How to Use Twitter to Find a Job

I love Twitter and think it's a great source of information, access to articles, and opening my thinking to new people, ideas, technology, jobs, and opportunities. I'm able to stay on top of what's happening in advertising, marketing, social media, and business. I'm alerted to discounted flights and specials at Whole Foods and Starbucks.

I found this article for job seekers particularly relevant and concise (both for Twitter newbies and those who have been Tweeting for a while) : How to Use Twitter to Find a Job | Digital Pivot

Enjoy and happy job search!

Dollar Wise and Pound Foolish?

I am not an economist. I am simply a Job Acquisition Specialist who is (who has been) looking for a job, following layoffs at my previous employer. And based on the tepid results of my job search and that of many, many other friends, colleagues, and acquaintances who are in the same boat, I believe that many of the nation’s unemployed will not be able to be employed again. There is a shortage of jobs as companies and governments have eliminated jobs and scaled back hiring.

I have also been concerned with some of the political rhetoric in this country that seems to be based on self-centered, emotional preservation of personal principle (and one’s own job) rather than on sound, educated research and considered analysis.

Paul Krugman, a Nobel-prize winning economist, wrote recently in the New York Times:

"So I don’t think this is really about Greece, or indeed about any realistic appreciation of the tradeoffs between deficits and jobs. It is, instead, the victory of an orthodoxy that has little to do with rational analysis, whose main tenet is that imposing suffering on other people is how you show leadership in tough times.

And who will pay the price for this triumph of orthodoxy? The answer is, tens of millions of unemployed workers, many of whom will go jobless for years, and some of whom will never work again."

Mr. Krugman also wrote that cutting back on unemployment benefits for millions of Americans will only worsen the economy as spending, which stimulates manufacturing, business, and growth, will be cut back even further. No spending = less money being spent at groceries, local businesses, and Target = further cutbacks on hiring = more people being unemployed = fewer charitable donations = more people and organizations in need. So extending unemployment benefits for the reported 15 million unemployed Americans (and most economists believe the number is even higher since so many people have simply dropped out of the job market after a long period of being unemployed OR they are under-employed, having taken part time jobs while waiting for the economy to improve) may seem counter-intuitive, but history indicates that is not the case.

From Mr. Krugman’s July 4 op-ed in the New York Times:

"One main reason there aren’t enough jobs right now is weak consumer demand. Helping the unemployed, by putting money in the pockets of people who badly need it, helps support consumer spending. That’s why the Congressional Budget Office rates aid to the unemployed as a highly cost-effective form of economic stimulus. And unlike, say, large infrastructure projects, aid to the unemployed creates jobs quickly — while allowing that aid to lapse, which is what is happening right now, is a recipe for even weaker job growth, not in the distant future but over the next few months."

I fear that America has sunk to such a partisan, tit-for-tat mentality that there is little hope of coming up with a recovery plan that is in the best interest of the country as a whole. Anyone else have more confidence than I do?

It’s hard to imagine that the economy could worsen, but it seems a very real possibility. And what is the first thing people do when there is fear of a depression: cut spending even more (even the employed will cut spending and find ways to save money). And, of course, this then leads to cuts in manufacturing, sales, and jobs.

Is it too late to go to medical school? I think there is going to be a need for physicians in this country in the next few years.

Thank you, POAC!

If you are a job seeker (or as I prefer to be known now…a Job Acquisition Specialist) and you live in the state of Maryland, there is a wonderful resource (and did I mention it’s free) to help people prepare for the job search.

The Professional Outplacement Assistance Center (or POAC) provides Job Acquisition Specialists with the tools needed to be competitive and get noticed in this extremely competitive job market: seminars, networking groups, one-on-one consultations with staff, computers, books, and more. It’s not a placement firm but a terrific, helpful place for people looking for a job, looking to change careers, or trying to determine what the step should be to get valuable information.  Just check out some of these online resources, as well.

I just attended a two-day JumpStart seminar, which is usually how one becomes acquainted with POAC and which delivers the nuts and bolts of marketing oneself and searching for a job. It’s direct, specific, entertaining, and addresses the concerns most job seekers have:

• Who is reviewing my resume?
• Why am I not getting any responses?
• How much information should I include?
• How can I better navigate the online job boards?
• But I was a perfect match for that job...
• …and lots more.

The trainers are top-notch professionals, experienced, credible, smart and ready to address every question. I would put them on a level above anyone I came into contact with at the outplacement firm (no names, please) I worked with for a while. 

Thank you to my networking group friends for telling me about POAC. Now I’m passing the word along, too.