Joshua Waldman

Article / Updated 10-19-2023

Personal branding — the art of communicating what makes you unique — has been around for a long time and can be used in your job search. Everyone has a personal brand, even you, because everyone is unique. But not everyone is good at expressing this differentiation. Those people who are seemingly irreplaceable prosper in any economic situation. To figure out your personal brand, you need to take a serious look at your core existence. Really strive to understand your values, passions, and strengths. In other words, figure out what makes you you. After you’re able to articulate what makes you unique, you can transform that knowledge into a value statement that expresses your worth and fit to prospective employers. By expertly communicating your value statement across several different mediums, you can grow your credibility and your brand influence. Blogs make an excellent medium for communicating your value statement because they also allow you to share your knowledge and opinions about topics that matter to your particular field of interest. An added bonus of blogging? Employers who see you passionately turning out articles, videos, or slides in the area of your expertise will see that you’re truly passionate about your work and have a depth of knowledge that may help their organization. Also, not many other candidates are brave enough to put themselves out there and share their voice. Monitoring your online reputation A huge part of branding is making sure your brand is represented accurately and consistently at all times. You therefore need to manage your online reputation by taking charge of the results that come back when someone does an Internet search for your name. Here are the basic steps for managing your online reputation: Assess your online appearance from the perspective of a hiring manager. Try Googling yourself or searching for your name in a free background check website like pipl.com. Build up enough content over time so Google’s search results fill up with more relevant content. Publish old slideshows or articles you’ve written to social sharing sites so that Google has more relevant content to display for your name. Monitor your reputation monthly. If someone says something bad about you, you need to know about it right away. The only way to do that is by periodically searching for your name and seeing what pops up.

Article / Updated 10-19-2023

A personal brand is the culmination of your actions; it’s an image that is useful during a job search that marks you as a specific, well-defined package of abilities, talents, and experiences. It is you, outside and inside, in the sense that you’re unique. Personal branding has a lot to do with the emotion people feel when they think about you but is rooted in self-reflection and integrity. Although obvious differences between you, as a brand, and a tube of Crest toothpaste exist, considering yourself as a brand can help bring objectivity to your job search and continuity to your career. In other words, building a personal brand gives you the ability to make career choices easily and consistently. Every serious professional must consider his or her personal brand for the following reasons: When you proactively define and communicate your brand, you’re in control of it. Most people have their brand handed to them by other people’s perceptions and reactions alone. By defining your brand, you take back some control over this process. Crafting your personal brand helps you figure out what makes you unique. The process of finding and communicating your brand can therefore be a pretty powerful tool for boosting your confidence and convincing interviewers of your value. A personal brand helps you appear more consistent online and avoid raising any red flags with recruiters. Inconsistencies in how you appear online can put your career in jeopardy because hiring managers and HR professionals may view them as signs you aren’t being completely honest about who you are. When you have a personal brand, you can more easily make decisions during your career. When you’re presented with options that go against your brand — against who you are — then letting them go is easier, even if they’re more lucrative. A personal brand can even out the troughs between employment by being the one thing that doesn’t change about you. When you consider that the average time at a job in the U.S. is about two years, you may appreciate that your personal brand lets you look at your career as a whole instead of a series of jobs. Brand yourself before someone else does Branding is all about trying your best to manage other people’s perceptions of you. Because you can’t reach into someone else’s head and tweak how that person sees you, all you can do is change your image, your messaging, your look, and so forth to better align with who you really are. Instead of waiting for others to form random opinions about you that may or may not be accurate, help them out by sharing your well-crafted personal brand. Set yourself apart from other job candidates Differentiating yourself from all the other potential candidates for a job means being yourself, as in your authentic, true self. Personal branding allows you to let yourself shine by encouraging you to look inward and evaluate what makes you different from everyone else. Only after you complete this inner evaluation will you have enough information to say, “I’m better than anyone else going for this position because…” Granted, looking inside and figuring out who you are can be very uncomfortable. But self-knowledge really is the key to building the confidence that helps you stand out and be unique. Maintain a consistent online presence Your online identity should be consistent no matter where someone looks for you. If you do your personal branding right, you become a single thought in the mind of a potential hiring manager. When you’re done with the branding process, your LinkedIn profile will match your other online profiles. And if you get a chance to send a résumé, your brand will be visible there, too. When recruiters start looking for talent, they typically start with LinkedIn. If they find you on LinkedIn and your profile appeals to them, they keep digging. They do background checks and Internet searches to find out more about you. If your online image has any inconsistency, you may find yourself in the maybe pile pretty quickly. From another point of view, your friends and family on Facebook get to know you from your daily or weekly Timeline posts. The more consistent you are with them, the easier it will be for them to articulate who you are should they decide to refer you to their professional contacts. Why is it dangerous to have inconsistencies online? When someone’s image is incongruent with what you expect, it can make you feel uneasy. Simplify your decision-making process Having a clearly defined personal brand can help make your career decisions easier. When career opportunities arise that you’re unsure of, you can look at your brand for guidance. For example, if you’ve determined that you prefer small companies and don’t want to travel, then you know that turning down a job at a large, bureaucratic organization that sends its employees all over the place will contribute to your happiness. Managing your career versus finding a job To have an effective personal brand, think of yourself as the CEO of your own company. Any job you have is just a short-term contract. In the United States, where the average length of time at a job is two years, this viewpoint makes it possible for you to manage your career. Maintaining a strong personal brand helps you minimize the gaps between jobs because you’re doing the following: Continually networking, both on- and offline Maintaining your résumé and online profiles Setting short- and long-term goals by asking yourself where you want to be in three to five years and with what company, position, and level of responsibility Viewing your professional life beyond the confines of any single organization, which means you’re reflecting on the personal and/or professional skills you need to further your career

Article / Updated 09-28-2023

Despite the craziness of Craigslist, it’s still a marvelous place to find up-to-the-minute job postings. In fact, if you were to walk into a business and ask the hiring manager about the first place he would post an ad for a new job, without much thought he’d likely say, “Oh, I’ll just drop it on Craigslist to get some résumés in the door.” Craigslist is a great resource for part-time jobs, temp jobs, and entry-level jobs. Typically, jobs posted on Craigslist are filled at a fast pace and can be a real solution for someone not interested in spending (or not in a position to spend) a lot of time on strategy or networking. Although you should spend time researching a company before applying for a job, listings on Craigslist don’t always allow for that. You want to apply when you can and as soon as you can, before someone else snatches the job right from under you. Follow these steps to guarantee you’re the first person to know about any new job postings in your area of interest without camping out on Craigslist all day: Visit Craigslist and go to the Jobs section you’re interested in. Type in all the necessary filters in the search field so you see specific jobs that interest you. For example, if you’re an educator, click on the Education link in the Jobs section and filter with the keyword “ESL.” The results should be a list of jobs you could do pretty well at. Copy the URL from the search result that you want instant updates from. Find the URL in the address bar of your browser. It will look something like this: http://nh.Craigslist.org/search/sss?query=training+wheels+%28newfields|newmarket|Epping|stratham|greenland|hampton|seacoast|exeter%29&srchType=A&minAsk=&maxAsk=> Open a new browser tab or window, head to the IFTTT website, and set up a free account. IFTTT is a free website that lets you build logical statements that connect several different actions online. For instance, you can build a recipe that sends you an e-mail every time you are tagged in a Facebook photo. You’ll soon receive an e-mail asking you to confirm your e-mail address. Find the recipe called Craigslist Search and paste in the URL you copied from Craigslist. The faster you respond to a Craigslist posting, the more likely it is that someone will read your résumé. So if you think you’ll respond better by getting an alert via text message, Gmail, or chat, feel free to use any of the 900+ recipes for Craigslist on IFTTT. As you find job opportunities on Craigslist, remember to jot down the names of the companies. You need these names later when you search out people on LinkedIn to talk to.

Article / Updated 06-12-2023

After you find people during your job search who you think can provide you with some insight into an industry, company, or opportunity, you’re ready to take the next step: contacting them to ask for an informational interview. However, reaching out to someone without first thinking about your messaging is a mistake. Between LinkedIn and Twitter, LinkedIn is the better way to reach out to potential info interview contacts because you can be more detailed in your request, thanks to LinkedIn’s lengthier messaging format. If you use Twitter, you’re confined to 140 characters, which doesn’t help you make a compelling case about why the person should talk to you. So use Twitter to get a person’s attention, but use LinkedIn to request the call. Here is a list of attributes of a successful info interview request on LinkedIn. Keep the following pointers in mind the next time you reach out to someone to secure an informational interview: Lead with something in common. Although what you have in common may be obvious, leading with it really works to contextualize the conversation. If you have nothing in common, then mention how you found the other person. Chances are you found that person on LinkedIn during your research. Get to your point fast. Don’t beat around the bush. Tell the person exactly what your intentions are for the communication. In the context of an info interview, the purpose of the call or visit is so you can ask questions about a company or industry. Reassure the person that you’re not asking for a favor. No one likes being put on the spot. If people suspect that you’re going to ask them for a job, they may anticipate having to turn you down. Saying no isn’t fun and most people try to avoid it. Be firm in your intention that this isn’t a job solicitation. Talk about what makes you qualified. A lot of desperate people are looking for work. Most of them don’t qualify for the positions they apply to, and many people desperately ping others for favors out of a sense of entitlement. Show your contact that you’re not one of these people. You’re uniquely qualified based on your skills and background. You are, in short, very seriously pursuing your career. End with a strong call to action with a time limit. Put a fence around how long the conversation will last. Mention that you need only 10 to 15 minutes of their time. Make sure you end the conversation with a clear next step. Are you asking him for a phone number? Are you asking him to pick a time next week? Are you asking him to coffee? Show appreciation for their time. Professional appreciation can go a long way and help you look more assertive. It sounds something like this, “I’d really appreciate it if you would…” or “I understand that things may be busy for you, but I’d really appreciate just a few minutes to…” Using these building blocks, here is the perfect info interview communication. Feel free to use it as a template for your own search for information. Dear [name of the person you’re contacting], I found your profile through the [name the common LinkedIn Group or network] on LinkedIn. I have been working as a [name last position] at [name last company], and I am in the process of making a career transition. It would be helpful for me to find out about your experiences as a [name role] for [target company]. I promise not to take more than 15 minutes of your time. I am not expecting to discuss a particular job opening, but I would appreciate being able to talk with you on an informational basis. What is the best way to reach you this week? I have Thursday at 9 a.m. and Friday at 2 p.m. available. If these times conflict with your schedule, I am happy to meet with you at your convenience. I thank you in advance. Regards, [your name] If someone doesn’t get back to you within a week, you can try sending another request. Assume that this person is simply busy. After the second try, however, assume the answer is no, and stop pursuing this contact. The last thing you want to be is a pest.

Step by Step / Updated 02-22-2017

A new breed of job board has emerged. The Internet has evolved beyond bulletin boards, and no one reads newspaper classifieds anymore. Social-media networks provide much more value and personalization than just reading information on forums. The new online job boards, including the ten listed here, take advantage of today’s technologies, social networks, personalization, and gamification.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-27-2016

Social media is a crucial component of the modern job search. To perform a successful job search using social-media tools, however, you need to know more than how to accept a friend or connection request or post a status update. You also need to know how to get your online profiles noticed by hiring managers, build a job-attracting LinkedIn profile, maintain your online reputation, and much more.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Twitter is a great tool for finding job openings in your local area. You'll find job recruiters and hiring managers tweeting about jobs they're trying to fill. Here's how you can find them on Twitter: Head to Twitter Advanced Search. In the field named This exact phrase, enter the name of your town or city. In Hashtags, enter Jobs. Press Search. Scroll through the list of recent tweets and click the pictures. Doing so reveals if they're local businesses recruiting for a job or independent recruiters filling a contract. Follow the recruiters you like and send them a tweet saying Hi!

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

LinkedIn is one of the most powerful tools to help you redefine yourself and move your career in a new direction. Taking your career in a new direction is a bold move that requires framing your proven skills for a whole new purpose. Identify your transferable skills, and then consider the following three ideas for using LinkedIn to advance your career change. Use the profile headline to reveal what you do When setting up a LinkedIn profile, many people wonder what to put in their headline and job title if they're looking to make a career change. The good news is that you are who you say you are online. You don't need a company to tell you that you are now an accountant and no longer a program manager. If you say it, it's true. Use your LinkedIn Headline to tell the world, in present tense, what you would like to do. So if you want to be an accountant, say "I'm an accountant." Sure, it may feel incongruent at first. But if you indeed have the appropriate skills and you love the work, then you, and no one else, can define who you are. Use the location where you want to work If you're willing to move to where the jobs are, then update your LinkedIn profile to the address or zip code of the place you want to be. Economists say that most of today's unemployment would go away if people weren't tied down to where they live. Sure, it's underwater mortgages, but it's also an unwillingness to go where the jobs are. If you can cut the rope, your chances of getting hired to do what you love increase quite a bit. Think about how you use a job board. You enter two pieces of data: job title and location. Recruiters do the same thing. So if you want an accounting job in San Francisco, your profile is more likely to show up on a search-results page if your location matches that of the recruiter. Add recruiters to your network Recruiters want you in their network because they may want to pitch you for a position. So when you add recruiters whom you've never even met before, they're very likely to accept your connection invite. Furthermore, external recruiters work with companies in contracts. So when you add a recruiter as a primary contact, you're very likely going to pick up a collection of people working at the companies you are targeting in your second degree network. Therefore, the more recruiters you have in your network, the greater your chance of 1) showing up in targeted search results and 2) having an effective second-degree network

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Use Google AdWords, the search engine's pay-per-click advertising tool, to attract the attention of specific hiring managers and decision makers. Adwords enables you to take up an ad on the search results page of any keywords you choose. You can use a similar technique on the ad networks of Bing, Yahoo!, Facebook, and even Twitter. Go to Google Adwords and sign in with your Google ID. If you don't already have a Google ID, create a new one. Click Create a New Campaign for the Search Only Network. This tells Google to only display your ad on Google search results. Follow Google's wizard on picking a keyword and writing an ad. For keywords, choose the name of the person you are trying to attract. Because people's names aren't very popular advertising terms, try bidding just 10 to 20 cents per click. When you're done with the wizard, pay Google so that your ad gets displayed. Click on Billing and drop $50 into your campaign, sit back, relax, and wait for your phone to ring! In your ad, include a link to a landing page just for the person you're targeting. If they just go to your LinkedIn profile, they won't know what you want.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Don’t get bogged down in keeping up with the seeming constant changes of social media, just keep focused on your goals and how these tools can help you achieve them. For people just beginning to use social media to advance their careers, a common complaint is that it changes so much. For example, they often cite the most recent Facebook privacy change or LinkedIn’s new user interface. A good army general doesn’t get caught up in the trees; he sees the forest. Likewise, as commander of your own career, seeing the whole picture can free you from the irrelevant minutia that can so often distract your competition. It’s not which tools you use, but what you use the available tools to accomplish. By using the four-part strategy summarized here, you will: Avoid feeling overwhelmed by the technology. Always have the tools you need to get a job. Never feel like you are wasting your time online. Be confident that you are proactively advancing your career. This four-part strategy was adapted from many years of working with job seekers and interviewing coaches. Social-media tools will help you accomplish any of these four steps. Therefore, it hardly matters whether or not you’ve used Twitter to research people, LinkedIn to research issues, and Zoominfo to e-mail decision makers . . . or any combination. Research people: Start by knowing what kinds of people you want to find, such as info-interview sources and hiring managers. Research issues: From online sources, find out what these people care about, what issues concern them, what goals drive them, and what problem plague them. Interview for information: Guessing from online sources can only take you so far. Reach out to low-stakes contacts to ask one-on-one questions and build new and targeted relationships. Engage the decision maker: By now, you have enough information to know what a decision maker cares about. Let her know you exist by reaching out in a professionally assertive way, not assuming you’re the bread to her butter but still with the confidence of your research to back you up.