The Rest of Carlos Hernandez’s Tips on Shining Using Social Media

This is the final part of 4 posts on Carlos Hernandez’s presentation, “Let Your Brilliance Shine in Social Media.” The rest of my notes are below:

Can you be found on Google? Try searching for yourself on-line and see what comes up.

Hernandez suggested NOT using the “like” button when using Facebook. Instead, if you see an article you like, highlight that URL and copy it, then in Facebook go to the tab for “link” and paste it there, and it will be imported to your Facebook screen.

Instead of using bookmarks or a favorites list, Hernandez suggested using delicious.com to create your own library. For ease, it’s then stored in the “cloud” and not on your computer.
He uses xeesm.com to keep track of all the social networks he is on.

Without having a twitter account you can go to search.twitter.com and see jobs posted there. Search by company or topic.

If you don’t post a photo of yourself it might give beg the question, what are you hiding?

Ninety minutes had gone by quickly. Hernandez said to remember that once you make contact and communicate with someone take it off-line and meet for coffee.

To read the San Francisco Magazine article about 18 people, including Carlos Hernandez, who reinvented themselves, go to Jeff Singer’s blog. Singer was the photographer for that story.

I hope you find some tips that will help you get noticed in social media universe.

Carlos Hernandez on Using Social Media (part 3 of 4)

Shine On
This is the third of four installments summarizing the highlights of a talk given by Carlos Hernandez titled “Let Your Brilliance Shine in Social Media.” In part 1 we covered Hernandez’s general suggestions and in part 2 we covered LinkedIn. We pick up now with:

Twitter:

1) Don’t tell your friends you are looking for a job. Instead, share your brilliance and expertise.

2) Show what you’re reading, what you’re interested in (for instance, an article from the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg or the Business Times). Tweet an article, and write something like “This article rocks!”.

3) A way of showing what you’re interested in is to tweet that you’re attending a professional workshop. And here you can also ask “who else is going?”

4) Pay attention to the New York Times Business Section, page 2. Every Sunday a different hiring manager writes about what he/she is looking. Hernandez tweeted one of the quotes of a featured hiring manager and surprisingly, that manager replied to him.

Read tomorrow’s post for the rest of what Carlos Hernandez shared about using social media.

More on Carlos Hernandez and Letting Your Brilliance Shine

SF City Hall
Light at the City Hall
Today’s post is continuing with highlights from Carlos Hernandez’ presentation on letting your brilliance shine in social media.

6) Using social media will break down age discrimination. We got a peek at his photo blog.

7) Befriend people in their 20s and 30s since they would know hiring managers and some will likely be future hiring managers.

8) Consider learning Chinese, Thai or Vietnamese since many factories are in those countries.

For using LinkedIn, Hernandez had these suggestions:

1) Check your home page every day. Check on your network activity and keep up with what your network is up to. Occasionally write something in the blank box for: “what should your network know?” What you write could be something you think others might find helpful, like a link to an article.

2) In the “specialties” section which is underneath the “summary,” put your keyword search here. Put your expertise here in key words.

3) Use a gmail automated signature that includes your LinkedIn address

4) Get a business card (but do not use services that will print their name on the back of the card). Or use a Moo card, which is half the size of a business card.

5) Once you build your on-line network take it off-line. Meet for coffee. Have some face-to-face time with your contacts.

Stay tuned for the next post with more tips from Carlos Hernandez on how to use social media to reinvent yourself.

Tips from Carlos Hernandez on Letting Your Brilliance Shine

Last week I heard Carlos Hernandez give a compelling presentation titled “Let Your Brilliance Shine in Social Media.”

A few years ago Hernandez found himself among the unemployed after having worked for over 20 years as an engineer at a large corporation. He was highlighted in the June 2010 issue of San Francisco Magazine article on reinvention.

His hope is that you get your ultimate job without asking for it, whether or not you use social media. How would you accomplish that? He shared some ideas and success stories on how to retool yourself:

1) Bring your gifts to the community. Share what you know in your neighborhood.
2) Join Toastmasters. Public speaking is a viable skill. He is now invited to give talks and in some cases paid handsomely for it.
3) Hang out with the employed.
4) Use social media only if you have a plan of action
5) Network 4 to 5 times a week.

Read more about Mr. Hernandez’s presentation and his suggestions on the best ways to use LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter in my next post.