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

Land An Interview For Your Dream Job By Your Mobile Resume. – By Kay Kelison

2012-01-18T10:14:00.001-08:00

With today's mobile space, employers are creating mobile websites to allow professionals to be notified when the right job comes along. So you have signed up to receive a notification about an opportunity that you'd like to apply for and you don’t have access to your resume. Now, you might be one of those who will wait to get home to your computer to send it, or maybe you might even forget or be too late in applying because of the what type a day you are having. However, if you had a mobile app that could create a mobile resume that could be submitted via mobile no matter where you are this would give you another edge from others in your job search. Below I have given some instructions to how to create a resume, and some of the apps with iPhone, Android, Windows.

Suggested Steps

v Choose a mobile app that allows you to create a resume. These mobile applications should allow you to access your resume from your mobile device. Important to review and the app should allow you to create and share your resume with potential employers.

v Create an account through the apps website. These apps allow you to upload or create your resume online or mobile. You can then use resume as a doc to upload to an employer’s website. You can also create a word doc on your computer, save it in a PDF file, down load the PDF reader which will allow you to open your resume in a PDF, and send it via email, etc. Pretty cool.

v Be sure to enter your relevant information into a mobile application of your choice from your mobile device. A popular application is Resume Bear (resumebear.com) for both iPhone and Android mobile devices. This free application allows you to send your resume to potential employers from your phone and see who has been reading your resume. It’s my favorite on usability, simplicity and the fact you can see has been reading your resume….pretty sweet!

v Most importantly! Keep your resume updated with current information. Remember that potential employers are looking at and asking for your resume, whether it is on a website or in your mobile application.

Recommended Apps:

Pocket Resume - $2.99 – iPhone/Android	Resume App Pro – Free – Android
Resume App - $2.99 – iPhone	My Resume - Free – Windows
PDF Reader - Free – iPhone	Your Resume – $0.99 – Windows
Resume Bear - Free - iPhone	Resume – Free – Windows
Winning Resume – Free - Android	Every Day Resume – Free - Windows

I am also a technical recruiter working for OSD/Bing division and would encourage you to join our talent network to keep up with the latest Bing job opportunities, or apply for a specific job today. To join our community, click HERE and look for the orange box in the upper right corner that says "Join Our Talent Network" to opt in. One of the best places to connect with recruiters and get noticed!

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

“Invent the Future with Qi Lu – Come Join Our Bing Team”

2011-11-11T09:40:00.001-08:00

via animoto.com

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

“Invent the Future With Qi Lu – Come Join Our Bing Team”

2011-10-06T12:25:00.001-07:00

Bing will be hosting a recruiting event in Sydney, Australia the week of December 5 thru 9, 2011 to recruit top talent from all over Australia and neighboring countries and our focus will be:

· Software Development Engineer (SDE)

· Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET)

· Program Managers

· UX Designers with Portfolios

All experienced levels who are interested in relocating to the U.S. At this time, we are looking to hire for the roles listed below.

To learn more, please send your information and an updated Resume/CV to: kaykel@microsoft.com. The Online Services Division is the driving force behind Microsoft's search and online innovations. Our product portfolio includes: Bing, Bing Mobile, MSN, Ads Platform, and Global Foundation Services. Continue

See the full gallery on Posterous

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Why I Am Attending mRecruitingcamp Friday, Sept 30th, 2011

2011-08-31T14:13:00.001-07:00

alent sourcing has changed since the1990’s. Back then the new way to reach talent was through job boards, usergroups, listservs, etc. When I look back I am amazed at how much the staffing industry has changed the way we engage with talent, the NOW terms are social media engagement, brand engagement, and passive engagement. This has allowed for a new platform that makes the conversation more engaging, the mobile scene. Now a days it isn’t about waiting for that “perfect” resume; it’s more about how I can connect with someone who is passionate about what they do, and how I can get them to trust me enough to engage in a conversation. I am one who truly loves embracing the obvious NEXT technology to make this happen: Mobile!

I am blown away on how there is hesitation to explore this technology. Why not maximize mobile to its full potential? What is the hesitation? As a sourcer, I rather not sit behind a desk and hope I can find talent. I want to be learning some of the best tips and tricks from Mobile Industry Leaders on how I can engage, brand and bring in amazing talent by using my mobile phone! Recruiting is more than just resumes, social networks, etc. I know what you are thinking… it’s just another tool to learn, and you don’t have time, but – wait a minute – how much time do you spend on your mobile? It can’t take that much more time to invest and learn how to streamline your sourcing and recruiting engagement with your mobile! Mobile allows you to create an instant way to start conversations while you are “on the go”! I predict that mobile recruiting will become the next art form of conversation! Be sure to use your mobile engagement powers for good, by starting conversations, creating engagement and building relationships with Talent now and in the future! I am really excited to be attending this event and hope that if you are interested in forward thinking, and new ways to use our current technologies to make our engagement practices easier, that you will attend as well!! Mobile Recruiting is such the obvious! Follow @mrec on twitter! Hope to see you there!

Let’s start the revolution NOW!

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Diversity In Sourcing and Recruiting: The Truth Behind the Questions That Rarely Get Asked

2011-08-03T10:02:00.001-07:00

Diversity is defined by a single word: variety — which basically means different.

But very few people follow up with the question:

“Different in what way?” The next question we all want to ask, and don’t, is this: “How and why is diversity important in the workplace?”

We can all agree that we really just need to find the right skill, the right talent for our companies and clients.

But I really want to explore further on why we NEED “different” perspectives. Because…

In my mind, “different” represents areas such as culture, ideas, values, lifestyles, classes, goals, and so forth.

“Different” – and therefore “diverse” – is NOT just about gender and/or skin color. It is so much more than that.

When asking a group of people what they think diversity means – recruiting professionals in particular — the perspective ranges all over the place. In our country alone we have a wide variety of different

cultures, and when we discuss these differences from a recruiting perspective, they are all lumped into one common word, which is diversity. You see what I mean? Read full article here

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Microsoft Advertising Will Be Hosting A Recruiting Trip To Russia / Microsoft Advertising будет проводить вербовку поездки в Россию

2011-07-25T10:29:00.001-07:00

Microsoft Advertising will be hosting a recruiting event in mid-October this year to recruit top talent from all over Russia and neighboring countries specifically focusing on Software Developers of all experience levels who are interested in relocating to the U.S. At this time, we are looking to hire engineers for the roles below. ALL roles require strong coding and development experience.

Software Development Engineer (SDE)
Software Development Engineer II (SDE II)
Principal SDE
Engineering Leads

If interested – please send your information and Resume/CV to the Recruiter organizing this event: kaykel@microsoft.com by Wednesday, August 31st. We are focused on broad-based software development skills when considering potential candidates (across the board – no specific technology/product niche requirements). If you are strong in C++, C# or JAVA, we would love to hear from you!

We are looking for strong Software Development Engineers to help us with a number of hard problems in the following areas:

The Advertising Applications Team

Front End Team
Microsoft Advertising is a unified Ad Monetization platform chartered to monetize the web and other mediums (including devices) by delivering the right ads to right customers at the right time. With the migration of Yahoo advertisers, Microsoft Advertising is now the second largest advertising solution in the world. We are going through an aggressive growth cycle and plan to expand to 35 global markets over the next couple of years. As we onboard thousands of Advertisers into our system, we want to build an intuitive user experience that serves both novice and expert advertisers, an experience that is industry leading and raises the bar for end user productivity. We offer a start-up like atmosphere with tremendous opportunities for fresh perspectives.

Middle Tier Team
Excited about architecting a truly scalable and performing public web services APIs and middle-tier web services? Excited about having a revenue impact of billions of dollars and contributing to Microsoft's bottom-line? Excited to work in a team that is fueled by passion, creativity and innovation? If your answer is yes then read on!
AdCenter is the ad based monetization platform for Microsoft online business. We are the application development team responsible for developing applications used by advertisers to create and manage their millions of ad campaigns. Challenges are to engineer a highly performing, secure & scalable customer facing web services and backend services that can support millions of transactions per day. We are looking for someone who has strong coding skill in C# /C++ and ability to solve complex problems. Candidate should demonstrate good understanding in SQL fundamentals, transact-SQL and stored procedures. Experience in design and development of SOA principles based services in an online business will be an added advantage.

Back End Team
We are working to build a world class application platform fuelled by SQL Server and other data processing technologies with unprecedented scale, performance, partitioning and geo distribution with Petabyte size databases. Our OLTP systems have 10K transactions/sec and billions of transactions flowing through the system on a daily basis. You will be working with a highly motivated team on cutting edge software using agile development strategies and rapid release cycles.

The Advertising Delivery Engine Team

The Ad Delivery Platform team owns the online ad tracking and delivery system. This is a real-time platform that hosts data and code for various auction algorithms for advertisers and content publishers, click-fraud, merchant fraud, content classification, categorization, demographics prediction, search patterns. We are storing and managing TBs of information which enables us to run the auction algorithms and choose the best ads out of hundreds of thousands choices. And we do all that in just a few milliseconds, while sustaining tens of thousands of requests per second, with an uptime of 99.9%. In this environment, only the best designs and architecture will cut it. The amount of data we handle demands building, managing and monitoring a distributed system; ensuring the system health in the presence of individual failures. The Ad Delivery Engine runs 24/7/365.

The Revenue and Relevance Team

Do you want to work on technology at the heart of online monetization? The Revenue and Relevance team is looking for skilled developers- in particular, someone who has deep knowledge of large-scale data mining, machine learning, and/or quantitative analytics for online systems. As an engineer on this team, you should be able to translate design ideas into practical implementation in code, and to improve and evolve existing systems. A qualified candidate should have a degree in computer science, math, or a statistics degree and experience with software systems and/or applied research in appropriate areas of Computer Science. The algorithms we develop produce the final selection of the ads that are presented to the user upon entering the search query. As such, our algorithms are at the very heart of the Advertising technology that monetizes Bing and Yahoo. Our technology area combines systems, machine learning, data analysis, and economics --- in short, a very technically challenging area. This work makes a direct contribution to Microsoft’s bottom line.

The Business Intelligence Team
The Microsoft Advertising Business Intelligence (BI) team in Online Advertising is responsible for providing our customers with high quality analytics and reporting, giving them vital insights into their search advertising on Bing. The Reporting team within BI delivers the Middle Tier, API, and Reporting UI components that connect Microsoft Advertising BI to our customers. We are focused on providing our customers with a great user experience, a robust Middle Tier and API, and a highly reliable operational system. We work simultaneously on delivering a great product for our customers, improving our engineering processes, and growing our SDE’s skills and abilities.

Display
Microsoft: Online Services Division: Display Advertising Platform

Do you want to be part of one of the fastest growing industries in software today? Do you want to help Microsoft grow a $2 billion per year business to $5 billion? Interested in developing online services, and being part of an agile development team that ships every week? If so, then we have the right opportunity for you!

The Display Advertising group is…

Delivering the technologies running our online display businesses: Atlas Media Console, Microsoft Media Network (MMN), AdManager, RAPT, and AdExpert - which powers the MSN portal and represented partners.
Competing in a segment of the online advertising industry that is seeing explosive innovation and increased competition.
Poised to make rapid advances in online advertising.
Chartered with building the next generation of display advertiser systems.

Our Display Advertising products and services:

Are responsible for monetizing both internal (MSN, Hotmail, MSNBC, etc.) as well as 3^rd party display properties.
Handle 700+ billion monthly ad requests across globally dispersed data centers
Deliver over $2 billion in annual advertising revenue.

If you would be so kind to share this information if you know those who will be interested to learn more!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Want A Mellow Seattle 4th of July Fireworks Viewing Spot!

2011-07-04T07:13:00.001-07:00

With the HUGE Family 4th at Lake Union which has become one and only large-scale Fourth of July fireworks show in Seattle; not to mention an EVEN larger transportation/parking/people nightmare and while obviously thousands of people don’t mind huge crowds, if you’re like me with small kids and looking for a less crowded and much quieter spot to view fireworks you might consider viewing the city of Kirkland’s fireworks.

We discovered Warren G. Magnuson Park on Sandpoint Way in northeast Seattle is directly across Lake Washington from Kirkland and offers a terrific view of fireworks that’s comparable to watching the Gasworks fireworks from the south end of Lake Union. They aren’t right overhead, but families with young children who are frightened by big displays often find it’s exactly the right distance for the tots. Kirkland also puts on a good show and promises an extra special finale this year.

Magnuson Park has plenty of parking spots even with the construction going on to improve the park, and if you want to make a day of it, there’s a lifeguard stationed at the swimming beach and plenty of places for a picnic. The park stays open until 11:30 pm and the Kirkland fireworks start at 9:00 pm.

The Bonus of a lakeside viewpoint is that Magnuson is situated to see small fireworks displays all up and down Lake Washington and despite the bans many communities put on personal fireworks, there are a lot of small displays ringing the lake. It’s pretty spectacular.

We'll be heading down around 7 for an evening of fun! Maybe we'll see you there!

Happy Fourth! The Kelison Family

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Art Is My Therapy!

2011-03-30T19:21:00.001-07:00

The most important thing you can do when you're feeling so heavy, stress, worries, sadness and anger by almost anything in your everyday life is to find some kind outlet to pour out all your heartaches. There are many forms of letting all your fears drift away. One of these is art therapy.

Art therapy is about self-healing through the transformation of negative vibes through self-expression in painting and or other artful forms. This type of therapy is what I use to ignite both the creation of my art and the healing of my emotions. This helps me release all the negative thoughts through painting and honestly has been my only way to heal.

As you view my paintings they reflect how I felt at the moment of creation; its my way of expressing ways I can’t find words. Most can easily identify my feelings on a certain works by viewing my paintings.

Art therapy can help many understand the meaning of life and how we must handle it. It somehow shows the inner you, your artistic sense, your personality and character and your general outlook in life. The art that you have produced is the symbolism of the real you as a whole.

I am a self-healer while expressing all my hidden thoughts and desires. It is here that I can pour out my worries, opinions and undertakings. Painting for me is a form of art that has enhanced my personal growth and help me to pursue the life the way I have chosen. It is also a form that helped me appreciate myself and has given me a certain confidence within myself.

With this said it is also important to have someone to support you. The human touch can integrate with one's growth and development. "No (wo)man is an island" as the popular saying goes. I can connect with others through my paintings and their meanings.

For me, art therapy is has been very beneficial in my desires to change the way my life runs. The life YOU want can be achieved depending on how you look at it. It solely depends on how you tackle your life. It is a matter of choices you make.

I am proud to be the executive producer of KaDa Films. I encourage you to visit our web site www.kadafilms.com and participate in our Silent Art Auction on April 18^th thru April 25^th and help us develop our independent film about love, art, and healing.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

It’s Not Called “net-sit” or “net-eat”, It’s Called “net-work” – by Kay Kelison

2011-03-24T12:39:00.001-07:00

What gives you warm fuzzies? Do you appreciate the value of the social network that you are creating around you? More than the warm fuzzies; do you realize many other benefits that you give when you’re involve with networking opportunities in the communities? They are endless and exist everywhere.

Newsflash: I’m not just talking about “social networks” in the digital form. I’m talking about helping out those who need your help, joining an organization, or simply stopping by that next Tweet-up event. It will be time well spent.

If you are currently looking for work as well, it can serve as another way to connect with potential employers or to build new relationships with individuals that can help you with your job search. It would be a good time to learn new skills or enhance skills you already have. Use it as a resume builder. It’s perfectly acceptable to list societies and affiliations on your resume. You may have a mentor that can serve as a great professional or personal reference as well. Choose an organization around which you have a passion. Your hours could lead to a permanent, paid position with the organization or those that see your work valuable. For example, if you are seeking work as an engineer, offer your time as an engineer and work on their website. Hiring managers look for talent that aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and are willing to go above and beyond the expected.

More and more employers are recognizing the value of in-person networking. Like Microsoft, we are encouraged as employees to become more involved in organizations and volunteer our time to give back to our local community. And since it is essential that businesses be a responsible corporate citizen, employees who are more willing to give of their personal time are highly valued. Naturally there are benefits to the employer by this kind of involvement; however, there are also direct benefits to the employees as well. This allows you to develop new relationships or advance your career as well as just enjoying the fun of networking.

There are a ton of networking groups you can become involved with, depending on your available time, interests, desired benefits, and willingness to be involved. Most choose to join an organization that is connected to their profession. These groups offer professional development and other tangible in-person benefits as well as online resources such as blogs or fan pages and the ability to connect with other professionals.

Other forms of networking opportunities include the more casual contact groups, such as a local special interest groups or meet-ups, etc. These groups offer participants an opportunity to meet other community members with similar interests. They may host and offer special programs to you as a member or the social opportunity to meet other like people on a more casual level. These groups are always looking for volunteers to serve on committees, provide leadership opportunities and unlimited business contacts.

These groups casual or professional can give you the ability to give something back to your community while making valuable contacts. These groups are often nationally or internationally based, but they have direct local benefits, with members giving back to their communities through volunteer projects or monetary support. They meet regularly, both creating friendships and building business relationships.

Some networks may target a specific age or gender groups, just as young professionals or women’s business organizations. Despite how great all these networking opportunities may sound, some people will struggle to find the time to attend regular meetings or meet the requirements of the organization. There are still many ways to network outside of these structured organizations. Volunteer at your church, your child’s school; join a local low key club. These will benefit your family as well as your career by building bonds and making invaluable connections. Non-profits are always seeking volunteers – offer a few hours of your time to your favorite cause such as the American Cancer Society or Girl Scouts. Your child’s group leader may be your potential future employer.

If you are serious about developing your social network, there are no quick fixes: you must go out get involved and meet people that could be your boss, co-worker or reference. Don’t let chance decide where you would like to spend your time and efforts. Give back, take your time and choose an organization or group that will provide the desired benefits, for the time you want to offer. No matter what group you end up participating in – because it’s not called “net-sit” or “net-eat”, it’s called “net-work”. You must ‘be engaged’ be a contributor, not just a joiner. Be engaged – offer your experience, skills and talents to those you associate with. You WILL meet new friends, strengthen your personal and professional as well as provide a means to grow your relationships.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Automatic reply: [kaykel] Re: Meet Me In St Louis!

2011-03-17T14:07:00.001-07:00

I am out of the office with from Mon 3/14/2011 through 3/18/2011. I will respond to emails at my first available opportunity. If you have an immediate need that can't wait, please contact our team alias drive@microsoft.com

Cheers,

Kay Kelison

Diversity Program Manager

To Know Me is To Follow Me

Twitter: Jaxx_Magee

Facebook: kaykel

Linkedin:kaykel12

FBFan: Diversity@Microsoft

I Blog

http://kaykel.posterous.com/

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Meet Me In St Louis!

2011-03-17T14:05:00.001-07:00

Microsoft’s Online Services Division (OSD/BING) will be attending NSBE’s 37^th Annual Convention held on March 23-27 in St. Louis, MO. Our booth is located at #908 from 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM on Thursday, March 24^th and Friday, March 25^th. Microsoft and OSD truly believe that we can only perform at our best if we strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment. Diversity enriches our products and performance by reflecting the needs and ideas of our increasingly global and diverse community. Stop by our booth and say “Hello!” If you don’t want to wait in-line, send email your resume to kaykel@microsoft.com and I will send it to the team! We are seeking talented Software Development Engineers in Test, Program Managers and Analysts to name just a few of the many positions we have open in OSD. Join the community and get engaged!

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

A Networking Event Hosted By Microsoft Windows and Windows Live Leaders! For Technology Professionals In Atlanta, Georgia on April 14th, 2011!

2011-03-09T17:31:00.001-08:00

Come network and have some awesome conversations with senior leaders from Windows and Widows Live Teams! If you are a marketing, hardware or software professional in the technology industry and would like to join us for this exciting event, please reply to WinAtl11@microsoft.com as soon as possible. Tell them Kay Kelison sent you! This is a limited invite event, so please contact them as soon as possible with as much detail as you can about your technology background, interests, and technology focus or better yet a resume will get better attention.

They will follow up with your invitation status and particulars about the venue, guest speakers and other additions to the evening if you are able to join us.

Thank you for your interest in attending our Atlanta Networking Event and feel free to share with other colleagues and friends as you see fit! Let’s connect and learn from each other!

Please learn more about the Microsoft Windows Team Network Event and join the Microsoft Talent Network please visit http://www.microsoft-careers.com/content/meetup/.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Mobile: The Next Recruiting Revolution for 2011 - By Kay

2011-01-11T09:08:00.001-08:00

Our world of sourcing/researching/recruiting is much more complicated these days than it used to be. As staffing consultants, you can’t just post an opportunity on job boards and wait for candidates to come – although some “old-schoolers” still do! (you know who you are) As technologies (Internet and mobile) are taking off, we in the staffing industry really need accept how recruiting is quite similar to a marketing campaign. Social media has forced us to think outside of our comfort areas and to go to the talent instead of them coming to us. These tools have really revolutionized the way we recruit and have helped us leverage engagement and community messaging in order to reach active and passive diverse talent. Our recruiting strategies won’t be as straightforward as before. Whether or not you want to accept it, our industry is changing. When I think of where we will be after we master the areas of social media – and some sourcers are already ahead of the curve – my prediction is that mobile recruiting will be our next natural phase of direct engagement. We will extend our company’s or our client’s brand value in the mobile space and markets our jobs through apps and reaches the individual by a ping. Think about how many people look at their phone when they hear an alert sound – I’ll bet you do as well. Read more….

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Automatic reply: [kaykel] Re: My Change…My Reflection….My Passion….My Outlook

2010-12-27T16:01:00.001-08:00

I'm working, but I'll be checking my mail less frequently through January 3, 2011.

Cheers,

Kay Kelison

Follow Me/Invite Me

Twitter: Jaxx_Magee

Facebook: kaykel

Linkedin:kaykel12

I Blog/Vlog

http://kaykel.posterous.com/

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

My Change…My Reflection….My Passion….My Outlook

2010-12-27T15:59:00.001-08:00

I’ve thought a lot recently about how my outlook and my process of self-identification have changed but I’m not sure how to explain it with any confidence. I’d like to think they’ve changed as a result of my own internal reflections and directed inner growth but an equally likely explanation could be the new environment I find myself in as a member of the diversity staffing team at Microsoft. Anyone who has been reading my posts for any length of time knows diversity is a subject I love and have a great deal of passion for especially when it comes to enhancing the diversity of perspectives, experiences and input in our company. The global high tech industry is inherently a highly diverse one and as access to technology grows around the world that fact will only become more pronounced and relevant. As I’ve grown in my role at Microsoft it’s become clear that one key to success for any global business is to cherish a perspective that honors and builds a mutual respect for people from a myriad of backgrounds and experiences. One question I consistently ask myself is ‘how do we ensure that we build a broad understanding and universal acceptance of this fact?’ The clichéd answer, that it’s just a matter of education, falls short I think. Education can just as easily reinforce biases as tear them down while enforced education may increase barriers to acceptance all the more. On this I don't have a clear answer, but it is undoubtedly among the most important issues of this century.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Hacked Again!

2010-12-15T15:30:00.001-08:00

It’s just a reality for all of us who use social networking -- it's not a matter of IF your Twitter or Facebook account will be hacked, but simply WHEN. I've heard from my friends whose accounts have been hacked. The message typically compliments me on being a great friend or requests me to click on a link to view a video of myself. Also, there are usually a number of misspellings in the message.

Be very careful when you get those kinds of messages, even when they are coming from trusted friends who would normally not engage in this type of behavior. Many of the messages are linked to a virus or some type of malware that either infects your computer or will gain access to your account and send all of your friends and followers spammie messages, yes this has happened to me (grr). If you do slip and click on one of these links, pay attention to what your virus scanning software tells you, especially if you get a security warning about a site don’t just click the “close” because it’s a pop-up, it shows up for a reason! So while doing research on how to prevent or protect us from happening again, I have collected a step by step instructions on what to do.

Twitter Accounts

1. Log out of Twitter

2. Visit twitter help center on “My Account Has Been Compromised”.

3. As always “Clear Your Browser Cache” (your browsing history and cookies and private info) and close

down your browser. Doing a weekly sweep would be good.

4. Open a new browser window, log into Twitter, and change your password. You can also use the

Twitter password reset feature to set a new password before logging in again. Wanting to know how

often you should change your password click here

5. Visit your settings page and check your Connections. Revoke access for any third-party application

that you don't recognize.

6. Submit a support request to let them know you have taken all of the proper steps to reset your

account and request that your direct messaging capability be restored.

7. Update your password in all of your third party applications as well. If a third party application (like

Tweetdeck, Hootesuite, Twitterrific, Twhirl, etc.) is trying to use your old password to access your

tweets, it will lock you out of your account.

Facebook Accounts

1. Visit Facebook's information for resolution.

2. If you are still able to access your login email address, then use the "Forgot your password" link to

prompt an email from Facebook with a password reset code.

3. Clear your browser cache (your browsing history and cookies and private info) and close down your

browser as described above. (using the same steps above)

4. Your account could also have been phished/hacked by a phishing web site, worm, or malicious

software. To ensure that all is safe again, refer to the "Warnings" section on Facebook.

Like Oprah says “trust your intuition, and if something doesn't look or feel right, delete it before clicking on it” well sort of J. You will have probably saved yourself hours or headache in trying to restore a hacked account as well as “hey, I keep on getting these emails from you, why is that?”

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

College Students AND Those Who Just Graduated Here Are Some Twittering Tips When Seeking A Job

2010-11-24T09:57:00.001-08:00

Ok, so you’re a student in a college or you have just graduated and through your conversations with recruiters, friends and colleagues, you’ve created a Twitter account like everybody else in these social networking worlds. However, Twitter is so much different than Facebook and LinkedIn. It’s more of a water cooler-type setting between humans. In fact, a friend of mine didn’t believe it either, that was until she secured a very desirable internship in the engineering field last summer at Apple because of Twitter. So the question you should be asking yourself is this “how do I use Twitter to feel personal and professionally? Simple, begin with these basic steps and you will expand naturally.

Step A) Start searching and following twitter accounts that post internships and jobs. Some twitter accounts I would suggest following: @internships @sweetcareers or @internmatch they are among many that have a ton of internships which each post, along with tips for finding ones.

Step B) Search and follow twitter accounts by respected members of that field, as well as companies, and business groups. For example, if you’re interested in working for Bing follow twitter @Bingjobs, Microsoft_Jobs @microsoft_jobs or XBOX360 follow @xbox360careers follow people you want to engage with. I would also follow individuals who could help you.

Step C) Clean up your tweets, no more “Going to get drunk and stupid tonight, PARTY!” Please tweet intelligently, yes you can have humor, fun, real however if you are using it as a possible finding a job, start posting interesting articles that you find online, and ADD YOUR OWN INSIGHT TO THEM. Re-tweet interesting posts the professionals you follow, post or add your own insight to them. Replay to Direct Messages, engage in conversations. The main issue of importance here is to be engaged and interact on a PROFESSIONAL LEVEL with these people you now follow. Remember, these people are full of connections, and that is what Twitter is about! Try to make actual connections with these people. See if there are Facebook fanpages that can allow you to post your blog reviews on article’s, etc. a great way to show your involvement within the social networking

Step D) Keep your eye out for job and internship posts. The above mentions are just some I mentioned, but Twitter is becoming an awesome place to connect and be informed about opportunities! Don’t be afraid to engage with a professional (through direct messages or reply to their tweets) for suggestions on how to get in touch with an industry/company you’re interested in. Most fellow tweeters are people who want to help others, if you genuinely ask for help, someone will answer the call.

Honestly, Twitter is just a tool and it won’t get a job for you, however it’s really what you do with this and other tools to find possibilities! Use these tools to find your voice, connect with others it’s really that simple! Final thought, Twitter is an extension of you, and it can be used for giving as well as getting to meet people while making connections that would otherwise be impossible

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

A Helpful Search Tip: Using Bing Search Preferences by Kay Kelison

2010-11-23T15:05:00.001-08:00

Using Bing Search Preferences

Bing, is a solid tool for searching the web, as a principal sourcer for Bing/Microsoft I thought I would help users be more productive and effective in their searches. Bing provides users a customizable Search Preferences as an easy way to do basic personalization of how your search engine results are displayed. By using Bing search preferences you can customize settings such as the display language, default geographic location, number of search results to display per page, etc

Many of the Bing search preferences settings are similar to the Google. To access the Bing search preferences click on the Extras link in the top right-hand corner.

A drop down list will appear where you can click on the Preferences link that will lead to a page that is divided into two sections General Settings and Web Settings

General Settings – Bing Search Preferences

1. Safe Search: there are three levels for filtering web content and potentially blocking or allowing sexually explicit content. The three settings available are: No filtering of sexually explicit content; Moderate filtering (sexually explicit images and videos); and Strict filtering (sexually explicit text, images and videos). Each is followed by an explanation of what is filtered. You can also report offensive links that the filters might miss by clicking on the “filtering offensive sites” link below the buttons. Bing search preferences for Safe Search are shown below.

Bing Search Preferences - Safe Search

2. Location: by entering a city and state or a Zip Code you can help Bing present results that are the most relevant for searches related to geography. Geographically related search examples might be shopping, maps, or other results where the physical location is important. You can also leave this blank if you prefer no geographic affiliation. Bing search preferences for Location are shown below.

Bing Search Preferences - Location

3. Display: this option allows you to choose a specific language for the display and layout in Bing. Changing this option does not affect the language of the actual search results. Click the drop down arrow to select a different language Bing search preferences for Display are shown below.

Bing Search Preferences - Display Language

4. Results: This option can be quite useful in boosting search productivity as it directly controls how your results are displayed. The drop down arrow next to show allows you to select how many search results are displayed on each search results pages. The default is ten results (or links) per results page with the options available ranging from 10 to 50 results per page.

Web Settings – Bing Search Preferences - these settings apply only to your Web search results

The check box allows you to tell Bing whether to open new page or to use your current page when you click on a link in the search results. By checking this box when you click on a link in the search results that Bing has displayed Bing will keep your current search page open and open the link you clicked on in a new page or tab. If you leave this unchecked Bing will replace the search results page with the page from the link you clicked on. Highly suggest that you check this box. Bing search preferences for Results are shown below.

Bing Search Preferences - Results Options

5. Search suggestions: This option allows Bing to display suggestion as you enter text into the search box. With this search preference checked Bing will offer possible suggestions to complete the word or phrase as you type. This can be a big help in decreasing the amount of typing you need to do as Bing completes the word or phrase for you. It can also be very helpful if you are not sure of the correct spelling of a word or phrase as Bing will offer suggestions with the correct spelling. The only real downside of turning Search Suggestions on is that it can sometimes be distracting. Bing search preferences for Search Suggestions are shown below.

Bing Search Preferences - Search Suggestions

6. Search Language: this option allows you to limit your searches to content written in a specific language. In setting a language it is generally best to search in any language and only select a specific language if you are looking for content only in that specific language. The image below is only a partial view of the languages available. An example of some of the languages available in Bing search preferences are shown below.

Bing Search Preferences - Search Language

7. Important: Remember to click on the “Save Settings” button at the bottom of the screen to save your new settings or they will not be saved.

Customizing search preferences can be a real productivity booster regardless of the search engine you are using. Mine… of course is Bing J

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Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

What Are You Thankful For This Year?

2010-11-23T14:20:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving 2010!

Here we are again, celebrating another Thanksgiving. What a blessing it is been for me to be a part of an awesome team, Online Service Division/BING. Thank you all for the experience I take with me as I move into my new role as a Program Manager for the Microsoft Diversity Recruiting Team/DRIVE.

I strive to remember every day of the year how lucky I am, and each year as Thanksgiving approaches I make a special effort to say THANK YOU not only for my blessings, but for the blessings of my friends (work and non-work folks) and family.

While many of us will be sitting down to tables laden with all manner of great foods, try to remember that some people are not that fortunate. Some will be standing in soup lines; some will have to wait for someone to bring them a meal, and sadly, some will go to bed hungry too. With that said, let's try to be more thankful for all the fortunes we have AND let's remember to give something back, even if it’s a dollar or two.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

If A Link Is On Your Resume, Employers Will Click On It

2010-11-11T14:50:00.001-08:00

Hiring managers as well as Recruiters will almost always click on the provided links to look at your web site if it's listed. We will would try to find out as much about the candidate as we can, including looking up the person online. Even if it's not on your resume, if your blog, or profile contains information on your real identity, the people you least expect, and those that you certainly don't want reading it, may find it. Like your boss or prospective employers, but, also your customers, colleagues and coworkers.

So Here’s My Do's and Don'ts Advice

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Web Sites, and Blogs

· Don't include a link on your resume to any site which may have inappropriate content that is not appropriate for a business audience.

· Do be very careful what you put online. If you have a MySpace or Facebook account, people you won't want to be reading your profile may be able to access it, even if you think nobody will read it. Make your account private, so only your friends can access it. Be extra careful, and don't post anything that you don't want a prospective employer (or your mom!) to read.
Facebook Privacy Settings or MySpace Privacy Settings

· Do consider creating a personal web site, if you're unemployed, specifically related to your job search including your resume, samples, your portfolio, and certifications. Include only professional and academic information. Or use your profile on sites like LinkedIn to promote your experience.

· Don't list your blog on your resume unless it's relevant to the career field / position that you are interviewing for.

· Do consider starting a blog related to your career interests. If you, for example: consider blogging about industry trends, news and related topics.

· Do create a job search blog. There's a trend toward job seekers blogging to target their job search and market their skills. A job search blog can help with your job search and give you exposure, but, again, remember who might be reading it

· Do be careful what you blog/post. Keep in mind that just about anything that is online can be read by everyone. If you don't want the world to read what you've posted, make sure they can't.

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Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Free Advice From A Recruiter

2010-11-09T10:53:00.001-08:00

Please consider your online presence! Which means those pictures of you doing a wet t-shirt contest should be removed on Facebook. I have a friend who has a job interview this week and she just emailed me to remove a ton of pictures I have of her up on Flickr, a social site where people look for you, too. While you may have went and made them all private, Bing and other search engines still have cached images of those photos. I had emailed her ages ago when I first posted those pictures, to let me know if anything should be removed. No response. Now, when it is already cached, she wants to do something about it. So I guess this is more like “start considering your online presence way before you apply for a job” - because some things will come back to haunt you. As a recruiter, I think it’s important to start a conversation on this topic. I also don’t suggest removing everything about you off of the channels. To me it looks odd and just looks sketchy. If I search for someone and find nothing, I know that the channels have been sanitized, and this person has something to hide. Or, even worse, they don’t realize what a powerful communication channel these channels are, and haven’t figured out how to positively leverage the “internets.”

Kay Kelison CIR, ACIR, CDR | Talent Sourcer

Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group (APS)
kaykel@microsoft.com| advertising.microsoft.com

Want to learn more about Microsoft Bing jobs? Join the Microsoft Bing Talent Community!

Click here to learn about open positions, what it's like to work on Bing and to receive updates as frequently or as infrequently as you'd like.

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Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Web Designer or Developer Needed

2010-09-19T11:08:00.001-07:00

I have a friend who is looking for a Web Designer or Developer Needed – If interested, please reach out to Karen directly her contact is listed at the end of post.

We are looking for a talented developer to join our early stage startup and to round out our development team. We have created an on demand education website with a focus on the employment industry. We will be working with the Government Agencies providing mandatory training -We have developed a strong list of trainers and supporters for the affiliate site, now we just need to get that page going with your help and input! The Beta Site is already launched with a strong following and consistent traffic and we have a Database of over 180K members. But we need someone that can help us succeed to take it to a higher level, beyond where it is today. We also need someone who can help us with the Minor Tweaks, helping get the bugs out – Helping with updates and downloads when necessary! And minor programming. With an addition of a few other components that will help enhance the user experience

Responsibilities

This is not a job offering or an internship! You will be an official co-founder With responsibility in return for tiered equity compensation. You will not be expected to work daily, or even monthly. You will not even be expected to help with continual maintenance of the site.. This will be an as needed opportunity with light programming. Seeking strong experience in the following areas: online customer acquisition, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing and customer acquisition. Service positioning, website usability, user-generated content applications, and top-notch social web applications, applications/sites with personalization features. Less than a couple hours a month

Skills

Crazy good programming skills

An entrepreneurial spirit

Experience with open-source CMS, especially Joomla

PHP

FLASH

CSS

HTML

JAVA

.NET

JOOMLA

OScommerce

1-3 years of web development experience

1-3 years programming experience.

Entrepreneurial spirit.

Motivation to make an impact immediately.

If you are interested please

(a) Please email me your resume or pointer to your bio/profile along with relevant examples of your work.

(b) let us know why this opportunity interests you

Compensation will be an early stake equity position.

Warmest Regards

Karen
TEL 858-668-3111
Web: www.hirecentrix.com

Email: karenm@hirecentrix.com

http://twitter.com/hirecentrix
http://www.linkedin.com/in/hirecentrix

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Faster Doesn’t Always Equal Smarter – Kay Kelison

2010-09-16T12:08:00.001-07:00

Google rolled out a new search enhancement that shows results when you type, called Google Instant. While it’s true that this feature is innovative, one should question whether innovation equates to more relevant search results. In truth, there is no correlation between speed either quality or relevance of results. So, when you get the 10 blue links does the fact you got them faster mean the search and results were smarter? After all, Aesop warned us of the folly of relying purely on speed. Last year Bing’s search engine was tweaked to produce Real Live Search, which loaded full results pages as users typed. Stefan Weitz, Bing’s director, is featured in USA Today were he talks about how Bing is trying to do search smarter, and that faster doesn’t always equal smarter. He continues to explain that it’s a good thing to produce search results quickly, but that doesn’t always mean it is going to be the type of results that users are looking for thus not really saving them any time. Combining with Yahoo is helping them not only gain access to more information, but with the increase of information Bing can bring users more relevant results faster. “When you think about state-of-the-art searching, it should be less about searching and more about finding” says Weitz.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Bing Beats Google for the Best Way to X-Ray Search LinkedIn

2010-09-14T13:52:00.001-07:00

I am really excited to be featuring one of my favorite bloggers for this month Guest Blogger:

Glen Cathy who is the author/creator of Boolean Black Belt His blog is focused on Talent Mining via Boolean logic, offering expert-level search insight for recruiters and sourcers. It’s serves as a resource for sourcers and recruiters who leverage information systems for talent identification and acquisition.

A huge thank you for allowing me to cross post! - Kay

I recently received a message via LinkedIn from Gary Cozin, an accomplished, well known player and knowledge sharer in sourcing circles, asking me a question:

“You know when we x-ray Google for LI profiles we can insert “current * financial advisor” in our string to bring back ‘current’ job titles we want. Do you know how would that be done in Bing?

Now, I have been a long-time user of Google for X-Ray searching LinkedIn. However, Google’s recently made some changes to the way LinkedIn X-Ray search results are returned that has made sourcers and recruiters add additional terms to X-Ray strings to an already lengthy search string to return only profiles (e.g., -inurl:dir, -inurl:jobs…).

Not long after Google made those changes, Shally Steckerl posted an article detailing a novel approach to X-Ray searching LinkedIn using the phrase “Public profile powered by,” which seemed to allow searchers to not have to resort to the cumbersome (inurl:in OR inurl:pub) -intitle:directory -inurl:dir -inurl:jobs, etc. search syntax.

While that approach definitely works, Irina Shamaeva and I have found it doesn’t seem to find and return all available results. Even so, there is no denying that it is a much simpler (and shorter!) method for finding LinkedIn profiles via Internet search engines. Why unnecessarily over-complicate search strings?

So, with Google’s recent changes coupled with their annoyingly overzealous blocking of more complex searches (in some cases you don’t even get a chance to use a CAPTCHA to prove you’re human!), I was happy and curious to see if there was in fact a way to accomplish what Gary was looking to do using a search engine other than Google.

My First Bing Current Title X-Ray Search Experiment

When using Google to search LinkedIn to find people with specific current titles, this is the area of LinkedIn profiles people target:

With Google, you can leverage the asterisk (single or multiple word wildcard) to “bridge the gap” between the word Current and the Title, because you can’t actually search for the bullet separating the two For example, “current * financial advisor.”

Bing and Yahoo (which uses Bing’s search) don’t have a similar operator or functionality. However, I was curious to see what Bing would do if I simply searched for the phrase “Current Financial Advisor:”

site:linkedin.com “current financial advisor” “greater new york city area” “public profile powered by”

A little over 1100 results, and they look clean (profiles only) and accurate to me:

When you click on a cached result, you can see our current title phrase search is working, despite the bullet separating the word “Current” and “Financial Advisor:”

It is important to note that if you click through the results, out to page 17 for example, you’ll notice Bing drops the estimated number of results from over 1100 down to 373.

Although the results look good, my sourcing sixth sense is telling me that we’re not seeing all of the available results.

Deeper Down the Bing X-Ray Rabbit Hole

Trying to think of another angle to take, I took a closer look at the structure of the LinkedIn profile.

I noticed that title phrases are always in the format of “TITLE at COMPANY.” In the above screenshot, it’s “Financial Advisor at Wachovia.”

Because of this consistency, I thought I would try dropping the search for the term “current” altogether and isolate and target “Financial Advisor at”

site:linkedin.com “financial advisor at” “greater new york city area” “public profile powered by”

Over 2000 results, and they look accurate and clean (profiles only):

Checking out a cached result verifies it’s working the way I wanted it to:

If you click through the results of this search, you’ll notice the total number of results drops from an initially estimated 2000+ down to 728, but that is still nearly double the number of real results returned by the “Current Financial Advisor” search. Turns out my sourcing sixth sense was right.

All is Not Perfect (or Current)

Dropping the word “current” from the search string and simply targeting the phrase “TITLE at” works, and it works especially well in the above example. Even though every single one of the random samples I viewed from the 728 results from the [site:linkedin.com "financial advisor at" "greater new york city area" "public profile powered by"] search appeared to be profiles of people who are currently financial advisors, dropping “current” from the search string and strategy doesn’t always work so well.

For example, when you run this string on Bing…

site:linkedin.com “branch manager at bank of america” “greater new york city area” “public profile powered by”

… some results are of people who state they are currently a Branch Manager at Bank of America, but other results are returned of people who are currently doing something else, but had previously been a branch manager at Bank of America.

This is bound to happen given that we are no longer forcing the word “current” to be in a phrase along with the title we’re targeting. However, in some cases, as with the financial advisor search, this search approach can yield results with nearly all profiles having the target title as a current title.

One of the reasons for this is actually due to the fact that a great number of LinkedIn profiles are not very rich in content or complete. Many people join LinkedIn, add their current position, and then don’t ever modify it – this results in many searchable profiles for which there is only a current job, because no previous jobs were ever entered.

This is one small way in which LinkedIn’s often shallow data and many incomplete profiles actually works in your favor – if you’re trying to target people by current title and want to find the maximum number of available results without having to be limited by trying to use “current TITLE” in your strings.

What’s the Shortest Effective X-Ray String?

Looking at the “Public profile powered by” phrase in the search strings, I was curious to see if the entire phrase was even necessary to get good results.

I shaved the “public profile powered by” all the way down to just “powered.” It seems like the most unique term and unlikely to produce (m)any false positives.

site:linkedin.com “financial advisor at” “greater new york city area” powered

Over 42,000 estimated results.

That’s a lot of results – certainly more than the two previous searches. Of course, the 42,000+ is just an estimate and we can’t see past 1,000 results – but I decided to check the integrity of the results out to the maximum you can view (1,000).

As you can see from the image below, you can actually view 1,000 results, and impressively, most (but certainly not all) of the results appear to be all profiles of people who are currently financial advisors – even out to the last page. That’s a significant improvement from my previous best Bing search which yielded 728 financial advisors.

Sweet.

As Irina Shamaeva has speculated, the Internet search engines obviously don’t index every element/word/phrase of LinkedIn profiles. However, it does appear that the word “powered” is indexed more than the entire phrase “public profile powered by.”

Is there a more simple and elegant search string structure for searching LinkedIn via an Internet search engine to find as many public profiles as possible than site:linkedin.com “TITLE/KEYWORD” “LOCATION PHRASE” powered? If so – please let me know!

Is Google Down and Out?

Going back to Google, we can use a “standard” LinkedIn X-Ray string to compare results with the above Bing search for the exact same parameters:

site:linkedin.com (inurl:in OR inurl:pub) -intitle:directory -inurl:dir -inurl:jobs “greater new york city area” “current * financial advisor”

1600 estimated results looks good, right?

Not so fast.

Notice the 4th result, Shannon Sweeney? He’s not currently a financial advisor:

Using the asterisk in the phrase “current * financial advisor” is not a flawless solution – it will yield false positive results.

Also, navigating through the results, you can see that they actually end at 479. Less than half of our short and sweet Bing X-Ray search of LinkedIn. Interesting, yes?

Can Google Return Good Results with a Short LinkedIn X-Ray String?

Then I was curious to see what Google would make of the short and sweet Bing LinkedIn X-Ray search string:

site:linkedin.com “financial advisor at” “greater new york city” powered

While Google estimates over 94,000 results – you can see from the first 10 that they are mostly directory results and not profiles. Blech!

To add insult to injury, if you navigate out to page 46 – there are actually only 457 results, which is less than half of what Bing returns (which are all profiles and not directory results!).

The Coup de Grace

And now, for my finishing move, I will unveil one of Bing’s (no longer) secret weapons – <insert dramatic music>- proximity search.

Irina brought to my attention via Twitter that Bing actually supports the near: operator. I wasn’t previously aware of this, as I haven’t historically used Bing that much (sorry MS folks), and I had never before heard of Bing supporting proximity search.

A quick bit of research returned this information directly from Microsoft, showing that the near: operator “constrains the distance between terms so that documents that contain instances of the specified terms within ten words of each other are returned before those that don’t.” Interestingly and importantly, that explanation technically leaves Bing the option to return some results in which the near: operator is not strictly obeyed.

Additionally, Bing gives you the ability to move beyond fixed proximity (i.e., near: = within 10 words) and into the realm of configurable proximity by adding a number to the operator, taking precise control over the distance. For example: java near:4 develop

It is also important to know that the order of the terms when using the near: operator is also considered when Bing ranks results. In the above example, pages that contain “develop” 4 words or less after “java” would receive a greater boost in rank than pages in which “java” appears 4 words or less after “develop.” However, depending on the rest of the query, this does not necessarily mean that the former would be ranked higher than the latter.

In other words, Bing favors the original order of the query terms over the reversed order.

So why is this all a big deal?

Well, using Bing’s proximity search effectively allows you to target the current title “phrase” found in LinkedIn profiles, and this is a “cleaner” approach than using Google’s one-or-more-word wildcard asterisk. For example:

site:linkedin.com current near:2 “financial advisor” “greater new york city area” powered

Unlike all of my previous search experiments, we can be more assured that the results are going to adhere to the intent of the search, which is finding the phrase “Financial Advisor” precisely within 2 or fewer words of “Current.” Now, we know that there aren’t any words that separate these two on the LinkedIn profile – its actually a bullet, but this proximity search can be nearly guaranteed to return results where the current title phrase we’re targeting is intact.

Interestingly, even though Bing estimates over 1900 results, when you navigate through the results, you end at page 41 with 410 results. While that is more real results than my first “current financial advisor” search that returned 373, it is less than some of my other search experiments above.

I have my theories as to why this is the case, but I am curious to know what your thoughts are.

If you were curious (I was), here is the search narrowing the distance down to 1 word between the word “current” and “financial advisor:”

site:linkedin.com current near:1 “financial advisor” “greater new york city area” powered

361 real results.

LinkedIn X-Ray Search Summary

· Using Google to X-Ray LinkedIn and target current titles with the “current * TITLE” phrase isn’t foolproof. It will return some accurate results, but it does not return ALL available results, nor are all of the results accurate (current titles).

· You can use Bing or Yahoo to simply search for “current TITLE” and you will return some accurate results. As with Google, however, it will not find ALL available results. Unlike using Google’s “current * TITLE” search technique, all of the results will all be of people with the targeted current title.

· Using Bing to search LinkedIn with the phrase “TITLE at” is also an effective way of targeting current titles without being limited to searching for the word “current,” although it can also return some false positive results (past titles) as well.

· The shortest and most effective LinkedIn X-Ray string to find as many public profiles in a particular metro area as possible appears to be this string structure on Bing or Yahoo: site:linkedin.com “LOCATION PHRASE” “TITLE/KEYWORDS” Powered

· You can leverage Bing’s support of proximity search to target the current title phrase: site:linkedin.com current near:1 “financial advisor” “greater new york city area” powered

· Being curious, questioning status quo and always asking, “I wonder what will happen if…” are critical keys to discovery and innovation!

Conclusion

Bing/Yahoo 1, Google 0.

From my testing, it appears that you can forsake Google and confidently use Bing (or Yahoo) for nearly all of your LinkedIn X-Ray searching needs. It certainly seems that Bing allows you to find a higher quantity of higher quality results, and you can get them with very short and effective search strings, as well as through the use of configurable proximity search, all without all of the non-profile results that Google returns and the annoying CAPTCHAs/you’re not human insults.

Which leaves me wondering – what is going on with Google’s search engine that causes it to return such garbage (non-profile) results when searching LinkedIn?

As a final note – I would never suggest using only one Internet search engine for all of your searching, for obvious reasons. Having said that, Bing has now become my search engine of choice for sourcing and recruiting research.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

I’ll Grant You 3 Wishes

2010-08-02T11:55:00.001-07:00

Wishing to write a great blog but don’t feel you have time? Your wish is my command! I want to show you some practical ways you can write a blog post AND the best part is that you’re going to get it done in less than 10 minutes. Some might even take 15 minutes, but what is 5 minutes more? Before I begin, let’s cover some scary content-based blanketing the Internet: quantity does not = quality. Most blog writers know the importance of being brief. However, this doesn’t mean that you should blog one-liners as your post, come on now! It does mean you should be value-focused and not length-focused.

Your Wish 1: Create a Title/Idea Lists

Most blog posts fail. Why? It’s because the title isn’t catchy. Yes, it holds a lot of weight if you want readers! It’s my favorite piece of my blogs. Readers are drawn in by titles. The right title for your post can make the difference between a reader staying or leaving your site. A Title/Idea Lists are nothing more than a list of all the ideas that will not only save you a bunch of time in the initial writing process, but they will attract your readers to the content.

Your Wish 2: Plan Your Content

What are people searching, interests or what do you want them to read? With your answers then develop an organizational format for your articles.

1. Title of Blog post (captures their interest, images, photos do as well).

2. When sharing information or asking questions, provide links that support your theory or gives more info that can educate the reader (very popular).

3. Use this time to educate, share or create the reader to carry a healthy debates round the water cooler.

4. Conclusion on why you think this is something to share.

Your Final Wish 3: Get to “Value”

Readers want value, not watered-down information. So don’t get your readers all excited up only to let them down with a mediocre title, a neglected body content and then skip the value of the blog. Anyone can ramble on and on or even write a short statement about topics that doesn’t provide value. If you want people to continue to follow you and read your blog, you must provide value. We all have value. The easy thing to do is ask yourself this: “What would you read?” Creating a blog post in 10 minutes might seem hard for you, but take the step. If you just focus on giving awesome titles, great content and value, your readers will come back and share your blog with others. Another blogger is born!

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Kay Kelison "KEO" Art Show

2010-07-23T09:08:00.001-07:00

THANK YOU for your support and coming out to join me last night. I had a wonderful evening being with you all. I appreciate the virtual support and wish that you all were here with me. This show is up for the next 3 weeks and is open to the public 10-7 pm everyday

@ Daniel Smith Art Store 15112 NE 24th St Bellevue, WA

I am looking forward to the next show which I am hoping it will be at the end of Sept or beginning of October will keep you posted! As an artist two things we are bad at… pricing and marketing our work….although I am getting better at it! Enjoy the videos, please ping me if you want to talk about any of the works, if you have space for a show, or if you want prints/original/commission work done. THANK YOU!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

"Thank You"

2010-07-19T15:23:00.001-07:00

It’s the most universal expression in the world – two simple words that convey such a powerful thought. There are thousands of ways to express "Thank you”. Saying thank you is not only a matter of good manners between people, but also a deep expression of recognition of kindness. The good feeling one gets because of a good deed towards them becomes an inner experience of a positive message projected back on the person who performed the act of kindness. The expression of gratitude reflects appreciation and indebtedness to the person who has performed the act of kindness and at the same time brings a sense of humility in the person expressing the thanks, along with identification with the act of compassion. This arouses and empowers the generosity and giving of recipient and the giver. These two words are simple enough to say but yet very difficult for some to deliver. It's important to learn how to genuinely say "Thank You" to those who share their energy and resources with us as it helps repair the efforts and mend the doubts of our own interactions. Some may think it shows vulnerability but the reality is that the openness we exude lends itself to an outward reach whether it’s appreciated or not we must keep our own in a positive position. Others may think it's arrogant or condescending, but if you deliver a “Thank You” right, then it is a very humbling action that shows gratitude and appreciation. As a talent sourcer it is important to let my candidates know how much I appreciate them, but also my colleagues, which I think at times we take advantage and don’t say it enough to one another regardless of our roles. I have a lot to be thankful for: Family, Friends and My Colleagues….. Thank You

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

My Network Is Better Than Your Network (NOT)

2010-07-14T18:19:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

80% of Jobs Are Taken Through Social Networking

2010-07-12T14:38:00.001-07:00

Conduct people searches instead of a job searches. The majority of jobs aren’t posted online. Most hiring managers get a list of employee referrals before they even bother to view resumes from recruiters who submit them. Many studies have noted that 80% of jobs are taken through networking, but few have used the web to search and locate people they would actually enjoy working with and for companies that would give them solid career path.

3-steps to People Search

1. Pick the top five companies that you would like to work for, then focus on those to connect with; stand out, not just as “the” person for the best fit for the role, but as someone who is an “out of the box thinker” and excited to work for the company.

2. Use all search engines to find employee’s blogs that currently work there. There are millions blogs and you can search through them to possibly find someone who works at one of your top five companies. You can search through corporate groups, pages and people on LinkedIn. You can even do the same on Twitter. Once you find a name, try BING them to see if there is any additional information about that person.

3. Connect with the person directly. Social Networking has broken down barriers, to a point where you can message someone you aren’t friends with and don’t have contact information for, without “cold calling them”. Before you message a target employee, realize that they receive messages from people asking for jobs all the time and that they might not want to be bothered on Facebook, where their true friends are. As long as you’ve done your homework on the company and them, tailor a message that states who you are and your interest, without asking for a job at first. Get to know them and then by the 3rd or 4th messages, ask if there is an available opportunity.

Be Proactive on Twitter

Twitter has become the ultimate utility to connect directly with recruiters and employees at companies you want to work for. By conducting Twitter Searches, following recruiters on your account and using the “@” sign to communicate with them on occasion, you will start to learn a lot about them and their companies. Before you follow anyone on Twitter, you NEED a completed profile. This means, you should have a short bio (160 characters), the location where you’re from, a link to a site that recruiters can go to for more information (I recommend your blog or your LinkedIn profile) and a photo of yourself (not a flower or an alien please). This way, you have a better chance of landing a relationship with people who care enough to read your profile. Most people get jobs on Twitter by already having active followers. For example, I’ve heard of at least ten people getting a job by tweeting “just got laid off, looking for a job in advertising” and then receiving a few direct messages with people who want to help them. Of course, these individuals had built trust, credibility and relationships with their followers over time, so tweeters were more inclined to come to the rescue. You can do the same, just start tweeting and building the relationships

Be Robust on LinkedIn

It’s no surprise that LinkedIn has been extremely successful. Recruiters are starting to use LinkedIn as the main place for sourcing professional candidates because it’s free and quality professionals are on there. Many people don’t use LinkedIn to the best of their ability and fail to complete their entire profile, such that it says “100% complete.”

Just like search engines recruiters use, keywords to search your profile, so it’s extremely important to implement the keywords within your profile. You want to fill out your entire profile, just like you would a resume, but include the same photo you are using on Twitter and ensure that the summary section is complete. You’ll also want to get as many recommendations from those who have worked with you. Most recruiters who are posting jobs on LinkedIn want to see candidate who have over 15 recommendations, which will give you a “1″ next to a “thumbs up” graphic when people search for you.

Then, you could import all your contacts from Outlook, Gmail, etc., so that you can start to build your network or grow your existing network. The more people you’re connected to the better chance you’re able to reach other people in your network (1st, 2nd & 3rd degrees). It’s your choice if you want to pay for a premium account. This will allow you to contact other recruiters that may help you. You should also conduct searches yourself for jobs that you may be interested in and reach out to those individuals. More and more, recruiters are posting jobs within LinkedIn Groups, so be sure to join groups as well.

Subscribe to Blogs

Most people subscribe to blogs to receive information based on their interests; at least I hope they do. Over time people rely on these sources for information to keep them updated on what is happening in certain industries or different trends that are developing. In the past few years, the larger blogs have started to integrate job banks into their own websites Most company’s host their own blogs and the contributors are those who work for the company. Making comments allows you to promote your own blog, profile and it will get you noticed.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

What Kind Of Sandwich Are You?

2010-07-06T10:53:00.001-07:00

I love my recruiting peeps. I am just kind of tired of hearing about "I just don’t see the value in reading about a sandwich" Ugh, come on people that is 4 years ago conversation.... In order to see the value a tool, resources have you need to invest in them. Social Networking/Media are not going away; they are just getting more sophisticated. Invest please! Before quoting old conversations

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Are Video Resumes for You?

2010-06-29T07:52:00.001-07:00

Video resumes offer a new way to get your foot in the door with a growing number of employers today. But are they working for you, the talent?

Video resumes are short videos of the candidate basically selling themselves to employers. To be clear, a video resume is NOT your resume on video. It's actually a short promo giving a “preview” to the employer of who you are and to take a look at your “real” resume online which you can provide a hyperlink within or on your video account. Pretty cool right?

When you are creating these videos think of it being a short sales pitch by answering the question "why should you hire me?" Use your webcam, camcorder, etc.; most folks film their own video. Using sites such as YouTube or Vimeo has made uploading your video easy for you and for potential employers to view them. With the new mobile phones allowing you to perform video chat will definitely make recruiting more personable and something not to be ignored by both candidates and employers. You'll still need your conventional paper resume though, yes folks; we still have to keep records of our efforts. Since video resumes are used primarily to attract attention, helping candidates stand out among the rising competition on the socialosheres©. (yes, I just created that word)

It remains to be unclear whether this new format will take off with actual employers and recruiters, or it will take over the way we talk to one another, especially in the mobile atmosphere. Why not? Given a low risk on the part of the employer, it's easy to see how this unique format can add a new perspective to the old school recruiting….the paper resume.

Are video resumes worth all this hype? Well, when considering the huge dollar investments supporting new technology by so many companies big and small, video resumes may be worth considering on that factor alone. This growth wouldn't happen without the potential time savings for job-search sites such as indeed, etc. and employers.

If you are thinking about creating a video resume of your own, your advantage will be increased exposure. Employers will be more likely to view a short 1-2 minute snippets and make it count than comb through a ton of paper resumes. Although all that's required to record your own video is some sort of digital video recording device that can upload to the Web, it helps to know what you're doing. Some individuals in higher-level executive positions are even hiring producers who charge up to $$$$ for a professionally produced video. Honestly, you really don’t need to spend a dime to come across professional. So my recommendations would be: Put some forethought in the planning and scripting for this new technology, most know that it’s still in the infant stage. No doubt, the format will evolve considerably in the coming years.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Blogging While Brown Was More Than Just A Conference

2010-06-23T10:18:00.001-07:00

Blogging While Brown was more than just a conference for bloggers of color; it was about the latest technologies, tools and blogging all working together. The topics of conversations, panelists, as well as keynote speakers focused on several different issues on how blogging gives us voices and how to use our voices through the internet; not only by blogging but also through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. In each presentation, the tools that were highlighted show how they all integrate together, making it easy to cross post. What I took away from this conference is this: 25% African American (some believe more) of Tweeters are Black, effectively twice the offline representation. It was clear that Twitter is becoming a huge part of the connected Black community. Twitter is at 100 million users. On Facebook there are 500 million users, 100 million are US users and 400 million users are international. As Scott Hanselman, Microsoft Principal Program Manager Lead, said, “Most Black folks access Twitter on their mobile phones, tweet twice as more as Whites, have a tendency to ‘live tweet’ during events or TV shows and Black Professionals agree Twitter is an extremely valuable networking tool, over LinkedIn. ”This was the third year for Blogging While Brown. Those who attended were new as well as seasoned bloggers coming from all different industries as well as small business owners, politicians, and activists. An incredible 70% in attendance were women. Our purpose of attending this conference was to facilitate conversations that can lead to collaboration among bloggers. Those who we met and had conversations with were to name a few…..

Adam Connor, Associate Manager for Privacy & Global Public Policy for Facebook twitter @adamconnor

Scott Hanselman, Principal Program Manager Lead, Microsoft: twitter @shanselman

Presentation: “32 Ways to make your Blog suck less”

Danielle Lee, PhD, scientist twitter @fetesociety

One of the Panellists for “Bloggers as Educators and Change Agents”

Mayor Shirley Franklin, Mayor of Atlanta & Alliance for Digital Equality twitter @digitalequality

One of the Panellists for “New Media for Social Change”

J.Jioni Palmer, Communication Director for Congressional Black Caucasus

One of the Panellists for “New Media for Social Change”

Anil Dash, Expert Labs & Dashes.com twitter @anildash

One of the Panellists for “Break Through Bloggers”

Baratunde Thurston, TheOnion, JackandJillPolitics,Science Discovery, Comedian @baratunde

One of the Panellists for “Break Through Bloggers”

We’re hoping to get Tameiko Davis blogging and then speaking at next year’s conference which will be in LA. Blogging has been around for over 30+ years and has given most of us a voice and a space to be seen/heard, which creates more the current micro-conversations through online/mobile social networking/media spaces. Having attending this event makes my commitment even stronger towards building our online communities through all avenues such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and Blog! 2011 will ROCK

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

I Have Blog Envy - Guest Blogger: Amanda Papp

2010-06-23T09:22:00.001-07:00

Amanda Papp is a colleague of mine and will be one of my guest bloggers. In her own words: “I am a Talent Sourcer who supports Microsoft’s Bing team. I am taking baby steps with social media; currently I am at the toddler stage. I am a Wife to 1, Mama of 4 and love Rodeos!”

I have blog envy. Why is it that my co-workers can find interesting things to bring to the blogosphere? Often times, it can be the most mundane subjects yet, my creative colleagues can make the topic compelling, thought provoking and fascinating.

I remember back in 2005, I first learned of this foreign term called “blog”. I seriously thought it was a joke, a fad, something that would be forgotten about in a blink of an eye…much like a sitcom that doesn’t make it to a 2^nd season.

Fast forward to 2007 and “blog”, “bloggers”, and “blogging” started to have presence. People knew what those names meant. I attempted to start my own blog then. I found it stressful trying to find cool things to write about. What if people thought I was boring? What if no one commented, on what I thought, was very important insight that I wanted the world to know? Alas, my blogging “effort” or lack thereof, came to a halt in 2008. I had “bloggers block”.

We are halfway into 2010 and here I am, once again, intrigued by the blogosphere and the impact it has on social networking. I guess you can say I’m trying to get back on the blog wagon. Wish me luck.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Are We Really Friends?

2010-06-16T11:22:00.001-07:00

Click here to download:

Are_We_Really_Friends_.mp4 (37016 KB)

We use facebook to "connect" and "keep-in-touch" however do we really know everyone that we accept as facebook friends? Have you said anything to anyone who isnt in your immediate circle? Do you really know who those 200+ connected friends? Take a moment and say hi, share some news, share some knowledge, share some fun! Stand by what you say! Let's get connected authentically!

Posted via web from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Kay's Bi-Weekly Classified Ads

2010-06-15T13:03:00.001-07:00

Microsoft’s Advertiser and Publisher Solutions & Online Audience Business Groups are two intelligent, passionate groups. As a social media enthusiast and a Talent Recruiter, I am looking for world-class talent to add to our Microsoft family. 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. We know that people are the key ingredient to our success. I’m creating a bi-weekly “Talent Wanted” post to this site in hopes to cultivate interest, followers and get some hires! The current talent that I am looking for is listed below.). Ideally, you should have at least three years of experience in digital advertising or online media. We want someone with the passion to drive our mutual interests. If you are interested in learning more, then tell us more about you. My “Kay’s Bi-Weekly Classifieds” process is pretty basic. Click on the job title, read about the position, and then apply…nothing fancyJ.

Sr. Product Manager-Data Integrity, APS

Sr. Manager, Brand Marketplace Management, APS

Sr. Product Planner

Product Manager

Sr. Product Planner -Targeting

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Kay’s Bi-Weekly Job Classifieds

2010-06-08T10:32:00.001-07:00

“Kay’s Bi-Weekly Classifieds” process is pretty basic. Click on the job title, read about the position, and then apply…nothing fancyJ.

Sr Product Manager-Data Integrity, APS

Sr. Manager, Brand Marketplace Management, APS

Sr. Product Planner

Product Manager

Sr. Product Planner -Targeting

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Diversity Recruiting Initiatives Via Execellance

2010-06-04T10:20:00.001-07:00

For the first time in my staffing career, I'm working for a company that not only recognizes and values their employees, but gives those employees the tools to succeed in defining their mission, outreach, and activities. But what I am most proud of that Microsoft values diversity and a responsible corporate citizen that puts those values into practice. When I joined Microsoft, I asked a colleague whether there was a group for Gay and Lesbians. Her reply was “ABSOLUTELY!” and proceeded to show me the varieties communities within Microsoft. These communities are involved and participate in launching a mentorship programs, inviting outside speakers from each community, planning socials or educational/cultural activities, and contributing back to society through community service. We actively encourage our members to network with each other, so that we are all helping ourselves to further develop and succeed in our careers.

As a part of staffing, it is my mission to attract, recruit, and retain top talent to Microsoft and establish Microsoft as a top company to work for all diverse communities. As part of my efforts of the BING Staffing Team, I focus on networking and sharing of ideas, and participate in all social media communities. Not only does Microsoft support all these initiatives, they actively encourage it! We are continuing to build a strong internal communities with a series of community outreach, social and cultural activities and have also started to build a community externally with other professional organizations. It is great to be part of a company that not only speaks the message of diversity, but proves it with its actions.

It’s an honor to have received 2 Drive Awards (Diversity Recruiting Initiatives Via Excellence) 1 last year and 1 this year! It’s awesome to be recognized in such away. I am proud to be a Microsoftie! Thank you for giving me a platform for my passion in recruiting.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Short & Sweet: Setting Your Social Media Policy

2010-05-28T14:45:00.001-07:00

It may sound like a pain to do, but taking the time to write out a social media policy for your company can be the best thing you do for both company and those who participates in social media. A comprehensive social media policy is a roadmap that protects the business and their employees. Most businesses choose to be proactive with their social media policies and layout the groundwork up front and all at once. Others choose to develop a working document that evolves as the company grows. One approach isn’t necessarily better than the other, however, it’s a good idea to apply a few key elements to ensure that your social media policy is well structured and effective.

1. Clear & Fair

Social media policies should be clear and fair so that people will read and remember them. Save the fluff and get right to the point.

2. Expectations

We all utilize some form of social media each and every day. Chances are that clients, customers and even potential clients are watching what you do and your employees. This doesn’t mean that a strong hold should be put on the employees, but you should make sure that common sense is exercised. Information on the web travels quickly and once it’s out there – it’s out there. Think twice before hitting the send button.

3. Educate, Educate, Educate

Make sure that everyone is aware of what social media campaigns are underway, where you have a presence and what communication you’re sharing with the public. For example, designating specific internal correspondence as ‘must-read’ can alert your staff to press releases about new product launches, promotions and terminations and other company-related data.

4. Protect Assets

Set-up guidelines that share what employees can and can’t mention in social media contexts. This could be anything from trade secrets, proprietary technology or even sensitive documents. Provide examples if needed.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Know Your Truth

2010-05-26T08:39:00.001-07:00

— Oscar Wilde once said “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken” This made me start thinking about knowing your own truth and celebrating who you are as an individuals. I know for myself it’s not hiding of who I am or changing things about me just so I can fit in. There's a big difference between being you and being rude. You might have your opinions, dreams, and preferences, but so does everyone else. You shouldn't disrespect people who disagree with you; they have the privilege of being themselves just as you do. Conversely, don't agree with something you honestly don't think is right; just don't try to force your opinions on other people. Being your weird, goofy self has some ups and downs. Some people might think you're weird, call you names behind your back, or laugh at you. But by far the majority of people will have the utmost respect for you because you are brave enough to stand up to these things. People want to make friends with people who have something special about them: whether they make them feel good has a different sense of humor, or even something as simple as being a great parent. If everyone on the planet had the same attitude or personality, the world would be a boring one and I personally would be making plans on visiting mars. Don't lose yourself when you're with other friends. Be yourself. Don't be someone else so other people will like you; in the end, you would end up hurting other people and losing yourself. Make sure that you can show the same "you" to everyone consistently. Do what's right. You won’t truly be yourself unless you can face yourself. Most of the time when people in general perceive you a certain way, it means you don't fit in to your society. Whether you want to fit in or not is up to you, but you are only setting yourself up for trouble when you neglect society's ways. (That is, unless you decide to live online for the rest of your life.) Don't deny yourself of the truth by saying it's everyone else's problem and not yours. You'll only be hurting yourself in the long run. How I try to live by: my life, my style, myself

Define Yourself – Can't be yourself if you don't know, understand, and accept yourself first. It should be your first goal to find this out. Try to take time out for yourself and think about your life and choices. Try to think about what kind of things you would or wouldn't like to do, and act accordingly; finding out through trial and error helps more than you might think it does

Stop Caring How People Perceive You - It really doesn't matter. It's hard to be yourself when you're caught up in wondering "Do they think I add value? Do they think I'm fat? Do they think I'm stupid?" To be yourself, you've got to let go of these concerns and just let your behavior flow, with only your consideration of others as a filter — not their consideration of you. This could go around in a vicious cycle trying to please people; it's totally pointless in the end, and it leaves you exhausted.

Honesty - We’re all imperfect, growing, learning human beings. If you feel ashamed or insecure about any aspect of yourself — and you feel that you have to hide those parts of you, whether physically or emotionally — then you have to come to terms with that and learn to convert your so-called flaws into individualistic quirks. Be honest with yourself, but don't beat yourself up; apply this philosophy to others, as well.

Chill Out - Stop worrying about the worst that could happen, especially in social situations. So what if you fall flat on your face? Or get something in your teeth? Learn to laugh at yourself both when it happens and afterwards. . It's also a quality for someone to be able to laugh at themselves and not take themselves too seriously! Besides, laughing is a great stress relief.

Express Your Individuality - Whether it's your sense of humor, or even your manner of speaking, if your preferred way of doing something strays from the mainstream, then be proud of it... unless it's destructive to yourself or others. Be a character, not a type. 7

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Social Media VS Social Networking

2010-05-25T21:36:00.001-07:00

The differences between social media and social networking are just about as vast as today and yesterday geez! Indeed, there are some key differences and knowing what they are can help you gain a better understanding on how to leverage them for your brand and business.

1. By Definition

Social Media is a way to share information with a broad audience. Everyone has the opportunity to create and expand. All you really need is an Internet connection and you’re off to the races.

Social Networking is an act of engagement. Groups of people with common interests, or like-minds, associate together on social networking sites and build relationships through their communities.

2. Style of Communication

Social media is more about communication channel. It’s a format that delivers your message. Like tv, radio or mazines, social media isn’t a location that you meet. Social Media is simply a system that disseminates information to others.

Now, with Social Networking communications is a two-ways. Depending on the topic, subject matter or atmosphere, people congregate to join others with similar experiences and backgrounds. A conversation is the core of social networking and its through them relationships are gained.

3. Investment

It can be difficult to obtain numbers for determining the ROI from Social Media. How do you put a numeric value on the buzz and excitement of online conversations about your brand, product or service? This doesn’t mean that ROI is null, it just means that the tactics used to measure are different. For instance, influence, or the depth of conversation and what the conversations are about, can be used to gauge ROI.

Social Networking’s ROI is a bit more obvious. If the overall traffic to your website is on the rise and you’re diligently increasing your social networking base, you probably could attribute the rise in online visitors to your social efforts.

4. Responses

Social Media is hard work and it takes time. You can’t automate individual conversations and unless you’re a well-known and established brand, building a following doesn’t happen overnight. Social Media is definitely a marathon and not a sprint that needs much conditioning.

Social Networking is direct communication between you and the people that you choose connect with, your conversations are richer, more meaningful and more personal. Your network exponentially grows as you meet and get introduced to others.

5. Big No-No’s

A big no-no on with Social Media is manipulating comments, likes, diggs, stumbles or other data, for your own benefit (personal or business). Asking friends, family, co-workers or anyone else to cast a vote just to cast it, doesn’t do anyone much good for you and it can become a PR nightmare if word leaks out about being dishonest.

Social Networking, you can tell your friends, colleagues, etc about your new business or blog and discuss how to make it a success. The conversations that you have can convert many people into trusted fans, so investing the time is worth it.

Social Media and Social Networking do have some similarities, but they really aren’t the same. Knowing that they’re two different marketing concepts can make a difference in how you position yourself or business going forward.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Using Social Media To Find a Job - Guess Blogger: Carmen Hudson, CEO of Tweetajob.com

2010-05-16T12:35:00.001-07:00

Tacoma public library

View more presentations from Tweetajob.

Posted via web from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

RecruiterOnTheGo Saturdays Ramblings

2010-05-15T11:49:00.001-07:00

Click here to download:

Saturday%20Ramblings.MP4.mp4 (13372 KB)

Posted via web from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Should I Become A Mentor?"

2010-05-15T07:20:00.001-07:00

A Checklist To Help You

As you consider the possibility of serving as a mentor, it is time to stop and ask "Should I become a mentor?" I designed a checklist below to help you out. The checklist provides a description of the qualities that are most often thought to be conducive to successful mentoring. Successful mentors generally have many of the qualities listed here, along with other valuable qualities that are not listed but that are unique to them as individuals. Space is provided at the conclusion of this checklist for respondents to add those qualities that represent their unique or special assets to mentoring.
To use the checklist, respondents should read each statement and place an X in the appropriate column which represents the degree to which the statement characterizes the way the respondent sees themself. After ranking each statement (1) Strongly Agree that the statement is representative; (2) Agree; (3) Neutral; (4) Disagree; and (5) Strongly Disagree, respondents may reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses. There is no single "ideal profile,” but respondents who possess many of these qualities are likely to serve well as mentors. If one has serious doubts about the strength of their own qualifications, it might be useful to get a second opinion from a colleague who knows you well..

Strongly = 1 Agree = 2 Neutral = 3 Disagree Agree = 4 Strongly Disagree Agree = 5

1. I see myself as being people-oriented; ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

I like and enjoy working with other

professionals.

2. I am a good listener and respect my ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

colleagues.

3. I am sensitive to the needs and feelings ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

of others.

4. I recognize when others need support or ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

independence.

5. I want to contribute to the professional ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

development of others and to share

what I have learned.

6. I am able to support and help without ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

smothering, parenting or taking charge.

7. I see myself generally as flexible and ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

willing to adjust my personal schedule to

meet the needs of someone else.

8. I usually am patient and tolerant when ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

teaching someone.

9. I am confident and secure in my knowledge ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

of the field and make an effort to remain

up-to-date.

10. Others look to me for information about my ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

subject matter and methods that I use.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Facebook Pet Hates

2010-05-13T12:28:00.001-07:00

I will be posting my friend’s blog occasionally here to share his insights and wisdom! He is someone to definitely follow on twitter, facebook, linkedin and of course his blog!

About Aren Grimshaw

"My Friend, Aren lives in UK, where he trains and advises small to medium businesses (SMBs), public bodies and charities on getting the most from Social Media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. He has worked with a wide range of organizations in his region and trained more than 700 businesses in the effective use of Social Media. "

Earlier today I must admit I lost my cool for a few moments and published three status updates over the course of a minute outlining my three top ‘Facebook Pet Hates’. This quick run of updates followed a conversation with someone in Starbucks who told me that one company, responsible for many abuses on behalf of themselves and their clients, was now offering help and support to their clients in this area.

Copied in below is the three updates posted over Facebook for anyone not already connected to me on the platform to read. If you or your company have been advised to follow any of the techniques or practices listed below can I suggest you re-evaluate your relationship with them and look elsewhere for advice – they aren’t doing you any favors!

Facebook Pet Hate No. 1: Companies using personal profiles for their business on Facebook.
..that’s what Facebook Pages are for. It’s against the Facebook Rights and Responsibilities to do it (4.4 Registration and Account Security -You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain), provides no opportunity to measure interactions / other statistics needed to measure effectiveness and should it get ’suspended’ you lose all your hard efforts to date.

Facebook Pet Hate No. 2: Companies talking relentlessly about own achievements or brand.
Facebook’s a ’social’ platform, not a broadcast medium. You’re competing with 5bn bits of content per week & 60m+ updates on Facebook alone – occasional updates to highlight your work are fine but if the only one talking about you is you, you’re doing something wrong! Aim to connect, build a conversation, trigger debate but please don’t broadcast at me.

FB Pet Hate No. 3: Companies setting up Facebook Pages, Groups or Pages just because the competition does.
If you don’t know what you’re aiming to achieve by being on Facebook or understand the potential return, how will you know if it’s a success? Lack of result & giving up will follow – leading many to say there is no business benefit in being on Facebook.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

The Sourcing 7 Social Event @ Twist

2010-05-11T14:40:00.001-07:00

http://www.holytorres.com/Parties/SSS20100506/12143089_GQkaZ#863596117_gjxmY

Hello –

Again, The Sourcing 7 wants to say a HUGE THANK YOU for coming out and socializing! What a way to kick off our SIG, under NWRA.

We will be gathering & creating our agenda. Once we finalize the details we will work with NWRA to keep everyone posted! We invite you to

Please share your experience on our facebook fanpage (The Sourcing 7). Also, Thank you Holy Torres for the wonderful photos! Stay Tuned!

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Social Influences Gets Real

2010-05-07T11:56:00.001-07:00

The Internet has fundamentally changed how we communicate with one another. There is a growing demand for the ability to connect to others in a more humanistic way by using the leading tools in social media and not allow the tools to do all the socializing. In order to function, we need to encourage social exchanges and social influences due to faster rates technological changes. Social Influences is how we can start working and sharing our knowledge to become better champions. Companies should focus on enabling champions to produce results by supporting learning through social networks. Trusted relationships are powerful in getting things done in our different work forces. It’s the trust that is essential of social influence. Just because we have the technical networks does not mean that learning will automatically happen. Our communications without trust is just noise, not accepted and never taken serious. Let’s look at how we can create, change our social influences with the base of trust on how we can share the knowledge as staffing professionals.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Problems Being The Popular One

2010-04-30T13:57:00.001-07:00

I am finding recruiters, including myself talking about the quality of social/mobile recruiting that is starting to look more like “self promoting” and “abusing the freedom of expression”. Don’t get me wrong, I truly believe in sharing and freedom of speech. But why does this come with a price of wanting to be the popular one?

The other day I was chatting with someone and they shared with me and I quote “I want to be popular like you” (me). I was thrown by that statement, which prompts this blog post J. I wasn’t really excited to hear this, because I believe that anyone can (and should) be heard.

Most recruiters, from many conversations I have had, say that it is popularity that gets you heard; seriously folks are we still in high school? For a very long time, I too felt that I didn’t have anything to share, or anyone really cared about what I have to say. I mean who am I? A nobody? However, that all changed when I had the opportunity to speak at SourceCon 2008, (thank you - Leslie O’Connor for believing in me,) and I was given a platform to present what I was passionate about; with this opportunity I found my voice!

This helped me to realize that we all have voices in this industry and that we need to start speaking up!

The real problem with popularity-driven people is not the existence of their popularity; it’s the lack of examination and evaluation of the fuzzy lines between perspective and truth. The real problem with popularity-driven people is that they reduce both the breadth and depth of the sources, topics and viewpoints being expressed across our communities. Popularity-driven people water down the value to those who are trying to find their own voices. These voices need to be heard and to be encouraged to develop new findings and new ideas that can grow within our industry. We shouldn’t have to feel that we need to be popular to be heard!

As social media becomes integrated into our world of staffing, it enforces that now is the time to build a level of karma high enough to break through the controlling moderator hierarchy that somehow has been growing for too long in the our world of recruiting. Social Media removes many of the layers we feel to be popular and gives an individual an opportunity to grow, and, contribute their voice in recruiting.

What have I done? I can l only speak for myself, I have used most of the popularity-driven people as mentors and found my own voice without feeling the need to be popular to be heard! Amazing self empowerment realization came to me; that I do have value to add to the recruiting industry, and which brought rewards in finding and surrounding myself with like minded folks who wish to continue to give back.

Your focus should be on what you can give back to the community that you want to build, and recognizing that in doing so you will gain the popularity you seek, and in return feel proud, and valid!

Rather than broadcast to a few “popular people” that you think matters and to make you popular, you should be broadcasting to your peers that share your ideas; and social media should be used to help YOU help other people to discover fresh, new, voices and find what matters and NOT worrying about being popular!

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Using Boolean Searching On Twitter

2010-04-29T18:03:00.001-07:00

Twitter Search www.search.twitter.com

Twitter search is fairly straightforward. Because it is real time Boolean Searching String capable however, don't expect to get number of results since that's fairly pointless in this situation. Just expect to get results from the last few seconds back, and you get the full tweet.

Twitter Search defaults to AND, and it recognizes the “OR” option, and assumes that “NOT” is a search term, although the minus “-“sign works in place of it. Unfortunately phrase searching isn't an option which is a huge bummer, except that there is if you use the advanced search option.

Search Using Hashtags (#) is a useful option. How do we use “#” hashtags Kay?, you may ask. Well, a hashtag such as #sourcecon is a neat and easy way to collate a series of tweets together on one subject, such as the sourcecon conference for example. A search on said hashtag will then result in a series of tweets discussing that subject. This works in both basic and advanced search in the same way, with the same results.

People Search Options Both search options allow search by an individual with the function “from:” so from:Jaxx_Magee provides a result listing all of my tweets, though you could get the same information from my profile page. However, you can then add in other search terms to limit results to my tweets that also contain a particular word. It's possible to search for tweets to a particular person, so to:insert your handle here shows tweets to that handle and adding in more terms limits the search to those tweets that also contain the searched keyword. Finally in this section it's possible to search for references to an individual using the @name option, so @Jaxx_Magee will list replies to me but also Retweets (RT) as well.

Location Search Options The concept is simple, working in both basic/advanced search, you can run a search for your keyword, a location, and a distance. A search for internet near:seattle within:15mi will provide results for the keyword in a radius of 15 miles of Seattle. However, if we run the search globally such as near:londonuk within:15mi we get a response based on London but a some searches results will not find the geocode you are looking for. While not exactly broken, I would have to say that searching by location is not perfect.

Search By Date This option lists Tweets since a particular date using the function since:2009 03 11 (note the global dating system if you're not from here) or before a particular date using the function until:2009 03 12 This works well in both basic and advanced search.

Attitude Searching This is very cool - very simple concept based on the emoticons “:)”for positive, :( for negative and ? asking a question. Unfortunately it's not possible to search for other symbols such as $ or % which is a real shame. This is in my opinion pure fun search to break up your day

RSS Feeds Both basic and advanced search options allow for RSS feeds for any search, which is clearly useful. However, only the advanced search option allows for results to be tweeted in turn, for no good reason as far as I can see, other than the discontinuity between search engines.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Get Cloud Ready with Windows Azure

2010-03-30T12:04:00.001-07:00

Windows Azure
	!

The cloud is everywhere and here at Microsoft we’re flying high with our cloud computing release, Windows Azure. As most of you saw at the Professional Developers Conference,

the reaction to Windows Azure has been nothing short of “wow” – and based on your feedback, we’ve organized this special, all-day Windows Azure Firestarter event to help you take full advantage of the cloud.

Maybe you've already watched a webcast, attended a recent MSDN Event on the topic, or done your own digging on Azure. Well, here's your chance to go even deeper. This one-of-a-kind event will focus on helping developers get ‘cloud ready’ with concrete details and hands-on tactics. We’ll start by revealing Microsoft’s strategic vision for the cloud, and then offer an end-to-end view of the Windows Azure platform from a developer’s perspective. We’ll also talk about migrating your data and existing applications (regardless of platform) onto the cloud. We’ll finish up with an open panel and lots of time to ask questions.

Seattle, WA - Windows Azure

Tuesday, April 06, 2010
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM Pacific Time

Microsoft Commons - The Mixer Building
15255 NE 40th St
Redmond WA 98052

Seating for the live event is limited, so register today. If you can't join us for the in-person event, register for the online event experience.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Mean People Suck

2010-03-24T12:19:00.001-07:00

I think they should just stay home and not infect others with their nastiness. I could tell you the not-so-long, but mostly likely boring story that inspired this, but how about I don't, you just pretend to know the particulars. Or, better yet, insert your own story into the narrative and go from there? Regardless, mean, nasty people should just stay home. I mean, Clinton/Gore created this movement called the wonderful world wide web - certainly people could find a way to live in their house without ever coming into contact with the masses of humanity they hate? I say, if you hate humanity- leave it and stay home all-alone. Become a recluse. And hope that someone finds your body before you turn into a zombie.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

New Works Of Mine

2010-03-22T18:28:00.001-07:00

Posted via web from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Videos, Blogging and Social Networking Oh My! Discovering My Own Geekiness: Part Two

2010-03-21T17:29:00.001-07:00

SourceCon Conference 2010, San Diego California

Recruiters are turning out in droves to the online space, making their marks with videoing, blogging, social networking and other creative outlets. I was observing at this years SourceCon Conference on how the online venues have changed with the increasing prevalence of recruiters using blogs with photos, videos, social networks, etc raising interesting conversations around how we are to “behaving” (or “not behaving”) ourselves to the billions who comb through the internet.

The wave of the “recruiter new world order” has crashed down, and many of you are now swirling around in it of being overwhelmed by where to start and how to stand out from those who have been doing it for years? The question lingers in your head, “Should I have a blog with a picture of myself or videos of myself just talking non-script format of what ever comes to my head?” is it passé. Then the question, “Is it ethical for a recruiter to publicly engage in social networking when representing a company? Questions on rules of engagement? Right?

I’m a principal sourcer with a passion for social networking and a blog, video writer/maker. I have enjoyed cultivating my online presence for almost 10 years now, writing about topics that resonate with people and more than ever connecting with others via social networking. As this rapid change in the online space for recruiters is unfolding, I’ve been curiously observing and have taken mental note of a few things perhaps helpful to others who are considering jumping into the “swirl” with the rest of us geeks!

Here are some of my observations around the “upsides” and “downsides” to recruiters having the sort of online life I’ve described above:

Upside

The Perfect Topic For Blogging

All you need is to take 10 minutes to set your choice of blog and connect it to your social networks sites and you can clickity-clack away. Topics should be based on what you are passion about. We all have passion and it is HIGHLY recommended NOT writing about your job! People connect better when they can relate and with billions of folks on the Internet you are bound to have readers. Limit yourself to 1 paragraph, and you’ll be amazed on how hard it is to just write one paragraph! For me, I wanted to become a better writer so writing has been an enjoyable supplement to my profession. Be humble, accept people’s opinion and engage with them on your site!

Embrace Social Networking

It can be fun and educational for all. I have met some of the most wonderful and interesting people from all over the world this way, including many sourcers like me who are doing “their thing” online. It’s like a collective knowledge base of helpful links, interesting ideas and thought provoking quotes that make you go, “I did not know this…”

Downside

Watch out for the BLACK Holes

Most of us know just by having internet access that there are endless potential “black holes” while surfing. They can serve to distract and take you away from more important tasks such as work or family obligations. Social networking in and of itself can be the worst of them all with so many interesting people to check out, exchange information and tweet with!

What’s Really Important

Recently, seeing a number of friends struggling with being consumed with social networking, blogging, videoing and being “out there,” it’s clear that there is great potential for any of us to let it consume our lives in an unhelpful manner. My first love is networking face-to-face.

Though there’s much more options for recruiters than there ever have been TRUE this isn’t for everyone. There are likely many traditional recruiters “old schoolers” as most call themselves who want nothing to do with all of this “waste of time.” Like in life, different things resonate with different people. I’ve enjoyed the synchronicity of the two parts of my recruiting-related world, distinct yet connected.

It works for me.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Bing Recruiting Event in Mountain View, CA!

2010-03-19T14:28:00.001-07:00

We are holding an event in Mountain View, CA

For Local Candidates Only!

If you are interested in a challenging role, working with cutting edge technology, and innovation, please read on!

If you meet the skills criteria and are open to relocating to Bellevue, WA

send my totally awesome recruiter your updated resume to: eugenia.sawa@microsoft.com.

Relocation services to Bellevue, WA are provided upon hire.

We are hiring for numerous positions all of which require these skills:

A Minimum of a Bachelor's Degree in CS or a related field
At least 5 years of solid and professional development experience
Strong Coding and Debugging Skills

With Expertise in one or more of the areas below:
- Solid experience in designing and developing infrastructure, tools and automation
- Aptitude in performance, validation, availability, capacity verification, recoverability,

and reliability analysis of complex large scale distributed systems and online services
- Experience with the design and development of online services, web service integration,

or online/web API development
- Data Analysis, Statistics, Data Mining, Web Mining, Data Warehousing, OLAP, Business Intelligenc

Customer Intelligence (CI),Databases, User Modeling, or Information Retrieval
- Experience with Statistical Tools such as R, SAS, Tableau, or SPSS

Download now or watch on posterous

Bing Recruiting Event.mp4 (4020 KB)

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

And I Thought I was A Geek: Part One: Discovery Of Geekness

2010-03-17T21:18:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend I attended and was one of the Speakers at SourceCon 2010 Conference.

What is SourceCon?

It was becoming an urgent need in the recruiting industry to have a conference that was focused on the art (some say science) of Sourcing and Researching – SourceCon was born and launched in 2007. In today’s challenges a growing need in specialization of identifying and attracting talent. This specialized skill is no longer a solely owned function of the full lifecycle recruiters NOR considered only a junior role in both Agency and Corporate Recruiting departments.

The Sourcers, Researchers, Name Generator sand Candidate Developers have emerged as the new subject matter experts (SMEs) to help find talent in varies places out in the world wide web.

They are the industry’s new heroes whose skills and expertise can no longer be confined to a side conversation at some of the national recruiting conferences.

SourceCon intentionally set out to be different from all the traditional conferences. They wanted a venue where you don’t have to feel like you are constantly being pitched and sold on a slide deck or discussion by the latest and greatest ( although this could be worked on, because we still have this happening, a hard habit that is being gradually broken). It was and is our intent that you spend your quality time and money on a conference that is bursting with opportunities to learn, share and collaborate with your peers, luminaries and industry leaders.

There is a lot to share, so I have decided to break it out in a few sections

SourceCon Tools I Love & Discovered

TokBox - Free Video Chat and Video Messaging www.tokbox.com Free video chat and video mail to anyone in the world without downloads or hassles. Video call your AIM, MSN, GMail and Yahoo buddies. Send video mail to any e-mail address.

The answer to your interview questions • VoiceScreener: Improve your hiring process voicescreener.com VoiceScreener lets you use your phone and a simple web-based dashboard to create and distribute custom, recorded phone interviews.

Xobni - Outlook Plugin to Search People, Email, and Attachments Instantly www.xobni.com Xobni is an Outlook plugin that helps you search and organize your inbox. Download Xobni's Outlook plugin instantly.

Welcome to HootSuite - The Professional Twitter Client www.hootsuite.com HootSuite is the professional Twitter client. With HootSuite, you can manage multiple Twitter profiles, pre-schedule tweets, and measure your success.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Bing Recruiting Event in Mountain View, CA!

2010-03-17T15:52:00.001-07:00

BING Recruiting Event
check it out
	Watch the video and leave a comment!

We are holding an event in Mountain View, CA

For Local Candidates Only!

If you are interested in a challenging role, working with cutting edge technology, and innovation, please read on!

If you meet the skills criteria and are open to relocating to Bellevue, WA please send my totally awesome recruiter your updated resume to: eugenia.sawa@microsoft.com.

Relocation services to Bellevue, WA are provided upon hire.
Skills: We are hiring for numerous positions all of which require:

-A Minimum of a Bachelor's Degree in CS or a related field
-At least 5 years of solid and professional development experience

With expertise in one or more of the areas below:

-Experience with online services, web service integration, or online/web API development
-Strong passion for quality and Unit Testing/TDD
-Data Analysis, Statistics, Data Mining, Web Mining, Data Warehousing, OLAP, Business Intelligence (BI), Customer Intelligence (CI),Databases, User Modeling, or Information Retrieval
-Experience with Statistical Tools such as R, SAS, Tableau, or SPSS

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Ada Lovelace Day

2010-03-11T11:34:00.001-08:00

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging (videologging, podcasting, comic drawing etc.!) to draw attention to the achievements of women in technology and science. It doesn’t matter how new or old your blog is, what gender you are, what language you blog in, or what you normally blog about – everyone is invited. Just sign the pledge below (click ‘pledge’ after you have completed the reCaptcha) and publish your blog post any time on Wednesday 24th March 2010. http://findingada.com

I know really awesome women who should be participating and if you know some yourself! Spread the word! This is a great opportunity!

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

AFTER THOUGHTS: Twitter 140TC Seattle March 8th, 2010

2010-03-09T19:10:00.001-08:00

I am just saying………

I was so excited about the Twitter Conference here in Seattle! I went to the first one in California last year.

The Seattle Conference started at 8:30am and ended about 6:00pm. If I were to grade it I would give it a C+. Now I know most people might think that is pretty harsh, but for me and experiencing the California one, I am sorry, but it wasn’t as good. I certainly appreciate the efforts on bring it here, but the information, format, conversations, and yes even the keynote speakers were weak.

I tried to find something good to write about it and really struggled with what stood out for me and honestly I couldn’t really find anything. I was hoping to hear about more tools, developers to showcase their apps, branding ideas, and with the cost of the event and taking a full day off work it was a big disappointment for me.

Although it’s cool to see that I tweeted the most during the conference, I just wish my tweets were more about what I was learning instead of what I wasn’t learning.

http://blog.20dbs.com/140-twitter-conference-seattle-recap-140tc-analysis/2010/03/

What I DID Enjoyed:

Afternoon Discussion Panel: The Media Panel: Social Media Stories from the Front Lines

Panelists and Handles: Monica Guzman, Linda Thomas, Cliff DesPeaux, Jenni Hogan, Moderator: Sean Demery

Keynote Speaker: Dom Sagolla helped create Twitter while working for Odeo in 2006 and the Author of “@thebook 140 Characters”

The location was awesome Bell Harbor International Conference Center

The Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, Drinks was very good.

The speakers/discussions felt more as if it’s was a “coffee chat” and honestly the energy was low and less exciting, maybe because there was reports of snow outside.

The most exciting part of the conference was when #Mashable RT #HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes announced that its popular Twitter application will be integration with both #MySpace and #Foursquare.

It was amazing how fast it took off, but at the same time… it was very annoying to have it take over the conference conversation, luckily it was at the tail end of the day!

There was a “tweet-up” (a afterhours twitter social, for the 2 who never used twitter before) after the conference, but I decided not to go based on what I experienced at the conference it felt already a tweet-up but without the alcohol.

At the end of the day, I was bummed out, although I am hoping for the 2 people who never used twitter before, got something out of it and joined.

Question? Will I stop going to Twitter Conference 140C – HELL NO, I just hope that the bar will be raised to meet the demands of the experienced twitter users out there!

I am just saying……..

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Total Recruiting Symposium: Seattle

2010-03-07T20:25:00.001-08:00

Do you keep reading about great recruiting and sourcing industry conferences and wondered if they'd ever bring those world-class presenters and best practices to Washington? That way, you wouldn't have to deal with the costs and lost travel time. Not a webinar, but a real, in-person event. Well, it's finally here: the Seattle Total Recruiting Symposium.

What Will You Learn? Sourcing and Recruiting from Top to Bottom.

Join us for the only learning event that explores sourcing and recruiting strategy from the executive perspective, the management perspective and the individual contributor perspective. Learn the synergy between Internet and telephone sourcing methods working together to solve real, live, challenging requisitions. Get strategic insights and best practices to create an in-house research function for your organization. Learn more about this and other Total Recruiting Symposium events, and register today at: http://aces.arbita.net/symposium/2010/wa

Who Should Attend?

- Executives interested in forging a strategic connection between workforce planning and excellence in the recruiting and sourcing function.

- HR, Staffing and Recruiting Managers working to prioritize their sourcing and recruiting efforts.

- Sourcers and Recruiters hungry for professional development and information about tools and techniques that really work.

Place and Time

Starbucks Pacific NW / Seattle, WA April 6, 2010

Tue, 04/06/2010 - 8:00am - 5:00pm

Symposium Timezone: US/Pacific

Shally is offering my colleagues from Microsoft, Amazon, Providence, actually anyone who likes me J this discount code: [SYM4610NWRA] (or write back to Shally @ shally.steckerl@arbita.net about group rates). Simply enter that code at checkout and save $400 off registration at http://aces.arbita.net/symposium/2010/wa

Shally also writes a blog post about this event here: http://aces.arbita.net/blog/recruiting-game-changer-learning-event-coming-your-area-2010. He would love to know what you think about all this. Drop me or him a note and let us know or leave a comment on his blog. Or just drop him a note if you have any questions, he would love to hear back from you!

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Top 8 Skills for Successful Partnering with Recruiters - Part 2

2010-03-03T17:37:00.001-08:00

5. Transparency – Recruiters will ask straightforward questions, but are sometimes met with less-than-forthcoming answers. Why is this? Well, some say because candidates become shy about circumstances in their past that didn’t go so well. Here is some straight advice: better that the recruiter know what may have happened now, than having to do damage control later. If there’s a issues in your career, don’t hide it. Step up and discuss it with your recruiter; let us work with you. We can help you frame the situation for the hiring manager, if asked questions about it during your interview. Maybe you were affected by the economy and was terminated. Fine. But let’s look at what you learned from the experience. Have you improved as a result of it? Or maybe you walked out for a reason. Why? Or maybe it’s something else entirely. In any case, it’s better that we know upfront on a sensitive situation before your get too far along in the recruiting process, so that we’re not blindsided later if the hiring manager finds out about your history somehow before we do. It happens from time to time, and it’s feels like a pie in the face for us recruiters. Be Up Front!

6. Courtesy – When reaching out to us and you’re asking for our help, then please don’t treat us like “the help.” If you must, at least insult us behind our backs—not cool, but fine. Hiring managers come to us for a variety of reasons, and they know how best to work with us. It is unacceptable for job seekers to display their annoyance that they have to “go through” a recruiter to be submitted for a position. Ask yourself this question – “Would I rather have a recruiter do their best to offer me insight into the position that may not be found in the job description and have them give me feedback on my resume or interviewing prepping OR would I rather just take my chances by blindly sending a resume to into the database in hopes that someone will see my name on a piece of paper?" We are here to help you, so play nice in the sandbox.

7. Patience - It’s not personal, it’s the truth. Most recruiters are working on multiple reqs from 15 to 30 open positions or more at any given time, some may be new and others may be drawing to a close. There are days we are instantly accessible to take your call and have a long chat about your desired career path; and other days we’re in back-to-back interviews or meetings from when we arrive until when we go home. Please be patient with us about getting back to you. Recruiters are not ignoring you, just working on many multiple projects. However, if you don’t hear back from us in a day or two, then please follow up with another voice message or email. You are important.

8. Humor – Yes, we’re asking a lot. Being friendly and having a smile in your voice goes a long way. It's important, not only in working through the understandably stressful career transition you’re undertaking, but also in making a positive impression with the hiring team. Everyone wants to work with happy co-workers. No one looks forward to working with ol' grump the next office. So approach us and our client hiring team with a smile and the ability to laugh at things.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Top 8 Skills For Successful Partnering with Recruiters

2010-03-02T14:13:00.001-08:00

1. Realism - Recruiters are one way to get into your choice company when looking for a new job. However, they are not nor should they be the only way you take. My advice is that you work multiple recruiters and be honest about it, because the recruiters will find out eventually. Get involved and build your social network, and be active in professional associations. As recruiters, we’ll do our very best to find the best match and create that win/win scenario. Ultimately it’s up to you to make things happen.

2. Candidness & Prioritization - Discuss your priorities for a new role with your recruiter. Be candid. You won’t hurt our feelings. We’re not the hiring manager, we’re your partner throughout the process. If you had to make a choice today, what’s more important to you: money or location, title or responsibility, growth opportunities or work–life balance? If you don’t know, then we can’t help you on these choices, because everyone’s choices aren’t the same. However, we can ask questions to help you decide for yourself. This is one of the most important exercises to do when you first even think of looking for a job. Without knowing your own priorities, you may jump out of the frying pan and into the fire. That’s not what you want to do. So prioritize.

3. Open-Mindedness - Recruiters offer our best, most objective counseling and feedback. These may come in many different ways: 1. Advice on your resume for specific position. 2. How to answer questions effectively in an interview. 3. What’s the hiring team is really looking for in their ideal candidate. We’re trying to help you show the best version of yourself in the presence of the hiring manager. Take a deep breath and listen. When we give you suggestions, please listen and understand that we’re here to help you show your best side. Do not get defensive, and please do not show up to the interview and do the exact opposite that we counseled you not to do.

4. Responsiveness - Return your recruiter’s calls and emails. It really doesn’t necessarily mean drop everything and respond right away! I know we all have lives. Of course, if we’re talking about a job offer or salary negotiations, then yes, it’s pretty much drop everything. But if it’s more general, like seeing if you’re working or not, this is not a drop-everything communication. If a candidate is taking a lot of time to respond to something important — for instance a job offer or subsequent negotiations — it's a revealing sign that the candidate may not be all that interested in the position. Many times an offer has been rescinded because the candidate took too long to respond. Recruiters know that most job seekers are looking at multiple opportunities at the same time. For this reason once a hiring manager makes an offer to you and you're taking too much time to respond, the hiring manager (like it or not) assumes you must not be interested. FYI - If you have to think about it more than a day or two then it’s too long by many corporate standards, and it’s a no-go in their mind. You’ve done your soul-searching, you’ve gone through the process, and now you have the offer: get on the phone to your recruiter and give your answer.

Check back for Part 2 for the final 4 skills for successful partnering with a recruiter.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Privacy Issues

2010-03-01T15:11:00.001-08:00

This is part 2 of 3 on what you know about writing

and having a job-related blog or website.

Should potential employers be reading your personal information? Probably not. However, if you put it on the Internet with it readily accessible, well then they can and they might. Some people list their personal web site or blog on their resume and most of us recruiters will look you up on any of the search engines. We're interested in knowing more about you as an individual. There's nothing to stop a hiring manager from doing the same, especially at tech companies. If it's on your resume, the employer will look at it! Guaranteed! Hiring managers are more and more looking closely to what you have out there on the internet. Come on now, you have to know that! Some managers will try to find out as much about a candidate as they can, including looking up the person online before an initial phone call. Your image speaks in volumes, and it's more than just your resume these days.

Even if you don’t put your web, blog, and profile on your resume, they will do a quick search via web and most cases they will find something about you. People you least expect, and those that you certainly don't want reading it, may find it. Not only your boss and prospective employers, but also your customers, colleagues and coworkers!

Look next week for Part 3 in this series.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Branding with Twitter & Maintaining with Love!

2010-02-18T16:12:00.001-08:00

With millions using social media, people are figuring out that branding if used right could really be the next effective marking tool and put advertising/marketing firms out of business. It’s not personal, it’s smart. To be effective in branding on Twitter you must first stop thinking like an expert or guru or better yet a SME.

Branding yourself or company on Twitter requires a bit of a shift in mindset. Twitter is about simple conversations. The community that you are entering wants interaction—with you and with each other. Tweeting is 1 to 1, with the benefit of being in a public arena where visitors may read your conversation and interact with you and each other.

Rule of Engagement

Get to know your sandbox and who is playing in it. Remind yourself that Twitter is a real community and that each community has its own set of rules. Before you involve yourself into the conversation, spend some time observing and learning. You’ll find that most people are very friendly and supportive, but it’s best to understand the rules first. The best way to jump in is to ask for help. This may seem weird because brands are used to being on the other end typically telling consumers what to do. When you are asking for advice it may have you feel as if you are making your brand vulnerable, however, we as a community are helping each other out, which makes social media great

Connect PLEASE!

People don’t connect with brands, they connect with people! It doesn’t matter how large you or your company is. On Twitter, people want to connect to a person. You’ll lose people’s interest when talking about your ‘brand’ all the time. PLEASE I beg you! Make your updates personable and human, not polished like news columns. It’s OK to be human with some rough edges.

Conversation

It’s a two-way street companies look at Twitter as another ‘channel’ to conquer – bummer isn’t it. This kind of thinking is dangerous with interactive branding. Social Media is NOT about building a channel; it’s about creating a conversation. Our goal as Tweeters should be getting people talking by posing questions, asking for input and connecting people as a trusted community in your sandbox.

This way of communication “back and forth” motion is what makes social media totally awesome and it really helps build an emotional connection between you and community. The community now has more choices and for this the relationships has become more crucial than ever.

Offerings

Give people a reason to follow you we love to pass on information and if people are following your brand on Twitter, they are already showing your message. So why not offer them something? Like special offers or just one-to-one conversation with who follow you through more Social Media networks.

Once you have been using Twitter for a while, you’ll notice key people that like to talk about your brand (aka “Big Wigs”). These people are worth more than you know! Invite them to your private product launches, ask them how you can improve. You’ll be blown away!

Blog

Integrate your blog into Twitter it’s the kind of flexible technology you’re looking for which is what makes it so powerful. The fact that Twitter can be set up to automatically update your followers every time you post a blog entry or that any RSS feed can be re-broadcasted through your Twitter. Another great option is adding buttons, badges and widgets to sections of your other sites so that visitors are able to “Tweet” it’s contents.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

JobBlog = Getting a Job = Leaving Your Mark!

2010-02-16T10:13:00.001-08:00

Employees have been fired when their employer misunderstands their blog posts as sharing confidential information, making inappropriate comments about the company, or both. Posting company news, pictures, and even making positive comments about a company have cost bloggers their jobs. When considering writing blog and you know you might be writing things about your company, you should ask “what are the rules of engagement” when writing a blog. You may find no rules, but at least you brought it their attention and be sure to ask in writing so you can have it if any concerns come up.

Just think about it when you are creating a blog.

Job Search Blogging

What about job seekers? Can having a blog, a personal web site, or an account on a social networking site impact your job search, for better or for worse? It could. One blogger posted recently that she lies in interviews and that she copies other resumes to match the opportunity. Seriously this kind of behavior wouldn't thrill a prospective employer if they knew about it. Another job seeker's blog mentions that he loves to party all night, drinks ALOT on a regular basis, and steals on occasion again not a profile that would thrill most employers. We all talk about how social networking is subjective and that we as recruiters shouldn’t pass judgment on social sites, but I think it is something that we are doing more since social networking is becoming a hot topic and if I was a candidate looking for my next job, I would think twice on how I behave on my social networks, and still have fun.

Privacy Issues

Should potential employers be reading your personal information? Probably not however, if you put it on the Internet with it readily accessible, well then they can and they might. Some people list their personal web site or blog on their resume and most of us recruiters will look you up on any of the search engines we're interested in knowing more about you as an individual. There's nothing to stop a hiring manager from doing the same, especially tech companies.

If it's on your resume, the employer will look at it guaranteed! Hiring managers are more and more looking closely to what you have out there on the internet. Especially if you have a web site if it's listed, come on now you have to know that? Some managers go as far as to find out as much about a candidate as she could, including looking up the person online before your initial phone call. Your image speaks in volumes then just your resume these days.

Even if you don’t put your web, blog, and profile on your resume, they will do a quick search via web and most cases they will find something about you. Remember your info which contains information on your real identity, the people you least expect, and those that you certainly don't want reading it, may find it. Not only your boss and prospective employers, but, also your customers, colleagues and coworkers!

How to Blog Smart

BusinessWeek has information on how to blog safely and how to blog without getting fired. I will be writing about it as blog next week as well. The suggestions include blogging anonymously, making your blog not searchable, limiting who can read your blog, and, when employed, focusing your blog on protected topics or what you can share to educate people of who you are which can't get you fired for writing about that. However, if you aren’t happy in your job, maybe its best that you don’t blog! With the social media is everywhere and these are hot topics, you can pretty much guaranteed that someone is reading your blog from your workplace.

Read Job Search Blogs

There are many blogs dedicated to job searching and career building. Jobprofiles has the 100 best job search blogs for your job search. Read these on a regular basis, review the advice that is offered, and pick up tips that will aid your job search. Blogging can become a statement of who you are, but, don't let that statement change your employment possibilities. Keep on blogging, but, blog smart, securely and respectful, so your current or future career opportunities aren't jeopardized but MAXIMIZED of your true self!

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

The Simplicity Is Beautiful

2010-02-12T12:52:00.001-08:00

Gone are the funky pixel fonts, over the top headers and forever loading times. They’ve been replaced by simple, easy on the eyes, and easy to use web interfaces. The new ‘effective” is definitely simplicity with focus on good content, and ”TWEETAJOB” is that and a bag of chips!.

TWEETAJOB has a simple and effective web design which gives the accomplishment of a few important things:

You want to stay longer and play! On average, visitors stay on the same page for about 90 seconds (maybe shorter). So, within the first 90 seconds, it’s important to capture the visitor’s attention. TWEETAJOB does that! Their content captures not only the reader’s attention, but it engages the reader as well. Sure they could use pretty flash intro, but why? Sorry my friends, but nifty flash headers are unnecessary distractions (especially the ones that could induce a seizure, but let’s not talk about those)

Much Easier Code and Clean Design as most designers and coders of sites, you’d rather create a simple and effective website for a client instead of a complex one; TWEETAJOB is providing this! The time invested in creating their slick, clean, color pleasing intro is just phenomenal.

TWEETAJOB allows the user to focus on their content and the ease of using it, please appreciate the simplicity! Let’s reference back to those near seizure-inducing animations. Have you ever tried to read something on a site, only to find that you can’t concentrate on the content because of its surroundings, and that you had to copy and paste the content into Notepad just to read it? You hear what I am saying?

Loads faster there’s no doubting that less images, less flash and more reusable graphics help in optimizing load times, TWEETAJOB has done this! You don’t want thirty seconds for a page to load… well do you?

As a huge fan of TWEETAJOB and a recruiter who is always looking for ways to connect to top talent that on the cutting edge of technology, this is one resource worth is giving two thumbs up

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

The Gatekeeper & 3 other Roles that Recruiters Play

2010-01-29T13:36:00.001-08:00

Some job seekers don't fully understand a recruiter's role. They view recruiters as getting in the middle of their job search, preventing direct contact with the hiring manage(s) for available positions. Well this is actually true and these job seekers are going to have a long and frustrating search for their next job, because the vast majority of companies now use recruiters almost exclusively to facilitate the hiring process. These are 4 roles that recruiters play:

· Corporate Representative

· Gatekeeper

· Educator

· Negotiator

Corporate Representative

Whether you like it or not, the recruiter is the company's representative to the talents available. We are the "faces" of the company at events, job fairs, social networking, etc. The title “Recruiter” has changed and been given multi-layers in order to promote the benefits and advantages of working for company they represent. This evolution of change is an effort to attract the best and brightest job candidates. Recruiters' responsibilities have grown tremendously role as the job market has become more and more competitive. Some industries, where diverse talented candidates are difficult to find, the recruiter's job has taken on many characteristics of a marketing professional, trying to "sell" the talent on the company and get them excited about working there, regardless the reputation of the company.

Gatekeeper - Recruiter

The Gatekeeper source screens and submits you—the talent. This is particularly important to remember when you receive a phone call as the recruiter usually has the opportunity to speak with talent and learn a bit more about you and your interest. One of the biggest mistakes the talent can make is to be dismissive or impatient when speaking with recruiters. This is a very poor choice, as the recruiter will consider personal interactions with candidates as one factor in whether or not to grant an interview.

Educator - Recruiter

The Educator holds important information and knowledge of job opportunities. They can provide important details and insights about specific jobs and responsibilities, as well as provide a good overview of the company culture and what to expect when employed. The recruiter is also a source of information about salary, benefits and other aspects of overall compensation, which can be very important indeed when considering more than one job offer.

Negotiator - Recruiter

The Negotiator often is in the position to negotiate the specifics of job offers. They partner with hiring managers to ensure salary ranges are appropriate based on internal and external facts, and may also act as the primary negotiating contact for salary issues. Many companies, the hiring manager has to gain the approval of the recruiter in order to extend an offer or alter the terms of the offer extended. Bet you didn’t know that one!

Common Thread

The recruiter who plays each of these roles will vary from company to company. They may divide some of these responsibilities with fellow colleagues or HR partners. Either way, no candidate can afford to dismiss or ignore the role of the Gatekeeper. So if you hope to have a successful job search you may want to think twice about how you interact with a corporate recruiter.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Why Do We Blog?

2010-01-19T22:24:00.001-08:00

Are you curious about blogging? Have a concept or idea? Do you have an opinion and you want to express or share knowledge that can be helpful? Here are a few things to know about blogging.

How many bloggers are there?

The thing to remember is that a blog is just a tool or to some a portal. There's really nothing special about it, no requirements for any particular capabilities for one to start a blog. Common usage is feel of a diary-like and allow comments from readers to be included, but its not required. Unlike social networks there are no groups or fan pages that need to be see how many members/followers. So, this means in reality it's basically impossible to estimate how many blogs or bloggers are out there and maybe that is a good thing since to some it might be to scary to jump in and create a blog of their own.

"However, if we hold ourselves to sites that have comments section and do allow user to add their feedback, we're still in the millions of blogs, people ranging from pre-teens to senior citizens, with the bulk of bloggers in their late teens to 50 or thereabouts."

Why do people blog?

"Why people blog, well, in my opinion is to have a voice, however small. Think about just like those who write fancy opinion columns for newspapers or journals, you too can share your knowledge, vent, etc. to the public. Still, there are many really smart bloggers who have interesting perspectives on the news, politics, sports, business, etc., people who wouldn't otherwise be heard in the typical media. "That's why I read blogs daily, in hopes that I can share my perspective on things.

How about you? dear blog reader (and, probably, blogger in your own right). How would you answer these three key questions?

How many bloggers are there?

Why do people blog?

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

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

Land An Interview For Your Dream Job By Your Mobile Resume. – By Kay Kelison

“Invent the Future with Qi Lu – Come Join Our Bing Team”

“Invent the Future With Qi Lu – Come Join Our Bing Team”

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Want A Mellow Seattle 4th of July Fireworks Viewing Spot!

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Automatic reply: [kaykel] Re: Meet Me In St Louis!

Meet Me In St Louis!

A Networking Event Hosted By Microsoft Windows and Windows Live Leaders! For Technology Professionals In Atlanta, Georgia on April 14th, 2011!

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Automatic reply: [kaykel] Re: My Change…My Reflection….My Passion….My Outlook

My Change…My Reflection….My Passion….My Outlook

Hacked Again!

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Is Google Down and Out?

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The Coup de Grace

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Conclusion

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"Thank You"

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Should I Become A Mentor?"

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I will be posting my friend’s blog occasionally here to share his insights and wisdom! He is someone to definitely follow on twitter, facebook, linkedin and of course his blog!

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Total Recruiting Symposium: Seattle

Top 8 Skills for Successful Partnering with Recruiters - Part 2

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Privacy Issues

Branding with Twitter & Maintaining with Love!

JobBlog = Getting a Job = Leaving Your Mark!

The Simplicity Is Beautiful

The Gatekeeper & 3 other Roles that Recruiters Play

Why Do We Blog?