by Alison Finch
Advocacy, professional development, and networking highlighted in this talk on the "Resilient Career."
San Andreas Chapter's first breakfast program of the year got off to a great start on April 9th with this timely presentation (PDF) given by Cindy Hill, Affiliate Associate at Outsell, Inc. and founder and president of Hill Information Consulting Group, and by Christian Gray in charge of Business Development at Reprints Desk. Lee Pharis graciously hosted the event at Exponent's Menlo Park headquarters.
The talk spanned a variety of topics from identity management and personal branding to LinkedIn best practices and social networking etiquette.
- How do you ask for a recommendation on LinkedIn?
- What is the risk of identity theft?
- How should you manage your LinkedIn connections?
- Are there examples of effective LinkedIn profiles for librarians/information professionals?
The "Resilient Career" is one that is agile, opportunistic, and sustainable. Cindy and Christian demonstrated how librarians and information professionals can use Web 2.0 tools to develop
- professional portfolios
- visibility
- a community of colleagues
Cindy and Christian encouraged information professionals to start building their own reputation, to push their boundaries and reach out to people beyond their immediate circle of colleagues and friends, and to explore professional options. Christian Gray showed a "before" and "after" page SLA and former San Andreas Chapter member Jeanie Fraser developed.
LinkedIn Recommendations
- Use the Summary section to develop an introduction to who you are and what you are passionate about and remember to include important keywords that search engines can find.
- Use results-driven examples of past accomplishments but be careful not to use proprietary information.
- Invite people
- Search and surf. Search for hobbies and favorite past-times to see who might also share your interest in peregrine falcons, for example. Social networks are about people. Have fun with this!
- Consider adding a photo and remember to include your activities outside your day job.
- Turn on some of LinkedIn's applications such as SlideShare, TripIt, Company Buzz, etc.
- Look at Groups and add some.
- Consider using LinkedIn answers as a way to position yourself as an expert.
Rocky Mountain Chapter SLA member Kim Dority has written and presented on career agility for information professionals. Christian had arranged to make several copies of her recent book "Rethinking Information Work" available which were then raffled off at the end of the session.
San Andreas Chapter's own Jean Bedord contributed her poster, "Building a Web Presence from Domain Name to Website" and offered helpful suggestions for librarians and information professionals wishing to build an online identity.
The message was start marketing yourself now before you need to start looking for another job. These are difficult times but sites such as LinkedIn offer opportunities to take advantage of the power of networked relationships to get your name "out there" and to let a larger circle of potential employers and colleagues know who you are and what you can do. Cindy Hill's parting comments were to anticipate, look for opportunities, enjoy the ride, and remember that career development is a continual cycle.
Did you attend this session? What did you think? Please feel free to post your comments to the Blog.
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