A Job You Love

Why did you come first on Linkedin?

Because all my contacts are on it! or Because I have been invited…

But really, why are you using Linkedin?

Generally people don’t even know the answer.

So you act as a headless chicken using Linkedin without really knowing why you are there and what you should be doing.

What are the consequences of this?

1 – Lack of focus on your profile:

Your profile is just a copy and paste of your CV without any specific focus. On Linkedin profiles need to be … Continue Reading

Here is the social network of Jesus designed using the bible and especially the new testament.

What I mean by “social network of Jesus” is the fact that Jesus lays at the centre of the network, he is the hub of the network, the person who knows everyone, the point of contact for all the relationships.

Definition

A social network is made of nodes (people) and ties (relationships), and the sum of all these nodes and ties, is a social network.

It can be ego centered (around a specific person) or community … Continue Reading

On this blog, I have never talked about myself…and for the first time, I am about to do it.

I have been living in London for about 3 years, and I have decided to move back to France.

I am quite happy even if I still have a lot of work in the UK and I do love working here…a lot of career and job expertise books are written in English so I must say that today I am heavily influenced by the Anglosaxon way … Continue Reading

The other day I came across an article in the Sunday Times talking about social networking and recruitment.

And what amazed me is the fact that recruiters were all saying that Social networks are really useful but it is not that great.

” Linkedin is a great networking tool and research tool. However it is not a panacea.” Toby Fowlston, Robert Walters

“Linkedin isn’t the phone book and even if it was, who would want to look through the entire phone book to find the right candidate?” Eamon Collins Michael … Continue Reading

I have been giving workshops on how to use Linkedin for professionals and one of the main benefit of Linkedin is to raise your reputation and your brand.

But how to do that?

I have identified 5 reputation building tools on Linkedin.

1) Status updates

Everytime you post a status update, you communicate about what you are doing…you can really use the status update to communicate your brand and mentioning the things you are developing according to your target. For example if I want to be known as the expert in the marketing … Continue Reading

Do you know that many written CVs are fake or have been changed?

On your CV is everything true?

Your on-line CV is much more accurate than your written CV. Why?

Because on Linkedin or Viadeo, you are in touch with your ex colleagues, ex bosses or ex clients…and they know your position and what you were doing. So you can’t pretend being a marketing director whereas you were working as a Marketing manager. When connecting with you, they will look at your profile.

People would spot you are cheating on your … Continue Reading

Is social networking the eldorado for recruitment? A lot is being said about social networking for recruiters but at the end of the day, everybody use social media to communicate but we don’t have real figures about the recruitment side of it.

What is the outcome? We all hear stories about a guy who found a job using twitter or another one using another social network but at the end of the day, it seems to be an illusion, news and media can distort reality.

These stories are still exceptions…

I read that … Continue Reading

Do you have recommendations on your Linkedin profile?

I have been noticing a growing trend of people exchanging favors on Linkedin of this kind:

“You write a recommendation on Linkedin for me and I will write one for you”.

They worked in the same company or exchanged information but never really worked together to be able to recommend each other. You only talked to the person twice and had a nice drink with this guy, but on that basis how can you recommend him?

These people don’t understand the principles of recommendations: they are … Continue Reading

Do you still send Linkedin (or viadeo) invitations without personal message?

So you get it wrong!

Networking and social networking is all about quality and not quantity.

In their brilliant article, Networking Reconsidered, the authors go even further and explain that Networking is about genuine relationships where you exchange issues and real knowledge. And only time and trust will ensure this kind of relationship.

By building long term relationships and getting the trust of your contacts you will be able to develop collaborative work.

I know that I don’t share the philosophy … Continue Reading

When writing this title for the post, I realized that it was a bit harsh but so true at the same time.

I mean it, it is unfortunate but true. My article, Don’t put “Looking for a job” on your linkedin status embraced exactly the same idea. I understand all the reactions I got on linkedin but I am trying to explain why this tip is valuable…

I still think that it is not an efficient way of looking for a job especially in the long run. For recruiters you have … Continue Reading

I see many people updating their status with “Looking for a job” or “Looking for new opportunities”

But do you think you make the most out of Linkedin? Do you think it is going to attract recruiters?

I think it is not the best thing to do for your reputation or your personal brand.

Why?

Because you position yourself as someone asking for something, asking for a job, waiting for things to happen, you are being passive!

Instead you could put on your linkedin status that you attended a … Continue Reading

Almost every day now, I receive requests for connections on linkedin. I think  linkedin is a wonderful tool…but people don’t respect some basic rules.

Actually these are common rules. When you meet someone at a networking venue, do you say “I would like to connect with you?”. You start a proper conversation, and explain why you want to connect with her.

On linkedin it is exactly the same, 90% of the time I receive that: “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” (or in French as now there … Continue Reading

I have been using google reader to get all the news about my industry especially career advice and everything related to job search.

But with the time passing, I realize that career advice is completely boring and not creative…every single day, I read loads of advice and tips:

“5 tips to write your cv”

“the 7 tips to win an interview”

“How to use linkedin to find a job”

And so on…(I hate lenghty listings like the “15 ways” with 15 bullet points)

So I started to simply unsubscribe to a great deal of blogs with … Continue Reading

You will be surprised to learn that John does not believe in personal branding and that he gives creative tips on how to achieve a career change. For him a CV is really useful as an aide memoir and employers oversell positions…

Share your comments and other ideas.

John, I am a big fan of your books and the way you put things across and I have been reading your books (“How to get a job you’ll Love”, “Take control of your Career”) and listening to your talks.

To me, you … Continue Reading

For the first time in history, we never had so many job losses.

But this crisis is really a godsend for many reasons!

1) People are waking up and re-evaluating their priorities

The number of career changes is increasing and people want to do what they always wanted to do. I will be attending an exhibition in September about jobs in the charity sector. This exhibition is a huge success this year and almost fully booked. Being kicked out from your company can act as a wake up call, as a way to … Continue Reading