Last week there was awesome, hearty discussion to the giveaway question – on my Facebook wall.  Unfortunately not many people saw that, and no one from that discussion was considered by Tom (except one who copied and pasted their answer to the blog).

Please comment on the blog, below.  This book is awesome and very useful.  I bet most people you meet at a networking event don’t network, don’t get it, aren’t effective, etc.  This book will change that for you.

I’m at a Networking Event — Now What??? is a book in my Now What series.  Written by Sandy Jones-Kaminski, it’s full of ideas, strategies and tactics to help you take something that is not value-add and make it a high-value activity.

Get it on Amazon here, OR just answer this question below:

Assume job boards are inadequate in your job search. What are one to three ideas you have that could make a job board MUCH more valuable to you?

I’ll send this on to the job board people I know – it won’t fall on deaf ears.

We’ll announce the winner next Monday.

Last week’s winner was recently announced: Congrats to Mauro Pennacchia!

New: an EVENING JibberJobber User Webinar TOMORROW, March 9th at 7p EST. Register here. (other webinars listed here)

Sorry about last week’s Giveaway (I skipped it!). Here’s the question for this week:

WHY do we (in general) HATE networking?

Leave your answer in the blog post (not on Facebook) I’ll have Tom Dezell, author of the book Networking for the Novice, Nervous or Naive Job Seeker choose the best answer. This is open until the next Giveaway (next Monday).

You can find Tom’s book on Amazon here, or check out his book website, or his awesome new blog here.  Check out this very cool post by Eve Tahmincioglu (Career Diva) where she interviews Tom (Wussy networkers don’t get the job).

New: an EVENING JibberJobber User Webinar on Tuesday, March 9th at 7p EST. Register here. (other webinars listed here)

I get a lot of emails from people who are introducing themselves or introducing others.  I also get a lot of LinkedIn invitations.

Many of them are not put together well, or the responses are not put together well.

Here are THREE of my favorite posts where I talk about how to introduce someone, or yourself:

Job Search and Networking Introductions (January 28, 2009) – how to introduce yourself and ask for help.

Introductions gone bad… (January 11, 2007) – thoughts on how to write that initial email introduction.

Solution to Introductions gone bad… ? (January 12, 2007) – how to respond to an introduction from someone else.

Those posts are old, but the ideas are not too shabby!

(Shoudn’t they teach this stuff in college??)

New: an EVENING JibberJobber User Webinar on Tuesday, March 9th at 7p EST. Register here. (other webinars listed here)

About once a week someone sends me a message saying they are not happy with the job search results in JibberJobber.  Here’s a message someone wrote when they deleted their JJ account:

“All the jobs I find here I’m seeing on other sites.”

They think JibberJobber is a job board.

In reality, we tap into a job board service (Indeed.com) and just pull stuff from their site.

Providing job board services is not a primary thing I want to offer.  There are already hundreds of job boards that you can go to, why in the heck would you come to JibberJobber for more job boards surfing?

Providing job board services is not even a secondary thing I want to offer.

Providing job board services might be a terciary offering of JibberJobber.  It is an afterthought.  It is not important to me, or our mission, at all.  I think it’s actually a smoke screen for the serious job seeker – the professional who is looking for their next opportunity.

Why?

** Because not all jobs posted are real.

** Because when I put my resume on Monster and CareerBuilder I got calls from scam artists, MLM representatives, insurance agents, and others who had nothing of substance to offer me.

** Because some unethical people post fake jobs just to harvest resumes and build their talent pool.

Or worse, they harvest resumes for identity theft purposes (think about how much juicy personal information you have on your resume).

** Because some of the real jobs posted there are already filled, but they have to post them just to satisfy company policy (that means, there is NO chance you will get the job, even if you get an interview, because the hiring manager already knows who he/she wants to fill the slot, but had to comply with HR policy and post it).

Think about it – when you worked at a company, how did the news of a new opening come out?

First, the manager realizes there is a need. Perhaps someone leaves the department, or there is too much work for the current staff.

Next, the manager talks to people in the department and asks “who do you know that would be good for this job?”

THE MANAGER WILL GET AT LEAST ONE REFERRAL.  THESE ARE THE INSIDERS, THIS IS THE HIDDEN JOB MARKET.  THIS IS WHERE YOU WANT TO GET IN!

Only a handful of people know about the job opening at this point.

At this point people are brought in for interviews, OR the manager has to go through HR (depending on the company).

If the manager goes through HR, and they have to post it, they might post it INTERNALLY.

More people know about it now, but it’s still not open to everyone.

Next, the job might get posted publicly.  This can be on the company job board, or any other job board (broad, specialized, geographic, etc.).

This is where hundreds, or thousands, of people learn about the job.

And this is where HR and the manager (or recruiter) get hundreds, or thousands, of resumes.

Where do you want to be in this process? On the inside, and one of the handful of applicants who was highly recommended by someone in the department?

Or one of hundreds of resumes, fighting for your eight seconds of attention from HR or the recruiter?

If you rely on job boards for more than 15% of your job search, and you are looking for a professional position, YOU GREATLY MISUNDERSTAND THE JOB SEARCH.

But who am I to opine on this?  I only spent 60 hours a week surfing job boards and playing that game.  I was too busy to network, and do what job search experts recommend.

Job boards have their place, but JibberJobber is not a job board.  JibberJobber is a website to organize and manage your job search – from your networking efforts to your target companies to the jobs you apply to – keep track of them all in JibberJobber.

Make sense?

New: an EVENING JibberJobber User Webinar on Tuesday, March 9th at 7p EST. Register here. (other webinars listed here)

Barry Deutsch, from Impact Hiring Solutions, writes one of the best blogs for job seekers I’ve seen.  You can follow him on Twitter (@Barry_at_IMPACT).

He recently wrote The Best Recruiters Eliminate YOU With their First Question, which is a must-read if you are (or want to) work with recruiters.

It is a long post but it is an eye-opener.  What I’m taking away from the post is:

The recruiter is not your BFF.  No matter how nice they are, they are not to be dumped on. Don’t let your hair down, don’t be overly casual with them.

When they talk with you, they are working (they are on the clock).  They are evaluating you.  Are you someone they can confidently take to their employer?  Will you embarras them?  Are you the best candidate they can find?

All of this is determined in your communications with them – make sure all of your impressions, not just your first, are strong.

Go check out Barry’s post.

New: an EVENING JibberJobber User Webinar on Tuesday, March 9th at 7p EST. Register here. (other webinars listed here)

I was quoted in Forbes.com on their article titled The Seven Most Universal Job Skills.  Here’s the list (to see explanations go to the Forbes article):

1. Top-Notch Communication Skills (Andrea Kay’s recommendation)
2. Creativity (my recommendation)
3. Curiosity (my recommendation)
4. Good Writing Ability (Andrea Kay’s recommendation)
5. Ability to Play Well With Others (Andrea Kay’s recommendation)
6. Re-engineering Skills (Kathy Freeland’s recommendation)
7. Computer Skills (Kathy Freeland’s recommendation)

Like the list?  What would you add or subtract?