Posted on September 13, 2009 - by Alex

Tools For Job Hunting – Part 1

Over the past 3 weeks I’ve been zealously experimenting with career-seeking tools, both new and old. Most of these fit well into one of two categories: Social Media and Resume Construction / Distribution. In next two posts, I’ll provide a general overview of each tool and my opinion on how to best apply them.  The first part of this two-part article will cover career-oriented Social Media instruments.

Brazen Careerist

Founded by top-notch writer and blogger Penelope Trunk (who happens to live in the same town as me), Brazen Careerist is a professional social network for Gen Y. It’s like LinkedIn with a pinch of Facebook: helping young people develop professional connections—with a personal touch. Brazen Careerist allows one to:

• Build a profile consisting of your professional work history and education (similar to LinkedIn), with an added section for “ideas,” where you can express yourself.
• Follow/friend other members of Brazen Careerist
• Upload your own resume (.DOC, .DOCX, .PDF, and .ODF formats) and made available for download
• Link to your blog and social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn to name a few)
• Publish a feed from your blog or create a blog post right in the web application

I liked the idea of concerting with other young people that share a common goal: advancing their careers. I also liked how Brazen Careerist made it easy for me to sign up by using FacebookConnect to fill out most of the registration for me.

I didn’t like how slow the pages loaded compared to other social web-apps. It annoyed me when I had to re-enter information into my resume numerous times because of bugs when saving the work experience entries.

I see Brazen Careerist as being a perfect HQ for building your personal brand and connecting with people—if you don’t have a stand-alone blog. Otherwise, it can be used as a more-focused Twitter: an outpost from which to build an audience that permits you to refer their attention to the things you create.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the largest professional social network with a population of over 45,000,000 users. I’ve heard it quoted that as many as 80% of employers use LinkedIn as their primary tool to find candidates. LinkedIn allows users to create a profile consisting of your resume and professional recommendations/endorsements from other LinkedIn connections. Employers also post their requisitions on LinkedIn and as a member, one can search these postings. LinkedIn lets you:

• Search for jobs
• Search for contacts by cross-checking your email records if you use a web-based email like Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail
• Import your resume to populate work history
• See the connections of your connections (2nd degree), and request an introduction to those connections
• Write and request recommendations for/from any of your connections
• Update a “what are you working on now?” status
• Link to your other sites/blogs

I liked that this social network actually had job postings that were current—I can’t say as much for most job posting aggregators. I also thought the recommendation feature was novel.

I didn’t like that you had to upgrade to a premium account in order to send someone a message (if they’re aren’t in your network).

I see LinkedIn as having lots of potential  for developing new professional contacts because it tracks “degrees-of-separation” so well and allows one to be “introduced” by intermediaries. This also seems like a great place to build professional credibility by way of amassing lots of endorsements and using them as testimonials—especially useful in b2b sales.

For The Long-Haul

Brazen Careerist and LinkedIn, when used correctly, allow one to build a professional image or brand online. This is a long-term strategy that demands consistency and tenacity—you may not see results for months. Reminder-to-Self: start using these tools before you are unemployed.

Next Week

Next week I’ll talk about some resume-building and distribution tools I’ve worked with and what I think about them. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your experiences with Brazen Careerist or LinkedIn. Have you ever landed or found a job/freelance work through them? Leave your comments below.