Do you find yourself struggling to make time for LinkedIn? Let us know.

The site is often equated with finding a job, and while this is a very big part of LinkedIn, it’s not everything. According to Nicole Williams, LinkedIn’s Connections Director and founder of WORKS by Nicole Williams, the professional network should be viewed as a “career toolbox.”

“Where it may end up being deemed as forgotten is that people don’t realize how helpful it is in your day-to-day career development,” she said. “LinkedIn is designed to help you in your career totality.”

“It’s not just to be used at the point in which you’re looking at a job,” Williams added.

As she pointed out, LinkedIn should be used in continuous career development. It’s full of news, forums, and groups that could create valuable opportunities. The relationships and connections that are made on LinkedIn can play a significant role in helping people get into their desired careers.

Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are all useful in their own way, but they are very different from LinkedIn. Facebook, specifically, covers a user’s entire life (especially once the new Timeline feature officially rolls out) from personal vacation pictures to fun activities and events that the user participates in.

LinkedIn, however, is different because it offers a professional forum to individuals. As Williams explained, it provides “distilled information,” which is necessary for a professional environment. The company also has features such as LinkedIn Today that helps users stay up-to-date on industries they are interested in.

In addition, LinkedIn recently introduced a Volunteer Experience and Causes field to its service that allows users to display their charity inolvement right along with their work experience. Based on a survey the company conducted, 41 percent of the respondents said that they considered volunteer work just as valuable as paid work experience.

Williams told us that this new feature is especially beneficial in this economy, since so many people aren’t able to work in jobs that are reflective of their true passions. The Causes field now allows them to actually get credit for their volunteer experience.

“You have to set yourself apart,” said Williams. “What LinkedIn is hoping to do is allow people to set themselves apart by being able to offer up their volunteer work experience.”

The truth is – there are a lot of ways to use LinkedIn that people aren’t taking advantage of. According to Williams, LinkedIn Groups is a powerful means for people to connect with individuals not only in their industry but also in other industries that they are interested in. Groups also can give a user the opportunity to become a leader in their industry by participating in conversations.

“You can get exposed to people who are beyond your normal realm of influence and get to know people who may, in fact, get to be able to offer you something professionally; or, you may be able to offer them something professionally,” she said.

Williams told us that, as a new mom, she is involved in several groups related to professional women and working moms. Through a conversation she had about being tired, she met a sleep coach and, after talking with her, hired her. She told us that the chances of them connecting in another way would have been extremely slim.

“If you can just engage in conversation and offer up tidbits of advice that prove that you’re a legitimate, helpful individual, that may turn into a real business opportunity,” Williams said.

She also said that LinkedIn would continue to build products that would enhance the lives of professionals and make it easier to connect with other professionals.

While it is difficult to keep up with all the social networks, Williams told us that LinkedIn should not be underutilized because it could really impact a person’s career for the better.

After reading this, are you going to make more time for LinkedIn?

We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. They might not come right out to say it, but you still understand th emessage clearly. How about achieving 103%? Basic math would refute the idea that giving more than 100% is impossible, right? Wrong.

Here’s a little mathematical formula that might help you answer this question:

If: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

then:

H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K is…
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

and:
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E is…
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

and:
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E is…
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

thus:
B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T is…
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

AND…. look how far ass kissing will take you.

A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G is…
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty, that while hard work and knowledge will get you close to 100%, AND Attitude will get you to 100%, its the bullshit and ass kissing that will put you over the top.

Enjoy the weekend folks.

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Here is her announcement:

Jenna told the audience, "I really want to be honest for a second. I want everyone to know that I know that US Weekly came out and said I was retiring and that I was done with the industry. I had to come back and talk about the fact that I wasn’t done. Clubjenna is one of the biggest forces in this industry by far and away. But, honesty is key. I will never ever every spread my legs again in this industry ever."

Jenna with her husband Jay Grdina founded the porn based entertainment company ClubJenna in 2000. This comapny is now a major producer  of hardcore porn films as part of Playboy.

Jenna stated that she will focus on her successful web business ventures. She also is independantly wealthy having sold Clubjenna.com to Playboy Enterprises for undisclosed millions in June of 2006. 

I wonder what took her so long!

“Is it a truth, based on your experience, that anyone can make a living blogging if they understand how SEO works”

OK it’s a bit of a big question, but the short answer is yes. However you will need to have a game plan, and here’s how I’d approach the problem.

The first thing you really need to consider is your subject matter. Rand did a much better job covering that than I could so check out “Blogging in an Oversaturated Market is Usually a Poor Decision“. When deciding what to write about there are two schools of thought “write about what you like” or “write about what’s profitable”. It’s something of a catch-22, it’s much easier to write about something you like, but there’s not always money in it, and let’s be honest how many of us are really interested in the intricacies of reverse mortgages. My advice try to find something that interests you and step up to a slightly wider focus where the money is. For example maybe you really enjoy raising African cichlids in your aquarium, I’d step up and cover freshwater aquariums as whole and focus (maybe 10-25% of total posts) ever so slightly on your specific topic of interest.

Once you’ve got your topic down, work on your writing. You don’t need to be a Pulitzer prize winning author, but you do have to be interesting. Don’t think you can use your mad SEO SKILLZ to compensate for lack of quality content. You used to be able work around it, but those days are drawing to a close, and at this stage it’s not a long term solution, or something I’d advise starting today. What if you can’t write, take a community college writing course, read and learn from people who can write online. Hiring someone is an option, but that can get expensive, and not really viable if you’re boot strapping, if all else fails try to take advantage of family members whenever possible.

Next up I’d say come up with a realistic posting schedule. IMHO the bare minimum you need to update your blog is at least once a week. I’d recommend 3-5 times a week if possible, and if the subject is right daily is ideal. It doesn’t matter to some people, but I’m a big advocate of publishing on a schedule as much as possible. For some readers knowing you publish something new every Wednesday is important. If the leading bloggers in your space are updating daily and you can only get the time to blog once a week you’re going to have a hard time competing. Try to take advantage of pre-blogging or remote posting whenever possible. I’m not going to recommend you post from your job … but I can tell you I did it and lots of businesses got their start on some one elses time … not that I’m recommending that … nope … not me

One of the hardest things many bloggers face is keeping on target, people get lured into thinking they can be the next dooce and blog about their lives. Remember the link to Rand’s post a few paragraphs ago, the first question he asks is are you a top writer, unless you really are that good a writer, advertisers won’t be interested in buying space on your lifestyle blog. Your friends may read it, but you’ll never attract hundreds or thousands of readers writing Aunt Millie’s Christmas letter and you won’t make a living blogging. Until you have at least 1000 subscriber stay 100% on target, after that you can deviate ever so slightly, anything more than 10% scares me professionally.

I’m a big fan of using wordpress because it’s well supposed has lots of plugin’s you can use, and it’s written in PHP and cheap and easy to do yourself or find someone to do it for you. That said out of the box it’s not search engine friendly, here are some tips to help you fix that. Next realize many of the templates are wonka-doodle. Find a good clean one and work from there, take out the crap, add in only what you need, and for heaven sakes use CSS dammit. Don’t add any more widgets or other nonsense if you can avoid it, those things usually don’t help. I like liquid layout but check out Fluid, Fixed, and 1024 Resolutions and Maximizing Profits With Website Design and Layout: Part I for more discussion. Once things are rolling if you have the skills or budget to create a distinctive web design that builds your brand.

Next come the discussion of how many blogs can/should you run. If you’ve never run a blog/website before stick with one until you are really really confident. If you have I’d say three is my recommendation and if you go beyond five you’re crazy unless you really know what you are doing or are paying high quality writers. IMHO it’s better to have one or two exceptional blogs instead of five to ten mediocre blogs. Mix things up a bit with the subject matter, you don’t want to have the ‘South American Knitting Blog’ and the ‘South American Crochet Blog’, it just looks funny.

Next you’re going to want to start promoting your blog. Do the usual stuff, like adding your blog address to your email signature, link begging from your friends, and so on. Most blog directories require you have at least 6 months posting history to get listed, so put that on hold for now. Cover whatever is hot in your industry and try to get the attention of A-Listers in your space with comments or trackbacks. Use things like Google trends and Yahoo Buzz Log to spot tie in’s and blog like there’s no tomorrow. Try to take advantage of events in real life, especially TV, don’t be afraid to shell out a $100 on some PPC for a few days, to gain some readers, lots and lots of people totally miss that as an opportunity, and don’t forget predictive SEO. Go to an industry event do some live blogging, meet up with people and build some connections, try to get interviewed on the radio or podcasts. The press release is not dead and try to put out a few year and make it as enticing and exciting as possible.

Develop a flexible social media strategy. For a new blog social is by far the quickest way to jump start the process of getting readers. Make it easy for people to bookmark/submit your website using these services. Write stories that are directly targeted to each of these services regularly/monthly. Prime the pump by submitting yourself or asking friends but don’t be a spammer/beger. Only submit the good stuff. Clueless where to start here is a guide to using Digg and Delicious. Plan social bookmark targeted stories and follow them up with good content to keep the readers/subscribers coming back. Monitor trends, adapt, react and grow.

There you have it my quick, down and dirty 10 mile up plan for making a living blogging. If you want me to go into more detail on something drop a comment or question in the comments section, and I’ll see if I can answer it or elaborate it into a full post.

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LinkedIn, a well-known career social network, reported 89 percent growth in members from 2005-2006. The site has seen strong growth since its first year, when they had 85,000 members and has grown to more than eight million members.

Some large U.S. employers are turning to social networking sites to search for qualified candidates who may not be actively looking for a job. Job hunters are not only searching online classifieds, but also are likely to view themselves as brands to be marketed online.

Younger workers are more likely to use career social networking sites for job development, according to a survey by SelectMinds. For young workers these sites act as a "job search engine", providing them with both useful and credible career information.

Most young workers view career networks as useful. Close to three quarters of GenYers said they viewed the networks as very important, compared to 66 percent of workers age 30-39, and 61 percent of workers age 40 and above.

eMarketer senior analyst Jeffrey Grau notes that "the proliferation of social networking sites, blogs and online discussion groups organized around niche topics enables employers to find job candidates with specialized knowledge and skills."

Mr. Grau added that the rise of business-specific social networks "does not reduce the importance of job-hunting sites. Besides the large, general job boards, there are a host of niche sites that specialize by, among other things, industry, geographic region and occupation. Niche sites such as these are ideal arenas for online advertisers looking to target their messages."

“The Long Tail” author and Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson paints a picture of the standard CIO as a Dilbertian lump of pointy hair in a suit, clinging to a slippery rock while a rushing river of technology threatens to sweep the CIO away and drown him, unmourned and swiftly forgotten.

Anderson’s tail of speaking to a room of what he thought would be “technology innovators” instead proved to be a meeting of the Dead Weight Club. They obstruct employees from working more effectively using resources available from a number of providers online.

The users know these types well, Anderson related how these CIOs block connections to services like Skype or Second Life. People probably are more familiar with not being able to reach web-based email services, even at companies where Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for maintaining information integrity do not apply.

Instant messaging has been another bugaboo for CIO types. They see AIM or Yahoo Messenger or Meebo and their first thought is of hundreds of employees chatting away with people and not getting their work done.

They don’t see a customer service rep with a good contact via IM at a manufacturer getting a customer’s question answered in a fraction of the time it takes to navigate a menu on a relatively expensive long-distance call.

Control and trust are the big issues CIOs have. Anyone who has had the displeasure of working with or around some of the more glacial-moving throwbacks of the CIO species understand that paranoia, rather than efficiency, rules his office.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Companies can implement usage policies that permit more freedom in using technology while safeguarding corporate information. If a worker fulfills projects on time and as expected, but spends a lot of time on the big, bad Internet while doing so, has the company suffered any actual harm?

Probably not. Yet all over the U.S., workers will try to use something new, something different, and hit the firewall like a bug into an 18-wheeler’s windshield. The truth is, CIOs who stand in the way of their more innovative employees cost the company a lot more than the numbers on their fat paychecks.

They may be costing their employers a business edge, too.

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These are the employees you should be striving to keep. They want new challenges, interesting work, and the opportunity to develop new skills. Even if you don’t have the resources to implement a full-scale career development program, you can still provide your employees with the tools and support to manage their own careers.

Provide a Dedicated Resource

This can be as simple as adding a new page to your intranet or as elaborate as a career development office. Offer as much as your budget will allow, keeping in mind that you can expand as time goes on. Include resources, referrals and tools to aid your employees in their development. With the amount of information available on the Internet, you can easily assemble a wealth of career-related articles, assessments, and planning tools. If you haven’t done so already, publish your company’s internal information. Organization charts, job descriptions, salary ranges, and training schedules are great resources for employees to use in planning.

Because career management may be new to your employees, include detailed instructions for using your system and a list of resources available to them in their planning. If you can’t provide a career development consultant, make certain that HR and managers are able to answer any questions that may arise.

Programs & External Resources

There are several initiatives you can incorporate in your career development program. Executive Career Coaches specialize in helping organizations manage their talent more effectively. They will help your employees determine the most appropriate career path and develop the skills necessary to grow within the organization. Partner with a career coach to provide services for key employees or arrange a reduced fee schedule for employees who wish to hire a coach at their own expense.

Another effective and low-cost tool is a mentoring program. You can structure a mentoring program in many ways. An informal program that simply matches a mentor and a mentee can be incorporated into your intranet site. A more formal program may have a coordinator dedicated to pairing the participants, training the mentors and overseeing the process. Regardless of the structure you choose, a mentoring program enables an organization to leverage their existing talent to impart their knowledge and expertise to one another.

Support & Communication

For any talent management initiative to be successful, it is imperative to garner the support of management from the top of the organization down to line managers. This goal can be achieved by communicating the organizational benefits and the anticipated return on investment from the outset.

It is essential to roll out a formal communication plan to employees. They can’t take advantage of your program if they don’t know about it. Promote your program consistently and encourage managers to do the same. Publicize this information in your recruitment literature and on your company website, and it will attract high-potential candidates.

Encouraging employees to manage their own careers won’t put a strain on internal resources and the benefits far outweigh the costs. In addition to building a pipeline of future leaders, you are addressing retention issues, meeting the demand for employee development, and making your organization more attractive to prospective employees. It’s a win-win for everyone.

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Jill Frank is “The Promotion Coach.” Get her
FREE report, “7 Unintentional Actions That Will Slow Your Climb
Up the Corporate Ladder” and FREE advice on corporate
advancement at http://www.corporateadvancementcoach.com

I’d wholeheartedly agree. I’d like to add “or within the open source group of a traditional software company”. (Yeah, Matt’s advice is snappier).

Here’s why I suggest the addition:

Take a look at this job posting for Director of Product Marketing at SocialText which I found on Roberto Galoppini’s blog. The only requirement which appears to be a skill that you’ll build more easily at an open source pure-play than a traditional software vendor is “Holistic understanding of commercial open source software“. If you’re in a division at IBM, Oracle or Sun that is leveraging the value of open source, you’ll get this experience. It doesn’t hurt to play with open source on evenings or weekends.

Next, the following comment from Elias Torres. Elias is an IBMer (whom I’ve never met, but know of because I use his Firefox extension) who worked on Lotus Ventura. Elias is an IBMer working on the Apache Roller open source project and on the team using Roller within Ventura (a commercial IBM product). His experience balancing the needs of the community with the needs of his employer are going to be a valuable asset for Elias I’m sure.

“This is my first IBM product experience and it has been a very positive one so far, but we can talk about that later. The experience of taking something built by the community and making it a product has been incredibly rewarding but brings with it a great sense of responsibility. We are very serious about Roller and are committed to giving back as much as we can.”

Lastly, I can speak from personal experience with trying to get a product (WAS Community Edition, aka WAS CE) based on open source technology (Apache Geronimo) out the door at IBM.

Being the WAS CE product manager was the best job I’ve had at IBM. Even though IBM had a lot of experience with open source at the time, a lot of what we did with WAS CE was new territory. Using an open source business model of paid support around a free product was completely new. To say we had some internal angst from other groups at IBM would be an understatement. But the angst wasn’t because we were trying an open source business model. It was because we were doing something that wasn’t business as usual. We got through these challenges with some help from executives that gorked the value of WAS CE to the WebSphere portfolio.

The many meetings to explain what we’re doing and how it fits with a given IBM product’s plans also helped. There was, and remains, plenty of day-to-day work to ensure we did/do the right things in the Geronimo community, for WAS CE customers/partners and for our broader WebSphere & IBM customers/partners. Did we make some tradeoffs to balance all three interests? Definitely. Did we usually pick the business as usual route? Nope. Did knowing the business as usual route help? Absolutely. Was it easy? Nope. Was it fun? Heck ya!

I believe that the open source business model will continue to find a home inside more and more traditional software vendors. As this occurs, folks who have experience with open source software and traditional software are going to be very valuable. Folks that can walk the delicate tightrope between the ideologies of both camps will be even more indispensable.

Yes, I know that sounds like a self serving statement

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I am taking a semi-break from IBM life as I return to finish a PhD in Industrial Engineering. I’ve held roles in market intelligence, strategy and product management. I’m ex-product manager of IBM WAS Community Edition, and blog about enterprise open source topics.

Why network? Networking in the employment and career field offers the number one source of finding employment and job advancement. It is often stated that the vast majority – estimated as high as 80 – 90 % of jobs are filled inside organizations rather than outside. Generally in life people do not like risk and change. Better to deal with someone you know, can judge and trust. As well someone who recommends a future employee to an organization should have a vested interest in recommending a person who will be of good benefit to that organization. As well it should be noted that the person who does the recommendation has their own self interest to consider in case things do not work out well with the prospective hire.

In fact many employers will pay an employee who recommends a future hire a “finder’s fee” or other reward. Better to reward someone in your organization for growth than to reward an outsider such as a commercial “head hunter”.

It may be said that sometimes a firm will look outside of the norm to hire someone – especially management to shake the organization to be a “whipping boy”. This does occur. However these are not situations where you would place yourself for serious career advancement.

Networking is in actuality the process of developing relationships with people who can assist you with job search strategies and in finding strong job leads. Often people you seriously network with (including those you ask as valued references on your job resumes or applications) will become your best proponents. It should be noted that networking should be distinguished from simple hobnobbing and name dropping.

Networking in its true sense is a sincere, two ways relationship not a shallow one way activity. The distinction can not be stressed enough. If you are unable to comprehend the difference between the two – then this activity of career networking is not currently the right path for you.

The benefits of networking are great. Networking will focus your job choice and career direction. You will be tapping into jobs that you would most likely not have access to otherwise. You should be in a position to gain information and perspective about your chosen industry and firms or organizations that you would not be privy to or be able to comprehend or appreciate the significance otherwise. Specialized information such as industry and geographical trends, job search structure and protocols and hiring processes in your chosen fields will avail itself to you in your employment search.

It is a wonderful trait in interviews to be confident with industry perspectives as well as privileged information about the going ons of firms that you are making job applications for. The biggest percentage of most job interviews is based on p!
reparation before the interview, not during it. Networking will be your best tool for successful pre interview preparation and planning.

As well networking affords self promotion in a socially acceptable manner without bragging rights to those people in the hiring stream who ultimately matter the most to you in your employment search. In effect you are practicing your communication and interviewing skills as you successfully navigate the network streams.

Remember that for all the serious work you do in your job search in the end you never know who can be of the most help to you. Be sincere and appreciative in all that you do.

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Shaun Z. Stevens Career Planner Ace Employment Services Job Agency call_kirk@hotmail.com http://www.winnipegjobshark.com http://www.aceemploymentservices.net

Resolutions are nothing but setting goals for your self, which is anyway the secret to success. But keep in mind not to set unachievable/steep goals that is not within reach. Set short-term goals and go for them. You could look into some of these resolutions or maybe go for all of them! And why not?

Enhance your skills: Add a professional degree to your CV. Or take a class or go to a seminar. It is essential to set learning goals on a regular basis. As the saying goes, ‘If you’re not green and growing, you’re ripe and rotting.’

Learn new technology: The most happening thing in this age is technology which is here to stay. Communication is essential for business success. Take stock of where you’re the weakest and change that.

Be prepared with your CV: In this day and time, you never know when opportunity might knock at your door. And it could be from outside of – or within – your company. So just be prepared to take up the challenge as and when it comes.

Learn a new language: This is particularly important if your work puts you in contact on a regular basis with people who speak another language. There are so many regional languages in your own country that you could learn or maybe go for a foreign language course. It will help you in the long run.

Clean out old files, e-mails: Cleaning up old files is a great way to revisit priorities and gain perspective on what’s really important. Not only will it give you a fresh start to the year ahead, but if you pay careful attention to what you keep and what you toss it may help you manage your workload more effectively in the future. When it comes to technology, Holland warns not to succumb to ads touting the newest techno-trend, instead know yourself and choose tools that match your personality.

Network with four people a month: This networking could be a great way to expand your knowledge base. Once you’ve identified what you have to learn in those areas, determine the people who will help you realize those goals and meet with them accordingly.

Read best-selling business books: Imagine the impact you can make if you are well-versed on business trends, even if it’s nothing more than to find your way to a healthy debate with others.

Find quality time for self/family: Look for ways to integrate both aspects of your life. Let family join you on a business trip, leave the office early on an afternoon to attend your child’s sporting event, or share family reading time by catching up on the best seller on business while sitting next to your children or spouse.

Increase your saving habit: Saving for retirement is critically important. Simply commit to yourself to take that next pay increase and put in more money into a saving scheme. Making this part of your career goals will give you peace of mind that you’re building toward a more comfortable retirement.

Exercise and eat healthy: With opportunities galore, find ways to exercise with your family. Pay attention to what you’re eating. Take time to reflect on what activities invigorate you and commit more time to doing them.

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S.C. Mishra, a well-known Career Counselor, is an expert on various Career Subjects. He has authored a book on Online Jobs in India.