Times are tough for job seekers, and it doesn’t make much of a difference what your career is—it’s an employer’s market.  When there are thousands of applicants for jobs posted online, it’s virtually impossible to get noticed.  But there are proven strategies you can use to take control and land the job.  We started with Tip #1, Rethink Your Job Search, and today’s tip is:

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There are many, many social networks available online: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, niche networks, and many more. Are some better than others? Do they have different purposes? Which ones are worth your time? Watch the video to see what an expert in the job search thinks about the different social networks, and which one is critical for you to be in:

OK–so you’re on LinkedIn…do you know what to do now?  One of the things that perplexes candidates is how to manage their LinkedIn connections.  Kevin Kermes, of Career Attraction, has some great advice for you if you’re in the middle of this common problem:

The LinkedIn Job Seeker Connections Dilemma:  Quantity or Quality?

You’ll learn which one is the best for your job search:  to go after as many connections as you can to maximize your chances of a job lead, or to nurture a smaller number of connections to make it a stronger possibility that someone who knows you will be more likely to recommend you for a job.  These are LinkedIn tips you won’t want to miss.

(How’s your LinkedIn profile?  Make it the best it can be so that you get noticed with this LinkedIn profile tutorial.)

If you’ve spent much time on LinkedIn, you may have stumbled on the term “Open Networker” and perhaps seen the term “LION”. A LION is a LinkedIn Open Networker. There are thousands and perhaps millions of LIONS on LinkedIN and you may not know any of them personally. However, if you are serious about your job search, you need to devote a portion of your allowed invitations to these networking beasts. Some of the LIONs have tens of thousands of first-level connections. Connecting to a just a few of these allows you to reach far across and deep into the LinkedIn network to reach your networking and job search goals.

What exactly am I proposing and how do you go about this?

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Top Ten Job Search Tips

Your job search is one of the most significant tasks you’ll ever have. What job you end up with determines how you’ll spend the majority of hours in your day, how much money you’ll have, and how satisfied you are with your life. It’s worth making the effort to end up where you’ll be happy. Whether you’re currently employed or not, here’s how to put everything you’ve got into your job search–and it will bring you great results:

1. Create a great elevator pitch. You need to be able to summarize what you are bringing to the table. Make it short and sweet, but compelling enough to capture the attention of your listener/reader. Not only can you use it at networking events or casual meetings, you can use it in place of a traditional objective statement, and you can use it in your LinkedIn profile.

2. Write a killer resume. You must tailor your resume for what’s relevant to the jobs you’re applying for. You shouldn’t have to rewrite the whole thing…just tweak it according to the job description. Organize it so that it’s clear and easy-to-read–bullet points and white space are fantastic things. Keep it down to 1-2 pages, and fill it with keywords that will get it noticed by computerized tracking systems as well as sales numbers and other performance statistics that show you’ve been able to make (or save) money for the company.

3. Create a professional LinkedIn profile. You MUST utilize social media in your job search. There’s just no other way around it. Facebook and Twitter are also useful, but LinkedIn is the most important place to be for business networking. A great profile includes your job history, a business professional picture, and a summary of who you are and what you do. See this LinkedIn profile tutorial for expert guidance.

4. Use your LinkedIn membership. Don’t just create the profile. Participate. One of the things that makes LinkedIn so powerful is the connections you can make and the recommendations you can acquire. You make connections by joining groups (like Sales Cafe), participating in discussions, and getting introductions to people you need to know. Your recommendations say that other people think you’re great, too, and give another perspective on your talents. But remember to give good recommendations to others as well. LinkedIn is also an amazing resource for information on companies, hiring managers, and industry trends–and you can contact hiring managers directly for jobs.

5. Develop your online brand. Your online reputation is the sum total of what an employer will find out about you when they Google your name. It’s the comments you make on LinkedIn, Facebook, and blog articles. It’s your Tweets. If you’re really serious, seek out opportunities to guest post on blogs or write articles for online newsletters. Make sure that every time you say something online, that it’s professional and relevant.

6. Network the old-fashioned way, too. Get out there and meet people. Attend networking events and tradeshows. Keep up with your contacts with the occasional email (it’s more personalized than a Tweet) and give them something: a bit of information, a job lead, a great website, or an article you found. You can absolutely let them know what’s going on with you, and ask them to keep an eye out for job leads you’d be interested in. Most people are happy to help.

7. Spend some time and effort prepping for your interview. I don’t think it’s possible to over-prepare for a job interview. Research the company. Know what their issues and challenges are in the marketplace. Make an effort to dress properly and project friendliness and enthusiasm with your body language. Have stories ready that demonstrate how you’ve handled difficult situations or met a challenge. Practice your answers to interview questions, and seriously consider role-playing interview questions with a coach. If pro athletes use coaches to gain a few extra seconds that make the difference between first and second place, you should, too.

8. Bring a 30/60/90-Day Plan. There’s no better way to show how you’ll be able to hit the ground running and contribute to the company than by creating a 30/60/90-day plan. A well-written plan is divided into 3 parts: the first 30 days, you’ll focus on training and settling in (the more specific you can be, the better); the 60-day part expands your duties (say, by getting to know all your accounts and orienting yourself); and the last 30 days (the 90-day part) is your plan for bringing in new business (which you’ll know because you’ve researched and analyzed the company’s position in the marketplace). This plan is impressive because it shows the hiring manager your drive, commitment, enthusiasm, and knowledge of what it takes to be successful.

9. Ask questions during the interview. Here’s another sure-fire method to impress your interviewer. Be interested in the job. Asking questions in the interview shows that you can think strategically and it also gets you quite a bit of information you can use while answering questions and in your follow-up. It turns the interview into a conversation and highlights your confidence and appeal.

10. Follow up. A great follow up plan can cover everything from providing great references to writing a substantial, timely thank you note. The best references are past managers or other high-level people, but they should all be willing to speak to the interviewer. Make sure you prep them for the call by giving them the information they need to speak intelligently about you. Thank you notes should be sent as quickly as possible (within 24 hours, so send it by email) and should refer back to what you discussed in the interview if you have something great to say, or it should add something new to the discussion. It’s also a great opportunity to revise your 30/60/90-day plan based on what you talked about, and you can attach it to your thank you note.

Bonus:
Check out my free training webinar “How to Get a Better Job Faster” for more job search tips.

2: Click here to register for this no charge webinar.

Twitter is one of those social media sites that might surprise you. On the surface, it seems frivolous—do you really need to read all those Tweets about the smallest daily details of life? But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll realize just how powerful Twitter can be for your career, if you learn to use it.

Twitter can be great for tweeting about what you’re doing, but even better for following what others are doing—if you’re following the right people. Following the ones who can be the most useful and relevant to your career success right now is a tremendous opportunity you should not let slip by. Ultimately, Twitter is about communicating and connecting. The more you do, the more you’ll learn things that will be useful to you in your career.

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If you want to build your personal brand, establish an online presence, and be in the right place at the right time for your job search, then you have to utilize social media. The big 3 social media sites are LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. While LinkedIn is focused more fully on business, and Facebook leans toward the social, Twitter lands somewhere in the middle. Nearly 75 million people visited Twitter in January 2010.

Twitter relies on “tweets,” which are posts of 140 characters or less. They’re short, but frequent. Life moves fast on Twitter. But then, the world moves fast and this is a way to keep up. And yes, while some tweets are huge time-wasters (some of us don’t want to know what someone else had for breakfast), there’s quite a bit of useful information you can gain from following the right people. It’s both a way to research and a way to network.

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Online social media is a fantastic tool for job hunting. The Big 3 (LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter) each have their own unique style that you can

what will employers find when they search your name online?

utilize in different ways for your job search. But while you’re working these sites to land the perfect job, employers and recruiters are looking for you, too. And if you get their attention in the early stages of the job interview process, they’re going to be actively searching for more details about you. According to one survey, 70% of hiring managers and recruiters have rejected an applicant based on what they found online. Have you Googled your name lately to see what they’ll find out about you?

You can manage your online identity to control your reputation and your image in the job market in these 5 ways:

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Your personal brand is nothing more (or less) than the image you project to others. It’s the whole (although abbreviated) picture of who you are and what you do–professionally. Online, it’s the sum of the parts. A large (maybe the whole) purpose of creating and maintaining an online brand is so that people who don’t know you (employers or potential clients/business partners) can find you, evaluate whether they want to meet you/work with you/recommend you. And that’s why it’s a big deal.

Be the candidate who stands out from the crowd.

Your online brand is your first impression for people, job leads, or opportunities that you might miss if it’s not everything it could be. And, it’s definitely a piece of the puzzle for those who have met you in person and are looking to find out more. If you don’t think a hiring manager is going to look around online for more information about you before they make the offer, you are seriously misguided.

So, what can you do to make sure your online brand identity is a strong recommendation for why someone should hire you?

1. Use every opportunity to establish a presence. Although LinkedIn is my favorite online networking site, you should also incorporate Twitter, Facebook, Visual CV, and others. (One article says that you should “cybersquat as much social real estate as possible” to both strengthen your online brand and to combat social identity theft.) Make absolutely certain that every site provides a professional profile with dynamic words that describe who you are and what you do.

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One of the many, many fantastic applications of LinkedIn is that you can use it to land informational interviews. Informational interviews are just what they sound like: they are interviews that you conduct to gather information, usually about a job or a career field you’re interested in. They last 20-30 minutes, and give you an opportunity to get answers about what a typical day is like, what the person likes or dislikes about the field, and what it takes to be successful. You can also use it as a mentoring session and ask for their advice on your situation and your best career/job search moves. Research tips for informational interviews to help you compile your list of questions. Informational interviews are strictly for you to get the “inside scoop” from someone who knows, and they help you to expand your network. (FYI: If you’re lucky, you might get a job lead, but it’s bad form to go into the interview expecting this person to help you get a job.)

But how do you go about setting up an informational interview if you can’t do it through your current contacts?

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