When it comes to making connections with recruiters through social media channels, the line between annoying and impressing is very thin.  Today I want to look at Twitter specifically, and provide a few steps for you to not only reach recruiters, but also get on their radar.  Here are the 5 steps:

Step 1: Find Recruiters to Follow

Half the battle is finding a recruiter that is specific to your interests and location.  While some recruiters need applicants on a global level, many only search for talent in a specific geographic location.

Here are some quick tips for finding recruiters to follow:

• Use Twitter Search and type in the word “Recruiter” and your city.  Example: “Recruiter Philadelphia”.
• Use FollowerWonk.com and click on “Search Twitter Bios”.  Enter the same search string in the example above.
• Search hashtags for things like #PhillyJobs, #ChicagoJobs, #ITJobs, #BostonRecruiter, and #JobHuntChat.  Play around with this until you find the right formula.
• Recruiters love to follow each other, so go through their following list and you’ll absolutely find more Recruiters and HR professionals.

Step 2: RT and Share Their Content

After following, avoid asking for help immediately.  I can guarantee that if you do this right away, they’ll be annoyed.  However, if they do have a current opening that you’re a fit for, then you might want to send a tweet about it.

In most cases, you’ll want to RT and share out their content to your own networks.  Start out first by RT’ing a few times a week, and then possibly once per day.  You’ll receive a few “thank you” messages back, and possibly even a question about who you are and what you do.  Congratulations, you’re on their radar!

Step 3: RT and Share Their Open Jobs

Even if you’re not a fit for their openings, be sure to spread the word and help them fill open jobs they’ve posted online.  This can go a long way and is similar to the strategy in number two.  Simply put, if you’re able to help them, they will happily return the favor without you needing to ask.

Step 4: Find them on Linkedin and Connect

It’s perfectly acceptable to find a recruiter on Linkedin and add them to your connections.  You can either go right ahead and leave them a connection request on Linkedin, or send a tweet to ask if it would be OK.  Either is fine in my honest opinion.

Critical Tip: When you connect on Linkedin, make sure to write out a message and delete the standard Linkedin connection text.  Remind them that you’re from Twitter and provide your Twitter name.  Quick example:

John, it has been great connecting on Twitter and learning from your tweets.  Wanted to network here as well!

- Rich aka @CornOnTheJob

Step 5: Wait For the Perfect Job

Maybe it doesn’t happen day 1, day 10, or day 50, but eventually they’ll post a job through Twitter and/or Linkedin that is perfect for you.  If you’ve done a great job of getting on their radar, sharing their information, and helping them with openings, then you might even be the first person they think of.

Just send them a Tweet or Linkedin message to confirm interest and then hang tight while waiting for their response!

Please keep in mind that making just one connection with a recruiter through these steps may not be enough.  Increase your odds and look to make 5-10 new recruiter friends on Twitter per month.  The power in numbers will only help, just make sure they are targeted and the kind of recruiters that you need to be in touch with.

Go get ‘em!

Oh, and make sure you follow me, I’ll help out when I can!

Back in July of 2009, my life was quite a whirlwind of confusion.  Corn on the Job  launched that month, just 4 months after the entire HR department (that means me) was cut after an acquisition at my company.  Initially, I created this here blog as a way to give back and help job seekers, but blogging and the quick mastery of social media gave my job search more than I could ever imagine.

You see, at that time in my life, I was lacking direction and focus.   I had just about 4 years of experience in recruiting and was close to finishing my Masters in Human Resources from Villanova University.  On paper one might assume I was being prepared for HR Glory.  To be honest, I wasn’t thrilled.  Going back to what was familiar just wasn’t exciting anymore.

The True Power of Social Media

The social channels I used, specifically Twitter, gave me access to basically anyone I wanted.  While I was connecting with job seekers, I also was able to reach out to other bloggers, recruiters, HR folks, and others who felt lost like I did.

What did I do?

I started packing my days with phone calls.  I used Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin to start the conversation and build connections.  Then I’d reach out and see if they had interested in chatting on the phone.  Everyone had interest.  No one turns down a phone call.

It was then that I realized the true power of social media.  Insert smile face.

The conversations I had were highly inspiring and shed light on new areas for my  career and/or new paths I could take.  I even remember very warm job leads coming from those first phone calls I had.  It was unreal.

I can still remember my first calls with Jessica Miller-Merrill, Maren Hogan, Mark Stelzner, Steve Levy, Sarah White, Jason Seiden, William Tincup, Matt Cheuvront, and so many others.

Social Media led to reconnecting with Marty McDonald, the dude who started Bad Rhino with me this year.  He and I had worked at the same company for a short time in 2005, and the new 2.0 world gave us a chance to catch up again.  Not only did this reconnect lead to a contract recruiting gig in the summer of 2011, it ultimately led to the formation of Bad Rhino, a company I grow more proud of with each day that passes.

Pack Your Week With Phone Calls

Start utilizing the true power of Social Media and take the conversation offline.  Social Media is where the conversation starts, but you MUST take it to the next step with your connections.

Build your connections through tweets, status updates, Linkedin group conversations, or however you’d like.  Once you feel comfortable, ask someone if they’d like to chat on the phone or on Skype.   You’ll find that “no” is a rare answer.

When Do I Talk About My Job Search?

On your calls, simply have a conversation.  Sounds easy, but it may be difficult to not jam, “I need a job badly, can you help me?”, somewhere in the call. Simply ask folks about their world, their career, and their life.  Trust me, they’ll ask you about your situation.  That’s when you bring up your career and what you’re looking for.

You’ll be surprised how many new ideas for your career and search come up because of these phone calls.

How Many Phone Calls Per Week?

I’m challenging you to schedule five phone calls per week.  It’s not that bad.  Don’t fuss or fight me on this.

If you were to have five phone calls per week (20-25 per month), I can almost guarantee you’ll increase your job leads, phone screens, and interviews.  You’ll also gain insight from others about who you are and what you need to do with your life.

Who is going to take me up on the challenge?  Any questions?

The average person spends somewhere around 15 hours per month on Facebook.  But admit it, you know your monthly usage of ‘the book’ is for much longer than that stat announces.  So, while there, you might as well spend some of that time job searching…

Here are 15 ways to use Facebook to get a job:

1.  ”Like” Your Dream Companies

Your favorite companies are on Facebook and you probably already “like” them.  Become part of the community and engage.  Respond to comments and questions and try to get in their head.  When a position is open at the company that you want to apply to, write a wall comment on their page and ask who you should email if you have a question.  Once you have the email, tell the person that you’re interested in the position, and what’s the best way to apply.  That person will want you to get the job, it helps prove social media success as a talent source.

2. Connect With Recruiters

Recruiters are using Facebook just as much, if not more than you are.  They are constantly looking for a way to use Facebook as a talent source.  Find recruiters that live in your area and add them as “friends”.  Add a personalized message with your request to explain why you’re adding them.  You’ll be surprised how many will accept your request.  

3. Create a Business Page For Your Search

The cool thing about FB business pages is that they are searchable on Google.  You can create a “hire me” campaign through a business page.  If you do it right, it will help you gain targeted exposure to your dream/target companies.  I had wrote a blog post about a Philadelphia area man who wanted to work for Krispy Kreme so bad, that he utilized Facebook for part of his campaign.

4. Post Strategic Job Search Status Updates

Be careful not to spam your audience, but feel free to toss in 2 or 3 job search related status updates per week.  Updates can be direct links to your online resume or Linkedin, or even just a simple “I’m looking for a job” update.  If you already have a job, I suggest avoiding this method.

5. Use Facebook Job Search Apps

More and more apps are being developed for networking and the job search.  Three big apps are BeKnown, BranchOut, and InCircle.  I found this blog post from Balanced Workplace that explains how these apps work.

6. Research Where Your “Friends” Work

Remember, Facebook is a social networking tool.  Use it to keep up with “friends” that you haven’t seen in years.  Keep a record of contacts who have build up a solid career and professional network.  Keep up with them and ask if their company is hiring.  They’ll appreciate the referral bonus if you get hired at their company.

7.  Use A Targeted Ad

My friend Marian is a level 1 Bad Ass.  I mean, if there were levels of Bad Ass, she’d be Level 1.  Anyway, she had created an ad on Facebook to bring notice to herself and her job search.  She targeted a number of companies, and received emails back from all of them stating they liked her idea or they wanted to send her resume on to HR.  Here is more info about Marian’s campaign.

8. Use the New Facebook Cover Photo

Facebook is currently delaying their new “Timeline”, which will also feature a Cover Photo that stretches across the top of our profile page.  The Cover Photo presents an interesting opportunity to job seekers.  I wrote about this in more detail here, but you can also check out some cool examples of Cover Photo’s here.

9. Use Privacy Settings

Facebook can kill you just as much as save you.  Make sure that if you’re going to be tossing loads of profanity, questionable pictures, or anything else that you wouldn’t want an employer to see, that you set those privacy settings to strict.  If you have wild friends, you might want to deactivate your “wall” until you land that new job.  Set the privacy settings to “friends of friends” or to just “friends”.

10. All Of The Above

Use as many of the above items as possible.  If it’s available to you, then why not?  Besides, what’s a few more hours per month on Facebook?

What are some other Facebook Job Search Techniques?

Whether you know it or not, the new Facebook launch is coming tomorrow.  Facebook is calling their new design, “Timeline”, and I can already hear groans from users as they are forced to switch over tomorrow.  However, these are the same people that complained the last time Facebook came out with an update.

Here is what you need to know about Facebook’s Timeline profile that launches tomorrow.

The overall idea of Timeline is that it allows users to create what some may call a digital scrapbook, pointing out the most important events from their life.  The very beginning of your profile will start with your birth, allowing users to include a picture (or even video if you have one).  Timeline then goes right along your life, hitting birthdays of family members, high school and college graduation, relationship info, and other major life events.

Sweet…  But, that’s not what I’m writing about today.

Facebook Launches Cover Photos

The new addition to Facebook profiles sees the entire idea of profile pictures changed with a Facebook Cover Photo.  Your new cover photo stretches across the top of your entire profile and is an addition to the standard profile image you’re used to.  Here are a few examples of cover photos from folks that I’ve seen that have snuck in early (including yours truly):

I went with showing off my home in this sweet skyline shot of Philly!

Sara Davidson chose to show off Zaarly, the company she and others are doing awesome things for.

Srini shows off his life passion and hobby as he lands a wave in his sweet cover photo.

If you’re anything like me, then you’re already foaming at the mouth when thinking of what the creative folks out there will create with their new cover photo.

Which brings me to what we’re all here for…

Facebook Cover Photos For Job Seekers

Come on, you knew this was coming, right?  I can’t be the first person that’s thought of how sick this will be for job seekers.  Let’s just think of the options job seekers have when creating their cover photo:

Infographic Resumes:  Just imagine, the graphically inclined folks will be able to toss in an infographic resume into their cover photo.   It will be unreal, and I can’t wait to see the first image of a profile that does this successfully.

Portfolio Examples: People should be able to make a portfolio of their work right on their cover photo.  I’m not creative enough to do it, but someone is.

“Hire Me” Campaigns: I understand that a Blog, Twitter, and Facebook fan pages a thousand times better for “Hire Me” Campaigns, but adding the cover photo can’t hurt.

Display Links: Using the cover photo to share information, job seekers can include links to their social networks, online resume, or blog.

QR Codes: Speaks for itself and would work similar to the examples I used in the Display Links example above.

These are just some of the possibilities that I’ve come up with.  What’s exciting to me is that I know there are creative people in the world that will blow my ideas out of the water.  With that said…

What other ideas do you have for the Facebook Cover Photo?  Have you seen any really cool cover photos yet?  Am I missing anything?

The creativity of job seekers continues to surprise, impress, and inspire me.  Impressive “Hire Me” campaigns have caught most of my recent attention, as exampled by a “Hire Me Chipotle” campaign I wrote about just a couple weeks ago, but today I’m sharing another form of creativity in the job search — QR Code Video Resume

If you’re not familiar with Quick Response Codes (QR), the best way to explain them is to simply compare them to a barcode that can be scanned from your smart phone.  Once scanned, the QR code directs your phone’s internet browser to open up a website, a video (youtube, vimeo, etc), an email subscribe list, or really anything you can imagine.  It’s damn cool, and the QR code has some pretty sweet potential for creative job seekers as shown by the example I’m about to share.

Sweet QR Code Video Resume

Victor Petit takes a somewhat normal PDF resume and transforms it into something extraordinary.  I won’t ruin the surprise QR code ending for you, so go ahead and watch the embedded video.  Oh and shout out to Alstin for making me aware of this!

QR CODE – Content-rich Resume from Victor petit on Vimeo.

As I’m sure you saw, Victor’s use of QR code is pretty incredible.  Here is what I like about Victor Petit’s strategy:

• The QR code is an add on and isn’t his entire job search strategy.  While most of us have smart phones, you still need to account for the person who has no idea what to do when flipping that resume over.
• The QR code helps the viewer finish the puzzle of the resume and makes the experience interactive.
• The video that Victor creates seems to be somewhere between 25-40 seconds at the most.  In this situation, over a minute would probably be too long.

How passionate are you about your favorite restaurant?  Does your memory vividly recall your first dining experience there?  Do you remember what you ordered?  Are you located near the restaurant’s corporate headquarters?  Would working there be your dream?

Bianca Cadloni can confidently answer “yes” to each of those questions.

In 1999, Bianca had her first bite of a Chipotle Chicken Taco (super jealous, I didn’t have my first Chipotle bite until 2007) and she was never the same.  Approximately 12 years later, Bianca’s passion in the wildly popular restaurant chain is strong as ever.  She has created a “Hire Me Chipotle” campaign that quickly captured my attention yesterday.  Her goal is to land a job with Chipotle as their social media and public relations coordinator.

Like I’ve done with the “Hire Me Krispy Kreme” and Social Jenny campaigns, I wanted to review Bianca’s attempt to land her dream gig in the guacamole mecca.

Bianca’s “Hire Me Chipotle” Website

What I first noticed about Bianca’s website was that it actually LOOKED like Chipotle!  I thought that her job of branding it like many images you’d see in Chipotle was fantastic.  I feel that’s something that people at Chipotle will enjoy viewing and I her attention to detail will pay off.

Oh, and she even tossed in some of her humor and personality on the home page.  Her main tag line is, “Will Work for Guacamole”.  Take a quick look at her design and the developed pages.

And before I forget, check out the slick Chipotle favicon she added (small, but look closely).  Nice touch, Bianca!

Bianca does a nice job of explaining why she’s applying, what job she’s applying for, and how her passion ties into everything.  Here’s a direct quote from her Hello Chipotle homepage that I love:

When I saw the job listing for social media and public relations coordinator, my heart skipped a beat. It was as if my love of PR, social media and Chipotle came together to give birth to the job description I had been dreaming of since I took my first bite of a sustainable chicken taco. So why do I deserve this job? Like you, I am Colorado based and here to stay. Now my hope is that you can see in me what I see in your company: creativity, ingenuity, forward thinking ideas and murderous guacamole (OK maybe not the last part).

I don’t think it’s necessary to quote or discuss each section, but Bianca does a nice job of explaining why she should be hired in the Writing, Social Media, Public Relations, and Advertising pages.  In these sections, she explains experiences from internships that directly relate to the job at Chipotle.  Oh, and she adds in a cool video in the Advertising section, which displays a video she played a major part in creating at her internship.  Another nice touch.

She adds in a About Bianca section to really display her personality and give the company an inside look into who she is and what she’s all about.  She caps off this section with her go to Chipotle order, which again, I think the people viewing the page will think was clever to add in.

Lastly, I think it’s important that she has a #Resume section as a clickable page.  This page also doubles as a contact form which is smart and saves space up top.  While the purpose of any campaign like this is to move away from the resume, organizations still typically want to see them at some point, so this gives them easy access.

 The Twitter Account

To help her campaign go viral, Bianca created a Twitter account for her campaign.  Check it out and follow her @HireMeChipotle.  Her bio is solid and the profile picture is great, using the Chipotle Cup and Guacamole in each hand.

She’s done a solid job in her first day, building up 56 followers so far.  I think Bianca will see those numbers increase dramatically by the weekend, hopefully bringing her a response from someone over at Chipotle.

Final Thoughts

As I mentioned in the beginning, her branding technique is slick.  I love how it actually does look much like an image you’d see in the restaurant.  She also does a nice job of connecting her experiences to the open position.

What advice would you give Bianca?  Would you change, add, or delete anything?  

Help Bianca spread her #HireMeCampaign by following @HireMeChipotle and checking out her website, http://hirebiancac.com/

I love LinkedIn.  But I also love putting work into LinkedIn.

The bold should tell you that the second sentence is far more important.  Unfortunately, far too many job seekers complain that LinkedIn hasn’t worked for them, so they end up failing to put in the proper work/time that building a LinkedIn network requires.

Sure, LinkedIn can be a short term solution to your job search, but it’s far more powerful when you consistently build up your network, and use it as a career tool.  Don’t mistake career tool, for job search tool.   When you have more connections in your network, the possibilities have you feeling more and more like Bradley Cooper in that movie Limitless.  A massive amount of connections gives you the power to connect with almost anyone, from any company, and from any location.  Limitless.  Oh, and a big shout out to Philly native, Bradley Cooper.

Connect.  Connect. Connect. Connect. Connect.
Then connect some more.

If any of this is new to you, I do believe that I covered much of the basics, and then some in my Ultimate Beginners Guide to LinkedIn.  Read it.

I am certainly not bragging by showing you the following screen shot of my network connections, but you’ll see that my LinkedIn statistics do give me the luxury of connecting with a fairly large amount of people.  Over 16 million to be exact.  Still, I do know many folks (mostly recruiters) who have a much larger network than I have.  Take a look at the shot:

Just by having a direct connection to 2,000+ people, I’m able to get in touch with and contact some 16 million people.  Hell yes.

Are you ready to start committing to your LinkedIn network?  

LinkedIn’s latest social hiring trick has arrived and whether you like it or not, it’s coming to an employer near you.

credit -- http://news.cnet.com

The brand new, “Apply With LinkedIn” button should further LinkedIn’s comfortable position as the top social recruiting and professional networking website. According to a survey completed by Jobvite Inc., 87 percent of U.S. firms use Linkedin as a recruiting tool. While other social giants such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ can be used as valuable tools to job seekers, but just cannot match up to LinkedIn in this arena.

Career experts, recruiters, bloggers, and HR professionals continuously share stories about the effectiveness and power of LinkedIn. Still, many soon to be graduates and recently graduated folks haven’t heard of, or avoid using LinkedIn. It’s baffling.  I’m baffled.

This new button, which resembles the Twitter “tweet this” or Facebook “like this” button, will be easily integrated into company job descriptions. Job Seekers will need to decide if they’d rather apply through the company website and go through their probably long application process, or click LinkedIn’s button and submit their LinkedIn profile. This answer comes easy to those with a solid LinkedIn profile, a strong network, and a hefty list of recommendations.  Folks without LinkedIn profiles may go as far as creating one after this button pops up more and more in their job hunt.

While this is a humongous move for Linkedin, it’s difficult to say how this will play out for Job Seekers and Recruiters.  There are serious reasons to cheer, and also some to fear.  Before going into those reasons, here’s a quick outline of how the button works.

How does it work?

It’s just so very simple.

For the recruiter/company, once they’ve added a few lines of code from LinkedIn, their new button should be integrated and they are done!  Then all they need to do is sit back and watch as applications pour in.

For job seekers, the process has just a few more steps.  Since each company career site is different, you won’t find the Linkedin “apply” button in the same spot everytime.  This is what it looks like on the NetFlix career site.

Once clicking the “Apply with LinkedIn” button, another screen will surface, showing that user their LinkedIn profile and asking for one more click before submitting to the company.  Here’s a preview from my screen:

Once you’ve gone through this step, there is really just one more thing left to do.  LinkedIn will automatically pull up people that are in your network that work at the company you’re applying to work for.  With a simple click, you can send that person a note, asking them to write you a quick referral for the position.  It’s really that simple, and it is really that cool.

Why I’m Cheering

For Social Savvy job seekers, this is a no brainer.  One of the long standing frustrations for job seekers has been lengthy online application processes, which this easily eliminates.  With a couple clicks (and hopefully a few referrals) your application is off to company.  Many job seekers hate having to put together a resume, but find it somewhat easy to create their LinkedIn profile.  If this becomes a great success, the 87 percent of companies using LinkedIn should increase, and folks won’t have to worry about sending a resume at the first step.  

While many of my friends believe the resume may fully become extinct one day, I don’t believe that day is very soon.  Even after the LinkedIn application is reviewed, I believe many employers will ask candidates to supply a resume, even if just for HR record keeping.

As for the company, this can bring a stadium of cheers for a few reasons.  The first being that resumes are really quite awful to read.  Recruiters today have stacks of them to go through, and it’s really no fun.  With this Linkedin “apply” button, they’ll be able to save applications as PDF’s and choose to print them out if they’d like.  Also, not only is it easy to set up, but it should integrate with their Applicant Tracking Systems easily, and if not, I’m sure it will soon.

Why I’m Fearing

 As my friend Miriam at Keppie Careers says in her post about the “apply” button,  ”Easy isn’t always the best approach for job seekers”.  Like Miriam, I believe that this button will create a surge of applications through LinkedIn.  The lengthy application process that job seekers hate so much, may almost serve as a screen in itself.  Being that, if you make it through the 25 minute application process, the company knows you’re very interested in their position.  With this Linkedin button, there isn’t much stopping job seekers from applying to anything and everything they see.

While it may seem like an easy win for job seekers, keep in mind that a busy recruiter means the chance of having your application reviewed has reduced.  If this incredible surge of applications does take place, using LinkedIn references and recommendations will be more important than ever.

If you’re looking to start up, or beef up your Linkedin Profile, check out the “Ultimate Beginners Guide to Linked In” that I wrote!

Before I left for a (very) lengthy vacation, pretty much everyone was oozing over Google+. Obviously, my first thoughts were, “How can G+ be used as a career tool?” Well, my current thoughts are still on the same level, and unfortunately, vacation didn’t provide time to play around with the new social media craze.

What’s a boy to do? Well, instead of spending time going through myself, I figured I’d provide a completely awesome resource list for The Google+ Job Search!   Below you’ll see blog posts and articles about how Google+ can be used as a career or job search tool, as well as general tips on Google+.  Enjoy!

The Google+ Job Search Resource List!

CBS Money Watch – Could Google+ Be the Best Social Network for Your Career?

About.com – Google+ for Job Seekers

DeniseMpls – Why Job Seekers Should Jump On Google Plus

Becky Benishek – Google+: A New Round of Etiquette

Avid Careerist – 7 Google Plus Job Search Tips 

WetFeet – Google+ Circles:  What it Means for Your Personal Brand

Mashable – The Google+ Cheat Sheet

The Huffington Post – Your Google+ Guide: 15 Tips For Newbies

Christina Trapolino – Stop treating Google+ like Facebook

How-To Geek – How to Migrate from Facebook to Google+

Come Recommended – How To Use Google+ For Your Personal Brand

Bill Boorman – Google+ For Recruiters

Brazen Careerist – Google+ Is Good For Your Career

Blogging 4 Jobs – The Real Minus of Google+ 

The Cynical Girl – Social Media Saturday: Google+

Do you know of another great Career or General Google+ tip?  Just reply to this post or send me an email to CornOnTheJob @ gmail.com.  I’ll review your suggestion and add it in if I feel it’s a solid resource for the community here!

We’re proud to announce that U.S. News will be guest hosting our New Grad night on #JobHuntChat. As always, #JobHuntChat will start at 10PM EST and run through 11PM EST tonight (June 6th).

Joining the #JobHuntChat team ( @blogging4jobs, @girlmeetsgeek, and yours truly) for the night will be twitter handles @USNewsEducation or @USNewsCareers.  Make sure to look out for tweets coming from our friends from US News!

Question Lineup

Make sure to pass this information on to the New Grads in your life and I hope to see you all there at #JobHuntChat!