Posts Tagged: job search

Profile / Protocol — 1 Comment
24
Jan 13

FaceWash Scrubs Naughty Words From Your Facebook Profile

A new app, FaceWash, scans comments on users’ Facebook posts, pictures, likes, as well as posts and pictures in which users are tagged.  The app highlights posts with certain naughty words, including profanities as well as words like “sexy,” “butt,” and “xxx,” as shown below.

Users can then click a link and delete the post if they wish.    Users can also enter words they want to the app to search.  For example, maybe you’ve vented about your job or certain co-workers on Facebook.  You could enter your company’s name or colleague’s name to see if you’ve mentioned them in a negative manner.

Final note – I tried the app earlier this week and it eventually timed out.  However, I had no problems on my second attempt (and the app identified the picture above).  I recommend that all job seekers and professionals use the app to scan their Facebook profiles–it can’t hurt!

Privacy / Profile — 1 Comment
31
Dec 12

You Can’t Hide on Facebook

When I speak at law schools, I’m always impressed with the number of students who have removed themselves from Facebook search so that potential employers can’t find the students simply by entering the students’ names in the Facebook search bar.  However, with the privacy changes Facebook introduced earlier this month, Facebook is removing the ability of members to hide themselves from Facebook search.

You may still have the option to hide yourself from Facebook search because the change is being rolled out to members gradually.  However, you should start planning for the change now, and I recommend considering the following:

  1. Does it belong on Facebook? Before posting an update or photo, ask yourself whether the information should be shared on Facebook.  As we’ve been reminded by the recent Randi Zuckerberg photo privacy breach, your information can still be shared by your friends who have access to the information—no matter how private you try to make the information by applying the most stringent privacy settings.  So, before posting anything, ask yourself, “Would I mind if the entire world saw this information?”
  2. Use your privacy settings. The bright side of the recent Facebook privacy changes is that the settings are more user friendly.  Spend 10 minutes today reviewing your settings to make sure your information is protected.
  3. Apply the Office Desk Photo Rule. No matter which privacy settings you choose, your profile picture is public to everyone.  Now, that you can’t hide from a Facebook search, more people will find you and see your profile picture.  It’s even more critical that you choose an appropriate Facebook profile picture.  In my book, I recommend applying the Office Desk Photo Rule when choosing your profile picture:  choose a picture that you would display on your office desk.  The picture can be casual, just not too casual.  Avoid the pictures of you taking shots or posing in a bikini.
Performance — 3 Comments
27
Nov 12

LinkedIn’s Work Anniversary Feature

A few weeks ago, I noticed the “work anniversary” of one of my contacts in my LinkedIn news feed.

The work anniversary feature is yet another way to use LinkedIn to keep in touch with your network and remain visible—-especially if you don’t actively share content on LinkedIn.  When you “like” or comment on the work anniversary update, your contact is notified so you are able to remain on that contact’s radar.

LinkedIn makes it easy to sort updates to find the work anniversary notices:

  1. From your LinkedIn home page, place your mouse on the All Updates drop down menu and select Jobs.

  2. Scroll through the news feed with updates related to your contacts’ jobs until you see work anniversary updates.  Note:  other job related updates include endorsements, job postings, and your contacts’ new jobs or titles.
  3. Like or comment on the update!
Privacy — 3 Comments
9
Sep 12

Hide Your Job Search from Your Employer on LinkedIn

The Contact Preferences section on LinkedIn (where you indicate why you want someone to contact you) troubles many attorneys because they don’t want to state that they are interested in “career opportunities” or “job inquiries” if they are currently employed.  The attorneys are concerned that their employers will see that they are looking for a new job.

A new site, HireSignals.com, recently launched with the purpose of hiding a job seeker’s job search preferences from the job seeker’s employer but sharing the job seeker’s preferences with recruiters.  Here’s how it works:

  • Job seekers would not list “career opportunities” or “job inquiries” as their Contact Preferences on LinkedIn; rather they would use HireSignals.com to convey their job search status to recruiters.
  • Third party recruiters and job seekers create an account on HireSignals.com which syncs to their LinkedIn accounts.
  • Recruiters must log in using a company email address (and this email address must match the primary email account on their LinkedIn profile).
  • HireSignals.com screens the recruiters who join, and the recruiters must agree to a strict code of conduct.
  • Job seekers choose one of four options as their job search status:
    • Actively networking
    • Passively networking
    • Not networking (but open to seeing the market)
    • Not networking (do not contact)
  • Job seekers enter guidelines for recruiters, such as desired salary.
  • Job seekers can indicate the domain name of companies they don’t want to see their job search status (e.g. domain name of current employer).
  • When recruiters perform a search on LinkedIn to look for people with certain requirements, the job seekers using HireSignals will appear with a shaded background in one of four colors.  The four colors correspond to the job seeker’s status and can alert that the job seeker is looking for opportunities even though his LinkedIn Contact Preferences does not list “career opportunities.”
  • Recruiters can then see the job seeker’s salary and other guidelines and contact the job seeker through the LinkedIn platform.
  • Click here to view a short video that walks you through using HireSignals.

I’ve signed up for a HireSignals account and am waiting for approval.  I like the purpose behind the site because I think most attorney job seekers are concerned about their current employer learning of their job search.  Any platform that helps to preserve confidentiality is a step in the right direction.

In addition to using HireSignals, here are my other two recommendations to job seekers who are employed and don’t want their employers to learn they are looking:

  1. Turn off activity broadcasts so your employer and others do not see when you connect to recruiters on LinkedIn. Go to Settings, Turn on/off activity broadcast, and make sure the box is unchecked.
  2. Hide your connections. Go to Settings, Select who can see your connections, and select Only You.  By hiding your connections, your prevent your employer from being able to go to your page to see how many recruiters are among your connections.

Thus, by using HireSignals, turning off activity broadcasts and hiding your connections, you can conduct your job search without the fear that your employer will learn that you are looking.

Performance / The 6Ps of the BIG 3 Book — 3 Comments
24
Apr 12

What Law Students Want

On Friday, I moderated We Want You (in Our Network) at the NALP Annual Education Conference.  The panel consisted of practicing lawyers, law students and a legal reporter.  As illustrated in the tweet below, many attendees appreciated the students’ thoughts on how law schools and law firms are using social media, including what the students would like to see from law schools and law firms.

Since the topic of the panel involved social media, I asked law students on Twitter to share how they would like to see law schools and firms use social media  Here are a few ideas shared by the student panelists and those who participated via Twitter.

Law Schools

  1. Post profiles of local lawyers.
  2. Inform students about local events (not limited to events hosted by the legal industry or school).
  3. Share bar exam pass rates.

Law Firms

  1. Blog! Blogs help candidates get a better sense of the work the firm does as well as insight regarding the firm’s culture.

  2. Be creative – add more content than just press releases.

Performance / The 6Ps of the BIG 3 Book — 1 Comment
16
Apr 12

Job-Seeking Lawyers/Law Students: Follow #NALP12

The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) is hosting its Annual Education Conference this week in Austin, Texas.  There is a Twitter hashtag, #NALP12, that anyone may follow to receive updates from or about the conference.  I highly recommend that job-seeking lawyers and law students follow this hashtag for the following reasons:

  1. Meet the players. Many law firm recruiting/hiring contacts will appear in the #NALP12 Twitter stream as they tweet from the conference.  By following #NALP12, you can identify these contacts and follow up with questions or comments.  Don’t ask them for a job immediately; but, get to know them and what their firms have to offer.  Begin to build relationships with them.
  2. Raise your profile. If you tweet thoughtful questions in response to the #NALP12 tweets, attendees at the conference will notice you.  Perhaps the panelists/speakers will even monitor the tweets for their sessions and respond to your questions during the sessions.
  3. Receive job search tips and market intelligence. The substantive content of the sessions is incredible for job-seekers.   You have the opportunity to receive job search tips and market intelligence directly from the employers making hiring decisions.  Keep your eyes open for tweets from the following sessions:
  • “Rocket Docketeers” – Judicial Clerkships for the IP Student
  • Alternative Careers:  The Upside Down Pyramid
  • Assessment Tools and Innovative Interview Techniques:  What Are They and How Are They Used?
  • Beyond the Beltway:  Opportunities in Federal, State and Local Government
  • Landing a Job with the United Nations
  • Launching an Immigration Law Career at the Courthouse
  • Navigating U.S. Bar Exam Requirements for Foreign Trained Lawyers
  • NALP Update on the Legal Employment Market
  • Understanding the Current Legal Economy
  • Skills-Based Hiring for Effective Post-Recession Lateral Associate Recruitment
  • Careers in the Military
Performance / The 6Ps of the BIG 3 Book — No Comments
20
Feb 12

Evaluate LinkedIn Groups with Statistics Dashboards

LinkedIn added a statistics dashboard to each LinkedIn group in November 2011.  The dashboards show the demographics, growth and activity of a group.  Since you can only join 50 groups, job seekers should evaluate the statistics dashboard for a group to determine if a group is worth joining.  Specifically, job seekers should evaluate the following:

  1. Seniority. Is the group comprised of partners or senior level attorneys who are likely the decision makers with respect to hiring decisions?  Or, is the group comprised of entry-level associates?
  2. Jobs. How many jobs were recently posted in the group?
  3. Comments. How many comments were left in the past week?  A group with low comments is probably not very interactive.
  4. Location. If you are looking for a job in Dallas and 90% of the attorneys in a group are in New York, you may want to consider how effective that group will be in your job search.

To access the statistics dashboard, go to the home page for the group you are contemplating joining.  The dashboard is on the far right side of the page, below the “About this Group” section as shown below.

Performance / The 6Ps of the BIG 3 Book — No Comments
28
Dec 11

LunchMeet for LinkedIn

One recurring theme in my book is the need for job seekers to take online relationships offline.  Now, the free iPhone app LunchMeet facilitates offline meetings with your LinkedIn connections.  LunchMeet syncs with your LinkedIn account and identifies connections who are available to meet for lunch, coffee or drinks.

I love the concept of LunchMeet and decided to try it last night.  I logged in using my LinkedIn username and password.  The app prompted me to set a time slot I was available to meet.   After choosing a date and time, I searched to see who was available to meet.  None of my 1,028 LinkedIn connections appeared in the search results.  The only result was a “Vice President of Information Technology” in the Printing industry (LunchMeet identifies people outside of your LinkedIn network who have indicated they are available to meet, but LunchMeet only reveals the title and industry of the people).

Finally, LunchMeet posted the following update to my LinkedIn profile so my connections who aren’t using LunchMeet will see the note about my availability and (presumably) inquire about LunchMeet.

My initial thoughts about LunchMeet:

  • I continue to think LunchMeet is a great concept designed to facilitate offline meetings.
  • More people need to use LunchMeet for it to become a powerful networking tool.
  • Some professionals might shy away from posting their availability out of fear that “unwanted connections” (e.g., vendors) might take advantage of securing meetings with them.
  • I’m not inclined to meet with non-connections such as the Vice President of Information Technology in the search results above.   My preference is to use LunchMeet to develop the relationships I’ve already created on LinkedIn.

Have you tried LunchMeet?  What are your thoughts?

Performance — 1 Comment
27
Dec 11

Are You Tagging Your LinkedIn Connections?

Nick Ducoff recently tweeted that he spent Sunday morning tagging his LinkedIn connections, and his tweet reminded me that many job seekers are not taking advantage of LinkedIn’s tagging feature.  Here are some facts about LinkedIn tags:

  • LinkedIn allows you to create up to 200 tags or labels to assign to your connections.
  • You can assign more than one tag to each connection.
  • The tagging feature is free—you do not need a premium account to tag your connections.
  • LinkedIn provides you with five default tags which you may use or delete:
  1. Partners
  2. Group members
  3. Colleagues
  4. Friends
  5. Classmates
  • When you accept a LinkedIn invitation to connect, the basis for that connection is automatically applied as a default tag.  For example, if Ashley Smith invited me to connect on LinkedIn and indicated that we were “friends,” her profile would be tagged as “friends.”
  • You can delete the default tags and create your own system or you can use the default tags, plus your own tags.  I recommend that job seekers, at a minimum, create tags to better identify their professional connections.
  • You can search your LinkedIn connections by tags.
  • You can send a message to LinkedIn connections with a specific tag.

To illustrate how a job seeker might use the tags, suppose a 2nd year law student at The University of Texas School of Law is interested in employment law and plans to return to Florida, her home state, after graduation.  She might create the following tags for her LinkedIn connections:

  1. Florida lawyers
  2. Employment lawyers
  3. UT Law alumni
  4. Friends
  5. Classmates
  6. Group Members

Before going home for the holidays, this 2L could message her contacts with the “Florida lawyers” tag to schedule meetings/lunches with lawyers in her home state.  Finally, note that a UT Law alum who practices employment law in Florida could have three tags:  Florida lawyers, Employment lawyers and UT Law alumni.

As you organize your job search for 2012, spend some time this week tagging your own LinkedIn connections and then tapping that network in the new year.

Profile — No Comments
1
Nov 11

Add Language to LinkedIn Profile to Help Job Search

If you are a job seeker who speaks multiple languages, make sure your LinkedIn profile reflects each language.   Some in-house legal jobs as well as document review positions require a specific language competency.  The language field on LinkedIn is also an optional search field for advanced people searches on LinkedIn.  Thus, legal recruiters can search LinkedIn to find candidates for these in-house and document review jobs.

To add a language to your LinkedIn profile, complete the following steps:

  1. From your LinkedIn home page, click on “Profile,” and then “Edit Profile.”
  2. Below your snapshot box and before your summary section, you’ll see a box that allows you to add sections.  Click on “add section,” as shown below.

3.   Then, select the “languages” option and add to your profile.  You can then list the languages you speak.

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