FaceBook Luck

It all started when my friend Dawn invited me to join the FaceBook Event: 21 Days No Negativity.. Allowing Career and Professional Success! Hey, I like challenges and 21 days of positive thinking sounded pretty good to me. So, August 11 at 8am, I purged my thoughts of any negativity, preparing my mind for positive affirmations and all that other law of attraction "stuff."

Well, at 10:43am, I got an email informing me I'd won entry to the Muddy Buddy.

Now winning entry to the Muddy Buddy may not sound like a great prize to all of you, but for me it was perfect! I had planned to run in The Great Urban Race in June with my son. Scotty and I had both really been looking forward to it, but when I lost my job, I told him I couldn't afford it. The Muddy Buddy will SO make up for it! Scotty and I can't wait!

Later on that first day of positive thinking, I got a request to come in for a second interview (the "technical one." Yikes!) for a job I'm very interested in. The interviewer, Mark, gave me some dates and times. I opted for the earliest, Aug 12 at 1:00, despite the fact that that would give me no time to study (or even get the much-needed dye-job on my hair that is scheduled for today.) I had no idea what kind of technology questions I'd be asked, and I did not want to be cramming for a "technology interview" all weekend. I'd either know it or I wouldn't

I updated my status on FaceBook, letting my friends know about the interview. The outpouring of Good Luck notes was incredible! Dawn even blogged about me! Wow! You can't imagine how heart-warming it was to get such public support. I got good luck wishes from people I barely knew...even from one of the head honchos of Communications at Sun, Terry McKenzie. I went into that interview feeling so supported!

The interview started with a hardware question about processors to which I answered, "I have no clue." Just because I was an EE major doesn't mean I know a thing about hardware. And despite what might have been considered a rocky start, I've never enjoyed any interview more! Mark asked me all kinds of questions covering my whole career. It was almost like a Trivial Pursuit game (No, I didn't know Grace Hopper was the person who invented Cobol. Programmers who code Cobol compilers aren't required to know those historical facts.) What really got fun was when Mark started asking me some design questions. My days of fiddling with code are long past, but his questions sparked my memory of the good 'ol days when I was trying to piece together a solution for a seemingly impossible requirement. This was a game of MindTrap and I'm much better at that then Trivial Pursuit.

Despite my dusty mind, I could tell Mark wanted me to succeed. When I stumbled, he gave me hints, much like a wise mentor... just enough of a clue to trigger a memory of a past programming concept. The lightbulb would go off and I'd answer. He'd smile and nod, as if to say, "That's it, Grasshopper. You're remembering."

At the end of the interview, he told me I'd "passed." He was going to recommend I come in next week for a final round. I had the technical knowledge required for the job. Yahoo!

It's hard to explain how positive I feel about this experience. Even when I got the questions wrong, I didn't feel panicked or upset. I felt like this guardian angel was with me, letting me know that whatever happened, it would be OK. If I was meant to get the job, I'd get it. I don't know if it was the power of positive thinking, the law of attraction, my Facebook Friends sending me messages of luck, or an interviewer that wanted me to succeed. I just know that it felt great.

So this is a big thank you to the Universe and to all those that are supporting others with positive thoughts and wishes. Keep doing it. It does make a difference.

How to Get Your Blog Post Blasted Everywhere

Every once in awhile I try to post something informative about the use of social media to my blog and this is one of those days. As of today, my blog posts will now be blasted automatically to LinkedIn, FaceBook, and Twitter whenever I post anywhere.

If you're a follower that wants to get to the "how to get your blog post blasted everywhere" information, skip to the [Serious Section] of this post.

If you're one of my FaceBook friends that really only cares about what kind of Romance Movie I am (ok...so you don't care about that either) this is not the right post for you.

If you are a Twitter follower, I'm sorry this is more than 140 characters. I'm also sorry that I don't pay much attention to Twitter, so I apologize for not properly building our relationship.

If you take the time to blog (which is a good idea if you're in business) then it would be really nice to get as much exposure to your blog as possible, right? Well, there are some very easy ways to get your blog posts automatically updated to your LinkedIn, FaceBook, and Twitter accounts. This will take you about 5 minutes to set up and after that! Boom! Every time you make a blog post, all your networks will get updates with your magnificent missive, gaining you instant fame and fortune! Now, don't worry... your networks won't get emails about your blog posts unless they've specifically subscribed to receive them. Your posts will be on your profile pages, but one of the nice things about social media is that all your friends and followers can decide what they want to read. If you've posted about your wonderful new grandchild, for example, and they don't care about your wonderful new grandchild, they can just choose not to read it. (Though I really don't know how it would be possible to NOT care about such a newsworthy post.)

In any case, here's what you do:

[Serious Section]
On LinkedIn:
* Make sure your blog is listed on your "Websites" on your profile
* Add the Blog Link Application to your LinkedIn Profile. The Applications Link is on the left hand menu in LinkedIn.

On FaceBook:
It's really simple to import your blog into your Notes, once you find the right page in FaceBook. (I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I have a very hard time navigating through the FaceBook screens. I know I claim to have all this social media "expertise" but I'm navigationally challenged, in general.) I finally used google to help me find the link. Here it is:

http://www.facebook.com/editnotes.php?import

On Twitter:
Use the application Twitterfeed to get your blog post automatically to update Twitter. For this one, you need to know your blog's RSS feed. For example, if you are using Blogger, your RSS feed will be: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss (substituting in your own blogname, of course.)

OK, there you have it! Go forth and multiply the readers of your blog! And if you don't want all your friends on all your networks to see your blog, well, then... don't do this.

The Ultimate Job Search Using 10 Social Media Tools

As a Communications Manager at Sun Microsystems, I was encouraged to learn about New Media and explore possibilities for its use in business. When I was hit with the most recent round of corporate layoffs, I felt prepared because I knew that social media tools could give me a big advantage in my job search. Here are ten tools that I've been using. Each of these is described briefly below with some supplemental links to additional information and resources.

1. LinkedIn
2. Facebook
3. Twitter
4. YouTube
5. Blogger
6. Google Reader
7. Google Alerts
8. De.licio.us
9. Mashable
10. Meetup

LinkedIn
Of all the social media tools, LinkedIn is the most beneficial to use for a job search. This tool allows you to establish a professional presence and network with others in your field. Advanced search capabilities for companies and people, as well as the use of groups, allow you to intelligently network and find the people that can help you get your next job.

• LinkedIn For Job Seekers
• Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn To Find a Job

Facebook

FaceBook allows you to network with your friends, letting them know of your job search. Updating your status allows you to let your friends know that you're job hunting and what you're looking for. There are groups and fan pages for many companies, allowing you to research the culture of any companies you're targeting for your job search. Applications, such as FaceBook Marketplace are popping up that will help with a job search.

• The Twenty Best Facebook Apps For Job Search
  

Twitter

You can use tools such as twello or wefollow to follow people that give job tips or are in your industry. It was through Twitter that I found great additional job search sites such as job mob and http://www.e4myjob.com/ There's a wealth of information that's shared on through links to informative websites and blogs.

• HOW TO: Find a Job on Twitter
• Twitter Job Search

YouTube

Creating a video resume will help you stand out in this competitive job market. This can be done simply with YouTube. You can imbed your YouTube video resume onto a website or put it on your profile in your other social networking sites such as LinkedIn, FaceBook, and Twitter. Another alternative is to use VisualCV to create an online resume, including video and links highlighting accomplishments and publications.

• Job Resumes 2.0: Creating a Video Resume
  

Blogger

Blogs are useful in a job search, both from the perspective of learning from others as well as establishing your own online presence. There are many ways to find blogs that are of interest. Once you find them, you'll be able to network with people that have interests similar to yours and learn from one another. By publicly commenting on blogs and blogging yourself, you will help establish your credibility and expertise in a certain area. When you leave comments for others, include your name and your the URL of your blog. This will help your name will come up more often in Google searches, and will help establish your brand.

• 100+ Career Blogs ALL Professionals MUST Read

Google Reader

Now that you have a bunch of blogs your reading, you'll need a reader to keep track of the updates. First thing in the morning you can have the latest updates from your favorite bloggers. You can also subscribe to RSS feeds for any job sites using keywords so that you'll see any new job opportunities in your field as soon as they're posted.

• Find A Job Using RSS Feeds And Google Reader
  

Google Alerts

Using Alerts you can set up Google to email you daily updates using keywords of your choice. You may want to get alerts about your niche market or a particular oganization that you are targeting so you will have the most up-to-date information.

• Combine Feed-Creating Tools with Email Alerts to Nab That Job

De.licio.us

Bookmarking sites, such as Del.icio.us, Digg, and StumbleUpon help organize our bookmarks. As we're searching through the plethora of great information that's available, we inevitably want to save articles to go back to. Through use of tagging, we can organize our bookmarks into categories. In addition, we can find articles that others have marked as useful by searching for articles that were tagged with certain keywords. By using a social bookmarking site, we can access our bookmarks we aren't tied to a browser or computer, but can access our bookmarks whenever we have access to the web. Bookmarking your own sites will also help raise visibility to your brand.

• Key Social Networking and Bookmarking Sites for Job-Seekers
  

Mashable

Mashable.com is the Bible of all things social media. This is a great reference when learning how to use various social media tools. Mashable often has very helpful articles that relate to the job search.

• CAREER TOOLBOX: 100+ Places to Find Jobs

Meetup

Meetup.com is a site that is not mentioned much in the social media circles, yet it's a great resource for local networking because it allows for physically meeting face-to-face. There are groups for hobbyists or business professionals. Joining and getting involved in one of these groups will allow you to explore your passions and continue to broaden your network. You can start your own meetup group and gain credibility and contacts at the same time. There are plenty of groups for jobseekers as well. A search for “jobs” in a 25 miles radius of my home came up with 38 groups such as:

• Front Range Career Forum (Job Search Networking & Advice)
• Denver Job Club Meetup (Formerly Unemployed Meetup)
• BoulderNet

Finding connections

I was so excited about start my first day of not having to go to work that I woke up at 3:30am yesterday to get started. There was so much I wanted to do! I was going to have a daily goal to, among other things, read and share an article I liked (done via Twitter and Facebook), connect with the author (done via Linked until today.)

I'd started to write a very long blog post about all the ways to find great articles, but I'll save that for another day and just tell you that the tool I used yesterday was popurls It's an aggregator that shows all the most popular links from lots of other tools and newsites.

A quick scan showed me a title that looked interesting: 5 Geeky Ways To Ask Someone to Marry You. Given that my primary relationship is with Laptop Guy, you may have guessed that I'm a Geeky Romantic. I checked out the article and found it quite entertaining. Great websites and other tools were mentioned, such as creating an instant website. I used the “Retweet” widget at the bottom of the page to let my followers on Twitter know about this article with the click of a button. Since I have Twitter connected to FaceBook, this also went to my Facebook friends. This is a very easy way to share information and articles that you like with others.

My next goal was to connect to the author, Ryan Dube. Clicking on the link, I was brought to a page that let me subscribe via an RSS feed to www.makeuseof.com (again, explaining this will be another post for another day.) The page gave a little bio of Ryan with a lot of other great articles he's written, including one that is especially pertinent to me right now: Top 10 Most Effective Job Search Websites.

I searched the three big social media sites: Twitter, FaceBook and LinkedIn to see if I could find Ryan. One of the coolest things about social media is that it allows you to actually communicate with the real people behind an article that you just read. My search on Twitter and FaceBook revealed multiple Ryan Dube's and I wasn't able to tell which was the Ryan Dube I wanted to connect with. However on LinkedIn I found a Ryan Dube that included Staff Writer at MakeUseOf . Bingo! I found my guy! It turns out he even is in shared group with me: The Freelance Writers Connection

I sent Ryan an email using LinkedIn, asking if he'd connect and telling him a little about myself and that I'd like to include him in my next blog post. He sent me a very cool response:

Thanks Yvette! It was fun to write - been trying to push the limits at MakeUseOf and get tech geeks to think a little more like regular folks. Life's not all about free apps and cool websites...lol. Sorry to hear about the layoff...seems like so many people are going through that right now. I hope everything works out for you. The good news - if you enjoy writing, the Internet presents a whole new world of opportunity to earn decent income! Best of luck - I'll be following your blog! -Ryan

So now I have “connected” with a real person – someone that I admire and can learn from. It's so cool that due to the power of social media, we can have real conversations – one on one – with the people we find in cyberspace!

Goodbye Sun, Hello World

Well, it happened. Not unexpected, but still a bit of a shock to hear the words. I'm impacted by Sun's Reduction in Force. I've dodged the bullet many times before and figured I was living on borrowed time after the Oracle announcement. I'm mentally prepared. I suppose it's a lot how I might feel at the end of my life - scared of the unknown, but so very, very grateful for all that I've been blessed with during the years I lived. Oh... and a bit panicked about wanting to be sure I say goodbye to all the people I love!

For the past ten and a half years I've worked as an IT Manager at Sun Microsystems. I've loved the job. I've often said, I'd do this work even if I weren't getting paid for it... (guess now I'll have the chance!) A couple of years ago, I submitted a nomination to Computerworld for why Sun is the best place to work in IT. The last and most important reason was the people.

Saying Goodbye to all the friends I've worked with over these years is the hardest part of this day for me. Knowing that I'm connected to so many of them via social media sites like LinkedIn and FaceBook makes it much easier. Thank goodness for those many connections I've made over the years. Many of my colleagues have gone through this before me, and luckily, we had the foresight to connect via LinkedIn way before I knew what social networking even meant. Wouldn't it be great if we still had our connections even as we head to the afterlife? I can just imagine the Tweets I'd send from heaven: "Ran into Peter at the Pearly Gates" or "JC and I having a little wine and manna. Care to join?"

But I'm not headed there yet. Right now, I'm just heading out to whereever my life leads me. Whether that's a Social Media coach/consultant, a new job in IT, or an unemployed bum enjoying life, I don't know, but it will be a fun journey. There's a big world to explore. And thanks to Social Media, I don't have to say goodbye to my past. So to all my friends and connections, past, present, and future, I won't say Goodbye. Instead, as we say in IT, let me cyber-shout an enthusiastic:

Hello World!

Personal Email Address: yvette.francino@gmail.com
Blog: http://geekgal-yvette.blogspot.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/yvettefrancino
FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/yvette.francino
Twitter: @yvettef

Social Media Can Help You Solve Any Problem

With the recent news of the Oracle acquisition of Sun Microsystems I'm facing the possibility that I may be soon joining the ranks of the unemployed.

This isn't really the best time to be out looking for a new job, so I decided my backup plan would be to become a social media coach / consultant. I have accounts on Plaxo, LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter -- and a few more. I'm surprised by how many of my friends aren't on ANY of these sites. They poo-poo these tools, saying they don't have time for them. They think of Twitter users as narcisists who feel the need to Tweet about which breakfast cereal they eat. "Who cares?" they ask me.

Well, that's where I'll come in and tell them how social media is the next best thing since sliced bread (or at least since email.) I would venture to say ANY problem can be lessened (if not solved) thanks to the use of social media. If you're having a problem, chances are pretty good, someone else has had that problem and can help you with it. And there are just oodles of tools and experts out there -- now easier to find than ever, thanks to the power of the internet.

In my new social media guru capacity, my goal will be to regularly share a social media tip, trick, website, blog, or other cool idea. My first focus will be on how social media can help with finding a job.