media (13)
  
• Blogging (2)
  
• Books (2)
  
• Customer Communities (4)
  
• Events (13)
  
• Extreme LinkedIn Profile Makeover (4)
  
• Feature Requests (5)
  
• Humor (23)
  
• Linked Intelligence (18)
  
• LinkedIn News (39)
  
• Networking Skills (8)
  
• New Features (18)
  
• Privacy & Safety (4)
  
• Social Networking (9)
  
• Success Stories (12)
  
• The Relationship Economy (2)
  
• The Virtual Handshake (1)
  
• Tools (1)
  
• Training & Coaching (3)
  
• Using LinkedIn (102)
  
• Wordless Wednesday (16)
  

Some of the topics are a bit irreverent, there is a fair amount of ads, and the blog posts for the past few months have been sparse, and mostly Twitter tweets about LinkedIn. But there are enough links and articles here to make LinkedIntelligence.com a worthwhile part of a LinkedIn 101 cirriculum.

You may also want to check out the LinkedIn (official) blog or The LinkedIn Personal Trainer which is more about the technical aspects of using LinkedIn (e.g., How to change your email address and how to leave LinkedIn and delete your profile, useful for those going into the witness protection program).

How to Stop Worrying About Your Job Search

From workbloom.net:

Want to put an end to your job-search worries?

You can.

Or at least, you can channel worries into positive action that moves you closer to employment every day.

That’s a message I got from the book, “100 Ways to Motivate Yourself,” by Steve Chandler, who writes:

The next time you’re worried about something, ask yourself, “What small thing can I do right now?” Then do it. Remember not to ask, “What could I possibly do to make this whole thing go away?” That question does not get you into action at all.

There are two important implications here:

1. One small action is more productive than any amount of worry, and
2. Trying to solve all your job search problems in one fell swoop can paralyze you with confusion.

Let’s tackle the second one first.

No matter who you are, you’ll almost never go from unemployed to hired in one day, just as you can’t lose 50 lbs. in a week or master French in an afternoon.

Heck, even Barry Bonds has been out of work for over a year, despite his Hall-of-Fame resume.

So stop tearing your hair out. You probably won’t get hired from one action, but many. It may take a week, or several months, but the job you seek is out there and you will get it after you’ve taken enough of the right actions.

With that said, here are three ways you can stop worrying about your job search by taking small, positive actions today, each of which requires only 15 minutes …

1) Call one person

We all know someone well-connected to potential job leads, with whom we haven’t spoken in months or years. Pick one person and call them today, just to say hello.

Be sure to do one thing: Ask, “What would help you do your job better these days?” Then write their reply down.

After you hang up, brainstorm ways to help your friend do his/her job. You can ask other people in your network or Google for ideas. Keep going until you find at least one promising idea. You will then have an excuse to call your friend back tomorrow.

This will do two things: jump-start a dormant relationship and put you top of mind with a well-connected friend, both of which will make them more likely to send you employment leads.

2) Research one ideal employer

Have you ever submitted a resume to a blind ad online or in the newspaper, one that told you nothing about the company? And how did that work out?

By contrast, the more you know about an employer, the clearer your path to employment will become. It could be that a manager there went to the same school as you, or you go to the same church as the CIO, or they sell to a client you used to work for.

There are literally thousands of ways to make a connection with your next boss and stand out from ordinary job seekers. But you’ll never know until you research the 10-20 companies you want to work for.

Why not pick one employer today and spend 15 minutes learning all you can about their employees, corporate culture, clients, problems, and opportunities?

Then try to make a connection based on your experience, education, and network of contacts.

3) Write down five scary interview questions

What’s the last question on earth you want to be asked in a job interview?

Is it, “Why did you leave your last position?” Or, “What are your salary requirements?” Or, the dreaded, “What’s your biggest weakness?”

Whatever questions scare you, write them down.

Something magical happens when you write a problem on paper. It’s like shining a light under the bed to check for monsters — when you see things clearly, most of the fear factor vanishes.

Also, any interview question that scares you has been asked before. Which means there’s an answer for it. And you can find that answer by searching online, reading a book, or asking a friend who works in HR.

Now. What if I haven’t addressed your job-search worries in this article?

No problem. Simply write down whatever is bothering you, whether it’s your age, lack of experience, the job market in your city, etc.

Then, spend just 5 minutes doing something about each worry today.

Will you solve all your job-search problems in 5 or 15 minutes? No. Will you be taking action toward solving those problems? Yes. And action dispels worry, just as sunlight dispels fog.

As Steve Chandler writes: “When you find yourself worrying about something, ask yourself the action question, ‘What can I do about this right now?’ And then do something. Anything. Any small thing.”

Prove it for yourself and try it today.

Kevin Donlin is Creator of TheSimpleJobSearch.com. Since 1996, he has provided job-search help to more than 20,000 people. Author of 3 books, Kevin has been interviewed by The New York Times, Fox News, CBS Radio and others. His free report, The Simple Job Search Manifesto, is found at www.TheSimpleJobSearch.com.

ALERT: Job-offer spam gets makeover for recession

Sent from Express News
SAN FRANCISCO - A staple of the spammer's arsenal - those come-ons for job
offers - is getting a makeover because of the recession as online identity
thieves concoct clever new ways to sneak onto people's computers.

One tactic the bad guys are trying is a twist on an old standby: e-mails
purporting to come from legitimate companies that say they're still hiring.

The messages are loaded with links to the company's official Web site to
throw off suspicious recipients. However, they are also packed with a
dangerous surprise - a computer virus - hidden in an attachment that is
supposed to be a job application.

One message, supposedly from Coca-Cola Co., trumpets that "We are hiring!"
All the recipient has to do is fill out the attached application to get
started.

There are some tip-offs, though, that the message is fraudulent: the
English is choppy, the company promises 12 weeks of paid vacation and that
"None of the positions require any kind of education or work experience!"

Another tactic represents the flip side of that deception. Spammers are
sending e-mails pretending to reject people for jobs, instead of trying to
recruit them. Those messages say the recipients weren't selected for a
particular job, so the company has sent back their application - disguising
the malicious program.

"What they're trying to tap into is human curiosity," said Dermot Harnett,
principal analyst of anti-spam engineering with Symantec Corp. "Maybe
people have lost their jobs, or they're looking for another job, and
they're looking at their e-mail constantly to see if they have responses
from potential employers."

The Federal Trade Commission is also warning about a spate of
economic-stimulus scams - spam messages promising stimulus money simply by
revealing bank account or credit card numbers.

One way to protect yourself is by never clicking on links or opening e-mail
attachments from people you don't know. If you're a jobseeker who gets one
of these messages, contact the company's human resources department
yourself to follow up on an application or to make sure a job opening
exists.

And don't rely on the sender's e-mail address either as proof that the
message is coming from a legitimate source. Hackers can easily spoof those.

By JORDAN ROBERTSON AP Technology Writer

8 technology etiquette tips for job-seekers

Sent from Express News

BOSTON - If there's any small solace when starting a job search in this recession, it's the proliferation of digital technology to help you
re-enter the working world.

Web sites like Indeed.com and LinkedIn.com have multiplied the number of job openings you can track and the professional contacts you can make. E-mail and smart phones make it easier to pitch yourself and set up appointments.

But think twice before picking up that BlackBerry and thumb-typing a message to the hiring manager whose e-mail address you so slyly uncovered online. In the end, landing the right job hinges on old-world skills.

"The electronic piece usually just gets your foot in the door," said Dave Willmer, executive director of Robert Half Technology, a tech industry recruiting division of Menlo Park, Calif.-based staffing consultant Robert Half International.

"But you still have to present yourself well face-to-face in an interview, and you have to have good references," he said. "I think some job candidates lose sight of that because of all the technology options and capabilities that get your name out there."

Willmer and Kate Wendleton, president of The Five O'Clock Club, a New York-based career counseling company, advise that job seekers - especially the young and tech-savvy - frequently misuse electronic gadgets and the Web and run roughshod over professional etiquette.
Some of their advice:

1. AVOID E-MAIL BLASTS: Resist the temptation to respond to each online job listing in your field, and focus on those that fit the best. Only about 6 percent of jobs are filled by candidates recruited through advertisements, said Wendleton, whose firm also conducts career research. If you can use personal contacts to learn about an opening that's not widely publicized, your chances of landing the job increase because you've got fewer rivals.

Instead of blast e-mailing, use the Web to research potential employers and put yourself in position to recite key facts about that company should you land an interview.

"Too many people are sitting there all day hitting that send button on their computer, answering ads, answering ads," Wendleton said.

2. EMBRACE SNAIL MAIL: In your first contact with a prospective employer, you're unlikely to stand out if you join the legions of job seekers sending 'hire me' pitches via e-mail with resumes attached. E-mails also are too easy for a hiring manager to delete. With snail mail, you control the appearance of your carefully crafted cover letter and resume. With e-mail, the user's machine can control settings for fonts and spacing. And managers can be wary of opening attached resumes for fear of unleashing a computer virus.

3. GET PERSONAL: If you resort to e-mail pitches, make them personal. If you're introducing yourself to a hiring manager you've identified via a professional colleague, type that colleague's name in the e-mail's subject line and succinctly explain the link (e.g. "John Doe referred me") so the manager is less likely to hit delete.

4. AVOID FOLLOW-UP FOIBLES: If you land an interview, pay close attention if the hiring manager specifies how to make any follow-up contacts. E-mail can be a good option because of its speed; if you send a follow-up note via snail mail, it may arrive too late in the hiring process to make a difference. If the hiring manager is OK with e-mail, send a message that addresses any unanswered questions from the interview and state that you're also mailing a hardcopy. In the snail mail message, reference that you also sent the e-mail.

Whatever you do, don't follow up on an interview with an e-mail sent via a handheld gadget - there's too great a chance you'll thumb-type a typo-ridden message. Only use handhelds to send brief, timely e-mails confirming an appointment or advising you're running late for a meeting.

Don't type without regard to grammar and capitalization, and resist including smiley faces or other emoticons in electronic messages. "There is no circumstance where that is appropriate," Wendleton said.

5. OBSERVE BOUNDARIES: Even if you managed to track down a hiring manager's cell phone number, don't call it unless given permission. "Cell phones are considered private," Wendleton said.

6. STICK WITH LAND LINES: For any phone contact with a prospective employer, try to use a land line. With cell phones, there's too great a risk that you'll get a spotty connection, lose it altogether, or end up with excessive background noise if you're in a public place. If you lack a land line, call from a quiet place like a hotel lobby. Have a pen and pad ready so you can jot down information.

7. NETWORK THE SMART WAY: If you identify a hiring manager or other professional you'd like to connect with on an online networking site, don't merely send an electronic invitation without explaining why you want to get in touch. An out-of-the-blue request will likely be ignored. "Write something like, "I was intrigued by your LinkedIn posting. I see you have 10 years of international experience. I too have 10 years of international experience,'" Wendleton said.

8. MANAGE YOUR DIGITAL FOOTPRINT: Hiring managers can be expected to go beyond your resume and references, and perform a background check online. So be judicious about what you post on social networking sites such as Facebook, and limit access to friends and family if it's something you wouldn't want an employer to see.

Likewise, think before posting political opinions or personal information in blogs or other online forums. Consider posting under a pseudonym rather than your name. "As a job candidate, I would encourage people to be conservative," said Willmer. "Assume that
anybody has access to anything."

By MARK JEWELL AP Personal Finance Writer

Are you tired of junk resume services?

Are you tired of junk?

We are all bombarded with irrelevant, useless advertising masquerading as information. The worst of it is spam emails which consume as much as 80-90% of the world's bandwidth for email. Before that, we had junk faxes and junk telemarketers. And ever since the establishment of bulk mail rates, we have had junk snail mail.

My beef today is junk resume services. With so many people looking for work, there is a lot of appeal to a "$50 Killer Resume" when finances are tight. (And if they aren't tight, why are you looking for a new job?)

But here is what I found when looking at most resume services:

The Resume Template

Some come in the form of software, and others come as "experts" who reformat your existing resume into their preferred format. Reality: The words in your resume are more important than the format. Unless you are distributing your resume directly to individuals, you have two large audiences for it: recruiters and direct-hiring employers. By and large, any firm with over 50 employees is going to use screening software to analyze your resume for their chosen key words. If you don't pass that test, a human will never see it.

One firm I work with in Denver has 10 employees, most of whom are related to the owners. When they posted an ad last fall -- before the recession became a hot topic -- on craigslist.com, they received 75 responses for a $37,000 job. That was for a low-paid job with a small firm and few benefits.

You can extrapolate that experience easily into thousands of competitors for the same position on the bigger job boards. ANY TEMPLATE will look like a template, and probably 50% or more of all resumes I have seen were taken directly from Microsoft Word's resume templates.

Appearance and spelling count, but don't think that taking the words that haven't worked for you so far, putting them into a new font and justification, is going to get you any different results. When evaluating a resume service, check their before and after examples and see if there is any real difference.

The Gimmick Resume

 In days gone by, this consisted of gray or ivory linen finish bond paper. Now it includes video resumes and brochure-style resumes. Don't bother. If the format takes away from your content, it's just a distraction.

So What Does Work?

In our experience, there are a number of key parts to a good (efffective) resume. Always remember that a resume's sole purpose is to get you a telephone call. Not a job. Not even an interview. It doesn't work that way. You must have the following components in your resumes to do a comprehensive job search:

1. Professional Contact Information: Your cell phone and a good email address at the top, so it's easy to contact you. Your cell phone provides voicemail and caller ID, and no one can interfere with how you use it. Your email address should be easy to understand and sound professional. "Gregory@Pratt.com" is good if you are Gregory Pratt. "Sillyball@aol.com" or "speeddemon@netzero.com" are never acceptable.
   
2. An Objective: No, not "I want a job where my talents will be most useful." This should be a job title, like VP of Marketing, or Controller, or Sr. Engineer. Keep it simple and tied to the job you are qualified for, and that people are hiring for.
3. A 15-20 Second Summary: Can you get the (human) readers attention in that amount of time? Remember that for humans, reading a resume is a linear, top-down process, and if they get bored immediately, you won't get called.
4. Keywords: These can be at the top or in the body of the resume, but use Boldface to make them stand out when someone is doing a quick read. But don't overdo the use of bold because it becomes an annoying distraction to the reader. And once you have used a key word in the resume, you don't need to repeat it again. The scanning software saw it and the reader will either get annoyed by your repetition.
5. Success stories: You need to include some situations or opportunities where you took action to get a favorable result. Those stories can be hard to come up with, but add a frame of reference and a third dimension to your experience.
6. Some chronology: Most recruiters like the standard "tombstone" resume ("1990-2005, General Manager, Premium Products") and it gives a sense of validity and verfiability to your resume. But it can also expose job gaps, back steps and other liabilities that you don't want to emphasize. So keep the chronology minimized, unless you are the perfect age with a perfect track record.
7. Use Different Resumes for Different Audiences: Who, or what, is reading your resume? A machine, a hiring manager, a CEO, a recruiter or an HR analyst? How are you delivering it to them? By mail, fax, email or in person? Recognize the differences in each situation and have a resume that works for it. This can even include times when a resume is not appropriate and a well-crafted marketing letter will convey enough interest that you get a call asking for your resume.

A good resume writer will need to spend some serious time (4-8 hours minimum) extracting all of that information from you, and talent costs money.  Don't spend $50 and don't spend $2,000. If you want to do it yourself, have a professional contact read it and tell you what you need to correct. The kind of friend that will tell you if you have mustard on your chin would be best.

Legions facing layoffs turn to parties, Internet

Sent from Express News
NEW YORK - The bar was crowded with well-dressed professionals enjoying
drinks and conversation, a typical evening - except that many of them had
no job.

The event was a Wall Street Pink Slip Party, where the unemployed mix with
recruiters and curious bystanders to network, look for work, and share
their stories.

With employers shedding 600,000 more jobs in January, the undercurrent at
this party in a Manhattan bar was decidedly glum.

"Wall Street, directly or indirectly, has ruined the best 10 years of my
life," said Susan Lange, speaking of colleagues and friends she lost on
Sept. 11, 2001, and the sense now, after being laid off from her job as an
AIG training manager, that her world has again turned on its head.

"I'm devastated," the 39-year-old woman said.

Figures released Friday showed that the unemployment rate hit 7.6 in
January, a month with more layoffs than at any other time since 1974.

Jobseekers are gathering in bars, delving into the business networking Web
site LinkedIn, waiting in lines at city help centers, and even starting up
hopeful conversations with prosperous-looking strangers on commuter trains
- all in the hope of landing jobs in what seems to be a shrinking pool of
opportunity.

"Places have hiring freezes. And they have cutbacks. And they have layoffs.
There are a lot more people in the job market," said 32-year-old Ana
Arrendell, who has been searching for work since August.

At first, she was looking only for a job in her field, graphic design. But
as the months have gone by, Arrendell has lowered her expectations. "Right
now, I'll take anything," she said Friday as she left a New York City-run
office that offers resume-writing assistance and interview training.

Already having given up hope for a Wall Street job making $80,000 per year
right out of college, recent graduate David Gunther is getting creative as
he tries to expand his business network.

The 23-year-old has begun hanging around commuter ferries and suburban
trains, chatting up professional-looking types traveling to areas where
executives live. Recently, at an electronica concert - a wildly different
atmosphere than at the career services office at his university - he talked
to some fans who introduced him to an entertainment-industry manager. Now
he's preparing for a job interview with the man.

Gunther isn't the only one looking for new ways to meet people. Among the
groups using the networking service Meetup, the NYC Job Seekers & Career
Strategy group has more than doubled in size to 454 people since September,
with more than 95 joining since the first of the year. Worldwide, Meetup
has seen a boom in career-related groups; more than 2,000 were started in
January, compared to about 500 a month over the summer, said spokesman
Andres Glusman.

Chandlee Bryan, a resume writer and career coach who acts as facilitator
for the New York group, says she has seen it transform. Initially, people
attending the meetings were pondering a career switch out of a desire for
something new. Now, participants in talks on online networking and
interviewing techniques are more often being forced into the hunt, either
because they've been laid off or because they believe they might be.

Bryan says the meetings help people fight off the solitude that comes with
being jobless.

"There's a great deal of isolation," she said. "That complicates the
process and makes it harder, given that the majority of people find their
jobs through networking."

That's the point of the Wall Street Pink Slip Party - modeled after similar
events held following the dot-com bust. Since the reincarnation was
launched in November, the intensity at the parties is increasing, says
organizer Rachel Pine.

The first event drew a mix of people, only a quarter of them laid off. By
the Feb. 4 event, 85 to 90 percent of the 400 people were looking for work.

The scene at the bustling Public House bar on Wednesday night was varied,
as men and women in a mix of suits and corporate casual wear - and pink
glow-in-the-dark wristbands that marked them as jobseekers - homed in on
recruiters wearing green wristbands.

Some were approaching their job search with equanimity, figuring they could
rely on savings socked away during the flush years. Others seemed more
desperate, counting their change after paying for the coat check. Some,
drink in hand, sounded almost bitter about their personal economic downturn.

Andrea Bouwman recounted watching the Super Bowl with a growing sense of
ire, as she saw the millions of dollars that her former employer PepsiCo
had spent on advertising instead of salaries.

"They kind of compromised people for the actual advertising," said the
former marketing manager, adding that since she got her pink slip she's
been drinking only Coca-Cola.

Options are more limited back at the city employment center in Brooklyn,
where 43-year-old Desmond Moulton, who held jobs as a retail salesman,
recounts months of dashed hopes.

Most recently he returned to the job placement center, only to see a
once-enthusiastic counselor turn somber as she studied his prospects.

"She clearly wanted to help me. She clearly wanted to have some good news
to give me," he said. "But she had none."

---

By SAMANTHA GROSS Associated Press Writer

Are Older Workers Finally Getting an Advantage?

There is some hope for over-40 workers. In a post on CareerDiva, Eve asks "Who's the most screwed in this economy?" The answers may surprise you.

While Baby Boomers are falling all over themselves to get Botox and look younger, they may actually want to highlight their wrinkles and gray hair.

Turns out the unemployment rate among the under 30 crowd is well above people in their mid thirties to mid fifties.

According to yet to be published labor data on age from U.S. Department of Labor, the unemployment rate for 20 to 29 years olds in December jumped to 9.8 percent, and is nearly 20 percent for the under 20 crowd. That’s well above the 7.2 percent overall rate. And among the 30 to 39 population that figure was 6.6 percent, and under 6 percent for individuals who were 40 plus.

Why? Turns out experience rules during crummy economic times.

It makes sense. While companies are seeing sales slide they want more seasoned employees, maybe ones that have weathered a past economic downturn, to help them emerge from the recessionary ashes.

I write about the high jobless rate among 20 to 29 years old on MSNBC.com today, and while I was researching the piece I was worried if I’d be able to find enough jobless Gen Yers to talk to.

Well, I was inundated by emails from job seekers under 30 who were wondering what ever happened to the promise of career nirvana for this coveted generation.

Mehgan’s story is pretty typical:

I just turned 26 last month and I have been unemployed since the beginning of November. I graduated from USC had a great job out of college, moved up to LA, switched jobs and definitely thought this could never happened to me. I have learned some valuable lessons and luckily had been taught some good ones prior to this so that I am not yet living on the street. Pride is out the window as you apply for unemployment and tell all your friends and family you were let go hoping that someone has a lead on a job opportunity.

Indeed, pride is out the window for many out-of-work individuals out there right now, no matter what age. But younger folks seem to be struggling the most, and seem to be the most surprised about it, especially if they have a college degree.

“College teaches you everything EXCEPT how to get the job,” says workplace consultant J.T. O’Donnell. “A college degree only gets a Gen Y to the career starting line, but nobody is teaching them how to close the gap on their self-knowledge and career skills so they can add more value and get on track professionally to achieving their goals.”

Dr. Debra Condren, a business psychologist and author of “Ambition Is Not A Dirty Word,” says younger workers tend to want results immediately, without a lot of work.

She shared an example of an email she got from a 22-year-old client after just one week of job searching:

“So I am having ZERO luck locating a job. I have already had 2 interviews and both didn’t hire me :( and I am getting a little depressed. I printed off 20 resumes and just went around to places handing them out, almost handed every single one to different businesses and filled out application after application, and NOTHING. I’m getting a little depressed.”

Alas, people of all age groups are going to have to be a bit more patient than this.

She offers some great insights for all you Gen Yers out there:

I think that some job seekers in the under-30 group need encouragement to understand that a successful job search requires tenacity, nerves of steel–especially
in today’s environment–and, a secret weapon: coming up with an informal advisory board and asking those people for help, being very specific and strategic with what you are asking.

Getting a foot in the door takes time. Get started today. Open your mouth. Let people know that you’re looking, what you have to offer. Get on their radars. Float your resume. Talk with folks in your network, friends of friends, new acquaintances. Put out feelers through your college alumni association. Polish your resume. Build your KaChing! File: print old and new e-mails praising your work; record (writing down) verbal compliments from bosses, clients, colleagues. Write down dates and specifics—projects you spearheaded, internships you thrived in (giving specifics on what you accomplished and the value you added), money you saved your department, clients won—and file it. Tracking your accomplishments as you go makes it easier to sell yourself on paper—and while networking your way into interviews where your story will land a meaningful, challenging job.

Whether you’re employed or unemployed, investigate gold-standard advanced training to be more competitive. Research an advanced degree. Or simply sign up for weekend intensives or short-term accelerated certification programs. Subscribe to your industry trade publications to learn the ins and outs and who’s who of that world; learn to speak your industry’s language with fluency.

Bone up on movers and shakers you read or hear about; study what they’ve published, their accomplishments and what’s written about them. Then phone or e-mail these folks saying, “I admire your work. I have talent and ambition. Would you consider speaking with me for ten minutes on the phone about tips for breaking into your company or about other opportunities you know about?”

Be proactive and patient. You owe it to yourself—and the world—to make the contribution you were born to make.