Need Work? How To Find Your Next IT Job With Social Media

** This is a guest post by Alec Satin, PMP. Find out more about Alec at the bottom. **

If you’re looking for work right now, you’re not alone. While Todd Thibodeaux, president of the Computing Technology Industry Association claims that there are 300,000 well paying IT jobs available now, LinkedIn groups and online forums are filled with posts from highly skilled project managers, technical leads and database administrators who are struggling to find work. Can both sides of the debate be right? The truth is that the technology job market is broken and desperately in need of repair. You can choose to:

This post is about option (c). Let’s get to work.

My credentials

Bas is one of my PM role models. We share 3 passions: belief in people, belief in the value of good project management, and desire to give back to others. When he suggested I share my latest job search experiences with you, I readily agreed.

I’m an project manager from New York City who’s been actively looking for a position since December. Last month I finally accepted that the job search methods I’ve used throughout my career no longer work. In this post you’ll learn what you can do to shorten your search by getting noticed by the people who need what you have to offer. It’s written from a U.S. perspective and should be useful to you wherever you may be.

Recruiters

Image by Wisconsin Historical Society.

First let’s take a brief look at what won’t work for you. Recruiters.

Recruiters in the old days (1990s) used to develop personal relationships with their candidates. When you signed up with them you could expect a thorough pre-interview. This information was used to make sure that you were technically qualified. It was also used to make sure that the recruiter’s submissions to hiring companies were appropriate. This screening process was a main part of the value recruiters offered to employers.

Today the situation is different. Many recruiters rely on resume sifting programs to choose candidates. Few of these recruiters have ever personally met the people they submit to employers as candidates. More and more companies are discounting the value added by recruiting companias and are choosing to bypass them entirely. Nevertheless, most IT job candidates are still looking to recruiters as a primary source of possible jobs. If you rely on recruiters, you are playing a numbers game with odds not in your favor. It could take you a very long time to find a position.

Job Board Postings

Image by Michael Marlatt.

No matter how qualified you are, when you submit a job board application, you become one out of a vast multitude. Even worse, you have no easy way to tell if:

• The job is still open
• The job actually exists
• The person screening the resumes understands the job requirements

If you’ve been posting to job boards recently, you’ve no doubt learned not to expect any confirmation that your submission was received.

According to a good friend of mine who happens to be a recruiter, each position posted on one of the big job boards can cost $400. In a time of cost savings this creates a built-in incentive to leave a filled position up as long as possible. Doing so is a cost free way for the recruitment firm to gather huge numbers of resumes.

It’s good to scan and answer ads. But treat them like a lottery rather than a sure thing.

To get the jobs that are out there, you’re going to have to find ways to separate yourself from the pack. You will have to act differently from most others. You will also have to present yourself with more focused materials than you may have used in the past.

What Works

Depressed yet? Don’t be. There are jobs out there, and you can be one of the people who lands one. Here’s what you can to do to differentiate yourself.

For you to start getting offers, you need to have a prep-packet ready with a few key items. All of the items need to be consistent with each other. They need to be truthful. And they need to give a clear and accurate representation of what makes you relevant and of value to the hiring manager of a company you’d want to work for.

Items in your Prep Packet

Image by Bohman.

Warning!

What you are about to read may sound like salesmanship. If that bothers you, too bad. Many of us techies have spent years feeling superior to the business and marketing folks. It’s time for that attitude to change. You already know that you have to present yourself to others. Why not learn how to do it in an honest, ethical way that is as painless for you as possible? The good news is that what you have to do is probably less than you think. It also gets easier with time and a little practice.

1. One line verbal pitch

The one line verbal pitch is sometimes called an elevator speech. It’s a clear, easily understood answer to the question, What do you do?

Your pitch should be:

• One sentence – one idea only
• Simple to understand – jargon free
• Geared to the other person

When someone hears your pitch, their response should be some sort of dialogue. If your one line verbal pitch bores you, it will bore them and conversation will stop. That’s not what you want.

You can have a few variations of your pitch to use depending on your audience..

I’m still working on my pitch. Here’s what it is right now:
I help people resolve difficult issues on their technology projects.

2. One line written pitch

The written pitch is intended to be read. This means it can be more detailed than the verbal pitch. You will use this one line pitch in all of your written and social media profiles (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, twitter). You should consider including keywords which match your areas of focus. If you assume that everything online is indexed and searchable, including these keywords may bring you to the attention of someone who needs you. The art is writing this in a way that still sounds understandable.

Different services have different character limits. LinkedIn allows 120 characters.

Here’s one of my attempts:
PMP project manager who resolves quality, delivery and morale issues on PMO projects. SDLC, Virtual Teams, Social Media.

LinkedIn also allows you to include an additional status message. This is a good place for you to indicate that you are actively looking.
Seeking PMO or IT PM position with multiple projects in an energetic environment. NYC or up to 50% travel.

3. One paragraph written description

You’ll use your one paragraph description in many ways. If you are answering ads, it will be the body of your email response. It is the first section of your resume. It should include:

1. Your one line written pitch (What you do)
2. A few of your biggest accomplishments or strengths (What
   you’ve done)
3. Your additional status message (What you’re looking for)

4. Resume Fashion

Discard everything you know or think you know about resumes.

Is it really so hard to believe that resumes follow fashion? A 1980s resume or cover letter won’t get you laughed at. You’ll just be ignored.

A 21st century resume needs to be prepared for electronic use. That means it needs to work in Microsoft Word format, Adobe PDF format, and plain text. No images, pictures, or photos. These may work in Europe, but in the U.S. any resume with a photo attached will be screened out on general principle. If you’re smart, you’ll look at your resume as a group of successive screen pages. Each press of the page down key should provide your reader with something interesting.

Your resume has to be accurate and respectful. Your meaning must come across quickly and clearly. This is most important of all.

Resume Sections

The first section, Professional Summary, is your one paragraph written description. You can add bullet points of actual, measurable achievements as long as they are easy to understand and support your one paragraph written description.

The next section, Experience Highlights, includes 3-5 specific, measurable recent achievements.

Follow with the rest of your resume content (i.e. Education, Professional Experience, etc.).

A note about cover letters

Forget them! They waste your time and the time of the person who receives them.

One high level finance person who deals with many candidates spoke of his disdain of cover letters. He hated most of all receiving them as separate attachments in email. His recommendation: send a one paragraph email with your resume as an attachment. Simple, clean, polite.

Social Media

Image by Additive Theory

Social networking is about helping others. In the social media world, your true nature will quickly become apparent. Start with a positive attitude and your reputation will be stellar.

For you to gain social network visibility, you will need to be active in a few places. As a minimum you should have complete LinkedIn and Facebook profiles. Twitter may also be useful for you. Some people say it’s best to keep away from MySpace.

From this moment on, assume that everything you do on a computer is public knowledge. If this assumption turns out to be wrong, all the better. But if it turns out to be true, you will be in good shape.

On your profiles you must include a photograph. A flattering one is best. Even a mediocre one is better than none at all. If you don’t have a picture, find a friend to take one. If you don’t have any friends, pay a photographer! People without photographs on their profiles look like stalkers or people with something to hide. This is not the impression you want to give.

Make a habit of adding connections on LinkedIn with people you like. You don’t need 500 or 5000 connections. Better to have 5 or 25 connections with people you enjoy staying in contact with than a collection of people you don’t even know. Recommendations will come with time. It’s not necessary to focus on them.

Building your social networks is a long-term, career proposition. Steady effort over time will provide you with something that adds real value to your life.

Groups

This is a cornerstone of your social media job campaign.

LinkedIn

To start, identify LinkedIn groups which are related to the specific job/function you are targeting. To the left of the search box is a drop down. Select “Search Groups”, enter your keyword (e.g. project management) and go. Pick a few of the resulting groups that look interesting. After joining, monitor the discussions daily.Whenever you have something of value to contribute, do so. As you get to know people, add them to your LinkedIn network.

Facebook

Next, look for Facebook groups related to your target job. Join one or two and monitor in the same way as with the LinkedIn groups.

Meetup

Finally, look for local meetup groups related to your job target. These will enable you to have face to face meetings with people in your area and will help you start to get a sense for what companies may have opportunities.

Networking and Direct Contact

Networking may be defined as a mutually beneficial connection between two people who know each other. Possibly you have already contacted all the people you know and told them exactly what you do, what you’ve done and what you’re looking for. Consider contacting them again with your new one paragraph description. Ask them for names of one or two people they know who might know someone who hires people like you. These names are like gold. Check your LinkedIn network to see if you can find these people. If you have an email address, send them a quick note with your one paragraph description. You can also contact them through LinkedIn.

Summary

These are the very basics of adding social networking to your job search. Follow these steps and you will be well on your way to your next assignment. More importantly you will have a good foundation for not only your next job, but the ones after that.

My wish for you is that your job search may be short,your happiness broad, and your friends many.

With kind regards,
Alec Satin
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Making Project Management Better