Dave’s Answer:

You certainly can. One of the coolest things about LinkedIn, actually, is that they reveal a lot of the stats that other social networks tend to hide, like how many friends of friends you have online, not just how many friends you’re connected to directly. In a similar way, you can ascertain how many people have viewed your profile on LinkedIn and even see trending graphs. In your situation, that seems ideal too: As you’re adding more keywords relevant to your skillset and job search (you are doing that, aren’t you?) you can see if it’s resulting in more people finding you in searches.

There’s a secondary thing you can ascertain too: As more people are finding you, are you getting more query letters, more contact? If not, then it’s indicative of a second issue: your actual profile description (and photo?) aren’t encouraging them to connect. If that’s the case, I’d make sure that your photo is suitable for a professional environment (suit? tie? dress (if you’re a gal)?) and that your prose is similarly engaging and upbeat. Emphasize what you learned during your different positions as well as what you did too, for example.

Of course, how to write a really good LinkedIn profile is a completely separate topic. Let’s get back to just seeing who viewed you.

On your LI home page, on the lower right, you should see this:

My profile’s been viewed by 19 people in the last three days. Not too bad, considering I’m not actively seeking a position myself. Yours should hopefully be much higher!

Click on the first item, and you’ll find that there’s more detail available:

This is where paying attention to LinkedIn can be hugely beneficial, because if you see someone who has viewed your profile and they seem a likely candidate to bring you in for an interview — or are just a cool company — you can directly email them and bring yourself back to their attention. Who knows, that level of initiative might just get you that first interview!

Look on the right of this page before you leave, there’s a nice trending graph too:

Here’s where you can ascertain if you’re gaining in popularity on searches people are doing on the site or not. If you’re busy working on your LinkedIn profile, I would say that the trend should be similar to what you’re seeing on mine. Upward.

Good luck with your job search!

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Interesting thought that a friend of mine posted on one of the social networks, I won’t mention the name or the situation but the comment is:

I’m totally P.O.’d as an old boss is trying to F#%# with my livelihood, bad mouthing my design to the client Source: Best not mentioned really

We are all familiar with bosses and companies suing employees for bad mouthing the company or the boss. We are also familiar with employees getting fired for bad mouthing bosses and companies online and getting fired. Those two are fairly common and a lot more common that anyone would like to admit, but what happens when an old boss starts badmouthing former employees? This is a new wrinkle on the old adage of watch what you say, it might come back to haunt you. See your old boss is coming from a position of strength, and while HR rules might preclude them from doing anything other than verifying your employment at a company, online maybe not so much.

Everything cuts both ways, and having your boss post online that you were the worst employee, or could not meet target dates, or never finished a product, or otherwise might all be considered legitimate in the viewpoint of the boss. Of course we are all going to beg to differ, we might have not hit a deadline for one reason or another, or we might have been caught playing a video game over lunch break or shopping for the holidays while at work. We might have even been caught out doing something perfectly reasonable at the time and circumstance but looks hokey in perfect 20/20 backwards vision.

Is there recourse, of course we can always sue, but we have to make sure that we can afford the lawsuit. I do not think that there has been any kind of lawsuit like this yet, and if there is feel free to let me know where it can be located so I can read the case file and court submission.

The part that strikes me the most interesting is that bad bosses abound and might need to take their vengeance further than is normal past firing. This would be a response to be expected if you are working for a truly controlling personality, they will attempt never to let you go, or realize the thoughts in their head “you’ll never work in this town again” kind of vindictiveness.

Personally I would seriously contact a lawyer, I have seen a similar situation where I was teaching a hacking class at a school, and someone from work called the school to tell them I was teaching hacking to students. Of course I was, it was a hacking class in a controlled environment with huge safeguards built in. But when they called the local CISSP group for sanctions that was when the problems really started, and took some interesting processes to make sure that no one got hurt in the process. They were voicing a legitimate concern, but hadn’t bothered to check out all the facts. This kind of problem is also more common than we would like to admit, it happens, we clear it up and move on, but the emotions remain behind.

If you think your old boss is trying to make sure you never work in this town again, and is stating things that meet the legal guidelines for slander, then by all means do what you think best. But engage a lawyer, they are the only ones that will be sure, and can see if you even have a case. The one thing I do know for sure is to remain the adult in the room, never get upset, but explain yourself clearly and succinctly if you are dealing with an interview, new client, or new job. The only way to truly prove you are what you think you are is to live it, be it, and enjoy it.

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Her question: “I have my first interview in a couple weeks for a PR internship–do you have any advice?”

As I thought about that, I considered the obvious tips. Research the company. Know the dress code. You know the tips. We’ve all heard them before (and if you haven’t, be sure to follow our quarterly HAPPO chats for more).

But, what about those tips that fly beneath the radar? Those tips that might be a little outside the norm (and in some cases way outside). Keep in mind, when you’re applying for these internships and jobs, you’re competing with HUNDREDS of other kids. This is not a game. This is a battle. And your future is at stake. How badly do you want it?

If you’re serious about your search, I have eight “off the beaten path” tips for you for that first PR interview:

Be conversational with the receptionist or administrative assistant.

Might not seem like a big deal, but in some ways, the administrative assistant will be the most important person you meet at that interview. Later in the day, the hiring manager will walk by the front desk and ask the assistant what he or she thought of you–make sure what he/she says is overwhelmingly positive.

Follow up…with resources

You’ll be ahead of half the competition if you follow up after the interview. You’ll be ahead of 99.9 percent of the competition if you follow up with resources. What do I mean? As a final piece to your follow-up note, send the hiring manager an interesting article you read in the last week around a topic you discussed. A recent case study that’s relevant to their business. A new social media tool you think might be of interest based on your conversation. That useful information you pass along wil stand out. You’ll position yourself as a resourceful employee–and someone who takes initiative.

Ask your own questions–about the interviewer

Based on another insider tip: Always make a list of questions to ask the interviewer (another thing I’m always surprised more people don’t do in an interview setting). But, I’d take it one step further. You want to develop questions to ask the interviewer about the role and company–sure. But, add a few about the interviewer himself/herself. Personalize them. Research the interviewer online before you meet–and tailor questions to their specific interests. They’ll be surprised how detailed your research obviously was.

Make sure you talk about one client campaign

Especially at an agency, make sure you work one client campaign into the discussion. It will show you know their client roster–and it will demonstrate you can talk intelligently about their work in a pressure-packed environment.

Use interactive media to your advantage

Do you have video editing experience (huge skill for younger pros, by the way)? Why not show your clip in the interview on an iPad or your iPhone. Or, maybe you created your resume in a Prezi? Those look pretty darn cool on an iPad, too (a HAPPO job seeker created a killer presentation using Powerpoint a few years ago). Use technology to your advantage.

Show confidence and humility

Employers definitely want confident, young people. But, they also want people who are humble. And, who know how to work well with others. Be confident–but don’t be afraid to show a little humility.

Write a post for the company blog

Might seem a little aggressive, but if you really want to separate yourself from the competition, consider writing a post for the company blog. Pick a topic. If it’s an agency, maybe it’s a post about a recent social media trend. It it’s a corporate blog, what about a re-tread of a topic they’ve written about in the past–from your perspective. Writing a post for the company blog will demonstrate initiative, creativity and critical thinking. All qualities they’re most likely looking for in an ideal candidate.

Make sure your leave-behind is memorable

Lastly, make sure whatever it is you leave behind after the interview sticks in that hiring manager’s memory. If it’s your resume, make sure it stands out. Maybe it’s a one-pager with screen grabs of clips? Be sure to have it professionally designed. Whatever the case, your leave behind is a big opportunity to you to carve out real estate in that hiring manager’s brain. Take advantage.

What about you? Have any tips for those kids facing their first PR interviews this spring?

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One of the other things we did was read Penelope Trunk over on her blog, she has two very good articles on how to manage being let go from a company. The two articles were on her own experience being let from Yahoo, and another one on some of the tougher decisions that she and her husband had to make when they decided to strike out on their own.

Another thing we talked about was survivability, or the “backup plan”. She had one, which I thought was rather interesting, which was to keep her skills up by volunteering at various non-profits and other organizations. We talked about the Seattle Startup Scene as one way to approach this, and we also talked about taking minor equity in some of the smaller startups for work she was doing for them. When we ran the numbers, it was a good way to defer income for later on, but she also needed to pay the bills now.

Getting income now is always going to be a challenge. There are always bills to pay, cats to feed, and gasoline to purchase. No money in means changes in lifestyle, that weekly pizza bill for 25 dollars a week could be a savings of 100 dollars a month if not spent. Not everything has to go out the window, but money management just became a needed skill. The good part is that she is married, so there is some income coming into the house, but belt tightening is in order. She decided against unemployment filing for now, hoping that she can find something in the short term. She also discussed becoming an “a-dasher” with any one of the consulting firms here in town as a possible option. Realistically, it is much easier to become an “A-dasher” (Microsoft contract employee with an orange badge) than it will be to find a decent long term job in this market. At the very least it will show that she was working soon after being let go.

One of the more interesting things to come out of the conversation though was the idea of “never again”. She really did not want to work for another company that saw her as a cog in the machine. That means she needs to start her own company, her own startup with what she knows and the people she knows outside and inside the company she used to work for or other companies and friends. I have seen this a lot in people as the recession grinds on into its third year, people worked hundreds if not thousands of extra off book hours at their job only to find out that they were replaceable. There is a certain amount of resentment on that idea of “look at all the free work I did for you”. The reality is that technology is a 60 to 80 hour work week regardless of where you are; she thought it might be refreshing to only have to work 40 hours as a contractor and spending the rest of the time working on her own safety net. She really liked the idea of starting her own company doing something she loves to do, and taking that big risk was very important to her. She needs to work out the logistics of it with the people in her life who will be most impacted, but it looks like this is something she is going to seriously do, and being the general advisor that I have been for years will help her get started.

The gamut of emotions wandering throughout the conversation was also something that needs to be discussed. Being fired is never going to be easy, and in many ways the person being fired goes through the same process as grief, we deny, we get angry, we discuss, until we finally accept that indeed this thing happened, and now it is time to do something different. There is no easy way to manage this process, there are no hard and fast answers, and while there are jobs out there, finding one that pays a living wage is difficult. What makes this interesting is that this is a hit home for me, I have been there in the past and came to many of the same conclusions that she has come to. Work can be transitory for some people; it is accepted practice to work about 3 years in a job now without taking any weird questions at interview time. What a person does with that knowledge is important, as they will be continually planning their next three year plan to make sure there is always a safety net.

Job loss is never easy, as I stated in the opening paragraph, it is not meant to be easy for multiple reasons. Hopefully though you have someone, friends, family, compadres who can help you get support you do need. There is a huge mental toll on being fired, there are huge financial risks to being fired, and there is a hugely uncertain job market right now as well. Even though Silicon Valley is hiring, things are a bit quieter in other locations.  If you have been fired, drop me a note here and let me know what you did to survive it and how you overcame it. I will share these with my friend.

Note: I wrote this and I don’t think I posted it anywhere. Being fired is traumatic, it is that simple, and my friend has since moved on and gotten an awesome job with an employer she really likes. She is a temporary contractor now, but they are trying to find room to make her full time. She is questioning the idea of going full time, because she does not want to end up in another bad situation. While she loves being a contractor, I really don’t think she is going to take the FTE job that they are arranging for her. Have to see how this goes, right now though she is happy, healthy, and simply enjoying her life.
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Here’s a few tips I thought were particularly interesting–and smart–from some of our champs and other participants last Thursday evening.

Question #1: What is the hardest thing about being the newest employee in your company/department?

Question #2: Should you use social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) to connect with new colleagues? Leadership?

Question #3: What steps should you take to manage your image/brand internally?

Question #4: What do you do if the reality of the job you took doesn’t match the position you applied for?

Question #5: What are some “red flags” that may signal the job is not working out?

Question #6: What steps can YOU take to “help out” the new guy/gal on the team?

Look for more information soon about our next HAPPO chat this spring–and our second-annual HAPPO Hour event in May.

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2) Build a professional network. There are lots of examples where people found jobs through connections in a blog community.  Just last week I helped connect a young woman into the professional marketing scene in Chicago because I was impressed with her blog. Your blog community can certainly become a professional network.

3) Engaging versus advertising. Let’s face it. No matter how creative you get, a resume is still an advertisement. I struggle reading carefully through a lengthy resume. However, I will read interesting stories on a blog all day long.  Compelling content is a way to engage prospective employers in a way that will hold their attention.

4) Point of differentiation. In today’s world, blogging may be an expectation of many entry-level jobs. Demonstrating an ability to create content may just be the difference that gets you the job over a non-blogger.

5) Sharpen your professional skills. If you’re going to blog about a subject, you need to know your stuff. Putting out thoughtful content requires that you stay on top of your game, which will certainly be an advantage to you, especially if the job-hunting process is a long one.

6) Expand your reach. Building your personal brand means showing up in all the places a prospective employer might find you. Of course that usually means LinkedIn.  But having a link to a blog on your profile, as well displaying a feed of your recent blog posts, gives a potential employer stalking you on LinkedIn more ways to connect with you and learn about your skills.

7) Extend the interview. Here is the last thing you say to your interviewer: “I’ve enjoyed our time together but there is so much more I could tell you about my abilities. I hope you’ll take a look at my blog (the web address is on my resume) so you can see for yourself the way I think about things.”  And you know what? They’ll do it.  You have just extended your interview by another 15-30 minutes and that may make all the difference!

What do you think?  How has blogging helped you in your professional life?

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