Job Hunting: Your Social Media is Your New Reference, the personal reference for a job is a key part of the hiring process. Many applications now ask for your Social Media “handles” for this very reason. Hint: if you give one handle, they have all of your handles, even your secret ones.

Bad Reference

More than once, when I have been involved in hiring someone, I have checked the persons references, only to find out that the reference:

• Doesn’t know the person used them as a reference, and thus doesn’t really have much to say about them.
• Doesn’t know the person used them as a reference, is annoyed and thus gives a bad reference
• The person doesn’t even remember the person

The importance of a solid personal and job reference is the cornerstone of any job application. What is now supplanting the reference as the major impediment for folks who are qualified getting hired, is your Social Media Page(s).

Social Networks ?

If you enjoy Social Networking sites like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram or whatever, remember that whatever you put there, future employers are going to see it as well. Many folks think that if you set the privacy capabilities of these sites to a strong setting, outside folks are not going to see it, but I can assure you that anything you put on a Social Media site will be visible to folks who want to see it. I’ll say it again, Facebook Page is Your New Reference !

What kind of silliness have I heard of causing folks to not get a job?

• Having a Twitter account and “bad mouthing” former employers (or current employers), on the site. If I am going to hire you and I see that, my first thought is, “What are they going to say about our company?”.
• Pictures of you at a party “having a good time” (let’s leave it at that), as a future employer, do I start to wonder whether you are a reliable employee, or a party animal?
• “Other pictures” (no more need be said), seriously folks, when did posting pictures of yourself in your underwear or less, become a normal thing? An employer sees that and says (out loud), “Indiscrete employees, if they post this, why should I trust them to keep any company secrets”. Remember if you are “tagged” in a Facebook picture, even if it is not yours, you are in trouble.

These are just a couple of the interesting ways you can thwart your job applications.

What do I do ?

How do I find out what others can find out about me?

• Google your name and see what others can see (without even looking very hard).
• Comb through your social media sites and see what is there (and look with a future employers point of view)

If you have some bad stuff out there, get rid of it as best you can, and hope no one has kept copies. Remember, Social Media is Your New Reference.

I was reading an article in CNN which was saying the worst place in the U.S. to lose your job (currently) is the state of Florida, which I guess I can understand, but at the end of it all, is there a good place to lose your job?

There are scenarios that could arise (I suppose) where if you lost your job (due to lay off, I am assuming, not due to you quitting or some other reason) it would not be that painful, but if you are actually getting laid off in Canada, where you live may be the worst place to be.

When I got laid off, it was part of a huge high-tech wipe out, and in Ottawa, at the time the major employers were the High Tech companies (and the government). A sudden huge influx of laid off folks will usually flood most job markets, and make finding a job that much harder, so why would you try to measure where is the worst place to be laid off? It is going to be hard to find a job (if your lay off is due to a market down turn, for example).

This has been seen over and over in Canada, where smaller towns and cities have relied on a specific employer and when that employer down sizes (or worse pulls up stakes and goes, or simply goes under), that City is devastated by the job losses. I suppose in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, there is a large enough base of companies that one firm suddenly throwing workers into the job searching market may not be quite as bad, as say in Ottawa, but that may not be the case either. Lay offs rarely happen in a booming economy, or even a healthy economy, so if layoffs are happening it is happening on a large-scale (i.e. one company coughs and the entire industry gets a cold).

If you get laid off, you need to know where you might have to look for a job (geographically), but where you live may not be the only problem that you have. Is your area of expertise hiring (locally or elsewhere) that is much more important, because if you just got laid off and your area of expertise is no longer relevant, then you will have issues.

It’s funny the topics that get discussed when financial bloggers get together to chat over the holidays, but jobs I do for free did come up in our discussions, and the list is quite extensive, in my case.

I’ll only hit the top 5 list of jobs that I will do for free:

1. {this line intentionally left blank}
2. {Blank line intentionally}
3. {No information on this line }
4. {No job here}
5. {this line intentionally left blank}

I have to admit it was a hard list to compile, it took hours. There is a plethora of menial crappy tasks that I would gladly do without charge, but I hope I have hit the high points.

No, I am not talking about my volunteer activities, or the fun things in my life, but the “jobs” in my life.

Jobs I Do For Free ?

If you are doing jobs for which you should be compensated. If you aren’t doing it out of the goodness of your heart, you should be paid, it’s that simple.

Is this tome a “job“, not really, more of a cathartic rant than anything else.

Enjoy your time off, from your Job. If you are looking for a job keep this in mind as well, you should get paid.

For those who have not been following me on the tweety you have been missing out on some helpful (if not sarcastic) job hunting tips that I learned throughout my job hunt a few years back.

I have been on both sides of the interview table, so I have interjected a lot of my own pet peeves to this list for candidates that I have met and wondered what they were thinking when they showed up to my job interview.

They are worth a read, and many of them are applicable to all jobs (and some are me being a smart ass). Some of the best Job Hunting Tips:

• Tip 314: Always wear clean underwear to a job interview but never show them to your interviewer either
• 319: Never answer any question in a job interview with “This bitch one time…”, unless you are a dog breeder
• 271: Be Precise, e.g. “When I invented the Internet, I was working at…”, no one likes vagueness in job interviews
• 666: Be complimentary with your interviewer: “That outfit doesn’t make you look nearly as fat as you are…”
• 69: Hygiene is important, always shower before your interview, and cover all open sores and cuts
• 13: If anyone asks you about your religious views, claim to be a Druid or a Sumarian Snakecharmer
• 44: Humor has a place but don’t do the Uncle Buck mole bit if interviewer has one (don’t be a twiddler)
• 313: One answer that always gets interviewer’s attention “Why the f*ck would you ask me that?”
• 535: Scents make you memorable at an interview, but don’t eat bean burritos 2 hours beforehand, you are too memorable then
• 345: Arguing with your interview about technical issues is OK, but MUST you be right
• 478: The more the interviewer talks, the better you are doing, except if they are yelling about your lack of skills
• 41: Tell someone you are using as a reference before you use them, “… who? That Idiot? I would never hire them!”, could be your reference.
• 87: The only person you can “throw under the bus” in an interview is yourself, don’t blame others, explain why
• 101: It’s good to seem to know a lot, but very bad to appear to be a Know-it-all keep that in mind
• 311: Network more with people who have jobs, not as much with folks who are also looking for jobs
• 444: Over 80% of jobs are found through “connections” and “contacts”, so get out and interact with folks!
• 665: When interviewer asks “Any questions”, do not ask, “What are your sick leave rules like?”
• 3: Think you are indispensable? You may be, until you are dispensed, start looking for jobs before you are dispensed.
• 129: At the interview be sincere (once you can fake it, you are in)!
• 37: Be agreeable but not a suck-up (unless that is what they want, then be one), be yourself once u have the job
• 333: Don’t answer question “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” with “Doing your job, or better your boss”

Foolproof Job Hunting Tips

Hope these help, stay tuned I do have some more coming.