Our Angel Baby Turns 5 -

My sweetest son, Deacon Blue,
He is sweet in every way.
Now we celebrate with joy
His big 5th birthday.

We’ll always remember the day he was born into our hearts,
2 years, 3 weeks and 4 hours, we waited to see his loving face.
In our arms he was so calm and content, the angel baby

Our son, Deacon chose his place.

Such a wonderful little guy,
With a caring and gentle loving face

Older than his years in ways,
Very smart and so wise.
When strength was made of character,
Strength made Deacon up to size.

Deep talks we have together,

Our heart-to-hearts, so bright.
He's just the greatest young man,
He always sheds a light.

When his little brother Chase was born,
Deacon was right there
He was first to hold Chase,
First to show such loving care.

He loves pizza and brown soda

With Chase, Mama and me
Deacon, wonderful brother, extraordinary son.
Keep on touching our hearts,
Keep on having fun.

Deacon, you truly are so special,
A miracle from stars above.
Happy birthday, dearest one,
With all our hearts and love.

Mommy, Mama and Chase

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

***ATTENTION, ATTENTION....

Well now that I have your attention, I have tips to get the recruiters ‘attention

Grab the Recruiter’s Attention

Given today’s high unemployment rate, recruiters are being inundated with a higher than normal volume of resumes by interested candidates.  The question is, as a highly qualified and interested candidate for an opening, how do you stand out in crowd?  How does your name rise to the top?  Darn it… how do you get that recruiter or hiring manager to call you and find out just how perfect you are for this role in question?  An attention grabbing resume is one of those ways!!!

Don’t open with a run of the mill objectives about how you want to expand your career and knowledge

(BORING!)

Open with a more descriptive headline describing who you are.

Toss out the common objective that says: “A full-time position to apply my knowledge and skills as a Software Engineer or C++ Developer.” Try this statement instead: “Talented C++ Developer  with extensive experience in developing E-commerce, internet/intranet and client/server applications using C++, C, VC++, ATL, MFC, OOPS, COM/DCOM, COM+”

.”

Use a headline to grab the attention of the recruiter; you’ll stand out from the rest.  Be clear and concise so the recruiter doesn’t have to read through your resume to figure it out.

Minus the Fluff

Candidates tend to list “soft skill”  that recruiters would expect, such as: “good communications,” “detail oriented,” “flexible,” and my favorite “ability to pick up new skills fast”. http://tinyurl.com/y8umkju

STAND OUT! from the rest by adding a summary of your skills and accomplishments followed by the attention-grabbing headliner.

You should target your skills, history, and what industries your strength lies in, letting the recruiter know your specific accomplishments

 example:

• Ten years of programming experience in SAS (Base, SQL, and Data Steps) in Windows environments

• Expertise in data analysis, data mining, and modeling, including customer segmentation, predictive behavior analysis.

• Five years expertise in analytics, and time series forecasting in the online marketing industries

NOTE, this is the place to showcase your resume based on the needs of the job you’re applying and focusing on the specific needs of the company and the job description. 

.

Words are Powerful!

I think people hung up on creating the ULTIMATE one-page resume. To ensure your significant experience is delineated, but also make sure you aren’t being repetitive or going on and on to make it look as though you been busy.

Be A Marketing Machine

Build your network and market that touts your skills and experience. Talk about your passion, educate and get people to interact with you within your social networks. A simple, blog that showcases your eye-catching headline, a summary of accomplishments, education, technical skills, industries you have worked on.  Provide a quick 360-degree view for anyone who comes across your blog or other social networks. Today, social networking and ways we are finding talent is important to consider using this format the way to market what you want others to know about!

Click here to download:

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Click here to download:

oledata.mso (41 KB)

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New Paintings, For A Gallery Show in the Spring

Some of my new pieces of artwork. I am working on more to host a show of my work which

I am targeting for the month of March or sooner. Now, if I can just find some space.

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays

Kay Kelison aka KEO

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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A Recruiters' Guide for Searching On BING Lesson Number Three

Search Effectively

Having trouble finding what you want in your searches? Keep in mind that the quality of your results depends a lot on the words that you use to search. Here are some tips to make every search more effective:

Make sure that you spell search words correctly. Remember to leave a space between each word in your query.

Use words that you would expect to find in the websites that you're looking for during your search.

Use the OR (A search keyword that you can use to find results that contain either of the search terms that you specify.) and NOT (A search keyword that you can use to find results that don't contain a search term you specify.) keywords to combine or exclude words. For example, if you use tree NOT evergreen, you will get results for trees but not for evergreen trees. This feature is currently available only in select countries and regions.

Vary your search terms for different results. A different word or phrase will return different search results. Try useing fewer descriptive words, or try words that have a different but similar meaning. For example, try alloy instead of metal or steel.

Search for exact phrases by placing the search words within quotation marks. For example "short evergreen tree".

Click a category to see only the results associated with that category. A list of categories may appear at the top of the search results.

Use Instant Answers (Instant Answers can recognize popular search terms to offer immediate, useful answers to everyday questions or topics of interest. You can find answers to many types of questions by typing your question in the search box.) keywords to focus your search. For example, to learn the definition of a word, type define, followed by the word you want to define. For more information, see Find instant answers. This feature is currently available only in select countries and regions.

Notes

Basic searches aren't case sensitive.

Common words, such as a, and, and the are ignored unless you use quotation marks around them. For example, "a" car "and" car, or "the" car.

If your search includes a date, type the name of the month instead of the calendar number.

You don't have to type the word AND between your search words. By default, all searches are AND (A search keyword that you can use to find results that contain all the search terms you specify.) searches.

You can type up to 150 characters, including spaces, in the search box.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

A Recruiters' Guide for Searching On BING Lesson Number Two

Using Advanced Search on BING

If you've done a search and want to narrow the results, you can use Bing's advanced search option to help. At the top of your search results page, click advanced to open the advanced search box. Choose the parameters of your search. You can look for results by:  search terms

All of these terms: Uses an AND (A search keyword that you can use to find results that contain the entire search terms you specify.) operation. Ignores punctuation and stop words (Words that are frequently used, but that do not offer descriptive value to search engines. For example, a, of, and they are considered stop words.) . Any of these terms: Uses an OR (A search keyword that you can use to find results that contain either of the search terms that you specify.) operation.

 Ignores punctuation and stop words

This exact phrase: Searches for the exact phrase, including punctuation and stop words.

None of these terms: Uses a NOT (A search keyword that you can use to find results that don't contain a search term you specify.) operation.

The NOT operation groups the terms within parentheses, including punctuation and stop words.

 Site/Domain

Limit your search to a specific site, such as Microsoft.com, or to a root domain, such as edu, gov, com, net, org. You can also limit your search to country- or region-specific domains, such as uk and de. 

 Country/Region

Limit your results to websites from specific countries or regions.

 Language Limit your results to specific languages.

When you've finished adding options, click the search button.

Note

You can select any of these options multiple times to create a more powerful search. For example, to search for websites in French and Spanish, click Language, select French, and then click Add to Search. Repeat these steps for Spanish.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

A Recruiters' Guide for Searching On BING Lesson Number One

 (a BING cheat sheet spread –out in segments)

BING is the world’s first Decision Engine – a faster way to make more informed decisions, delivering:

·         Great results

·         A richer, more organized experience

·         Powerful decision making tools to help you accomplish key tasks more easily

BING will help you make faster, more informed decisions when searching online. Bing saves you time, improves your search success, and reduces the numbers of pages and clicks to complete complex tasks. 

This isn’t a complicated process and the logic is all in how you apply it. BING gives you the tool to find what you are searching for with ease. As a recruiter/sourcer/researcher, you will want to think effective, simplistic, and less complicated when structuring your search strings and the results will come with this Decision Engine. BING brings a fresh approach and incorporating some specialties, like domain, sites, region specific domains and much more.  This fresh approach will help you structure strings with ease.

Advanced Searches

If you've done a search and want to narrow the results, you can use Bing's advanced search option to help with that task.

Choose the parameters of your search. You can look for results by:

Search Terms

·         All of these terms: Uses an AND (A search keyword that you can use to find results that contain all the search terms you specify.) operator. Bing ignores punctuation and stop words  for this type of search term. (STOP WORDS  In database searching, "stop words" are small and frequently occurring words like and, or, in, of that are often ignored when keyed as search terms. Sometimes putting them in quotes " " will allow you to search them.)

·         Any of these terms: Uses an OR (A search keyword that you can use to find results that contain either of the search terms that you specify.) operator. Bing ignores punctuation and stop words for this type of search term.

·         This exact phrase: Searches for the exact phrase, including punctuation and stop words.

·         None of these terms: Uses a NOT (A search keyword that you can use to find results that don't contain a search term you specify.) operation.  The NOT operation will group the terms within parentheses, including punctuation and stop words.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Over Used Words That Make Your Resume Suck

I’ve used a few choice words in my life. You probably have too?  However, when the wrong words appear on your resume, it sucks and could be damaging to your next career move. These suckie words are not of the four-letter variety. These words are very common. They are accepted. They cover the average resume with buzz worthy words badness. Hiring managers can identify sucky words in seconds, leaving your resume work worthless. So how do you write a wicked resume without the suck? How do you turn the wrong words into right? To help you land the job interview, here’s how to spin the 6 sucky resume words into skills that sizzle.

1. Responsible For

I frown when I read “Responsible For” on a resume. Of course you’re responsible for something. But, how many? How long? Who? What? When? Rather than waste the hiring manager’s time reading a vague list of responsibilities, be specific and back up your cited skills and accomplishments. Employers want the best that explains your accomplishments. Be specific to get the point across quickly. Prove you have the skills to get hired. The resume that avoids vague “responsibilities” and sticks to facts detailing skills, growth, reduced costs, and number of people managed, budget size, etc gets the job interview.

2. Experienced

Are you experienced?  Rather than cite Jimi Hendrix on your resume, pleeease just say what your experience entails. Saying you’re experienced at something and giving the facts on that experience are two very different approaches.

3. Excellent written communication skills

Yes, I realize this isn’t a single word it’s rather a phrase. This phrase must die. It’s on most resumes. Is it on yours? If you’ve got writing skills, do say what you write and how you communicate. Are you writing email campaigns, marketing materials, or user documentation? Are you word smiting legal contracts, business plans, or proposing proposals? However you wrap your words, be sure to give the details.

4. Team Player

Are we playing football here? Unless you want to be benched with the other unemployed “team players” then get some hard facts behind your job pitch. If you want to make a touchdown then do explicitly say what teams you play on and qualify the teams’ achievements.

5. Detail Oriented

What does detail oriented mean? Give the specifics to the details with which you are oriented. Please, orient your reader to the details. If you have the details, do share them with the hiring manager. Give the facts, the numbers, the time lines, the dollar figure, and the quantitative data that sells your skills and disorients the competition.

6. Successful

Hopefully you only list the successes on your resume. So if everything is a success, then why write the s-word? Stick to showing your success by giving concrete examples of what you’ve done to be successful! Let your skills, qualifications, and achievements speak for you. When it comes to your successes, please don’t be shy. Boast your best, sing your praises, and sell your skills.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

We Are BingJobs!

Hi Everyone

Wanted to share with you all that I am one of 6 contributors to our newly developed BINGJOBS Blog!.

For me, it’s important to hear from you fellow bloggers by leaving  me comments, suggestions, etc.

I am always  looking to improve my writing and adding value to the blogging community.

Thanks for your support and I hope to hear from you.

Please spread the word, if you feel it adds value.

http://www.bing.com/community/blogs/bingjobs/default.aspx

Cheers,

Kay

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Ok so yes! I will be having drinks on the plane! It's a 6 hour flight! Ugh in coach too! Maybe I'll pass out :0)

Hanging out at the airport at 5:00 am is no fun without coffee! arrgh java opens at 5:15? London & Paris here I come. Be loading videos soon

"Chase! No eating the cat food! The cat needs to eat too!

A Twitter "Potential" Problem with A Twitter Suggestion In The Work Place

 

A Twitter “Potential” Problem  – Tweeters posting tweets from corporate networks could expose company secrets. These conversations which are legally binding and subject to the legal rules of electronic discovery, which means tweets could be subpoenaed in a lawsuit.

·         A Twitter Suggestion  – Don’t Twitter from your corporate network OR as a matter of company policy, establish a set of guidelines under which employees will be permitted to Twitter from the corporate network.

A Twitter “Potential” Problem  – Twitter also raises invasion of privacy and defamation issues. Trademark violations could also be alleged if Twitter users appear to have a relationship with a company or product when one does not exist or post tweets to dilute a trademarked name.

·         A Twitter Suggestion  – The worlds of Twitter, and similar  sources, are part of a new frontier. Rules of engagement are created by users and creators everyday. I suggest not to follow anyone who doesn’t have a url associated with their Twitter profile. I see it  as a matter “guaranteeing” legitimacy. In regards to watering down a trademarked name companies would be better served by bringing those folks who are talking about them into the fold giving them a voice than trying to silence them.

A Twitter “Potential” Problem  – Twitter could also trigger more workplace retaliation and wrongful termination claims, whereby users will claim that they were retaliated against or fired over protected information they tweeted, such as being harassed at work or disclosing a safety violation.

·         A Twitter Suggestion  –  This one is tricky in that workplace retaliation and wrongful termination can be so difficult to prove. A you build your Rules of Engagement, get an HR involved to speak about such topics

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Two Thumbs Up for Julia and Julie! Bummer that some have wait to see it! But, it's worth the wait!

Getting ready to see Julia & Julie! So excited! Full house! But great seats!

My 4 year old son wants to become a Fruitarian, says that Vegetarians are old.

You know you are away from th city when you read "stay away if you don't believe"

Enhance, Engage, Entertain

For mobile and online advertising to be effective, we believe it needs to enhance, engage and entertain. Connecting with targeted audiences across multiple digital touch points is the key. At Microsoft, there’s something we understand deeply: the intersection of the consumer and technology. After all, we built our company around it. As more consumers spend more time online—always connected, using multiple devices—we’ll help you reach them.

As a senior contributor, can you answer these 3 questions:

Enhance: Have you empower the consumers as they access different media at various points throughout the day—from PCs to games to mobile devices—and even more in the future.?

Engage. The consumer preferences and behaviors as well as what the consumer is currently doing? Have balanced both internal and external users and consumers all of the markets online advertising and/or mobile advertising. Have you dynamically engage your brands and their audiences through innovative advertising products and platforms, delivered across a diverse range of digital media properties?

Entertain. Have you created compelling, enjoyable experiences that your consumers, businesses, and technology will want to be a part of? Have you delivered advertising impact through world-class partnership services, including innovative programs, knowledge sharing, and planning and service excellence?

The purpose of this blog is to empower you to connect with me in a different form. I am giving you a chance to showcase your talent that we seek. Let’s connect on Linkedin and get to know each other. Plus, check out our new career site: https://careers.microsoft.com

Hope to hear from you ALL soon!

Cheers,

Kay Kelison

Seriously! Quag??? For a word in scrabble??? Man, I swear someone is cheating! Who comes up with these words???

Loved Harry Potter

One of many worse parts about visiting the Dr's office.. is the wait. Appt @ 1:30 and still waiting.

Happy Birthday to my little man Chase Orion!!! He turns a huge 2 today!!! Pictures to follow! Luckiest one of two Mommies in the world

Watching "Down Home With The Neelys" on the foodnetwork channel! My favorite show!

Back from emergency room. Diagnosed: Severe Carpal Tunnel. Will need surgery:(. Have a dr's note not to work for 3 days. Have good drugs!

Watching a German flick called "The Killer Condom"
on the Logo Channel!!! Soo funny! It was made in 1996! It's a Gay Horror Flick! Soo funny

Having a great time hanging out with my family and a new friend! Amazing things happen when you don't expect it!

You know BING is huge when I am being askEd to take pictures with me wearing my BING t-shirt! 20 people so far!

We'll miss you Micheal. Such a sad day. Your spirit will live on! Thank you for your music

I am in haven! I am enjoying my new POMME MAC PRO 13" Tres Bien! Thanks to my wife and Mastercard!

Public Announcement: True Blood Season Two: Sunday June 14th 2009

Sending out: my facebook username: facebook.comkaykel while watching Ghost Adventures!! Sooo funny!

Having fun watching ghost hunters with my oldest son!

Kathy Griffin ROCKS! She is just too good!

Oprah has an interesting topic "Women Leaving Men for Other Women" I know a few

10 Things I Learned About The 140TC The Twitter Conference

I was really excited to discover that there was a conference on just TWITTER!

10 Things I learned….

1. Deep, Geeky and all who favor color Teal
2. Metrics, Metrics and oh yea. More Metrics
3. Some really cool Twitter Apps in the making
4. Self promoting, Sharing knowledge, Self promoting
5. Spamming vs Sharing Info
6. Not a lot of sharing on Building the Social Communities Organically
7. A lot of on How Too’s …. Here let me show you my app to get you there
8. How to get follower’s and market them
9. It’s Beta
10. We’re are in a exponential growth

Now, I asked myself, what is it that makes me a “tweeter” and a huge fan of Twitter. Well it has given me the power to share my knowledge, grow my knowledge, take the power and share with those who need the knowledge and still it gives me a place that I can be deep, geeky, and of course love the color teal, gives me tools to measure (not my favorite, but understand the need, just not my focus)

Excited about new apps coming my way, how to self promote and share the knowledge, clarity on what it is spam and what to share so its not spam, that

We need to have more conversation on keeping social media and networks grassroots and not allow corporate America take over the control, that Twitter has given a inventor,(like me) and others to make their idea become “Beta” and while developing a following we use the phrases “we are in a expendable growth” I am over whelming, confident, and finally feel I have found my calling…. Thanks for following, this isn’t a spam – J

Cheers,

Kay Kelison

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Adam Lambert is just stunning and he will WIN.
Just amazing full package!

Make Your LinkedIn Profile STANDOUT

 

LinkedIn is a professional network often referred to as an online version of your experiences; however this network is also a place to develop business, grow your capabilities, and promote your projects and opportunities. It has given an individual application to be more interactive and a platform to be creative and show you as more than an person looking for a job.

Capture the Readers

Write as if you want someone to actually read your profile.  The first paragraph of your summary should make someone want to engage in a conversation, or share. If you’re not sure why, that’s another matter altogether. Read it aloud a few times to see how it sounds.

“I can assist companies by showing them how to use social media technologies for external community building and outreach, and for internal collaboration. I have over 11+ years experience within staffing industry and 10 years experience in social media/networks environments. I show emerging technology knowledge with the emerging culture understandings.”

You can tell what I do, have a sense of what I’m wanting you to know about me and get a hint at my value position to businesses. It’s not the best paragraph ever written, but it’s definitely clear in explaining my core interests and strengths.

Make Your Job Descriptions Work 2 Ways

I want professionals who read my profile to see that I’m happily employed, that I work for a “real” company, and that my company has capabilities in certain areas. If you work for yourself, be clear about that, too. There’s no shame in being a solo contributor.

Further, make sure that when people read your summary description, they are thinking about how to put you to work on their needs. I state my core strengths in the first sentence of my summary, so that people can see what I’m bringing to the table alongside my work history. Thus, my summary states what I’m doing, but also what I can do. It is a platform to be creative.

Recommendations Are Key

I ask for recommendations all the time. I’m not shy about it. Why? I want people’s recommendations to guide you to choosing me for your business needs.  I want you not to have to take my word for it, but instead, to know what others have to say. Don’t be shy about this, but also be very realistic about asking for recommendations.

***I will not recommend people whose professional work I’m not familiar with enough to suggest to a close, personal friend. I’m willing to “friend” anyone, but I only recommend people I can vouch for professionally. You won’t be popular amongst your peers.

Connection Strategies

LinkedIn has an official opinion on connecting up with others. LinkedIn recommends that you only connect with people you know well. You’re welcome to take their opinion on that.

I personally have chosen to accept with anyone who connects with me, and I’ve only had to drop one person ever for abusing that connection. Why? Because in my view, expanding my network means that you will find the person you need by searching through my network, and that I, at least in theory, can help you get to the person you need for your business efforts.

Your connections may vary. I will do it my way, as most folks who connect with me eventually reach someone else that I’ve added, and it is a good feeling every time I can help out.

Some Recommendations

• Check your contact settings. Be explicit about who you want connecting with you.
• Consider putting up a photo anything that might represents you. If you choose not to, it might come across unapproachable.
• Use the group’s features and find groups where you might want to contribute and learn
• Participate in the Q&A function to share your expertise; it’s like free advertising, when done respectfully
• Update at least every three months. Your role has changed. Make sure your profile reflects that.
• Check out the applications and make your profile interactive and engaging.
• People really do like to read what you are about.

Recommended LinkedIn Applications

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Looking for Friendships, and more?

Microsoft Advertising and Mobile Advertising are two intelligent, passionate groups at Microsoft, as a Social Media Strategist for MS Staffing I am looking for friendship, possibly more.  We enjoy creating cutting edge products and services, improving the lives of our customers and clients, and playing as hard as we work.  We’re excited to get out of bed every day and attack new challenges.  In these tough economic times, we know that friends and people are the most important thing.  I want to cultivate new friendships that might possibly turn into something more serious, like future employment. I am looking for friends in online advertising product marketing, mobile advertising space, preferably with an MBA.  My new friends must have online industry experience working on search advertising, mobile advertising, display experience, digital advertising,  analytics or marketing.(3+years)  I want someone with the right experience and the passion to drive our mutual interests. If you want to become my friend then I want to learn more about you and tell you more about us.  As part of my new found friendship I am in the process of building a Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter Handles; which I have already built twitter profiles, their twitter handles are listed below you’re one of the first to know. 

MS Mobile Advertising

http://twitter.com/MSMobAd

MS Advertising US

http://twitter.com/MSAdvertisingUS

Kay Kelison CIR, ACIR | Talent Sourcer

Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group (APS)
Office 206-714-1595 | kaykel@microsoft.com| advertising.microsoft.com

I CARE about your experience-

It is important to not only hire the right person for the job, but to provide you a positive experience with Microsoft Recruiting.  How’d I do?  You can tell my manager- kemd@microsoft.com

Follow Me/Invite Me

I Blog/Vlog

S.P.I.D.E.R.S Team

http://kaykel.posterous.com/

http://kaykelison.spaces.live.com

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Cool Way to Communicate Online!

Seesmic is a place to communicate and connect online through video conversation.  It’s so easy, fun and creative. All you have to do is record a video directly from Seesmic, via mobile phones, from your computer or even upload an existing video to start a conversation. It is as easy as that! ROCK ON Seesmic!  http://seesmic.com

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

10 Reasons Why To Use Your Real Name On Twitter

If you search the Twitter world you will find Tweeps with huge amounts of different Twitter (handles) @names; many which are totally unrelated to the Tweeter’s real name.  No matter whether your Twitter account is a business account, personal account or brand account; you should definitely use your real name, real business name or real brand name as your Twitter @name. This will give you validation and value to fellow tweeters.

10    Reasons Why You Should Use Your Real Name On Twitter

1.     It will be simple and easy to locate you in the “Find People” search tool on Twitter homepage;       Remember - Keep It Simple.

2.     Similar to the dot.com boom, you don’t want to miss the squatters right to your entitled property; meaning you’re entitled Twitter name.

3.     You don’t want to be like a friend of mine whose name was secured by a stripper w/ the same name.

4.     Twitter is becoming a totally mainstream and a household name; you want to make sure your real name is part of the Twousehold.

5.     No one really understands people’s cool names like: @mrbigshotguru  @vampirefangs  @housewifeofOC  @itweetamunch  @Sexymama…

6.     If someone is trying to follow your business’ tweets and you have some obscure name, you’ll miss an opportunity to have a virally connected customer and quality conversations.

7.     It’s easier for people to retweet you, mention you and make reference to connecting with you.

8.     You don’t want to find yourself saying coulda, shoulda, woulda… but you never dida!

9.     The President of The United States @BarackObama uses his real name!

10.  It’s practical and it just makes good Twense!

The bottom line is that you are missing out on a great opportunity to stay ahead of the Twurve by securing your real name.  If your Twitter username is already taken, try securing your name with an underscore between your first and last name, or some combination of your real name. Something to think about when learning this awesome communication tool, as you build your followers, you’re gonna what people to remember your @name, @brand, etc.

Cheers –

Kay Kelison

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How to use Twitter to Recruit

How to use Twitter to Recruit

As Twitter grows faster the speed of light, companies, recruiters and business owners are discovering new and useful business functions for the micro-blogging world. Massive layoffs across several sectors have increased the number of job hunters. Despite this numerical increase, however, the recruiter’s job hasn't become any easier.

Quite the opposite J

Recruiter’s note that very few of the résumés that inundate their Inboxes these days are from qualified candidates. Twitter is a tool that helps recruiters quickly identify the right talent; using social media tools, such as Twitter, for recruitment may no longer be an optional extra. Businesses may have to do it just to stay in the game. Job boards are a good way to source active candidates, however social media provides a new way to engage with potential employees – and it's free. For starters, recruiters should work on building a brand-related Twitter profile. "Follow key players in your industry, who are interested in your company's news."

A Sweet-Tweet way to begin

Start Tweeting about your company and who you are, but not just as a recruiter, but someone who gets the micro-blogging. Then, slowly aggregate followers in your industry interested in what your company has to say The only successful way to use Twitter is to allow your profile to build up over time – you have to be an active Tweeter and update your profile continuously and to use it as a teaching tool as well show a part of humor as well. There are currently 7 million users on Twitter and that number is growing daily.

By sharing company news – such as new products or industry best practices (sharing knowledge) – you will naturally make both passive and active candidates aware of reasons why they might like to work at your company. Use Twitter to market your brand to potential candidates why? You may ask, well Brand is communicated through the messages you broadcast, right? Everyone on your "followers" list had opted to be there, so anything you post about jobs is seen by active, social people in your industry who may directly respond or share that message with other well-connected users.

Many Tweeters are actively engaged in the micro-blogging forum and aren't afraid to 'retweet' or 'RT' an important message on their own page – if they feel their followers may benefit; which is an awesome tool to incorporate in. The only drawback to the Twitter strategy is it is a long process, this is in a social atmosphere!. You will need to find the time to develop your online brand, identify followers and understand how to integrate Twitter in your social media marketing mix. The process can be overwhelming and placing a skilled person in charge of the company's Twitter account can be a useful way to manage messages and relationships with followers.

TOP Tweets/Tweeters

By building an online profile and reaching out to users with similar Tweets, a company or recruitment can easily pinpoint other Tweeters with similar interests and goals. An established brand online helps you pull in passive candidates Everyone is looking for a job – even if they're not actively looking then Twitter helps companies perform data mining, initiate a dialogue and contact candidates in a less intimidating way than cold calling and it creates the trust between the two parties. Recruiters should not only consider people who follow them, but should also use free sourcing tools, which search key words to find new people. The micro-blog allows recruiters to literally view on potential candidates and find out if they are who they say they are care about the industry.

Despite the search advantages of Twitter, many recruiters still prefer to look through résumés that find their way to their desk or come in through the companies ATS. That's mainly because recruiters believe, wrongly, that social media is a more time consuming social tool. While searching for people in your industry and doing additional research on the person with LinkedIn, blogging or Facebook (yes, even Facebook), may take a bit of extra work, response times on Twitter are usually much faster due to “what are you doing right now and OR the instant direct messaging.

Twitter on its own is usually not enough to find out about a candidate – but it's a great place to start and create the conversation. Just like the LinkedIn there are Tweeters who use the forum to gain hits on their Web pages, and who follow thousands of people regardless of industry or interests. Is this useful? To some yes and to others no, however think of this: When someone follows you, it takes a few minutes to check out three things to find out if they're worth researching further: their profile, their tweets and their URL. These three indicators should tell you a lot about a person and whether or not you want to follow them.

For instance, if the URL goes to a black hole or a cookbook blog, they're not worth following, unless you are looking for a good recipe J In general, Tweeters are usually savvier than folk on other Web 2.0 apps. As Twitter is a fairly young application, you know they're up on technology and actively engaged in dialogues about your industry.

Tweeting about YOUR job postings

The flip side to actively searching for candidates is to also tweet about job opportunities at your company, which will have many users finding you through keyword searches. You can also use a new Twitter application called Tweet –A-Job www.tweetajob.com pretty cool. Twitter is a smaller arena for job hunters to search through and a free tool for companies to take advantage of. And many find it more appealing to respond to a Twitter job posting, rather than a job board because it allows users to associate the posting with a real face and get to know the recruiter. Twitter puts the humanity back into recruiting.

There are currently hundreds of recruiters already on Twitter so it is important to add a categorization, such as "Marketing" or "IT" to your profile name or bio to make sure the right types of job-seekers are finding your profile and job postings. WARNING…I am totally against posting only job information. Businesses need to develop their online identity by posting about you, news, or employee promotions so candidates get a holistic view of the company. Get creative with Twitter. Why not post a link to a YouTube video with a employee testimonial It is also a great tool to stay in touch and continue to grow your relationship with company alumni and keep them up to date on news. When the economy picks up – you may want these people back."

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log