Are you thinking about a career change—whether voluntary or involuntary? Are you wondering if you have what it takes to make the jump to a new, more fulfilling career?

You’re in luck!

Join me on Career Momentum Radio as I talk with MidLife Career Strategy expert Cathy Goodwin about “Why Most Career Change Fails (but yours doesn’t have to).” Cathy will share with us strategies and insights you can use to make sure you’re on the right track.

Some topics we’ll be covering are:

1. The difference between “career change” and “job change”

2. The special challenges of changing careers after 10, 15, or even 20 years.

3. The single most important step you need to take before you embark on a career change—if you want to succeed.

4. The main reasons why most mid-life career change fails (hint…are you too busy?).

For more information, and to sign up to get the first notice of new programs, click here.

See you on the radio!

When someone says “social networking”, what’s your first response?

Just for fun?

Only for teenagers?

Jon Stewart’s rant about twitter?

I’m guessing, your first response isn’t “find a great job”.

Well, it should be.

If you’re job hunting without using social media, you’re going into the jungle unarmed. About 22% of hiring managers look at social network sites (especially Facebook and mySpace) before making a hiring decision – up from only 11% in 2006. (All the more reason to remove those pictures of you downing mojitos at a wet t-shirt contest). These sites don’t replace a traditional job search, but added to your overall job search strategy they’ll put you way ahead of the competition.

Here’s a brief synopsis to get you started. I’ll go into detail about each in future posts.

LinkedIn

If you’re a professional looking for a job and you’re not on LinkedIn, you might as well stay home with your head under the covers. LinkedIn is chock-a-block with marketing and sales people, job seekers, people currently working, recruiters and employers looking to hire new talent. Currently, there are about 35 million users on LinkedIn, and it’s getting more popular every day.

Twitter and TweetMyJobs

Yeah, sometimes Twitter seems full of people yakking about what they had for lunch and how their cat just hacked up a furball on their oriental rug. But the power of Twitter is unmistakable. Used with applications such as TweetDeck, and in conjunction with the job site TweetMyJobs, Twitter delivers a huge network of people for job seekers—and hiring managers—to hook up with.

VisualCV

Taking a cue from marketing pros, VisualCV lets you create your own personal brand. This is light years beyond a printed resume. On VisualCV, you create your own webpage, including video, audio, graphics, photos, presentations, samples of your work, and more. It’s pretty much limited only by your imagination. Once your masterpiece is complete, you can publish it, forward to recruiters or to your network, and use it to apply for jobs right on the VisualCV website.

Facebook

A successful job search is all about networking, and Facebook is the place to do it. Put a professional profile up – no “pokes” or “vampires”. You can upload video or other files showing your work – maybe a copy of a presentation you put together for a conference. Next, search the Facebook groups and fan pages to find ones in your field, and join in the conversation. You can also search the Facebook Marketplace for jobs in your field.

Jobster

Jobster is an aggregator that lists jobs from many different sites. You create an online resume, brought to life with pictures, video, blog posts, references, and keyword tags. Their networking tools let you manage your professional relationships, keep track of people that you’ve worked with in the past, and maintain a list of references so when your dream job shows up, you’re all ready to go.

If you have another social network you’d recommend, hit comment and tell everyone about it.

And if you’re already on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook, please connect with me. I’d love to add you to my networks!

A top-notch resume is a key component of any job search, but in today’s economic climate it’s even more critical.

Is your resume showing you in the best light? Will it get you noticed and on the list for that all-important interview? Or will it get tossed out at first glance?

Join me and my guest, resume expert Beth Colley, of Chesapeake Resume Writing Service, on the first edition of Career Momentum Radio—my new radio show on BlogTalkRadio. The show airs live at 6:30 ET (3:30 PT) on Wed, 11 March 2009 and runs for 30 minutes. Click here for more information— you can join us live or catch the replay at any time. I’d love to have you on the air, so get your resume questions ready and Beth will give you the answers.

I’m curious. How many of you are feeling affected by the economy right now?

Are you worried about your business? Are you looking for more income streams? Do you want to start the business you’ve been dreaming about but are afraid this isn’t the right time? Or are you doing great right now?

For myself, I’m always interested in looking for more ways to take charge of my OWN life and my OWN business. That’s why I pleased to let you know about Ali Brown’s new free teleclass on Thursday, March 5, called “How to Create Your OWN Strong Economy This Year… With Online Information Marketing.”

Ali is a friend of mine, and she’s helped me with my business tremendously. You can’t go wrong with one of her seminars—she always gives huge value, even on a fr’ee call!

Don’t wait another minute—you need this information now more than ever, and you’ll love Ali. Click here to sign up and get started on your new life!

And don’t forget to share your thoughts and questions below. I’d
love to know what you really think about your business, your career and the
economy.