This document provides tips for smart surfing to find your next job using the internet and social media. It recommends having multiple email accounts, a marketing plan, and a kick-ass resume. It also suggests using online databases and job aggregator sites to find opportunities and creating a LinkedIn profile to build your professional network. Regular blogging about your industry can help position yourself as an expert and serve as an ongoing resume.

1. Mondays at Seven presents SMART SURFING FOR YOUR NEXT JOB Prepared by Kenneth Jay Cohen kjcohen@kjcohen.com January 03, 2011

3. Recruiters tend to use the Internet and forget to use the phone! Follow up with a phone call.

5. 1 Make sure you have the right tools.

6. Multiple e-mail accounts PDA Marketing plan Kick-ass resume Access to online databases The Right Tools

10. A list of former employers.

11. A list of specific companies where you would like to work.

13. Tool #4: Kick-Ass Resume (cont.) Fill in gaps between full time employment with consultant assignments (e.g., Your Name Consultants). For references, put a hyperlink to your LinkedIn profile. Make sure you have at least three recommendations on LinkedIn to avoid annoying the people whose names you’ll give when you’re close to an offer. You need a web-ready copy of your resume. Save a version of your resume as plain text so that you can copy and paste your resume on a company’s website without having formatting issues.

14. Tool #5: Online Databases Nexis-Lexis Lets you filter companies by industry and geographic area. ReferenceUSA Lists 14 million businesses in the U.S., including 4 million new ones and 1.5 million Canadian businesses. Note: These are expensive subscriptions, but you can get access to them for free at the library.

15. Do a Google Search on Yourself

16. Clean Up Your Act Make sure there’s nothing on Facebook or other social media sites that will come back to haunt you. Delete embarrassing photos. Use privacy settings where possible. Beware of family secrets that can be revealed by your teens to their social network. You don’t always know who they know. I found Dad’s stash of dirty magazines! Mom’s drunk again!

17. Start Your Engines 2

18. Job Agents Aggregators pull information from a variety of employment sites. They also let you create profiles and sort jobs by field, skill and location. Use “advanced search” and be specific when typing in key words. Some job agents are: Indeed.com Krazoom.com Careerbuilder.com Monster.com Dice.com Corp-corp.com Glassdoor.com Accountingjobstoday.com Administrativejobs.com Lawcrossing.com Journalismjobs.com Mediabistro.com Nonprofit-jobs.org Company websites

19. Aim at Your Target On Indeed, go to My Indeed. Follow the prompts and create job alerts with key words.

20. Processing E-Mails Through Outlook Set up all your e-mail accounts and multiple folders with rules to filter incoming e-mails. I use primary, secondary and tertiary folders and the Inbox for everything else. Primary rule: any e-mails containing “security and firewalls” in the text go into this primary folder. I spend most of my time looking at this folder. I get my highest rate of return (50-80% on average). Secondary rule: e-mails that contain the words “security or firewalls or infrastructure” go into this one. Tertiary rule: e-mails with the word “networking” go here. Any e-mails that go to my secondary user ID go into a separate folder.

21. Create and View a LinkedIn Profile Think like a bookseller. The longer a “customer” holds your “book,” the better the chances of buying it. Make your profile 100% complete, including at least three recommendations and a decent looking photo of yourself. Use applications such as Box.net to post your resume, marketing plan and other pertinent documents and SlideShare to post your presentations. Search for jobs on LinkedIn. Recruiters use LinkedIn because it’s cheaper than posting ads in newspapers and on Monster.com. Some companies post jobs exclusively on LinkedIn.

22. Create and View a LinkedIn Profile (continued) Join groups. There are groups for every field. If, by some chance, there isn’t, start one. Find contacts in your network who work or worked at the company where you will interview to learn the corporate culture, management style, etc. Check out the hiring manager and others you will be meeting before your interview to learn about their background. Never stop building your network, even after you retire! Your kids will need your contacts, too.

23. Be Fresh! With your profile, that is. Get back on top by logging on weekly and making a small change to your online resume. For example, change your middle initial and then change it back. Like cream, it rises. People tend to look at the more current information first.

24. Troll Company Websites Most companies’ websites include their annual reports (often as a PDF). You can get a lot of information about their growth. They also have a career section and you can apply for jobs directly to them. Many of these sites have a job agent (also known as a search engine) that can notify you if a job that matches your criteria is available. Because company job websites are not standardized, it can take 30 minutes or more to apply.

25. 3 Go the extra mile

26. Create a Digital Ad A website is optional for most people. If, however, you are in a creative industry, such as graphic design, you need a website for your portfolio. Godaddy.com, which sells domain names for under $11.00 per year, also hosts websites and lets you design your own. Surf to www.diorbriards.net for an example of a DIY website. Costco can also design your website for under $500.00.

27. Tweet! Twitter is growing as a way to find jobs. You need to set up accounts on www.twitter.com and www.tweetmyjobs.com. Again, make sure you have a twitter name that sounds professional. Your twitter bio should explain what you do. Your LinkedIn account gets updated with each tweet. Follow hiring managers and executives on twitter and respond to their tweets. If you strike up a digital conversation, you might be able to get a foot in the door.

28. Your Blog As an Ongoing Resume It’s better than OK to blog about your work. IBM encourages employees to blog within guidelines. Remember, this is corporate blogging, not cat blogging about your garden (unless you want to work for a company that sells fertilizer). A website is a static digital ad. A blog is interactive. Use your blog to position yourself as an expert in your field. Blog about trends and issues in your industry. Quote from reliable sources. Keep everything non-political.

29. Blogging Platforms Blogger.com Google’s baby. Set up a Gmail account and you’re ready to set up your blog for free. Wordpress Also free, but this platform has a longer learning curve, so it’s more prestigious than Blogger. Tumblr This is sort of a cross between a blog and a tweet. A page on your website You’ve got it all!

30. The Cheater’s Guide to Blogging Get ideas from newsfeeds about your industry (e.g., FierceFinance.com, FierceBiotech, etc.). Write about the topic and then let your readers know how you handled something similar at work. Blogging keeps you up to date on technology and social media and helps level the playing field with younger workers.

31. Keep in Mind Your mileage may vary. People will contact you at all hours. Thousands can be applying for the job you want. Multiple recruiters will call you for the same job, so keep track of where you’ve been submitted. Be honest. If a recruiter discloses the name of a company, mention that you have already been submitted and when. Keep your information private. Don’t respond to general inquires about your job search. Just answer specific questions. Maintain a list of recruiters you’ve worked with and make notes about dates and feedback.