Many of you know that I have a special program dedicated to soldiers, marines, sailors and other servicemen/women who are returning from deployment. Why? Because I can. No red tape here. If someone is deployed they get 30 months of premium JibberJobber for free. This assumes they will be gone for 18 months, and gives them an additional 12 months once they are back (whether they are really gone for 18 months or not, I don’t care - they still get 30 months of premium services). More information at JibberJobber for the Troops.

In addition, I am working with a program to also donate premium services to the Wounded Warriors (this is an official non-profit organization). I’m really excited about this program because these people have given more than their time, they’ve given limbs and future health. From what I’ve read, they aren’t getting much back from our government (at least not what they should be getting), and I’ve always wanted to contribute. This is not much, it’s hardly anything, but it’s what I can do right now. More information on that coming in the next few months.

I am currently looking for corporate sponsors to assist with the JibberJobber for the Troops program (I am not a non-profit). The Wounded Warriors is also looking for sponsors (in addition to JibberJobber services they are providing the Wounded Warriors with career coaching, resume services and more). I am also looking for other programs to support these servicemen/women (not just in the U.S.) - if you have any contacts at various organizations that would/could use these services, please let me know.

Please contact me if you know anyone or any companies that can contribute to either of these programs.

A couple of things that you might be interested in:

First, the user webinars have been excellent. Not a lot of users on each one because I have not advertising it to my user group yet (only my blog readers :)) … today is the last one that won’t get advertising - from now on I’ll be shooting it out to all the people that have signed up on JibberJobber. You can keep tabs on upcoming webinars here.

Today at 9am PST, 10am MST, 11am CST and noon EST is the next user webinar! Whether you have been using JibberJobber for months or haven’t even logged in yet, come ask all your questions and see what’s up! Login information here!

Second, I’m hosting a blog carnival again! This one is for recruiters… but I’m putting a spin on it! I want YOU to write your best or worst recruiter experience ever… something that you want to share with recruiters so they can be better!

I’m sure you’ve worked with a recruiter before… even if they just call you and you are never interested but the keep calling you. Or, they landed you your last excellent job. Or they landed you a nightmare job! Whatever it is, share the best or the worst…. I’ll link to all of them on Tuesday, Sept 11th.

Checkout jobs in Austin at itzbig.

JibberJobber was recently featured on channel 4, NBC primetime news in New York City! How cool is that?

Sree Sreenivasan does a regular tech spotlight… in this article you’ll notice that they did not go in alphabetical order and listed JibberJobber as first (first!!), even before superstars in the employment space like LinkedIn (maybe someone at LinkedIn should write a book called “I’m on JibberJobber — Now What???” :p) and SimplyHired.

Other interesting points:

1. The name JibberJobber… I’ve heard a handful of times over the last 18 months from people that don’t like the name JibberJobber. But every time I hear it on a podcast, or radio, and now TV, people always talk about it. I *love* how the reporter doesn’t miss the opportunity to say that she loves the name (Thanks Tige, for the name!)
2. The focus from Sree… it was so interesting to me that Sree focused on the resume aspect of JibberJobber. When I talk about JibberJobber I might say “and use it to track where you send your resumes…” but I usually don’t go on from there. I focus on overall relationship management as well as tracking target companies, which are two things that you do whether you are in a job search or not. Building on that idea, it amazes me when someone gives a huge compliment on something that I thought was a cute addition, but not the core of the product - like the simple expense tracker. The more I do the webinars (the next one is tomorrow morning, come if you can!) the more I realize how big JibberJobber really is.
3. Really fun website… Sree says “JibberJobber dot com is a really fun website…” and “it’s really nice and easy to use.” These are two other things that I don’t really talk about, but it sure sounds good to me
4. What they chose to show… Even with just about 10 seconds of talking about it, and only showing screens that are not part of the logged in section, there were over a hundred signups from New York and New Jersey - hope this helps in your job search!
5. In the video they didn’t mention LinkedIn… but they did mention MyAmiko and Alumwire. The video looks like it wraps up with SimplyHired… so how did LinkedIn make it on the writeup?

Here is a link to the video, or click on the image below:

Thanks for highlighting us, Sree!

I. Radio Show Today!!!

Today at noon Eastern (11am Central, 10am Mountain, 9am Pacific) I’ll be on the Recruiting Animal’s usually controversial and never boring radio show. Here’s his write-up (it’s not about JibberJobber, rather, my blogging secrets from June):

Jason Alba’s Blogging Secrets
The boss over at www.JibberJobber.com says that he knows something we should know. Okay, I’ll listen. But if he doesn’t.. watch out! Tune in for this report from the trenches.

Wed Aug 8 2007. NOON Toronto Time. (same as New York time).

It’s free to listen, just click on this Blog Talk Radio link, and if you want to chat call in at (646) 652-2754.

Am I nervous? Heck ya, more than normal. The Animal has a reputation, is very smart and quick, and makes sure the show isn’t slow. I just hope I walk away without tainting my reputation!

II. Free User Webinar on JibberJobber

On Friday morning, 11am Eastern (10am Central, 9am Mountain, 8am Pacific) I’ll spend about 45 minutes with users showing some of the intricacies of JibberJobber. I have done this a number of times for certain partners and know it’s really valuable… please carve out some time on Friday morning to check out JibberJobber from my perspective. Here’s how to Join:

FIRST, go to http://app.mixmeeting.com/brands/mix/mixmeeting/default.htm and enter 7754081 (updated 2:41 EST, August 9th) for the Participant PIN (on the left side) and then fill in the rest, and hit login.

SECOND, call (712) 432-9998 and use this code: 370520#. PLEASE MUTE your phone, and only unmute if you have a question.

III. Private Coach/Resume Writer Webinar (also free)

Tomorrow morning at 11am Eastern (10am Central, 9am Mountain, 8am Pacific) I will spend 30 - 45 minutes with coaches, resume writers, counselors, career experts, recruiters (?) etc. Specifically we are going to talk about using JibberJobber for personal branding statements, elevator pitches, and all the other parts of interview preparation. Please contact me (jason at JibberJobber dot com) for calling/login information. This is private to career professionals.

Checkout information on internships at Experience.

Last year I sent out a press release announcing free premium features for those returning from deployment. This is a timeless offer, which means that it has not, and will, not expire. Since today is Memorial Day in the U.S. I figured I would revisit this offer.

What does this mean?

If you are deployed, you can click here to set up your JibberJobber account. You get at least one year of premium features on your account (the 12 months starts from the time you return).

Normally we give you 30 months, assuming that you will be deployed for 18 months and back home for 12 months (we don’t want to know any confidential details about your deployment). You can use this while deployed (if you have time, and access to the Internet) … and your loved ones (spouse, significant other, kids, parents, etc.) can use it for you while you are deployed.

Think about this. Let’s say you get deployed for 18 months. During this time you are learning and growing, even to the point of out-growing the job that you left. Or, you are unsure that the job you left will even be there when you get back (of course it’s supposed to be, but you still wonder, and there is no guarantee).

Your parents (or loved ones) at home know that when you get back you’ll be in a job search. They can login to your JibberJobber account and put in prospective employers, information about specific jobs that might be available, even key people that you will need to network with when you get back.

Instead of coming home and starting at square one, you can come home and have a rich database of leads. This can be huge.

During the first 12 months that you are home you continue to use JibberJobber with the free premium features to track your transition - whether you are getting a new job or not, there are a lot of network contacts that you should put into your network, and work on nurturing those relationships. And if you are looking for a new job you probably won’t find a better, easier and more effective tool to track the job search.

After the free period expires you can choose to upgrade, if you want. If you don’t want to upgrade you will NOT lose any of your data, just some bells-and-whistles.

Why are we doing this?

This is not a political statement, rather it’s an effort to show support to troops. There are lots of ways to support the troops, including sending cookies, care packages, letters, cards and more. This is a way that we (the JibberJobber team) can show our support for people that are willing to sacrifice their life to serve their country.

How do people take advantage of it?

The process is rather simple - all you need to do is click on this special link (so we can track the number of people that take advantage of this) and sign up for your free account. Then, send us an e-mail (Jason [at] JibberJobber [dot] com) and let us know that you are, have been, or will be, deployed. Finally, have ONE MORE person send an e-mail confirming that. It doesn’t matter who that person is - but it’s just a second measure. That’s it - mostly based on the honor system. So far there hasn’t been abuses, as far as we know.

How can you help?

There are three ways that you can support this program:

1. Spread the word: First, let everyone know about this offer. Servicemen, moms and dads of those that are serving, spouses, career experts, etc. Also, if you have any media contacts let them know about this.
2. Sponsorships: We are accepting sponsorships from companies or individuals who want to support this program. If you know someone at a military friendly company such as Home Depot, Halliburton, Guardsmark or some other company that says they support the troops, please let them know about this. We have special, extra information for major sponsors. We are not a non-profit and therefore don’t allow you any tax savings, but if you want to support this program you can contribute here.
3. Support JibberJobber in general: If you don’t have your own JibberJobber account then you should get one. It’s not just for job seekers - it’s for anyone that wants a tool to help manage relationships. Whether you are a grandma who sends out Christmas cards and birthday cards or a business owner keeping track of customers, prospects and vendors, JibberJobber can prove to be a valuable tool for you. You get lots of benefits for free, and the extra features you get for the optional $10/month upgrade are worth it.

If you have any questions, comments, thoughts or anything else please let me know (you can use the Contact Us page, or send an e-mail directly to Jason [at] JibberJobber [dot] com). This offer is not limited to any particular branch or country.

This is the first “guest blogger” post, by NerdGuru’s Pete Johnson. See Pete’s bio below this post.

My father was a high school teacher for 25 years and always made a point to be really nice to the janitors he interacted with. He discovered early on in his career, that those folks can make your life pretty miserable if they want to because when that kid barfs all over the carpet during first period, it’s you who has to sit in the room with the aroma until it gets cleaned up. The response time, he found, was just a little bit quicker if he included the janitors on the Christmas card list or if he held doors open for them as they moved heavy equipment around the school.

In my own career, I’ve mimicked that behavior when it comes to administrative assistants as their help with meeting logistics can make or break a gathering of colleagues. More recently I’ve come to extend it to people in all levels of jobs because you never know who it’s going to be that can help you or be in a position to give you that next job. My lowly but ambitious college intern may end up running the next Google in 10 years. You just never know.

A better example can be found when examining the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), which runs the housing project system in the greater Chicago area. The lines between elected and appointed positions in the CHA hierarchy are blurred in this organization. CHA is headed by elected officials who then appointed people to run the various facilities. In the mid 1990s (and perhaps also today) at the Altgeld Gardens facility, by some magical coincidence, people who openly supported the CHA elected officials got their plumbing or heating fixed a whole lot sooner by the local administrators by those who did not.

During that time, the CHA’s Altgeld Gardens management offices were discovered to have asbestos problems and the entire building was retrofitted accordingly. Despite being built at about the same time as the offices and by the same contractors, the actual Altgeld Gardens housing facility was not even scheduled for an asbestos inspection. This concerned a young community organizer, who rallied residents into launching a letter-writing campaign with the local officials after they ignored requests for a face to face meeting.

The letters escalated to various levels in the CHA hierarchy until finally, the community organizer got media attention by arranging a meeting with the elected head of the CHA and invited several local television crews to capture the meeting he correctly predicted would get ignored. With media pressure on his side, the community organizer was able to get the same asbestos retrofits for the housing facility that the CHA offices received.

This story is only important because the community organizer was Barack Obama (and these events can be found in his pre-fame written memoir). As a United States Senator and current presidential candidate, I’m thinking that guy can do a lot more than clean up vomit for you right about now, especially if you are a CHA administrator that needs something. Regardless of what happens with the 2008 election cycle, it would be a lot better to have him owe you a favor than to remember you didn’t care about asbestos exposure in a housing project.

That’s not to say that the kid who mows your lawn is going to grow up to be that venture capitalist you need funding from to launch your dream company, but the point is that you can’t afford to treat anybody with anything less than respect and courteousness. You never know what they are going to become later. It’s best not to burn bridges with anybody and build as many strong relationships as you can. The result is a personal network that can pay dividends for you down the road.

—

Pete Johnson has held a variety of positions with Hewlett-Packard since 1993, focusing mainly on web development. As HP.com IT’s Chief Architect he is responsible for technology standards that govern all HP websites, the company portal strategy, and a variety of other web publishing challenges. He blogs at http://nerdguru.net on how improved non-technical skills can accelerate an engineering career.

Last week I had a mention in the Career Journal, which is part of the Wall Street Journal. I thought it was quite cool, and was sure my parents would think it was awesome, but aside from that wasn’t sure how “big” it really was.

But it was big. And I’ve been “chastized” by friends and colleagues for not bragging about it. Every day I get an e-mail or a call asking why I haven’t blogged about it. So let me dedicate an entire post about my mention.

Sarah Needleman is an associate editor of CareerJournal.com. In fact, it seems that all of the articles that I read on CareerJournal are from her - I find her work to be very interesting as it’s from that C-level perspective. We chatted on the phone about my blog for about 15 minutes, and I let her know what some of my favorite career-related blogs are. The other blogs that are highlighted are:

http://www.yourhrguy.com

http://www.cheezhead.com

resumehell.blogspot.com - I didn’t know about this blog before, but man it’s good!

blog.penelopetrunk.com

www.ere.net/blogs/world_of_talent - this one is new to me, I’m now following it

www.susanstrayer.com/kaleidoblog

www.guerrillajobhunting.typepad.com

www.employmentblawg.com

thechad.jobcentral.com

This is an awesome list - I’ve actually had e-mail or phone conversations with all but two of these bloggers (and have followed all the blogs except for the two that I commented on). I feel like the ugly duckling though, because I don’t have the training or history in employment like these guys do. But maybe that’s why my blog is on there… I think it is kind of unique!

It’s an honor to be included amongst these bloggers - thanks for the write-up Sarah! I’ll be adding the CareerJournal.com logo to the front page of JibberJobber, next to these others: Yahoo! Finance, JobSearch.About.com, Newsday, TotalPictureRadio and WebWare (a CNET site)! I think it will look good there

The following post was really hard to write. I’ve been thinking about it for months. As you read this you might wonder about JibberJobber’s current state and future. Don’t worry about that - this is all stuff during my time unemployed. Currently JibberJobber has the capital and cash flow for at least the next 3 years. The point of this post is summed up in the very last paragraph.

—

I went from General Manager to Unemployed (yes, that has a capital “U”). I was the average American, living from paycheck-to-paycheck - but at least I could pay for things like my brakes going out, or a plumbing leak. And overnight I became the neighbor, friend or guy in church that “didn’t have a job.” It was embarrassing, degrading and unsettling.

I really didn’t expect help from anyone because when I saw people between jobs I didn’t help them. I didn’t know what I could offer them. I couldn’t imagine taking some of my money to give to them as charity. I can see now that I was a Scrooge. Partly because I didn’t want to give my loot away, and partly because I didn’t know how to do it gracefully.

But over this last year my family has been the recipient of various forms of charity. And I’ve discovered just how valuable a little bit of thought and help means. I hope this post can inspire you to be a little kinder, a little more open-minded, and maybe even pay it forward for someone that you know that is having problems right now.

Here are some of the most amazing, meaningful things that have happened to us since we’ve been laid off (some where anonymous, some where not):

• Someone left us $600 in gift cards to our local grocery store.
• People left us clothes and food on our porch.
• Someone paid $200 to a utility bill (about 3 or 4 months worth).
• Good friends who had been out of work for months brought over two boxes of food and shared “survival techniques” for about an hour, leaving us in much better spirits.
• Someone left $100 in our mailbox, with a very kind note.
• Various church members chipped in and asked our congregation leader to give us some cash for Christmas.
• A family sponsored us for Christmas. Our kids got amazing toys and clothes, stuff that we wouldn’t have bought even if we had a job!
• Our neighbor brought over frozen dinners from MyGirlfriendsKitchen - very helpful considering my wife taught piano until about 5:30 and both of us were way stressed to pre-plan dinners.
• My wife’s good friend invited her out to Chile’s for a lunch - just the girls. Something that we wouldn’t budget for, a very nice treat, and encouragement to make it through.
• A piano student’s mom paid an extra $120 one month. Just because.
• My wife went to a movie/lunch play date with the kids and another mom insisted on paying for our family.
• Our parents immediately chipped in with loans - no terms, no expectations.
• My dad said “I’ll expect you to be out of work for at least six months” - I couldn’t believe that, I thought I’d be back to work in about four weeks. But he was right. The job search was long and fruitless. It was incredible knowing that his support would not turn sour after a couple of months. It was depressing enough, I didn’t need a major supporter to have a deadline associated with the support.
• He also bought me a cell phone, attached to his plan, and he called me every day. See, he had been unemployed for a while after law school, and knows how discouraging it can be, and wanted to “chat” and gauge my mental state. I think it cost about $10/month extra but it allowed me to have a cell phone in hopes of getting a call from an employer, and the show of support was invaluable.
• People would share produce with us - a bag of fruits and vegetables. It was nice to not worry that our kids were going to get scurvy from a no-produce diet.
• When I cut my hand open my doctor didn’t charge me. And later I went in for something else and he didn’t charge me. I didn’t abuse this, but how amazing it was that the Doctor considered my situation and saved me over $70 for each of these visits.
• Our neighbor-plumber came to fix things on two ocassions. And we never got a bill. They said to not worry about it.
• Many friends and neighbors would quickly offer us contacts. This cost nothing but allowed us to begin networking (remember, we were fairly new to the area and didn’t have a bunch of network contacts).
• A neighborhood family that owns a successful business invited our family to go to a local amusement park with their company for the day. We NEVER would have afforded this, and thought this type of celebration would have been years away. All we had to pay was gas, and even then they gave us some spending cash.

I’m not sharing this so you can see how cool we are. Or how blessed my family has been.

Its hard to receive charity. It’s humbling. I went too school to darn long to have to scrape by like this.

I’m sharing this with the hope that you can reconsider someone that is in need, and without judging their situation, why they are there or what they should be doing, figure out a meaningful way to help them, lift their spirits, help them get through one more day or one more week.

Each of the things listed above (and more that aren’t listed) have brought a huge amount of gratitude, tears, and a desire to be more helpful to those that are downtrodden.

Please, think of someone to help this week. And do something significant for them (it may be insignificant to you). You have no idea how much of an impact you will have.

Its true - I’m cosponsoring a free series of calls on job search feature author Susan Strayer! The other sponsor is Steven Rothberg of CollegeRecruiter.com!

I met Susan a few months ago and we hit it off right away. She has just released a new book called The Right Job, Right Now: The Complete Toolkit for Finding Your Perfect Career. I have flipped through the book and am amazed at what I see (I’ll do a book review on it in a few weeks). Kent Blumberg did a book review on it a few weeks ago - you can read his review here.

I heard Susan interview on a radio show Sunday evening and was really impressed. Her message matches her enthusiasm - I’m really excited about this series and know that I’ll learn a lot from it. I strongly encourage you to register for the free series (there are three topics with a choice of two dates for each topic), and let others know about this.

If you are a recruiter, counselor, coach, etc. feel free to encourage others to sign up - space is limited so don’t delay.

Help! I still don’t know what kind of career I want. — Monday, February 12 at 8:00 p.m. EST or Wednesday, February 28 at 8:00 p.m. EST

How do I start my job or internship search? — Wednesday, March 14 at 8:00 p.m. EST or Monday, March 26 at 8:00 p.m. EST

How do I prepare to start my new job or internship? — Monday, April 9 at 8:00 p.m. EST or Wednesday, April 25 at 8:00 p.m. EST

One cool thing about this is that we are taking questions before the calls - when you register put your questions/issues in the box and we will address the ones we can! Click here to register!

Think you should pass on this opportunity? There are some heavy-weights in the employment space that are recommending it (I’m a light-weight ;))… check these guys out (I’ll update this list if you e-mail me and let me know you are posting on it):

Dennis Smith, T-Mobile recruiter and expert in the wireless space.

Carl Chapman, executive restaurant recruiter.

CM Russell, author of “Ultimate Job Hunting Secrets” and many blogs on the space.

Mike Murray, author of “Forget the Parachute, Let Me Fly the Plane!” - blogs on career issues for geeks.

Dan Sweet, blogger at FRACAT (Free Resume And Career Toolbox).

So I just got a great honor from Liz Strauss who is a blog expert, career coach and many other things (check out her profile here)… her experience in blogging at a corporate strategy level really adds credit to this award, and I sincerely appreciate it.

One question I have for any award-givers out there is… aren’t there any acronyms that don’t make people blush or flinch? Like “the NEAT award” (nearly everything’s authentic blog) or “the BOMB award” (Blog on master blogger!)?

And for all the naysayers, you can click here to see that this is a real, authentic thing Note it is the 52nd week she’s done it, happy birthday SOB/Liz!

Note: SOB = Successful and Outstanding Blogger