The Web 2.0 Revolution, blogging, and social media tools like Linkedin and Twitter allow all of us to become our own marketing machine, brand identity, and valuable resource. The following are 10 New Year’s Resolutions and steps any job seeker can take to begin to differentiate themselves and stand apart from the rest of their competition.

10 New Year’s Career Resolutions for Job Seekers

1. Direction: You can not begin a job search with passion and intention if you do not know what you truly want to do. Without direction there is no forward progress. Assessment testing, research, and networking can help bring clarity.

2. Declare Your Intentions: Let the world know that you are open to new opportunities and you are actively seeking new opportunities. One of the biggest mistakes we see people make in their job search is to not declare their availability for new opportunities.

3. Clarify Your Message: Simply put if you are looking for a position in engineering, then make the focus of your message in your linkedin profile, on your blog, or on any other social media site your abilities as an engineer. Do NOT make the mistake of listing a “consulting” job or a job in a completely different field because you fear a gap in employment. Nothing hurts your ability to find new opportunities than the wrong message.

4. The Job of Finding a Job: Take the job of finding a job as serious as a job. Structure your day at home like a work day in an office setting. Create a routine, schedule and instill discipline in your day. Listing and creating structure provides a job seeker with the frame work to move forward. Without this structure, days float into weeks which can turn into months without results.

5. Research: You can’t find what you don’t understand. In order to find the job you desire it is necessary to research your industry of interest, the job market, the companies, and the hiring managers involved in your search. Compiling lists through your research becomes the “intelligence” that moves employment efforts forward; without research your efforts will stall.

6. Obsolete Methodology: Resumes are not a strategy or proactive method of finding a job. Resumes are simply a listing of your accomplishments meant as a “calling card” snapshot of your value to the potential employer. If you simply rely upon sending resumes, your efforts in finding a job will be nearly impossible in today’s job market.

7. Linkedin Profiles: Linkedin is the most important tool for job seekers today-yet very few truly understand how to utilize Linkedin. Your profile on linkedin is MORE IMPORTANT than your resume. It should be written so that anyone can understand you are open for new opportunities, you have value to give, and you have current skill sets that bring value. Updating your Linkedin profile must be a manditory once per week activity.

8. Blogging: Blogging is the most powerful marketing tool, broadcasting tool, and branding tool a job seeker can utilize. A blog is the centerpiece of any employment campaign designed to deliver your message of value to strategically targeted hiring managers, companies, and industry associations.

9. Understand the New Trend: Due to Web 2.0 social media tools now is the most amazing time in human history for communication, connectivity, networking, collaboration, and branding “you.” Tools such as Linkedin.com, twitter.com, facebook.com, and blogs support a global conversation. We now have the ability, as individuals, to create our message of value and deliver it to a global, national. local, or niche level. The mass media no longer controls the flow of information. We all have a chance to brand and deliver our message; simply put, this is the biggest development in job search in the last 50+ years. The tipping point for change is not far away.

10. First Adopter Rule: Is what you are doing now in trying to find a job working? If it is not then consider adopting social media tools, blogging, and employment campaigning as your new strategy in finding the right job for you.

I spent the most pleasant evening tonight with a wonderful group of women who gathered for the Flourish book club meeting to discuss my book, Inner Architect. Flourish is the vision of Anne Marie Engel, whose mission is to support women in navigating the challenges of balancing career and life.

Pursuing your passions in your work was a thread that weaved throughout our discussions. These accomplished, well-educated women shared their thoughts about leaving a secure, established career to pursue their passions. When you have built a level of success in a profession, letting go comes with its share of angst.

• What will other people think about my decision?
• How do I let go of being one role to move into another?
• How will I survive the early times of making a lot less money?

Having done so myself three years ago, I could relate to these questions they shared. Looking back now, I can see that the answers didn’t come until I took steps forward. And the good news is that dealing with these questions has been so much easier than I anticipated.

Lesson: We tend to give more power to our fears than they deserve.

Put your toe in the water. Take tiny steps towards the career you want and see what happens. Chances are the very things you worry about the most turn out to be more manageable that you would have thought possible.

Listening is defined by Princeton.edu as the “act of hearing attentively.” BizJobs.com supports a business glossary definition that states that Listening is “a key selling skill, in that without good listening skills the process of questioning is rendered totally pointless.” From these definitions come the need to recognize one factor that is so often ignored it leads to a breakdown in the process of conversation: listening requires a strategy. Before you can choose a strategy, you must first understand your goals in a conversation.

Strategy #1 Define Your Goals

Often times before we enter a conversation we understand, due to the setting or people involved, the purpose of conversation we are about to engage in. Due to this advanced knowledge, it is best to define your goal(s) in having the conversation. This recognition will help you choose the best listening strategy for the situation.

4 Purposeful Types of Conversations

The following purposes for having a conversation were outlined by Bruce Wilson editor of businesslistening.com:

1. Exchange Information: these conversations are about discovering what a person “needs, or is offering.” You may be probing in order to understand whether you have synergy, “complementary offerings or needs.” As Bruce states “part of the exchange of information is often about whether someone accurately understood what they heard.”
2. Building Working Relationships: developing and maintaining a positive business connection or positive personal relationship can be a very important factor of an ongoing business relationship. Examples of these instances are “customer-supplier conversations, employer-employee conversations, networking conversations, and team communications.
3. Feeling Good: this is simply the act of conversing with someone in a productive and/or enjoyable exchange. As Bruce notes, these purposeful conversations “can be a key component of having a good day or even a good job.”
4. Make Someone Feel Good: whether you have a vested interest in a friend or business associates’ “state of mind”, good conversations can have a positive effect on others around you, bring them joy and solidify your position as a valued connection.

The credit crisis in America has taken a toll on the availability of student loan products as more lenders drop out of the business. According to Net Worth’s Kathleen Pender “More than two dozen non bank lenders have stopped making college loans and last week, three large banks followed suit.”

The fact that college tuition is spiraling upward with no end in sight, adds to the ever growing importance of a student’s career path decision making process.

3 Pitfalls To Avoid

1. Lost Money: Finding the “right” career path is more important than ever before as even the slightest delays or u-turns can cost students and their families thousands of dollars in lost tuition.
   
2. Lost Time: Without a clear definite path based on passionate interest, a student can begin an ill fated career which can account for years of lost time and lost wages in pursuit of something that does not fit.
   
3. Misguided Deciding Factors: When students and parents look at job markets, financial compensation, and job availability as the only factors in choosing a career path they are setting themselves and their children up for disappointing results.
   

3 Tips For A Successful Career:

Before you consult the traditional counselors, career and interest surveys, and company representatives recruiting on campus consider the following:

• Awareness: You will graduate to the workforce via corporate America or as an entrepreneur with a work life history that averages 40+ years.

• Interest: The career path you pursue should be one that holds your interest. It is imperative that you identify all their interests. Make a detailed list of the things, activities, and rituals you enjoy. This should help to heighten your awareness about what direction to explore.

• Passion: After identifying your interests, which interests are your passions? Which activity, subject, or ritual do you lose time in? Make a list of these passion interests and consider them your priority list moving forward.

“Wachovia plans to cut 600 more jobs than previously expected; total now 11,350.” -Yahoo.com August 11, 2008

“Looming job cuts march on-report: The number of job cuts announced in July jumps 26%. Airlines and financial firms top the list, according to monthly study.” -CNNMoney.com August 4, 2008

“Deepening Cycle of Job Loss seen lasting into ‘09.” -New York Times July 2, 2008

Economic change and political transition are everywhere in America right now. Looming layoffs, election hopes, and uncertainty of our country’s direction have produced a paranoia amongst Americans for the health and welfare of their futures.

Make Yourself Invaluable

1. Your work ethic is the best way to keep your job, if you really enjoy your work, by making yourself an asset that your company can not live without. Be invaluable.

2. Be versatile to the point where you can do your job with a high level of expertise as well as other valuable jobs within your organization. If layoffs come, the person with the largest skill set is often in the best position to remain unscathed.

3. Ask for more responsibility, more work, and do it now. Make sure your positive attitude is seen as a benefit to the organization. Don’t remain undercover; instead be your own PR person.

Increase Your Expertise

4. Read cover-to-cover your industry trade publications, online resources, and niche blogs within your industry.

5. Read as many books as possible about related subjects.

6. Take classes and workshops for hands-on training and comprehension.

7. Utilize the Internet search engines for extensive research.

8. Attend trade shows and industry conferences.

9. Join organizations, professional associations, and niche specific networking groups.