Just in case you hadn't heard... a personal web site is valuable to the job seeker.
Author Jacquelyn Smith writes this article in Forbes, Why every job seeker should have a personal website and what it should include. At the beginning she shares some national statistics about the job market: the average job opening receives 118 applicants, only about 20% (or 36 get interviews.) Also she quotes a Workfolio study that reports that "56% of hiring managers are more impressed by a personal website than any other branding tool - however, only 7% of job seekers actually have a personal website."
These statistics seem to match my personal experiences over the past few years. They also seem to match a gut feeling I have had in the past about the reasons to have a personal website, and I have one... but is it doing all it could for me? I would love to see examples of sites that other job seekers are using. By sharing we should all be able to get stronger as candidates.
20 May, 2013
07 May, 2013
"badges, we don't need no stinking badges"
Well maybe we do? This article on the future of credentials by Monica Guzman from the Seattle Times asks the important question about the future of the resume. It basically boils down to this: "If résumés are a bunch of claims, badges are a bunch of evidence."
So what do badges have do do with this, you may be asking yourself. Well if you are familiar with any kind of gamification you may already know the answer, but if you don't know what that is I will try to cover them both in brief.
Gamification is a process where elements of games are applied to non game situations to influence behavior. This is typically done by businesses but it is also making its way into education and other areas... many times the elements that are being brought in are levels, experience and rewards. Many of these have centered around the idea of earning a badge to demonstrate an accomplishment (hence the evidence in Ms. Guzman's quote.) So here are a few basic examples:
Using the Social Media app for smart phones FourSquare people can 'check in ' at locations and earn badges for things like the number of times they visit locations, the number of locations visited, etc. They can also become 'mayor' of a location when they reach the top of the list of check-ins. The business could then use this information to issue deals, coupons, or other rewards to help encourage people to stop by.
This is a fairly simple example, and there are many others on the gamification site linked above. I can also discuss this with anyone individually who is interested and/or recommend further reading.
Where it becomes interesting is (as the article from the Seattle Times hints at) when we expand these badges into other social media tools (perhaps LinkedIn for example.) Here is a frame work for how I could see this unfolding:
LinkedIn working with others creates a smooth and simple interface to allow users to display badges, certificates and other items demonstrating achievement (the evidence or virtual currency.) Then MOOCs and other systems where people can go to learn skills award some sort of badge, certificate, etc. and this gets loaded into LinkedIn or some other profile building site. Now along with the standard names and dates of schools and employers (the old resume), I have a skills section (LinkedIn already has this) with the endorsements from my network (LinkedIn has this as well) and a layer with badges, certificates, and other forms of evidence from a whole host of other potential sources.
The rating/point system would need to be fully developed, but here is my initial thoughts of a hypothetical example:
Obviously this list would continue to grow as more systems were integrated, and the point system would have to be constantly adjusted to ensure its effectiveness. Hopefully It is clear that the value would lie in the usefulness that others place on the content that I as a job candidate create, not just me trying to inflate my standing by producing anything. I could also see layers being added if I wanted to integrate my purchases, for example if an online retailer could verify I bought a book or other tool needed for some task it would add a small bit of confidence that I am prepared to tackle the task.
Another benefit of such a system is that it would start to show specialization. By that I mean a sub field or area that you may not have received formal education in or that your job titles don't match... but that through experience you have learned. As an example my advanced degree is in Library Science, and I have worked in both public and academic libraries as a reference librarian. However through my experiences I have picked up a lot of knowledge about business, entrepreneurship and career development (which is why I write this blog!) If I wanted to get a job at a college in a career center I would probably have a hard time, since none of my education or employment background would lead the hiring manager to think I had the knowledge... but with such a system in place, it might be much more clear that I have the knowledge to complete the job duties. For example of my 186 LinkedIn connections 33 are career center people in higher ed and 24 are entrepreneurs or business school faculty that teach entrepreneurship. Then if you looked at my publications and presentations (something that any hiring manager outside of hiring for teaching faculty is unlikely to look at...) you might see most are related to creating resources for students to improve the job search. Then factor in this blog and you would begin to see that I am quite capable to take on a position in a career center for an institution of higher learning (not that I am currently pursuing this... but if I wanted to it might be hard for me with a standard resume/cover letter type hiring system in place today with most employers.)
Now I am sure I am not thinking of every possible result of creating and using such a system. I also know it would take some time for all the bugs to be shaken out and for everyone to catch up, but the bottom line is that it would be just a new piece of the pie that might help to bring together all of the things that hiring managers are already doing. We know they are checking our online presence and identity. We know that they are contacting not only the references we list for them, but others that may know us for insights.
Thoughts? Am I missing something?
So what do badges have do do with this, you may be asking yourself. Well if you are familiar with any kind of gamification you may already know the answer, but if you don't know what that is I will try to cover them both in brief.
Gamification is a process where elements of games are applied to non game situations to influence behavior. This is typically done by businesses but it is also making its way into education and other areas... many times the elements that are being brought in are levels, experience and rewards. Many of these have centered around the idea of earning a badge to demonstrate an accomplishment (hence the evidence in Ms. Guzman's quote.) So here are a few basic examples:
Using the Social Media app for smart phones FourSquare people can 'check in ' at locations and earn badges for things like the number of times they visit locations, the number of locations visited, etc. They can also become 'mayor' of a location when they reach the top of the list of check-ins. The business could then use this information to issue deals, coupons, or other rewards to help encourage people to stop by.
This is a fairly simple example, and there are many others on the gamification site linked above. I can also discuss this with anyone individually who is interested and/or recommend further reading.
Where it becomes interesting is (as the article from the Seattle Times hints at) when we expand these badges into other social media tools (perhaps LinkedIn for example.) Here is a frame work for how I could see this unfolding:
LinkedIn working with others creates a smooth and simple interface to allow users to display badges, certificates and other items demonstrating achievement (the evidence or virtual currency.) Then MOOCs and other systems where people can go to learn skills award some sort of badge, certificate, etc. and this gets loaded into LinkedIn or some other profile building site. Now along with the standard names and dates of schools and employers (the old resume), I have a skills section (LinkedIn already has this) with the endorsements from my network (LinkedIn has this as well) and a layer with badges, certificates, and other forms of evidence from a whole host of other potential sources.
The rating/point system would need to be fully developed, but here is my initial thoughts of a hypothetical example:
- Being a member of network (think LinkedIn Groups) 1 point each
- Being active in that group (writing posts, asking questions, etc.) 1 point each
- Having activity from the group voted up 0.5 points each
- Having appropriate connections (network) 0.25 points each
- Blogging about your professed expertise 0.1 points per post
- Followers of said blog 0.25 points each
- Comments on said blog 0.5 points each
- Certificates, badges, awards 1 point each
- Recommendations for work 2 points each
- Endorsements of skills 0.5 points each
- Answering questions (Yahoo Answers, etc.) 0.1 point each
- Answer to question being voted up 0.25 points each
- Writing reviews (Amazon, Yelp, etc.) 0.1 point each
- Reviews being voted up 0.25 points each
- Publications 3 points each
- Presentations at conferences 3 points each
- Invited to speak at a conference 5 points each
Obviously this list would continue to grow as more systems were integrated, and the point system would have to be constantly adjusted to ensure its effectiveness. Hopefully It is clear that the value would lie in the usefulness that others place on the content that I as a job candidate create, not just me trying to inflate my standing by producing anything. I could also see layers being added if I wanted to integrate my purchases, for example if an online retailer could verify I bought a book or other tool needed for some task it would add a small bit of confidence that I am prepared to tackle the task.
Another benefit of such a system is that it would start to show specialization. By that I mean a sub field or area that you may not have received formal education in or that your job titles don't match... but that through experience you have learned. As an example my advanced degree is in Library Science, and I have worked in both public and academic libraries as a reference librarian. However through my experiences I have picked up a lot of knowledge about business, entrepreneurship and career development (which is why I write this blog!) If I wanted to get a job at a college in a career center I would probably have a hard time, since none of my education or employment background would lead the hiring manager to think I had the knowledge... but with such a system in place, it might be much more clear that I have the knowledge to complete the job duties. For example of my 186 LinkedIn connections 33 are career center people in higher ed and 24 are entrepreneurs or business school faculty that teach entrepreneurship. Then if you looked at my publications and presentations (something that any hiring manager outside of hiring for teaching faculty is unlikely to look at...) you might see most are related to creating resources for students to improve the job search. Then factor in this blog and you would begin to see that I am quite capable to take on a position in a career center for an institution of higher learning (not that I am currently pursuing this... but if I wanted to it might be hard for me with a standard resume/cover letter type hiring system in place today with most employers.)
Now I am sure I am not thinking of every possible result of creating and using such a system. I also know it would take some time for all the bugs to be shaken out and for everyone to catch up, but the bottom line is that it would be just a new piece of the pie that might help to bring together all of the things that hiring managers are already doing. We know they are checking our online presence and identity. We know that they are contacting not only the references we list for them, but others that may know us for insights.
Thoughts? Am I missing something?
02 May, 2013
Beating Unemployment.
J.T. O'Donnell is a career expert, and this recent piece (3 Tips to Beat an Unemployment Stigma) got me thinking. She starts out by mentioning a new study (written up in the Washington Post piece here) that says long term unemployment can be a source of discrimination during a job search. I first want to echo her sarcasm over the shocking nature of these results. It is certainly something I have written about, providing links to advice and offering my own thoughts.
I like the 3 tips that Ms. O'Donnell shares. They are more than just general advice/common sense things that we all already knew. Hopefully anyone reading this will take heart in that (to me at least) they are simple and actionable steps that I can apply today.
Her second tip can involve some heavy lifting with the research muscle. Don't forget to refer back to my posts of research tips to find useful advice on how to approach learning about a company beyond just reading their web page.
When approaching this company research, while it is important to learn as much as possible from the information that the company produces, it is vital to gather background about the company from 3rd party news outlets and to learn about the industry that your target company is a part of and something about it's major competitors as well.
For anyone who has read this blog long enough will remember that I work in academic libraries. At my FPOW I had the pleasure of working closely with several campus offices that helped students find work. They mentioned time and again that the feedback they got from recruiters is that job candidates don't know enough about their company. Since leaving that university and starting this blog I have seen many advice articles that also mention this. Doing the research about the company is critical. So here is a senerio:
Candidate 1 has not done much research, and therefore the interview is mainly about them and their background.
You (as candidate 2) have done some of this research and you can mention things you have learned (big bonus), but if you can mention these things and make a connection to your background and how it will help you help them... (BIG BIG bonus)
Hopefully it is clear the power of this kind of research. Much of it can be done with smart web searching, but you can find better more reliable sources of information if you use a library. Try this post for a list of high quality resources provided by most state to all of their residents to perform this type of research.
I would love to hear from anyone who has used this type of approach to improve their interviewing.
I like the 3 tips that Ms. O'Donnell shares. They are more than just general advice/common sense things that we all already knew. Hopefully anyone reading this will take heart in that (to me at least) they are simple and actionable steps that I can apply today.
Her second tip can involve some heavy lifting with the research muscle. Don't forget to refer back to my posts of research tips to find useful advice on how to approach learning about a company beyond just reading their web page.
When approaching this company research, while it is important to learn as much as possible from the information that the company produces, it is vital to gather background about the company from 3rd party news outlets and to learn about the industry that your target company is a part of and something about it's major competitors as well.
For anyone who has read this blog long enough will remember that I work in academic libraries. At my FPOW I had the pleasure of working closely with several campus offices that helped students find work. They mentioned time and again that the feedback they got from recruiters is that job candidates don't know enough about their company. Since leaving that university and starting this blog I have seen many advice articles that also mention this. Doing the research about the company is critical. So here is a senerio:
Candidate 1 has not done much research, and therefore the interview is mainly about them and their background.
You (as candidate 2) have done some of this research and you can mention things you have learned (big bonus), but if you can mention these things and make a connection to your background and how it will help you help them... (BIG BIG bonus)
Hopefully it is clear the power of this kind of research. Much of it can be done with smart web searching, but you can find better more reliable sources of information if you use a library. Try this post for a list of high quality resources provided by most state to all of their residents to perform this type of research.
I would love to hear from anyone who has used this type of approach to improve their interviewing.
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