Traditional Empoymnet (part 2)

In my last post I asked if traditional employment was dead...I linked to an article that had a somewhat negative outlook. Today I offer a somewhat more positive spin to this question. This article from Fortune contributor Larissa Faw looks at How Millennials are Redefining Careers.

As a Gen Xers near the end of that spectrum I guess I don't see this as anything new. While an undergrad the chair of my department liked quoting to us at Department of Labor statistic about how we would have on average 7 - 10 employers (careers, depending on whose wording you wanted to use.) At the beginning of the piece the author details how people used to define themselves as a single identity (engineer, teacher, NASA, etc.) but now people see themselves with multiple identities (journalist AND marketing consultant AND co-partner in a company.)

In a related piece on Fortune contributor Dorie Clark ponders Why Your Company Should Blow Up the Corporate Ladder. It examines that in order to attract and retain top talent companies should begin to change the way they view the rigid corporate structure? The article looks at a book about an alternative to that rigid structure The Corporate Lattice: Achieving High Performance in the Changing World of Work. In this book the authors look at how movements in a lattice (sometimes sideways, sometimes slightly down or slightly up) can help improve employee satisfaction and thus improve their productivity.

If these authors are correct, will it improve corporate structure? Will it help improve unemployment? Confidence in the economy? I would love to hear what people think.

Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0 (part 2)

As I stated in my first post about this book, the authors have an interesting take on many aspects on the job search. One area they have absolutely correct is Chapter 4 on the importance of research. They do a good job of presenting all the reasons for the importance of research, many of which we have discussed in previous posts (company research 1 & 2). I also give them major props for recommending the use of your local public library to find the things you are having trouble finding on line!

The one area that they don't connect the dots is that many of the free online resources that they mention by name (Hoovers, Lexis Nexis, D&B Million Dollar database, etc.) have subscription versions that provide even more in-depth information. Many libraries have subscriptions to these or similar resources, so while they give props to libraries, they could have made a stronger case. In my company research part 2 piece I provide links to the state-wide resources available in 49 of the 50 states that should have these or other very valuable subscription resources for performing this research.

I have found this book to be a good read. The advice and tips may seem a bit aggressive, but in this job searching environment aggressive may be necessary.

Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0/3.0

I am reading through this very interesting book by Jay Conrad Levinson and David E. Perry. The second edition is very good, with practical advice. As the authors mention early on in the book there are many such advice texts on the market, but few are written by a marketing experts and an executive head hunter.

Now admittedly the book is written for a decidedly corporate audience, but some of the advice is universal. For example where many books would talk about analyzing your strengths and interests and focusing a job search on careers that highlight these... the Guerrilla method (as they call it) has the reader write down all these personal interests and professional strengths and compare the lists. Find the intersections of these lists and concentrate on them.

They also advocate researching the companies you are targeting and the industry(ies) that these companies fall within. As a librarian that preaches a similar message and teaches those skills I  am very much in favor.

As a public servant I realize the importance of marketing ones skills and self, but I find it difficult. I will post more thoughts about the book as I continue to read through it. In the meantime how are all of you dealing with marketing yourselves? I welcome the comments.

Social Media & jobs (part 2)

LinkedIn just hit 150 million users. Yet another reason to use it for job searching and more importantly networking. But in case you are still skeptical, I am reading through a few books that might interest some of you:

Schepp, Bard & Debra. How to find a job on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other Social Networks. McGraw-Hill. New York. 2010.

Crompton, Diane & Ellen Sautter. Find a Job Through Social Networking: Use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and More to Advance Your Career. Jist Works. Indianapolis. 2011.

As I say, I am still reviewing these, but my initial assessment is that the first does a good job of walking through the process of setting up accounts on LinkedIn and other social media tools, the second book covers a wider variety of tools. This creates a larger breadth but of course the side effect is less depth on each tool.

Do any of you have a favorite social media tool? How are you highlighting your skills?