Practice

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30
Dec 11

I ♥ Flipboard!

I received an iPad for Christmas and immediately fell in love with the Flipboard app.  The app, also available for iPhones (as of Dec. 2011), aggregates all web links shared by your contacts on various social networking sites and displays the content in magazine-like format, as shown below.   You flip through the pages of content by sliding your finger across the screen.

Now, I prefer reading social networking updates on Flipboard rather than each social networking site or app for the following reasons:

  1. Scan updates. Flipboard displays enough content for each web link so you can determine if the link is worth reading (or saving to read later – see #2).  If you touch the screen and slide your finger across, you flip to the next page of updates.  The magazine-like display and touch to flip function allow you to quickly scan the information shared by your networks rather than scrolling down pages to read updates and clicking on links.
  2. Save and read later. The Flipboard app syncs with Instapaper and Read It Later.  Choose one for your Flipboard account (you can create either account for free) and you can save links to read later.
  3. Comment, like or share. Finally, you can interact on your social networking sites from the Flipboard app.  If you enjoyed an article shared on Facebook, you can “like” the link.  You can also comment or share links.
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16
May 11

Social Media Time Management: Market in Morning, Engage in Evening

Chris Brogan’s post, Organize Your Business,  outlines a time management strategy he uses to prioritize his daily business tasks.  Instead of spending the beginning of each day focusing on the most important tasks, he spends the beginning of each day focusing on something that will lead to long-term business growth.  He refers to this task as “lead generation and promotion,” and it includes marketing activities such as sending an email newsletter or writing a blog post.  Brogan focuses on marketing activities first to ensure that his business is visible and seen while he’s working on the other important tasks of the day.

The fourth and final component of Brogan’s organizational scheme is correspondence.  His final task of each day is responding to (non-urgent) emails or commenting on blog posts.

I love Brogan’s approach of marketing in the morning and engaging in the evening, and I think it is one way job seekers can manage their social media tasks (click here for another way job seekers can manage their time on social media).

For example, job seekers could spend five minutes each morning updating the BIG 3 sites with a link to an article, blog post, or an about.me profile — something that will make the job seekers visible while they turn to other pressing tasks such as researching potential employers, sending resumes, or interviewing (or working or studying if they are employed or attending school full-time).   Then, job seekers could spend the end of each day engaging with other users on the BIG 3 — responding to @mentions and direct messages, commenting on other tweets or Facebook and LinkedIn updates, or retweeting other users’ tweets.

If you are satisfied with how you are spending your time on the BIG 3, keep doing what you are doing.  If you are searching for a new social media time management approach, try marketing in the mornings and engaging in the evenings to see if this approach works for you.

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20
Jul 10

iFocus Time Management Tool for Social Networking Sites

I previously wrote about the importance of time blocking in your social job search, and you can read that post here.  One entire chapter of my forthcoming book focuses on efficient use of the Big 3 social networking sites in your job search, including tools like time blocking.  And, I recommend (1) setting a timer for the period of time in which you plan to use the Big 3 social networking sites, and (2) refraining from all other activities during this block of time, such as checking emails or answering your phone.

Yesterday, I learned of a new time blocking tool from a recent law grad I follow on Twitter.  She recommended iFocus for bar exam takers to help them limit the time spent on social networking sites while studying for the bar exam.  iFocus allows you to set time limits for computer activities, such as email, social networking sites, and online news.  As you can see in the image below, you can set iFocus to prevent further use of such activity once the allocated time block is over, or you can opt to receive a notice.

ifocus set limits

If you are curious about iFocus, there are additional screenshots on the iFocus site to illustrate how the program works, or you can download the free program and try it yourself.

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12
Jul 10

The First-Year Plan: 25 Contacts, 33 Months

One new addition to The 6Ps of the Big 3™ for Job-Seeking JDs is the First-Year Plan in Chapter 8.  Chapter 8 focuses on the fifth “P” – Practice – and examines three steps required to use the Big 3 social networking sites efficiently, including blocking your time and activities, measuring your activity responses and activity goals, and practicing on the sites.

The First-Year Plan is one type of activity goal that first-year law students and first-year law firm associates may choose to measure.  Law students and lawyers in their first year of school or practice are at an advantage because they have 2-3 years before they will need a new job.  They have time to build a network of potential referral sources and employers before they need anything from their networks.   A first-year law student won’t need a full-time job until graduation.  According to statistics, a first-year associate will likely leave his firm between his second to fifth years of practice.

The First-Year Plan described in Chapter 8 outlines how first-year law students and lawyers can add 25 new, meaningful contacts to their professional networks over a 33 month period (i.e., September of first semester through May graduation).   According to the First-Year Plan, the first-year students and lawyers will add five different types of contacts, all important to their job search:  (1) hometown/family friend contacts; (2) college alumni contacts; (3) law school alumni contacts; (4) contacts from organizations; and (5) practice area contacts.

The first-year students and lawyers will grow and nurture their networks by performing tasks on the Big 3 social networking sites according to the First-Year Plan.

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12
Apr 10

Time Blocking Your Social Job Search

Many lawyers and law students mistakenly believe that using social networking in your job search consumes too much time.  While it is certainly easy to get distracted and waste time, it’s just as easy to control your time on social networking sites.

In my books, I recommend time blocking as one solution.  I first learned about time blocking when I started recruiting – it’s a very common practice in the recruiting field.  Time blocking is just assigning tasks for certain blocks of time; during that block, you do nothing but the assigned task.  For example:

8:00 – 9:00 a.m. Read, return emails
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. 15 recruiting calls for Position A
10:00 -11:00 a.m. Market Candidate B to 8 firms

For a lawyer or law student using the Big 3 social networking sites in their job search, the time blocks for any given day might look like this:

8:00-8:15 a.m. Facebook – search 10 law firm business pages for job leads; check to see if firm you are interviewing with on Friday has FB page
8:15-8:30 a.m. LinkedIn –  prep for interview by searching names of 8 attorneys you are meeting on Friday
8:30-8:35 a.m. Twitter – search firm’s name on Twitter; save search and check for results again at 6:00 p.m.
6:00-6:05 p.m. Twitter – check saved search for firm where you are interviewing to see if there are any new tweets about the firm

During the time blocks above, the job seeker must refrain from all other activities such as answering the phone, responding to emails, or checking the Big 3 sites for personal purposes (do that after you check for professional purposes).  Consider setting a timer (most cell phones have timers) so that you know when to stop; forcing yourself to stop will also help you become more efficient over time.