Martin Yate - Knock Em Dead Social Networking: For Job Search & Professional Success

New York Times bestselling author

AVON, MASSACHUSETTS

Like it or not, technology is triggering irreversible changes in the way you and I live our lives, and in every aspect of the way we work. There is nothing we can do to stop the torrent of innovation that technology makes possible, so the choice facing us all is simple: Adapt and flourish, leveraging the vast potential of social networking to find financial security, professional fulfillment, and personal happiness, or get left behind.

Technological innovations, especially the meteoric growth of social networking, have changed the way companies recruit and hire, and this means that you need to adapt your job search and career management strategies for your career to remain buoyant. Almost overnight, a strong social media presence has become a must-have for every working professional, but this isnt necessarily bad news, because social networking can give you greater control over the direction of all aspects of your life.

From a professional perspective, you need a presence on at least a few social media platforms (networking sites), because recruiters use them as a major new recruitment resource. The social media platforms you choose will all need to reflect the same messaging about who you are as a professional, while at the same time, you will need to build and use them in ways that make you discoverable by recruiters and your professional peers. Adapting to these changes is so important to your well-being that if you dont, you will gradually become professionally invisible and your financial stability will suffer as a result.

While social networking has revolutionized the way you approach a job search, it has equal potential to revolutionize the way you manage your career, empowering you with new tools for achieving success, fulfillment, and happiness.

Beyond managing your existing professional career, social networking allows you to connect with the people who share your passions and dreams. Even better, technology has delivered powerful new tools for turning your dreams into income streams.

For instance, when I built the first Knock em Dead website, I envisaged having my own TV station and broadcasting career-saving advice to the world. However, while the technology existed, the costs were prohibitive. Twelve years later, the folks at Google+, one of the major professional networking sites, made very similar capabilities available to us all; you, me, anyone can start a global TV broadcasting system tomorrow and do it for little or nothing. If even global broadcasting is now a reality for anyone who wants to do it, imagine what else might be possible: Whatever your goals and dreams, there are almost certainly new tools available to help you achieve them and, in the process, bring new meaning to your life.

Social networking is even changing who we meet, pursue common interests with, date, and marry. The ads for dating sites like Match.com say you are three times more likely to date and marry using an online system. This new way of meeting people through social networking is now completely accepted, because it has empowered us to meet people we would never have met before and then forge meaningful relationships with them. I met my wife Angela this way, and although we lived in the same city, there is no question that without social networking our paths would never have crossed.

Social networking has become an essential new tool for achieving your professional goalsand for maintaining success over the arc of a long career. No matter what your age or professional status, the only three constants in twenty-first-century professional life are:

1. There is no job securityWork hard and be loyal is corporate Kool-Aid, which will flow freely until they choose to dump your sorry ass in a restructuring, automate your job out of existence, or export it to a country where someone will do the same work for less money. You cannot rely on employers anymore; you need to take more responsibility for guiding the path of your career. The power of social networking can help.
2. The digital era is here to stay, and it has brought about a revolution in how we do everything at work and at play. This sudden change can be a little overwhelming if you didnt grow up in the digital world, but this is also a time of enormous opportunity, and it offers you the tools to develop your capabilities and redefine your professional self, in the process gaining more control of your career.
3. Change is constant in modern professional life. With job security largely a thing of the past, you must learn to anticipate and manage change, rather than being sideswiped by it. The people you meet through intelligently built social networks share many of your concerns, and so they are far more motivated to help you navigate the ups and downs of a long work life than corporations, which have little concern for how your life plays out.

Social networking is your new launch pad for a more businesslike approach to managing the path of your career for the future. Making a success of your life is a long-term and complex challenge, and connectivity with others who are motivated to help you is a critical component. In the following pages, Ill show you how to build these social networks and use them in job search and career management.

Mastering social networking isnt brain surgeryit is a professional skill that, once integrated into your life, will help you navigate the twists and turns of a long career and enrich your life in other ways.

In this book, well talk about the social networking skills that will help you execute a successful job search with the help of robust professional networks and develop new career management strategies. Theres a commonsense logic behind every social networking tactic youll learn, and theyll all mesh seamlessly together into a practical strategy for managing the progress of your career. You can get a social networkintegrated job search started within a week, and reap the rewards for the rest of your career.

The first lesson we learn in the professional world is: Your customers are always right, and the second lesson is: Find out what your customers want and then sell it to them. The same goes for social networking. It is important that the messaging of your social media profiles and social networking activities reflect a brand that employers find compelling. Your social networking activities can make a significant contribution to your success in life, but first you need to appreciate corporate priorities, and then brand yourself as the kind of professional who understands and supports them.