Category Archives: Jobs, Employment, Career Strategies

How to Speak Up, Stand Out, Negotiate Smarter, Earn More Money & Move On Up The Career Ladder

Why Tweet When You Can Blellow: Microblogging for Freelancers and Web Workers

We’re all about finding jobs or starting your own business in this rough economy. If you want to be more focused in any of these endeavors, you might give Blellow a try. Blellow is a niche microblogging site to join groups, find projects, check the job board, and meetup with other Blellow members. Jennifer Van Grove describes it in Blellow: A Better Microblogging Tool for Freelancers and Web Workers.

Name: Blellow

Quick Pitch: Blellow is a social network allowing freelancers and professionals to collaborate, find work, and solve problems through a friendly, familiar micro-blog interface by answering the question: “What are you working on?”

Genius Idea: One of the reasons that people are embracing Twitter with open arms is the quality of people and networking opportunities that arise from the 140 character community. With Twitter trending towards the mainstream, however, conversations are becoming more social, so freelancers using the popular microblog to find clients and projects might start to feel like a small fish in an expansive sea.

For niche networking with a professional purpose and Twitter-like feel, we can now turn to Blellow, a more focused microblogging site to join groups, find projects, check the job board, and meetup with other Blellow members.

The Twitter-similar site launched at SXSW and asks users, “What are you working on?” to foster professional conversations and create networking or project-related conversations. Members can update their status, seek advice when stuck on tasks, share files, give and receive kudos for peer-to-peer help, engage in threaded conversations, and join public or private or groups. Kudos are like credibility, so each time you receive kudos for a job well done, you’ll rank higher in Blellow search results, which could expose you to new clients and more work opportunities.

Blellow also has three important features for freelancers looking for gigs: a job board, project listings, and a meetup page. The job board is a community-generated list of full-time and freelance jobs that Blellow users can peruse for work, while the projects page lists paid and pro bono deliverables which include the available budget for the project. Plus, if you’re looking for professional face time with other Blellow members, you can check out upcoming meetups or create your own.

Blellow would be a killer app if it offered a better way to find friends. Currently the site limits users to inviting friends or searching for existing users, but it would be beneficial to see the Twitter Twitter reviews friends and email contacts shared in common with the Blellow user base. Blellow, however, does make it easy to self-identify yourself with groups based on your specialties or interests. Group conversations abound using the % + group name tag, and updates of that nature typically get quality replies. For $5/mo or $10/mo, Blellow users can create private groups with 1 gig and 10 gigs of space, respectively.

Since Blellow is so new, its Achilles heel right now is the sparsity of people, jobs, and projects, but the site does serve freelancers, Web workers, and information seekers extremely well with the groups feature. So, Blellow’s survival will depend of whether we Twitterers will find enough value in creating and maintaining another microblogging profile.

For a quick tutorial on the site, watch this video:

Blellow: A New Kind of Career Site (lifehack.org)

Yes! You Actually Can Find A Job Using Twitter

HOW TO: Find a Job on Twitter.

Sarah Evans author of a PR and social media blog and is founder of #journchat has studied how to squeeze the last ounce of juice out of Twitters as a job search tool and she shares her insights, which I think are really helpful. According to Sarah:

Get the most out of your page

• Make your Twitter presence “employer-friendly”

o Put your job pitch in your Twitter bio (which is 160 characters)
o Use a professional looking avatar
o Tweet about your job search

• Utilize your Twitter background. There’s lots of space you can use to promote yourself. Don’t know how to create a professional-looking Twitter background? Use this free template to design your own.

• Include a link to an online CV or resume in your bio. Use a tool like VisualCV. (For more information on building an online resume, see Dan Schawbel’s post HOW TO: Build the Ultimate Social Media Resume)

• Establish yourself as an expert in your field on Twitter. It’s important to note that you should not misrepresent yourself. If you’re not a medical doctor, don’t play one on Twitter. As those on Twitter become interested in your content, when employers are looking at you, you’ll have more than just your resume to back up your knowledge and experience.

“It’s about who you know”

How do you get to know the right people? It’s not always about who you’re looking for, some people on Twitter are actually looking for YOU.

There are many job recruiters who use Twitter to look for potential candidates. Before contacting a recruiter via Twitter, check out:

• Their bio
• Follower/Following ratio (Have they been around a while? Do they follow people back?)
• Click the link to their website
• Ask others in your network whether or not the recruiter is a credible source

Here are a few recruiters representing different professions and industries on Twitter:

Christa Foley a.k.a. @electra – Christa is the recruiting manager and recruiter at Zappos.com. Christa gives followers an inside look into her career at Zappos. She tweets out examples of negative recruiting interactions with potential clients, outreach she does with high school and college students, and ultimately looks for potential Zappos candidates.

Craig Fisher a.k.a. @Fishdogs – Craig is an IT and executive recruiter who co-founded A-List Solutions staffing firm. On Twitter he offers tweets on how to find a job in the web industry, hiring tips and tricks, along with professional career advice.

Jim Durbin a.k.a. @smheadhunter – A social media recruiter, Jim is active on the Twitter scene. His goal is to partner “social media gurus” with the right companies. Jim responds to followers’ questions, offers general recruiting advice and sends out “teaser” tweets for positions he thinks followers might be interested in.

Jennifer McClure a.k.a. @CincyRecruiter – Jennifer is an executive recruiter/coach. She often tweets out specific advice for job seekers, including words not to use on a resume. Jennifer is accessible to her followers and tweets about non-recruiting topics as well.

Laurie DesAutels a.k.a. @biotechjobs – Laurie recruits a specific niche, looking for senior level leaders in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Her tweet stream includes links to other job search resources and lots of Twitter information.

Job search tools & resources

A reactive job search on Twitter probably isn’t the best way to find a job. There are many new Twitter tools and applications to assist with a proactive job search.

@Microjobs

Started by well-known PR professional, Brian Solis, @Microjobs was developed to bring together job seekers and recruiters through tweets.

How does it work?
Recruiters begin their tweets with @Microjobs, and then submit. The @Microjobs account automatically tweets out requests to its growing network of job seekers.

TweetMyJobs

Another tool born out of Twitter for job seekers and recruiters. Follow the hashtag #Tweetmyjobs and visit the website. This is a very simple (and free) tool for job seekers. You can subscribe to desired job channels and even have new openings automatically sent to your mobile phone. Even better? You can specify which cities you want notifications from.

Job search accounts

There are a variety of Twitter accounts dedicated to providing job listings by field, company, region, and more. Once you’ve decided which best match your job search, consider turning on mobile alerts for these accounts to be among the first to receive messages (if your mobile phone plan includes SMS messages).

By company

@attjobs – Jobs at AT&T
@mtvnetworksjobs – Jobs at MTV
@TRCareers – Jobs from Thomson Reuters

By field

@alldevjobs – Developer jobs
@ArtDirectorJobs – Art director jobs
@cwjobs – Copywriter jobs
@jobsinhiphop – Jobs in Hip-Hop
@journalism_jobs – Jobs in journalism
@juicyjobs – Green jobs
@libgig_jobs – Library Jobs
@mediabistrojobs – Media job listings from mediabistro.com
@medical_jobs – Medical jobs
@media_pros – Jobs for media professionals
@narmsjobs – Retail marketing jobs
@PRSAjobcenter – Jobs in public relations, communications and marketing
@reflectx – Physical Therapy jobs
@seojobs – SEO job listings
@socialmediajob – Jobs in social media
@travelmaxallied – Healthcare jobs
@travelnursejob – Jobs for traveling nurses
@usmusicjobs – US Music Jobs
@web_design_jobs – Web design and other graphics jobs

By job type

@findinternships – Internships and entry level jobs for college students
@freelance_jobs – Freelance jobs
@heatherhuhman – Entry level jobs and internships
@Project4Hire – Freelance and temporary jobs
@jewish_jobs – Jewish job listings

By region

@MyBristolJobs – Job listings from mybristoljobs.co.uk
@chicagowebjobs – Web-related jobs in Chicago
@ChicagoTechJobs – Technology jobs in the greater Chicago area
@ITJobsLondon – IT jobs in London
@ITJobsSydney – IT jobs in Sydney, Australia
@JobsBoston – Jobs in the greater Boston area
@jobshawaii – Jobs in Hawaii
@NewYorkTechJobs – Technology jobs in the greater New York area
@PDXJobs – Jobs in Portland, Oregon
@sdjobs – San Diego technology jobs
@sfmobilejobs – Mobile Web and Digital Media jobs in Silicon Valley
@mtltweetjobs – PR/marketing/social media/tech jobs in Montreal
@TopJobsInLondon – Top jobs in London, UK
@web20jobs – UK-based web 2.0 jobs

General

@JobAngels – Helping the unemployed find jobs
@indeed – One search. All jobs.
@jobshouts – General job postings
@simplyhired – Job search site
@StartUpHire – Jobs at VC backed companies
@twithire – Job board service

To find additional Twitter job resources, use the Twitter search function and type in keywords important in your job search. For example, “job openings,” “looking for a job,” or “healthcare career.” Additionally, you can search out others in your desired career field on sites like Twellow, Just tweet it, and TwitterTroll.

Your next job could be just a tweet away.

Have more tips, accounts, or stories of your own to add? Tell us about them in the comments.

More job resources

We first should add our own diversity job site: Careers.AdvancingWomen.com.

And also those below:

- 30+ Websites to Visit When You’re Laid Off
- 7 Secrets to Getting Your Next Job Using Social Media
- 10 Ning Networks to Help You Land Your Next Job
- CAREER TOOLBOX: 100+ Places to Find Jobs
- Top 10 Social Sites for Finding a Job
- Mashable’s Job Board

From The Mouth Of A Guru: 10 Great Social Sites for Resume Building

10 Great Social Sites for Resume Building.

This is a time many of us need to broadcast our resume in the smartest and most socially connected way possible. Luckily, these tools and viral networks are out humming and reaching an ever broader, but very targeted audience, just when we need them most. And if we need a guide to tell us how to put our best foot forward in the most effective way, Dan Schawbel is just the man to do that. He is the author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 09), and owner of the award winning Personal Branding Blog.

Dan says :” Creating the perfect resume is not easy. Luckily, there are a number of online resources dedicated to helping you create outstanding traditional and social media resumes. Here are 10 great social sites with unique features that let you create your own resume-like profile, edit your resume online, get it reviewed by experts, print it, share it on social networks, and much more.Remember, building a strong profile can help serve as a great marketing tool to help you get the job you’re looking for.

1. Razume

Razume is a service that enables job seekers to complete their resumes and polish them up with feedback from reviewers in the community. The resume you create using this service is exactly like traditional resumes you may have created in the past, but this service allows you to improve your resume so you’re more likely to better your chances at landing your next job. Users are able to search for jobs on Razume and will soon be able to apply for them through the site itself.

2. LinkedIn

LinkedIn seems to be on all of my job lists and for good reason. LinkedIn is a combination of a resume, cover letter, reference document and a moving database of your contacts. The resume portion is quite standard, with fields asking for your education and work experience. The cover letter piece is the summary you get to have at the beginning, where you can position yourself for a particular job, based on your qualifications, awards and an explanation of what type of job you’re looking for.

As you accelerate in your career, your network can easily observe your change in jobs or positions. You can also update your status bar, just like in Facebook Facebook reviews or on Twitter Twitter reviews, with the type of job you’re looking for. Your LinkedIn “resume” will be perceived as noteworthy when you fill it out completely, acquire endorsements for your work, join groups related to your interests, and add applications (such as your blog).

3. VisualCV

VisualCV is a website that provides users with a virtual resume, as well as a database of job openings and networking opportunities. Whether you’re a job seeker, entrepreneur, consultant, student or manager, VisualCV lets you display all of your credentials in an easy to read format, with multimedia integration. For example, you can upload or embed a video resume or a podcast of you being interviewed.

The latest capabilities that they offer allow job seekers to integrate their resume with social media sites, such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, to share their qualifications with friends and colleagues. When you update your resume, it can be shared through websites such as Digg Digg reviews and StumbleUpon StumbleUpon reviews. Your resume, or VisualCV, can combine other elements, such as images, charts, awards and recommendations, in addition to traditional resume fields such as “work experience.”

Disclosure: VisualCV sponsors my blog and magazine.

4. Emurse

Emurse allows you to create, share and store your resume for free online. Their resume builder is job seeker friendly, allowing you to create and maintain a professional resume which can be downloaded in any format, such as PDF. Just like LinkedIn, your resume can have a unique URL linked to your name and the ability to view employers who have seen your resume in the past.

You also get statistics and graphs to aid in resume distribution. In addition, Emurse lets you keep track of your contacts, invite contacts and always access their latest information, similar to LinkedIn. Just like Google Google reviews does with AdSense, you get job postings in your local area that are relevant to your resume. There is also a job search area and organizer, similar to Monster.com’s, where you can keep track of the resumes you submit over time.

5. Xing

Xing is a social network with over 7 million business professionals globally, and is read in 16 languages. Aside from being able to create a profile, the networking part of this site is what shines. There are over 22,000 groups and networking events from London to Beijing advertised.

Xing offers many of the same services as LinkedIn, and like LinkedIn, can serve as your online resume and cover letter. The standard service lets you create a professional profile page, search for people by name and industry, and join groups and events. When you login, you’ll see jobs that might interest you, new members, visitors to your profile and much more.

6. ResumeBucket

ResumeBucket is a service that enables you to post a resume quickly online. The site provides you with a unique URL for your resume and enables you to promote your resume on your website or blog with embeddable ResumeBucket badges. In addition, resumes are shareable via popular social bookmarking and social networking sites.

If you’re currently employed and would like to keep your resume private, you can. ResumeBucket also provides you with sample resumes and cover letters as best practices to help you when you build your own. And if you need assistance, they have a resume writing service where their professional writers can help you along the way.

7. ResumeSocial

ResumeSocial is a social resume community, where you can post your resume online and get feedback, just like Razume. Registered users can build a resume through feedback and comments from other users who have similar job experience. You can also be a resume expert and become a valuable member of the community by providing others with resume assistance.

There is also an area for sharing cover letters and follow-up letters, which are very important as well. When someone finds your resume on this site, they can print it, quote it, favorite it and email it to other people. There is also a job search area, a blog and a career area, which gives you advice for putting resumes together.

8. Gigtide

Gigtide is a website that lets you create, publish, manage and track your resumes, contacts and cover letters online. You can store unlimited resumes, contacts and cover letters and there are professional resume templates to help you. You also have the option of creating a social media resume, which includes images, video, direct links and sharing functionality. Another interesting feature is a direct employer contact form, where employers can contact you directly through your resume.

9. Howtowritearesume

Howtowritearesume gives you an easy way to build a professional resume, without being an expert. You get their phrase builder technology, which helps you build compelling headlines, qualifications, achievement statement and more. Then there is “one-click formatting,” which automatically reformats your resume and makes it easy to choose the best layout. Your resume is stored online and is accessible by potential employers. The templates are all predefined, so filling in the blanks is really easy. You can change the font and margins and preview the changes instantly before printing or saving it.

10. Ziggs

Ziggs is designed to help you market yourself and manage your personal brand on the web. The service lets you create a profile and manage your online identity, and alerts you each time a recruiter views your profile and resume. You can discuss topics, ask people for advice or referrals, and search for jobs.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, peepo

The Delegation Or Outsourcing Imperative

: Image via Wikipedia

I’ve written before on the critical importance of delegating or outsourcing to give you time to focus on the big picture and develop the right strategic direction so your business can grow.

It’s not easy. Some people have an extraordinarily difficult time doing it. I have a friend who’s a very successful but rather harried and definitely overworked leader of a national organization. She often says: “I can do it myself in the time it takes to show someone else how to do it.” I respond: “Yes. When I teach someone how to do something it takes about as much time as it would take for me to do it myself. Maybe a bit longer. But that person is now able to do it forever.” Do the math. It’s an investment of time that will bring you a great return on your investment.

To succeed, without working yourself to death, we all must learn to delegate or outsource. Finding and training people to delegate or outsource to will give you a support system which will facilitate your success:

First – decide what to delegate: the point of delegating is to free yourself, first, from routine, low level or mechanical tasks which someone else can do, perhaps better and more efficiently than you.

Delegate anything low priority or which doesn’t require your personal attention to achieve your primary goals.

Select the most capable person for the task: you may not like to file, but there’s someone, somewhere, who does. Let them do it.

Give clear direction and reach an agreement on expected results: You should be willing to take the time, up front, to review your expectations and reach an agreement on what the end result should be. Communication is a key component of this process.

Be available for questions and mid course decisions

Set a clear deadline with accomplishment milestones along the way

Finally, give credit to your assistant, volunteer or support staff

The only way to develop a support system for yourself is to let the people you delegate to have the responsibility to do what you’ve asked of them; let them do it their own way; let them make their own mistakes and learn from them. Praise them when they complete their assignment. Point out that the completed task contributes to the success of the company as a whole. Give them credit within the company.

Here’s an example from Chaitanya Sagar on how learning to delegate: ,Delegate or Outsource – If You Want Your Business To Grow

“…In the initial days of my company, I did everything myself. I spoke to customers; I interacted with investors; and wrote business plans. At the same time, I cleaned my office and went long distances just to deliver legal documents somewhere. I spent a lot of time on those tasks which were not strategic or something that contributed to my customers. I did everything because I had nothing better to do. If I hired someone else, I would pay them and I’d have to sit idle!

As a small business grows, and as the scale at which a task is done increases, you have to find ways to get the time to focus on the bigger picture. If you don’t, you will get caught up in myriad routine activities, and can’t progress on strategic areas of your business. You have to make time to steer your business in the right direction. And you can do that by delegating work to others, by outsourcing, and at times, it’s as simple as asking the other party to visit your office instead of you visiting them!

My startup has been growing gradually. And some of the rules I had learned in the initial days are obsolete already. Though I saved precious dollars in the initial days doing all the routine work, time and again, I found myself asking myself, “Why am I doing this? How does my customer benefit from it? Should I not be working on something that enhances value to my customer?”

So now I do what is strategic and outsource many activities like coding for my website, marketing material work, accounting, graphic design, etc. In areas I do outsource, I am glad I do because it led to a lot of progress. Inn hindsight, the decision to outsource my work to others has greatly paid off in the following ways:

1. Where it was not my core competency, I rode on other’s competency and made wonderful progress.

2. When the project (such as product development) was over, I had the ability to scale down the activity reducing the “burn rate” without having to fire employees (had I hired them).

3. I was able to save time and could focus on the strategic aspects of the business.”

What about you? Do you have any delegating or outsourcing examples or experiences to share? We would like to hear from you.

Recession Hits America’s Women Hard

Women in the U.S. are being disproportionately affected by the recession which has been handed to us by the banks and Wall Street, with their extraordinary and un-abashed greed which has put us all in jeopardy. Top Wall Street executives and automakers, when bellying up to the trough and taking a publicly funded hand out, may have to rein themselves in and make do with a $500,000 salary.(Perhaps they saved something from the prior years’ $15 million plus bonuses and can dip that to make ends meet.) But women may lose their jobs and there is a statistical likelihood many of them will lose their homes.

According to Senator Ted Kennedy: “Women’s wages fell six times the rate of men’s wages last year. And despite their better overall credit scores, women are over 30 percent more likely to have expensive subprime loans, and are therefore much more likely to face foreclosure. Not surprisingly, many women are falling into bankruptcy at alarming rates. Single women, including those with children, account for 40 percent of all bankruptcies….. Women, who earn 77 cents on the dollar for men….have lower savings, fewer assets, and smaller pensions. Unmarried women in the United States have, on average, less than half the net worth of unmarried men.”

But, if the thought is that keeping women in financial serfdom will be best for all concerned and the good old boys really know how to run things, think again.

“Finance has always been dominated by men and driven by a testosterone-enhanced culture. If women had been running our banks, might we have avoided the sub-prime mess and the resulting economic meltdown?” Sylvia Ann Hewlett, an economist and the founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy points to research in an article, Too Much Testosterone on Wall Street- HarvardBusiness.org, which seems to indicate the answer is yes. More women at the top provides more stability in organizations. This, despite the fact that research also indicates women face a “Glass Cliff”; they are frequently given top positions at a time when a company is in peril and on a downhill slide so that, if things don’t miraculously work out for the best, the woman can take the fall.

And that dynamic carries all the way down the chain of command to the bottom. The first to get canned are women. Sylvia Ann Hewlett said of her own career: “My first female boss warned me, ‘When the going gets tough, women lose out.’ The top brass, who are looking at the lists of which positions to eliminate and whom to fire are mostly men. People like to hire and retain in their own image. Men certainly do. And they are playing golf, taking expense account lunches and knocking back a Scotch or two with other men. The top brass in a corporation are usually not networking with women. They are not personally invested in them. And they are not going to stand up for them when the discussion around the table turns to whom to fire.

When women do get the ax, according to Kennedy, the unemployment insurance system is weighted against them. “Because of outdated eligibility requirements, only one-third of unemployed women receive benefits, although almost all workers pay into the system.”

Because only about 16% of legislators are women, we don’t get a fair shot at writing the rules which could protect us. So we bear the brunt of the consequences in this economic meltdown.

Nina Easton writes in Fortune of Obama’s economic team trying to write and pass legislation designed to slow down the economy’s slide and turn things around. It remains to be seen how much real help is there for women. At one point, Easton compares the frenetic atmosphere to the movie “Speed” in which Sandra Bullock is trying to control a runaway busload of passengers before the bomb goes off.

Well , at least we’re glad Sandra Bullock was at the wheel instead of a super daredevil co-star.

And despite the presence and influence of Larry Summers of “women are genetically inferior in math and science” fame, it could bode well that Christina Romer has been named chair of the Council of Economic Advisors.

And that could be a bit of a silver lining in this imploding economy.

The idea that we need more women in top jobs in finance is gaining traction. “The current crisis gives us the opportunity to insert gender into the re-writing of the rules” says Nadereh Chamlou, a senior adviser at the World Bank. “We need more women at the table.”

Amen to that. A place at the table and a voice in the room. That would be a start.

Hiring Tip #1 – It Starts Before the Interview

When we’ve talked about developing your personal brand, we’ve noted that everything matters. How you talk, how you answer your emails, how you connect with people. Tina Forsyth has much the same thought when it comes to landing a job. According to Tina:

When it comes to hiring I’m reminded of the philosophy:

How you do anything is how you do everything

As an Online Business Manager I’ve done my fair share of hiring virtual professionals over the years, and i’ve found that you can learn ALOT about someone from the very first moment you connect with them (which is usually by email).

How people respond to you from day one can be a good reflection of how they would actually be on a project.

There are a few things you can pay attention to that may help filter out some potentially unsuitable people along the way:

How quickly do they respond to your emails?
I expect a 24 hour turnaround time when I send someone an email (except on weekends/holidays of course). If I send someone an email saying ‘hey, i’m interested in hiring you’ and I don’t hear from them for 3 days I will most likely not consider them further. Most of our projects require a 24 hour turnaround in communication, and if I don’t see that right away it is a red flag.

Did they provide what you asked them for?
If you asked them for specific information, did they provide it in full detail? I’m actually surprised how often I will get a response from a potential hire and they didn’t include half of the information I requested. If they have a lack of attention to details in these early stages it makes me wonder how much would be missed on the job.

What is the tone of their response?
Are they casual or do they take a more professional approach in their writing? (depending on your needs you may prefer either one). How is their spelling & grammar? The actual tone of their response can be very telling – for example if you are hiring someone to response to customer service emails and their spelling/grammar is poor that may not be a good fit.

Do they follow up with you?
If you haven’t responded to someone in a day or so, do they follow up with you? I’ll admit that I sometimes do this on purpose – not respond to an email for a couple of days just to see if the person will follow up with me to check in. If someone is eager/excited about the opportunity they should send a follow up email to check in with you (even just to ensure that you received their last message)
There are of course many things that come into play in the hiring process, but it is sometimes these little things that can make all the difference in the long run. And if you don’t pay attention to them now they could turn into big issues and annoyances down the road.

–

Tina Forsyth is the author of Becoming an Online Business Manager: Playing a Bigger Game with Your Clients and Yourself. She writes and consults in advanced online marketing and business systems for business owners and their support teams. www.OnlineBusinessManager.com

Promises Unkept, The Enduring Pink Ghetto

Today there is an ongoing flap about the consideration of Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization

for Women (NOW) , for Directorship of the Women’s Bureau in the U.S. Department of Labor. If you recall, NOW endorsed the all-male ticket of Obama and Biden in the general election. Some question her motives and believe it was a type of “pay for play”.

All the talk and back and forth in the blogosphere, with many women’s groups protesting Gandy as a choice, has set me to thinking about the the Women’s Bureau itself. Specifically, what has it accomplished and is it, in itself, another form of a pink ghetto?

What is a pink ghetto?

Elana Centor, in Can You Ever Escape The Pink Ghetto? explains ” Time was the Pink Collar Ghetto was a term to describe traditional women’s jobs — those jobs with low pay and little job advancement opportunities: teachers, nurses and secretaries.” It is also used to describe certain spots for women in corporations such as HR, an Marketing or the role of CMO (Chief Marketing Officer).

In just about every field there is a corner reserved for women where the pay and prestige are lower even though the work is equally demanding.

Think about it.

As Imdiversity.com points out, “….the medical profession provides a case study in the opportunities and problems for women in general. Most women doctors are in the so-called nurturing fields — pediatrics, family doctors, obstetrics and gynecology. Few are in the more prestigious and highly compensated fields such as neurosurgery or heart surgery. Women remain a distinct minority on medical-school faculties, and there are precious few female deans.”

In fact, when women begin to be the majority in a field, the pay goes down.

Melanie Perry reports she “was wondering during a recent salary survey of Design professionals that I did that Training, Marketing, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design were among some of the lower-paying fields when they obviously require such skills… then it occurs to me… those are the fields with some of the highest percentages of women in them.”

So, my question is, What is it that the Women’s Bureau is doing for us? They’ve had a long time to do it, so why are women still only earning 78 cents on the dollar for men? Why is it that Federal law requires that certified women-owned businesses receive at least 5% of all Federal contracts, but less than 3.2% of all contracts are awarded to women.

Yes, Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter act but are individual women going to have to sue huge, rich conglomerates to get fair pay?

I have to wonder if the Women’s Bureau itself is a Pink Ghetto? Is it like the Bureau of Indian Affairs, there to babysit us and hold our hand and see that we don’t get off the reservation? Or, if we do, we don’t get into too much trouble?

If women are going to be marginalized couldn’t they at least give us our own plot of land so we could build a casino and make some real money? ( I’m kidding.)

Long ago many women decided the only way to get a fair break was to start their own business, which women have increasingly done and are making almost $2 trillion doing it.

But we shouldn’t have to jump out of the labor market to make equal pay. And that, it seems, should be the base line expectation for the Women’s Bureau. Whoever is appointed to lead the Women’s Bureau we should hold her feet to the fire until she accomplishs that one goal.

How To Find A Job In This Tanking Economy

It’s not easy. We get that. Pink slips are raining from the sky like confetti. Toyota just closed all but one of it’s assembly lines…. that should be a clue. Times are tough and getting tougher. But a game plan for getting that job, keeping money flowing in and food on the table is a must.

So…..I guess everyone starts with the usual: your local newspaper, online jobs boards, trade publications, CraigsList, and networking with your friends and family.

Don’t forget specialty boards. Here’s one list : Where the Talent Is: 100 Sites to Find the Elite in Any-Given-Field. And there are more: Google for your specific field.

For all the news on jobs and job openings, go to All Top Jobs,

For an overview of all the jobs available on the Net, go to one of the top job aggregators on the Net.

What Is a Job Aggregator? As explained by – Job-Hunt.org in Finding Jobs on Job Aggregator Sites:”Think of them as narrowly-focused search engines. Jobs are all they have in their databases.

Sites like Indeed and Simply Hired collect job postings from other sites and aggregate them into one database to be searched by job seekers. The sites with jobs included in the aggregators’ databases include some that may surprise you – Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, HotJobs.Yahoo.com, as well as many other job sites, large and small. Postings from Craigslist have not been included, recently, but many other sites are included.

Aggregators also include jobs from employer Web sites, which I think is the most promising aspect of what they do.
Why Use Job Aggregators?
Why are they better than Monster, for example?

Comprehensive! Because they draw jobs from many, many other sources in addition to Monster (and you don’t have to fight your way through all of the Monster advertising to get to the search results or the job descriptions).
Time saving! At one site (Indeed), you can search through the jobs posted on the Big 3 – Monster, CareerBuilder, and HotJobs with one search!

If they are just search engines, why and how are they better than, for example, Google?

Because of their focus on jobs, they have additional functionality that makes them much easier to use for a job search. Want search results sorted by employer? By posting date? By full-time vs. part-time vs. contract? Within 25 miles of a specific city? Within 5 miles of that city? Within 50 miles?
They have access to information, because they accept automated “feeds,” that may not ever be available on a search engine or may become available at some later point in time.
Because all they have is job postings, the good ones will only return search results that are jobs.”

Go to LinkIn – The De Facto Resume Repository on the Net.

To really get into the nitty gritty of how to dig down and find that job which is perfect for you and get in to see the person who has the power to hire you, take Guy Kawasaki‘s excellent and very detailed advice. Become a LinkedIn Power User in the service of your job hunt: How to Change the World: Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job.

All of these are tools for your job hunting tool kit. But the best way to find a job is through a friend, associate or family member who knows you and is sold on your skills and special attributes. So, do all of the above, but don’t forget to Network, Network, Network. Tell everyone you see that you are looking for a job and practice you elevator pitch until you’re blue in the face. That’s what pays off.

Good luck and happy hunting!

Blow Your Own Horn: Increase Your Visibility Using LinkedIn (advancingwomen.com)
How To Start Finding Jobs With LinkedIn (advancingwomen.com)
Indeed.com Wins Best Job Search Site (usnews.com)
CAREER TOOLBOX: 100+ Places to Find Jobs (mashable.com)
LinkedIn tips for job seekers (sauria.com)

Linked In Is For Entrepreneurs As Well

: Image via CrunchBase

Scott Allen runs a blog on entrepreneurs at About.com . I always find he has something valuable to say or an interesting and enlightening store to tell about entrepreneurs. In this instance, Scott has some thoughts on LinkedIn. Scott is a self described “huge advocate of social networking and social media for entrepreneurs”, so he should know a thing or two about that subject.

Many people describe LinkedIn as the defacto resume on the Net for job seekers, which I think it probably is for higher level job seekers. Others describe it has the way to raise your profile in the corporate world, enhance your credibility, build your and put yourself out there should other opportunities come looking for you. But Scott has a slightly different take. In Why Entrepreneurs Should Use LinkedIn, Scot says:

“Among the hundreds of people I’ve worked with on how to use LinkedIn more effectively, I’ve found that the most common problem people have with understanding how to use LinkedIn effectively is when they try to use it like other social networking sites, or try to use it like a contact management system or other tool they’re familiar with. While it has similarities to these other tools, LinkedIn is unique in the value it provides.

I could write a book on the many different ways you can use LinkedIn to grow and enhance your business (for a sampling, see 100+ Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn). But for now, I want to answer the question, “What, fundamentally, is the unique capability of LinkedIn?” What makes it different from your contact management software? Or from other social networking sites?

Its users have adapted LinkedIn for all kinds of uses, but fundamentally, LinkedIn addresses three basic issues significantly differently than other solutions:

People search. Web search engines are lousy at searching for people. Sure, there are automated biography tools like ZoomInfo which are useful, but they have challenges with people like me who have a common name, and there’s often a lot of “noise” there compared to “signal” – not nearly as concise and organized as a properly done LinkedIn profile. And in your own contact database, you only have the limited amount of data obtained (and recorded) through your interaction with them. Sure, if I know your e-mail address, I can contact you. But what most people can’t do with their contact database is answer a question like: “Who do I know who used to work for one of the big accounting firms?” Or maybe: “Do any of my friends have a background in musical theater that maybe I don’t know about?” No matter how well you think you know people, you don’t know them as well as they know themselves. I don’t know of any other solution that does this as well as LinkedIn.
Keeping in touch. People change jobs these days like some people change clothes, and it becomes hard to keep track of people who are genuinely friends or business associates, but that you’re not in contact with on a regular basis. Every time you change jobs or e-mail addresses, do you contact every single person you know and tell them? And even if you do, do you think they all update it in their contact database? Once you’re connected on LinkedIn, you no longer have to keep track of that data – the person whose data it is now keeps it up-to-date, and you’ll always know how to reach them. For the millions of LinkedIn users, that’s also a huge collective savings in data maintenance. Rather than trying to keep track of several hundred people’s contact information, current employer, etc., now they all keep it up-to-date for you, and all you have to keep up-to-date is your own information.
Your extended network. LinkedIn’s core value proposition is simply this: the ability to answer the question, “Who do I know who knows and can recommend somebody that.” .works at XYZ company? .is an expert in widgets? .is a good lawyer specializing in whatever my problem is? Without LinkedIn, how do you do this? You either a) pick the most likely people in your network to know that kind of person, but you may still miss them because so often those connections aren’t necessarily obvious; or b) you contact everybody you know, which starts wearing thin if you do it a lot, since 99% of the people you ask won’t be able to help. LinkedIn makes it so that you only ask the people who are likely to be able to help. It’s like being able to search not only your own contact database, but those of your friends, and their friends, and then ask for the introduction when you find the right person.I hope that helps, and I’m happy to answer any further questions anyone may have about LinkedIn.”

Scott mentions some of the other ways you can use LinkedIn… and there are many, ” but if you want to truly understand what makes LinkedIn uniquely powerful, focus on the three core capabilities above.”

And we entrereneurs need to be using these tools as much or more than those with steady….. or maybe not so steady now….. nine to five jobs.

Related on About:

A Triumph For Women – Obama Signs Ledbetter Fair-Pay Act

Washington Times – Obama signs Ledbetter fair-pay act.

Surrounded by members of Congress, President Obama signs the Lilly Ledbetter Bill, with Lilly Ledbetter, at center behind Mr. Obama, on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009, in the East Room at the White House in Washington. Standing (from left) are House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Maryland Democrat; Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Maryland Democrat; Sen. Olympia Snowe, Maine Republican; Ms. Ledbetter; Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C. Democrat; and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

“The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act is a response to a May 2007 Supreme Court ruling that made it tougher for employees to file pay discrimination claims.

It is the first bill Mr. Obama has signed into law, and effectively overturns the court’s ruling.

Lilly Ledbetter, a 19-year area manager for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Mobile, Ala., learned she was earning far less than male colleagues but was not able to file a claim because she had missed the 180-day time window because of learning about the disparity so long after the fact.

The law amends the 1964 Civil Rights Act to allow for claims within 180 days of each check considered discriminatory.

Ms. Ledbetter lost more than $200,000 in wages and benefits over her career, the president said.

“It is fitting that with the very first bill I sign — the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act — that it is upholding one of this nations first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness,” Mr. Obama said during a bill signing ceremony before a few hundred people in the White House’s East Room.

Joining him were Ms. Ledbetter, first lady Michelle Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and congressional leaders.

Mr. Obama signed the bill using several presidential pens, giving each to the congressional co-sponsors onstage. But he saved one for the law’s namesake: “This one is for Lilly,” he said, a line that earned a standing ovation.”

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