So from a recruiters perspective, how do you become uber-marketable?

1. Start a blog. Easy to do these days, very easy. It’s a great way to prove that you know something about your profession. It’s also a great way to keep up with technology. My suggestion; research a certain topic/technology/trend you’re not familiar with, then write a review or blog post about it. You learn something, while also proving to others that you are familiar with that specific topic. Keep it clean, keep it professional, keep it updated, and keep it somewhat vanilla.
2. User Groups. Get involved online through the distribution lists, and in person. Attend events, network with other people. If I’m looking for a particular skillset, I search for the local user group, then dig around the discussions online and at times attend the events to see who’s involved or who’s participating. You can quickly see who the “go to” people are in that user group with a small bit of research.
3. Twitter. Another great personal branding avenue and a way to promote your knowledge and abilities, plus if you’re following the right people, a great learning tool. Plus, you can have your blog fed directly into Twitter. It takes a bit to grow your network and to attract and find the right audience, but it’s another way for recruiters and employers to find you. Again, keep it professional, with a little bit of personality.
4. Presentations. Instant PR and branding for yourself. Present at user groups, or wherever you can. It’s the single best way to get your name out there. And most user groups or conferences always have room for speakers.
5. LinkedIn….obviously. Network, network, network! If you don’t know about LinkedIn, you’re so far behind. The single best personal marketing tool out there. It’s a 365/24 hour a day online resume that employers won’t care if you’re using. Use it, and use it heavily. Then plug in your blog, twitter account, current reading list, and utilize slideshare to display your presentation materials….all on your profile page. It’s a recruiter’s one stop shop to find out all about you professionally. And do a google search on your name, LinkedIn will be one of the first items that pop up. Here’s some additional tips to optimize your LinkedIn profile for search purposes.

So how do you maintain marketability?

1. Training. Stay on top of the game. If your current job isn’t allowing you the opportunity to keep up with the trends, do so during your own time.
2. Relationships. Keep the relationships with those past clients or recruiters in tact, you never know when you’ll need them. Spend some time to reach out to them for happy hour or lunch, or send holiday cards or something out of the ordinary. Keep your name in front of them consistently.
3. References, either directly or indirectly. If you’re talking to a Sr. Recruiter in your profession, chances are that more than likely they know someone you’ve worked with in the past. And if those recruiters are any good, they’ll be reaching out to those connections to do a backdoor reference on you. You need to keep this in mind when you’re pissed at a client or particular colleague, you never know when someone will ask them how they feel about you professionally. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve checked references and they’ve come back negative (even ones that are supplied by the candidate).

Just keep in mind, recruiters and employers are always watching, we’re resourceful. If you become more visible and public, your chances of landing a job when you need one increase dramatically because people/employers will already know about you. Do a google search of your name, do you like what you see? Do you think employers will like what they see? If you do all the above steps (and do them well), I guarantee you will never have a difficult time finding employment.

Twitter/Hootsuite

I’ll start by saying I think Twitter is great. I was a skeptic, but I’ve learned a ton from the people I’m following, and I’ve really worked hard to share valuable information to the people that keep an eye on me. Problem is, I can’t keep an eye on Twitter all day, it distracts me too much that it takes aways from the tasks I have on my plate at work. Granted, Twitter relates to work. But, it’s a small part and I have more important tasks to get accomplished most of the time. I know Twitter is a two way street, you have to interact with your tweeples. But how can you do that consistently when you’re following hundreds? It’s tough. I’m slowly using Twitter less. I have to, and I think I’ve gotten less and less out of it as time has gone by. I think it’s true as most things, you get out of it what you put in. The less you put in, the less you get out.

But in order to at least try and keep up with Twitter, I researched a lot of 3rd party apps to help me try and automate some of my tasks……some. I have my personal twitter account, and one for the company I work for so I needed an app that allows for multiple accounts. After a bunch of research, I found Hootsuite. At this point, it’s great….that can obviously change but it has some really cool features (it just needs an iPhone app). I’m still in the infancy for that app and for the corporate twitter page. But scheduling tweets, an RSS feed function, groups (with 2.0 release), and so many other features, it’s awesome. So for an hour in the early morning before I get to work, or for a bit late at night, I go through my google reader and read blogs and sites with relevant information for my industry. If I find some posts/stories that are worthwhile, I schedule those tweets throughout the day and week. So I’m kind of done with my sharing. I also use that time to see what the people I’m following are up to and try and RT anything that I’ve read and enjoy and think would benefit the people following me. I’m VERY picky who I follow, make sure you’re going to get something from following them. Since I have been picky, I’ve really learned a ton….I’m following some really smart people and not getting bogged down by all the crap out there. So by scheduling these tweets, it leaves me more time to interact with my tweeples throughout the day.

As mentioned above, there’s a neat feature of Hootsuite, it basically has twitterfeed (RSS) functionality built right in. Our corporate site is based on WordPress, so everything is an RSS feed. New blog posts, new news and events, and new job opportunities are all fed automatically into the corporate Twitter page (and some on my personal page). Again, this leaves me more time to interact, which I’ll admit hasn’t been my strong suit. I also have this set up for my personal blog, whenever I post something new, it posts into my personal Twitter account.

Digsby

I use Digsby for my chat client and for “popping up” recent tweets, Facebook updates, and LinkedIn updates. If something pops up that I’m interested in, I want to jump on it right away, and a little box that pops up in the lower corner of my laptop is much better than sitting on Twitter/Hootsuite all day. It’s a solid tool, but I use it mostly for my chat client (which works great).

Blogging

Speaking of blogging, I suck at it. I’m still not sure why I started a blog, but I’m trying (so you have to at least give that to me). This has been tough to find time to do, because this is not done on work hours as well. So, this means personal/family time has to suffer. If you have kids, you know how crazy things are when you get home from work. It’s great, I love it. But, there’s no way anything productive is going to happen when they’re awake. The only reading I’m doing is frickin’ Dora the Explorer books. So, I find an hour every so often after my kids are sleeping and I try and put something semi-intelligent on my blog. I then refine it the next night. I typically try and throw ideas and post topics out out on WordPress whenever I think of something, and then build on those ideas slowly. WordPress has a solid iPhone app that lets me do that when I’m on the go, so I don’t forget. My rule on my blog is no more than 1 post per week, no less than 1 per month. So far I haven’t lived up to that, but we have a newborn at home so give me a break.

Facebook

I use Facebook a little differently, but I’m still open for suggestion here. I don’t have all my tweets posted automatically to Facebook. The friends that follow me are typically closer than my tweeples. So I post select posts/stories to my news feed and update my status a bit more “personal”. I also have a corporate fan page setup, that I have mostly automated with RSS-Connect, but I do post pictures and some other odds and ends manually. I don’t spend a ton of time on Facebook during work time, it’s more for the later hours after my daughter goes to bed. I think it’s an extremely under-rated recruiting tool, and much more effective than Twitter.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn has apps now, so my profile gets updated with new blog posts whenever I post something new. Hootsuite also has Ping.fm integration, so I set up a trigger to update my LinkedIn status from Hootsuite. Since it does have Ping.fm integration, you can update all the available accounts with Ping…which is a lot. But for me, I want Facebook to stay different and Friendfeed is already linked up with Twitter anyways (for now).

OK, holy crap. That seems complex. I’d really like to know how others handle the craziness of Twitter and other social networks. What applications are used the most, how much time do you really devote to Twitter and Facebook? I’ve talked to a few professionals out there, but want to hear from more. Please pass this on, let’s see how everyone is accomplishing this.

Define your Brand. I think the first step in personal branding is to take a step back and define exactly what you want your brand to be. Do you want to be a leader in the recruiting industry, do you want to be a part of the Minneapolis Groovy/Grails movement, or a do you want to be a lobbyist for green peace? Whatever it is, define who your target audience is and how you want them to perceive you, and deliver a consistent message about your brand.

Market your Brand through Social Media. This is easier and easier to do these days, purely because of the availability of social media at every corner of the internet. As mentioned above (and every single day of our lives currently), Facebook, Twitter, personal blogs, professional user groups, and LinkedIn are all ways to promote yourself professionally (and personally for that matter).

I think the biggest benefit of Twitter is to drive people to your blog and professional profile. I’m still in the infancy of using Twitter, so take my comments with a grain of salt. Twitter has been a great learning tool for me, but also a chance to change the way people view me in the marketplace. And the more people you follow, the more people that follow you (and ultimately see your blog posts). My only advice there is to only follow people in your target audience. I haven’t fully utilized all of Twitter’s power quite yet, but I do see it as a surefire way to differentiate yourself from your peers if you ever do find yourself looking for a job.

Blogs are great, and really easy to set up. WordPress is simple to create a professional blog, and there are many other sites that exist to host blogs (blogger.com, blogspot.com, typepad.com, etc.). The main reason I wanted to start blogging is to create and promote my personal brand and the company I’m working for, while also getting an opportunity to research topics of interest and share them with my target audience. By doing so, I’m basically validating my experience to employers, clients and candidates, and I’m showing the world that I do know some things about my profession (depends on who you ask .

LinkedIn is basically an online resume, it’s personal branding at it’s best. Now with LinkedIn apps, you can integrate your blog, current books you’re reading, and your travel destinations with your profile. I can tell you right now, if I’m meeting a candidate for an initial interview, the first place I look is LinkedIn. And if that person has a blog, I look through it thoroughly. I look at the people they’re connected with, if we have any shared connections, and I look at all recommendations. LinkedIn groups and Q&A is also a good way to promote yourself. LinkedIn exists to help define and promote your personal brand, you better use it.

A newer “online portfolio” concept through PersonaVita, is promoting “an exciting new way to capture your experiences, validate your contributions, and draw from your social, professional, and academic achievements to create a personal brand online”. My first glance is that it’s a more involved LinkedIn networking site, drawing from others to validate your experiences and accomplishments (sort of like recommendations on LinkedIn).

All these are great ways to promote yourself, and the more you use the better.

Profit from your Brand. Hey, click on the link to Dan’s book above….what a great way to profit from your brand! If you have time and more importantly the knowledge to do that, more power to you. Dan’s situation is unique as he is more of an expert, not to mention a great writer. Many of us who have full-time jobs are blogging once our kids are in bed and have about an hour to do so. It’s tough to get everything accomplished in that timeframe, especially if you’re writing a book. So how else can you profit from your brand? Well, I think if you’re branding yourself appropriately, you should have an increase in marketability and job stability; which ultimately leads to more money in your pocket. Don’t forget, as recruiters you’ll be driving candidates to your social networks, and ultimately that will give you more options for increasing sales and commissions. As technologists, you’re driving recruiters and employers to your profile that will increase your marketability and hopefully higher paying jobs and/or gigs. Of course if you’re selling a real tangible product you’ll bring in some coin that way. You can always start advertising on your blog to earn a few bucks here and there. Adsense is easy, and if you get big enough, I’m sure you’ll attract other advertisers. Ultimately, I don’t think personal branding is going to make me rich, but I’m hoping it will increase my marketability, job stability, and give me more options for career advancement.

In conclusion. I could go on and on about this, but I think you get the picture. We’re being branded everyday by companies selling their products and images to us. We need to look at ourselves and careers in the same light. We are a product, we need to define and market this product. If we don’t, we’re going to lose out to our competitors (whoever that may be). Remember to be careful and what you’re putting on the web, it could ultimately affect the way anyone views your brand and could cost you more than you think. Take a proactive approach to marketing your brand, and make sure to deliver a consistent marketing campaign to your target audience.

Ask yourself a question, if you’re looking for a job, what do you want potential employers to see? Your tweets about how you hate John McCain, or tweets/blog post on how to avoid office politics to increase productivity? Remember, recruiters/employers are resourceful, we’ll find you….and we know what you’re doing and where you live! Ok, maybe not where you live Remember, it’s a competitive job market, and always will be. You don’t want to give ANY employers/recruiters/hiring managers reason not to consider you for a job. Who knows, maybe they love John McCain.