I’m excited to announce a new upgrade level on JibberJobber.com.  This comes after a number of people have told me that $9.95 is too much (I would not have paid it, as I didn’t have any money, but I think someone in my family would have paid it for me), but the free level just wasn’t doing enough. In fact, most of the feedback about the free vs. premium levels is that they really just need more contacts, and more target companies.

The Silver Level is a step up from the free level, with up to 1,000 contacts and 1,000 target companies.  You can still get ALL premium features, and unlimited contacts and companies for just $9.95. Here’s a summary of each level (you can see a side-by-side comparison here):

Regular (Free): We designed this to be more powerful than a job search spreadsheet.  You can track an unlimited number of job postings, whether you find them on Monster, through networking, etc.  You can track up to 250 network contacts and 75 target companies, and post up to 10 log entries on each of those records.  You get a lot of tools, some reports, and more.  Note: when you first login you get 14 days of premium services for free.

Silver ($5/month): You get all of the Regular features PLUS an additional 750 network contacts and an additional 925 target companies.  This is an intermediate level designed to give those who are more budget-challenged an opportunity to use JibberJobber more effectively in their immediate job search.

Premium ($9.95/month): The floodgates open and you get all kinds of cool stuff.  My favorite premium feature is the action items e-mailed to me, so I don’t have to login to JibberJobber to see what I have coming up.  No wait, my favorite premium feature is the ability to import/export my data, so I can keep all my LinkedIn contacts, Cardscan contacts (buying one soon), Outlook contacts on JibberJobber.  No wait, my favorite premium feature is that I can use the Get Contact List to export my contacts based on a number of things, like tags or categories.  No wait, my favorite premium feature is that there are no limits on number of records I put in, or number of log entries I have… you get the point, right?  This level is optimal for those who are either serious about their job search, or not in a job search at all but very relationship-oriented (or career management oriented).

You want to know what may become the best premium feature yet?  The Outlook plugin, which hopefully will be in beta in the next few weeks.

We are trying to fit your budget - for $0 you get value.  For $5/month you get more value.  For $9.95 a month you get a bunch more value. Cool?

I got an e-mail from Susan Ireland, at the Job Lounge.  She asked me if I knew anything about LinkedIn deleting people’s accounts… I’ve heard a little about this, but mostly just hand-slapping for looking like spammers.  Getting an account deleted can be a huge problem, especially as you use LinkedIn more.

She writes about it here (I can almost hear a tear drop on her keyboard as I read it… ouch!!!).

The two issues are (1) why she was deleted, and (2) what LinkedIn can/will do about it.  I have no idea why she was deleted, and apparently she doesn’t either.  As far as she knows, she wasn’t doing anything wrong with her LinkedIn account, or LinkedIn connections.  As far as what LinkedIn can or will do, here is their response:

“At this time we do not have a recommended back up system for your account. Once something has been deleted there is not a back up at this time to recover any information. …One thing you can do is copy your profile information and save it as a word document so that you will always have it on your computer.”

Not very comforting, is it?

Here are two absolute must-do’s, right now, on LinkedIn - and they will take less time than it takes to read this blog post (so do it now!):

1. Export your contacts. Simply click on Contacts, scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on Export Connections, and follow that process.  Just leave everything at default and you’ll end up with your connections in a .csv file, which opens in Excel.
2. Export your profile. You’ve probably put a fair amount of thought into creating your profile, right?  What about any references you have gotten?  Simply click on Profile, then find the grayed-out icons above your name, and click on the adobe pdf icon.  This exports your profile, including recommendations, into a very nice, presentable document (kudos to whoever at LinkedIn did that formatting, it is very well-done!).  Here’s an image of where the icon is:

These are the two most important things for me to grab, if I knew my LinkedIn account might go away.  (1) Who I connected with, which includes e-mail addresses very every single contact, (2) my recommendations  (I can always rethink and recreate a profile, but those recommendations are priceless!).

Please, don’t even take 2 seconds to comment on this post, just head on over to LinkedIn and do this very easy, very quick maintenance!

I frequently see e-mails from people who have x years in administrative, bookkeeping, organizational, etc. roles, who are well-seasoned and well-skilled.  Because they are not quite sure what else they can do, they are looking for some kind of executive assistant role, hopefully paying more than $10/hour.

I hate thinking that someone with so much wisdom, experience and business savvy will have to digress to an entry-level role when they really could and should be able to contribute so much more.

That’s where Virtual Assistants (VA’s) come in.  I’ll confess I don’t know a ton about VA’s, and if I were as good as Alexandra Levit I would have done a bunch of interviews, and had great stats for you.  Alas, I’m not that good, so I’ll throw out my ideas, and point you to some resources, and let you do your own research.

I love the concept of setting up a VA business because:

1. You can earn more than $10/hour. Depending on how you speciliaze, or where your clients are, I think you can charge more than $40/hour.  Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?
2. You can set your own hours. You are a VIRTUAL assistant, meaning you don’t have to go into an office (no commute), and play the political games, and punch your timecard just for the fun of it… if you do your best work at midnight, cool. If you do your best work between 9 and noon, cool.  That’s when you work.
3. You define what you do. VA’s are quick to point out they are not merely data entry clerks, although I’m sure many do data entry ($40/hour is pretty pricey for data entry, but hey, people pay it).  But I’ve seen other VAs define their boundaries, and I’m amazed at the skillset they are bringing to the table.  Seriously, think about what an assistant would do for you, or for a CEO, or a one-man business…. that is what these VAs are doing.  I’ve been on radio interviews where the VA is the technician, because they understand what buttons to push to get the recording… define your own skillset and market that.
4. It is entrepreneurial. And you already know how I feel about being an entrepreneur, or at the very least, having another income stream.
5. Need more money?  Get another client! Too busy?  Scale back.  You are your own boss, and you set your own schedule.
6. what did I miss?

Of course, this isn’t for everyone, but I really think it’s a great option for a lot of people.  And it helps that Tim Ferris, author of The Four Hour Workweek, really sensationalizes the idea of having a virtual assistant, so he’s turned the world onto the idea of buying the services.

If I were going to look at being a VA, I would start by googling the phrase.  But I would pour over the information at Virtual Assistant Directory,  and the owner’s website, Kathie M. Thomas.  She writes the popular and information-rich blog for Virtual Assistant Directory.  Another site to check out is Ultimate VA Support.

I don’t write about career ideas like Alexandra Levit, but this is one of a handful of ideas that I really, really like, and know I’ll be pointing people to this post for a while.

Barry Groh has an excellent question in his comment on last week’s post Get Value Out Of Job Ministries Even When You Aren’t Religous.  In fact, all of the comments on that post were excellent… if you get this via e-mail or RSS I suggest you click over and check out those comments.  Barry’s question is:

… how to do so when you are not looking in the community where you live for any jobs? I have not searched for any groups here locally where I live because I am not planning on staying here, but I’m also too far away to be able to connect with other groups there, although I know a number of them that I would meet with if I was there.

Do you or anyone else have any suggestions?

Barry, if I were in your situation, where I was looking out of state, and I believed that network was going to play a significant role in my job search, here is what I would do:

1. I would go to a local network group (or multiple groups) for a few reason. First, it’s a great reason to get out and practice essential networking skills, and I always learn stuff from others there.  Second, in my 30 second commercial I would mention that I want to move to Colorado (which is where Barry wants to end up).  I imagine that there would be people in the room who have some connection in Colorado, and might be able to faciliate an introduction.
2. I would do a search on Google Groups and Yahoo! Groups for something there. It’s not easy to find that stuff, mind you, but you just might find what you are looking for.  I know Atlanta and New Jersey both have very active job seeker e-mail groups (I’ve lurked there for almost 2 years).  Here are the results I found from a simple search on Groups.Yahoo.com: http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=denver+job+search (I was pleasantly surprised by the results :))
3. I would identify groups that I would go to if I were there, and then call up the people who put them on. Introduce myself to them, let them know what I’m looking for, and ask them if there were other group members who I should talk to.  I’m guessing that many of these people would be very helpful, and start to get you connected.  If possible, schedule a week to fly out there, and hit all the groups in person, so that you can solidify the relationships.
4. I would try and identify major networkers in the area. Liz Ryan and Mike O’Neil are both in the Denver area, I think.  These are two major networkers, and I bet they know just about everyone you should know.  The challenge with people of this networking level is that they may be just too darn busy to help, so it might be a dead end.  But if you could give them a 30 second commercial, and specifically ask them if they “know anyone who works at A, B or C companies” or “know anyone who specializes in X profession or Y industry,” they might be able to make a quick referral or two.
5. I’m sure you’ve already done this, but I would search on LinkedIn. Pretend you are a recruiter and search for what they would search for… try your own job title and industry, with the city (zip code), and see what you get.  These people, whether working or not, could be great network contacts, and if nothing else, if you can connect with them on LinkedIn, you’ll usually be able to search their networks and might be surprised at the amazing contacts you meet.  Doesn’t it make sense that someone who has the job you want will be connected to the people you should be connecting with?

Those are my five suggestions for networking long-distance… what are yours?

Unfolding more of “my story,” I want to share part of the demise of my career path from my last company.  Sorry for any ambiguity… but I can’t tell the whole story here… know what I mean? BTW, I share this because I know some of you are thinking about a career path strategy, and wondering if you should stay at corporate or get closer to the customer, out in the field.

I had been at the corporate office for all of my career, with a few trips here and there to the field offices.  Even after the IT group that I managed spun off and merged with our software vendor, to form a subsidiary, I stayed at Corporate.  The new president, who was the owner of the software vendor we acquired, would drive about 3 hours each week to come to the corporate office and work there 4 out of 5 days.

When he got let go I became the General Manager (I was told I was too young to be the president, and all of the VPs of the parent company would be jealous… so I got the generic title that said “not quite good enough to be president”).  I stayed at the corporate office, even though most of my team was not there.  In fact, there really wasn’t anyone in the new company at Corporate with me… but I stayed anyway.

However, things changed.  Our web team headed to an industry conference, and I got an exciting report about how our new web product was accepted.  I decided it was time for me to leave the corporate office and relocate to the office where the web team was.  Not only was there a lot of excitiment there, this was my specialty, and I felt this was where I needed to be.

I was also interested in leaving the small-town where I had been for 9 years and move to a bigger city.  So I, the general manager, moved.

And that caused the eventual demise of my career with that company.

Even though the main purpose was to be closer to a major profit center (actually, two of the three profit centers) which needed my attention, it was a very poor political move.  I distanced myself from the corporate bureaucrats … which was definitely good for productivity and focus.

But it was very, very bad for politicking.

Not that I recommend you spend all your time, or most of your time, politicking.  But I learned that if there was an opportunity for someone to get facetime with an executive, they will.  And if you don’t have enough time with that executive, bad things can happen.  Rumors, misrepresentation, … whatever it may be, when you can’t represent yourself, other people represent you.

And that’s what happened to me.  And that is why I lost my job.  Because in a politic-heavy environment, I wasn’t involved in politics.  Forgive me for doing the job I was hired to do.

So, a rock and a hard place:

Rock: stay at corporate, even though it’s not the place you should be to get the job done the way it should be done.

Hard place: moving to do the job you are paid to do, but not having the ability to coddle execs and bosses who rely too much on circumstantial information, while probably suffering from information overload.

Without knowing it, I got out of balance, and didn’t spend the time to politic as I was trying to stabalize a business.

And that led to the phone call when I was terminated.

Greatest thing that happened to me, of course.

I share this because I know some of you are thinking about a career path strategy, and wondering if you should stay at corporate or get closer to the money, out in the field.

Not an easy choice, eh?  What career move have YOU made that was great for the company, but crappy for your career?

(photo props: I-heart-god.com)

check out this video from IBM on social networking:

How many contacts are in your network(s), and what does that really mean?

Networking into your next job, and nurturing relationships, is usually deeper than acccumulating contacts in any network, be it LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Every once in a while there is a post so brilliant it becomes the topic of what I write about, even pushing my editorial calendar back (yeah right :p).  Such is the case with Utah Tech Jobs’ Robert Merrill’s recent post titled 4 Factors Creating Utah Workforce Funk.  From the introduction:

There’s no question something interesting is happening with Utah’s professional/technical workforce right now, and I think there are no less than four competing factors at play any business-owner should be paying very close attention to:

He goes on to suggest the four factors are:

1. Real and Wage Inflation
2. Intense Competition for Talent
3. Corporate cost-cutting
4. High Energy/Commute Costs

First, it’s clear to me that this workplace funk is NOT just a Utah thing, and not limited to professionals and/or technical folks.

Second, Robert says this is something any “business owner should [pay] very close attention to.”  And since YOU are CEO of Me, Inc., it’s obvious that YOU need to pay very close attention to these four factors.

I don’t have anything to add to Robert’s awesome post and analysis, and I hate to see you go somewhere else, but click on over to Utah Tech Jobs and check out this brilliant post… and consider what it means for YOU.

(I’ll miss you ;))

I remember I was on a radio interview with Jim Stroud and Karen Mattonen when they asked me if I’d approached Job Ministries, to let them know about JibberJobber.  I had no idea what that was, but they were very enthusiastic about it (come to think of it, they are always enthusiastic about a lot of things :p).

My experience with church job search support was limited to what I had experienced in Utah, with the LDS “Professional Workshop,” which was a free, two-day event that was quite eye-opening.  I had also gone to a number of job search networking groups sponsored by the LDS professional employment folks, which was immensely helpful during my search.

The workshop and the networking groups were very focused on helping professionals get back into the workforce, and welcomed anyone (there was no question of your religious beliefs).

Since then I’ve experienced two other amazing “job ministry” network groups - one in Houston (Between Jobs Ministry) and one in Minneapolis.  In Houston I understand they draw about 200 people a week, mostly professionals and executives.  In Minneapolis there were about 75 people when I went to speak.  I’m always amazed at the calliber of people at the network groups, and the helpfulness that each person brings to the meeting.

If a job seekers asks me for advice in their job search, I’ll frequently ask them if they have found a local job ministry network group to attend.  In fact, you SHOULD find as many job ministry network groups as you can and go to ALL of them.

Why wouldn’t you go to a job ministy group? Are you an Atheist?  A non-believer?  A sinner?  It’s not the right religion?

None of that matters. This isn’t a place to talk about religious beliefs or differences, although you may hear that here and there.  This is a place to help get individuals back into the workforce.

I wrote a post last November titled Religion’s Role in a Job Search.  Go read that, and then search on Google for job ministries near you (or check out the Work Ministry site).  Don’t let your religious beliefs preclude you from the amazing networking opportunities out there!

I remember Peter Weddle, Mr. Job Board himself, talk about an effective job board strategy at a conference.  If I remember correctly, he suggested that you get on two major job boards, two niche job boards (for your industry or profession), and at least one geographic job board (based on where you are looking).

If you count company job boards, I was on dozens of job boards.  How amazingly frustrating it was to have to have different logins, processes to create a profile, upload a resume, apply for a job, etc.  I wished there were some uniformity, but I digress :p

I agree with Peter’s advice to limit your job board strategy to just a few key job boards, as opposed to a job board frenzy, like I was on.  Here’s another strategy issue…

Consider only a percentage of jobs are found through job boards.  There is a significant (boring) debate on the percentage of jobs… 3% if you ask the networking experts, 25% if you ask the job board owners.  I don’t care what the real number is, and it will vary depending on your level, income, profession, industry, etc.  But here’s the point:  If only 3% (or 25%) of jobs are found from job boards, why do you spend more than 3% (or 25%) of your time on job boards?

I spent over 90% of my time, 60 hours a week, on job boards.  I totally neglected other methods, and had a very unbalanced job search strategy.  With job board agents, where you get e-mails when a job listing matches your criteria, it really makes it easy to spend a minimal amount of time.

With all the leftover time, you should be doing other things, not hanging out on CNN.com or wikipedia.  Go out and NETWORK.  Grow your network, nurture relationships, meet new people… get out of the house!

That’s my suggested job search strategy (first, get on a few job boards, as per Peter Weddle, next, spend a small amount of time there (set up job board search agents), next, MOVE ON to another job search strategy!).

Now, to make sense out of the 40,000-plus job boards, I turn to Eric Shannon.  You’ve heard of Monster and CareerBuilder… which are two main job boards… but where do you find the niche boards, and how do you know if they are any good?

Eric has been in the job board business for many years, and recently came out with his list of 100 Top Job Board Niches for 2008. From his post (note, each niche has it’s own list of top job boards):

First, the top 30 job board niches. These rankings represent an average of 12 months search data at Google and are influenced by seasonal considerations as well as the recession — so take this top 30 ranking loosely.

1. work at home jobs 2. marketing jobs 3. medical jobs 4. sales jobs 5. accounting jobs 6. airport jobs 7. art jobs 8. bank jobs 9. warehouse jobs 10. college jobs 11. computer jobs 12. construction jobs 13. data entry jobs 14. driver jobs 15. security jobs

16. engineering jobs 17. entry level jobs 18. environmental jobs 19. federal jobs 20. finance jobs 21. government jobs 22. healthcare jobs 23. education jobs 24. hotel jobs 25. insurance jobs 26. international jobs 27. hr jobs 28. legal jobs 29. nursing jobs 30. law enforcement jobs

Eric, great job on putting these niches together, and recognizing job boards for each niche. I know it wasn’t easy, as shown in the comments from a job board that was not listed :/

It still amazes me how many people are losing their jobs.  It’s just the way it is, isn’t it?

I bet 99% of the people getting let go have no idea what they are going to do next… or what they are in for (how hard the job search is).

Check out this article today about 480 AirTran layoffs… HR professionals call this an RIF (reduction in force).

Check out what Liz Handlin, a JibberJobber career expert partner, is offering the 7,000 laid off American Airlines employees.

I wish some decision-makers from AirTran or American Airlines would pay for JibberJobber accounts for their people

Here’s one of the scary things, for current job seekers: the market is being saturated with amazing talent.  This war for talent can get bloody, and with more professionals getting dumped into the “active job seeker” mode, it’s going to have an impact on those already in the job search.

Lucky for you and me, we aren’t affected…. right?

Yeah, right!