Had dinner with Jason Alba from JibberJobber.com last night. He’s in town for the Career Management Alliance conference this week. I’ll be there Thur. and Fri. interviewing people for my Star Tribune columns — if you see me, say Hey.

Jason’s a great guy and a veritable fire hose of information relating to all things job search 2.0.

I wanted to learn more about Twitter, the social-networking tool that gives real-time updates on what people are doing. So I asked Jason, point blank: “Can you use this thing to find a job?”

His reply was a qualified Yes. It won’t get most people a job crazy fast, but together with smart, consistent blogging, Twitter is one way to learn about and build relationships with people who matter in your industry.

A quick bit of research turned up one guy who got 4 job offers after a post to his blog and Twitter account.

Looking for a job has certainly changed since the last time I actively searched for a job.

My entire job search consisted of this blog post, and this tweeton Twitter. (Ok, I did send a couple of e-mails, but it sounds better if it’s just the blog and Twitter). Within 2 hours, I had 4 serious inquiries and 11 in total by the end of the first day. That’s pretty good, considering that I live on an island outside of Seattle, and not in the Bay Area. Interestingly enough, only two of those inquiries were from companies with physical offices in the Seattle area.

Warning: Don’t expect results like that overnight. Or even over 100 nights.

But you can create job security if you “dig your well before you’re thirsty,” (to quote Harvey Mackay) and “become a thought leader in your field because you’ve written and blogged over time about a topic you’re an expert in,” (to quote Jason Alba from dinner).

There’s more to write on this. A lot more. If you have a job-search success story about Twitter and/or blogging, or know of one, email to me me — kevin at thesimplejobsearch.com. 

Meanwhile, I’ll be tweeting on Twitter.

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Charles Darwin wrote: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

In today’s global economy, when your job can vanish down a fiber-optic cable to India before breakfast tomorrow, it’s not how strong or smart you are that matters. It’s how adaptable you are to change.

That’s bad news for anyone who can’t or won’t change how they work, to make themselves more valuable to employers.

But it’s good news — and can mean real job security — for anyone who does adapt to change and does want to evolve on the job.

So here’s a question to help guide your thinking and keep from getting outsourced any time soon:

“What do you do that can’t be done overseas via the Internet?”
 
Example answers …
 
1) Seek out new tasks.
Is there one project at your company that nobody wants to touch? If you did take it on — or at least chipped away at it — would it make you look like a hero? If so, why not start today?
 
2) Make team members better.
Do you serve as a “connector” among the departments at your company, putting people and resources in touch with each other? If not, why not start now?
 
3) Bring in new business.
Even if you’re in accounting or IT, what one thing could you do today to bring in new customers or revenue? If you’re not sure, ask your company’s #1 sales superstar. Then do something to bring in more sales, and make sure your boss knows. When you do, you have a revenue-producing edge over every other accounting or IT person.

Re-read Darwin’s quote, then ask yourself these final questions:

• How adaptable to change am I on the job?

• If I don’t adapt well, what one thing could I do to start adapting better today?

Then, if you’re ready to take your job search to the next level, take a look at The Simple Job Search System.

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It’s human nature to put things off, like doing your taxes or visiting the dentist.

Unfortunately, most people (in my experience) lump job hunting into this “I’ll Do It Later” category.

Which may explain why most job searches are long, drawn-out, frustrating affairs that drain your bank account.

Yuck.

Here are some numbers to motivate you to start looking HARD for your next job now — today! — especially if you’re planning to graduate this spring or fear you might be getting laid off soon.

(more…)

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From the “Those Who Can’t, Teach” file, here’s advice on resume writing that gets it exactly wrong:

Professor L___ S___, the Director of Undergraduate Advising, thought that the most convincing resume structure was the functional resume. “The functional resume will make the relevant information obvious,” and “the things I need to know will be seen right away,” Professor Schnell said.

Look. When my dog runs into the house covered in mud, she’s obvious. And she is seen right away. But that doesn’t me happy to see her.

A functional resume is you covered in mud. And employers won’t be happy to see you this way.

Why?

Because, as anyone who’s ever hired anyone can tell you, functional resumes are used to hide information, such as a lack of experience (in a recent college grad) an uneven work history. They are never the first choice of savvy job hunters.

When a hiring manager or recruiter sees a functional resume, their shields go up, just like on Star Trek. They immediately think, “What is this person trying to hide?”

Not the best way to make a first impression.

So, what’s the solution?

A hybrid resume that combines the best of functional and chronological formats. See my prior article here.

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Today, I’m going to get myself out of the way of the information.

Here are some excellent article excerpts to help you avoid the pitfalls of two common job-search myths …

Myth #1: You can use a headhunter to find a job.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Question: I am a recent M.B.A. and have been trying to land a strategy or analysis job for 10 months. I want to use a headhunter but haven’t found an appropriate one. Any advice?

Answer: Banish all thoughts of “using a headhunter” to help you find a position. Very rarely do search professionals — or headhunters — assist candidates in need of jobs. Instead, their clients are the companies that pay them to find highly qualified people for specific openings. “When companies hire a search firm, it’s to find people they can’t find — typically people who work for other companies” who aren’t necessarily looking for new opportunities, says R. Gaines Baty, an executive recruiter in Dallas.

Myth #2: Employers are looking for job hunters.

From Ask The Headhunter:

Managers aren’t looking for good job hunters. They’re looking for great workers. To win a job offer, you have to help the manager view you as an employee.

Start Early. Never walk into an interview unless you are prepared to control it. Control means treating your job interview like a hands-on, roll-up-your-sleeves meeting where you and the manager work together to solve a problem he or she is facing. Never wait for the manager to ask you questions. Instead, be prepared to do the job right there in the meeting — like an employee!

If that seems daunting, consider that if you were asking for a promotion, you’d never walk into your boss’s office and say, “Got anything you need me to do that would pay more than I’m making now?” An interview for a new job is a special case of a request for a promotion. You must show how you will add value!

Be ready to tell the employer what project you want to work on, and be ready to show how it would profit him if he promoted (or hired) you. In other words, invest the time it takes to justify your request for the job.

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