My Recent Book Reviews about Communications

I'm learning a lot, and getting many good reminders about what I already know, by reading smart writers' books about Communications.  Here are the links to some that I recently reviewed:

The Nonprofit Marketing Guide 
http://dfischman.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-nonprofit-marketing-guide-by-kivi.html

Robin Hood Marketing 
http://dfischman.blogspot.com/2013/04/robin-hood-marketing-by-katya-andresen.html

Strategic Communications for Nonprofit Organizations
http://dfischman.blogspot.com/2013/04/strategic-communications-for-nonprofit.html

Switch
http://dfischman.blogspot.com/2013/02/switch-how-to-change-things-when-change.html

How to Find a Job on LinkedIn...
http://dfischman.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-find-job-on-linkedin-by-brad.html

Many of these authors, and other smart people, are giving good advice every day on Twitter.  Follow me @DennisFischman and check out my Communications list.

Jobs? Check Out the Public Library

If you're looking for a job, start by stepping into your local library.

Last year, I decided that telling the story of a good organization in ways that win it support is what I really like to do.  I'm good at it.  I'd like to make it my full-time job.  So, as many of you know, I am looking for a full-time job in nonprofit communications (or development & communications).

Job hunting is a job in itself.  It takes a special set of skills that you don't necessarily pick up in doing your regular job.  The last time I was on the market, I benefited greatly from career counseling by Ilene Rudman.  Since then, social media have grown like the daffodils in my front yard, and LinkedIn has been an especially useful tool for me.

If I were just starting out today, however, I'd go straight to Ellen Jacobs at the Somerville Public Library for a tutorial in the LearningExpress Job & Career Accelerator.  There are classes this Saturday and next Tuesday and Thursday. Call 617-623-5000 x2955 or email raugarten@minlib.ne to register.

The Accelerator software lets you:

1. Match yourself with occupations that best fit your interests.
2. Explore what it takes to do those occupations, what they typically pay, and how many jobs are available in Massachusetts in each of your fields of interest.
3. Find job listings, collected from a wide variety of sources so you can do one-stop shopping.
4. Write resumes and cover letters, store them online, and then use them to apply for the jobs you find.
5. Take online tutorials to improve your skills: both the interview skills you need to land the job and the particular knowledge you need actually to do the job.

It's perfect for people who are just getting started on their job hunt, or who have held the same job for a long time and are new to today's job market.  I plan to use it to double-check for jobs that I might have missed elsewhere...and that Photoshop tutorial sounds just right for me!

"How to Find a Job on LinkedIn..." by Brad & Debra Schepp

If you have never used LinkedIn, read this book.  If you have used LinkedIn for years (as I have), read this book!  Go through it with your web browser open to LinkedIn.  You will keep looking back and forth between book and screen and finding ways to:

1. Make your profile more expressive of what you can do, and more attractive to employers.
2. Expand the network of people that you can rely on for advice, information, and referrals.
3. Build a reputation for being an expert in your field--and a helpful person whom people want to help in return.
4. Find companies you want to work for and people there who might be willing to talk with you.
5. Actually apply for jobs using your LinkedIn profile, which can include a lot more than a printed resume can do.
6. Receive thoughtful answers to your questions about how to do the job, once you get it.

LinkedIn is the focus of this book (even though it also includes useful chapters on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+) for one simple reason: people are on LinkedIn to talk about doing their jobs, not to watch cute cat videos or share recipes. The authors consider it the single most important online site for job seekers, and yet they are clear about what it can and cannot do.  With all their emphasis on professionalism, they still write with a funny, human voice, and give tips on how you can distinguish yourself by doing the same.

It is amazing that a book published in April 2012 can contain any out-of-date information, but social media sites change so rapidly that the printed word cannot keep up.  Usually, if the book says a feature is on LinkedIn (or Facebook, etc.), it is still there--you may just have to look in a different menu to find it.  Then there are things that really have changed, like LinkedIn no longer letting you display a reading list.  (I had to do an online search to find out that it was really gone from the site and I wasn't just overlooking it.) 

The book is most useful for ideas on how to use these sites, rather than specific techniques.  That's the advantage the Schepps bring to their readers.  They know what works.  We can figure out how.  I am having a wonderful time doing just that.