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Landing that Job

7 June, 2010 in The Story | 16 comments

It was mid-February and it had been a while since I had any interviews, The Search. Nothing happens in the Australian summer, everybody is on holidays as school children get 6 weeks for their summer holidays. And then it takes a month or so to get back into full gear when hiring.

Days had been very hot and humid, nothing to do but sit in front of the fan and not move :-( . Then one week it felt like everybody was having a say about my situation. My mother had a go, as mother’s do :roll: ; a note from a friend commenting I needed to look within myself, not the first one I had received; a comment from a friend whom I had only recently met saying, “are you even trying”, I lost count how many times I heard that; and then another note. I love my friends dearly and they know that I am grateful for all their support but there are some things an unemployed person does not want to hear.

The final note did it to me. I did not know this person in real life, we had worked at the same office but our paths had never crossed. I had connected to this person when I started my campaign as I could see we had many shared connections, all ex-colleagues. (This is why I am against people hiding their connections as we are here to be social and sharing). She had asked me to join a group she managed. Reached out to me and helped with my postings in the group, which many group managers have been very supportive of my postings and others not so :-|

This person was “curious” and was “puzzled” as to why I had not found work. Well, that was it. I listed everything and every reason and then ended it with “it is extremely depressing when…”. I was rude :-( .

The return note was so nice, reaching out to me, giving me direction and asked what type of role and company I was looking for. I felt sooo… bad. I was extremely apologetic about my rude note. They didn’t think I was rude, “just frank”. Then offered an opportunity working for them at Cisco. Extremely excited or what! :razz:

We met and she was very pleased with the interview. But I had many interviews to go before anything was going to happen. I had a panel interview with 4, and a dotted-line report interview. If I got through those, then another 2 interviews. Ok, long interview process. After the first 3 interviews, it was down to me and another. I was getting excited and was given a date and time for my 4th interview.

We had been doing all our communicating through the email and the recruiter. When I received a call from her, calls are not good before the interview process has finished. 

“I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news first, I have chosen the other candidate because … The good news is everybody that has interviewed you liked you so much that we have been searching for another opportunity for you and we have found another role which is better for you and no boring bits. Your resume is being forwarded now“.

Didn’t hear a word after, ”I have chosen the other…”. I got off the phone and had a cry, the process had already taken over 4 weeks, very straining, including nightmares :cry: . Although after a few of hours of disappointment, I realised situations weren’t as bad as I had thought. I still had another opportunity at Cisco and another opportunity from my favourite recruiter. I was happy again, sort of. Just had to let the disappointment fade away but another series of interviews :-( .

There is a scene from a sitcom, the woman is looking for work. She receives a call from a hiring manager and assumes she has the job. She puts down the phone before he has finished his sentence, dancing with her arms in the air and screaming, “Whoohoo!” She has heard incorrectly. This is how excited I thought I would be when I would receive an offer but I was not. When I was offered the role at Cisco, I had to think about it as I had another opportunity. When I finally made my decision, I spoke to the recruiter at Cisco and her reaction was similar to that of the woman in the sitcom. She was so excited that after the excitement had faded, she had to ask to make sure that I was accepting the offer :D .

I felt relief, this was a day before my birthday, I could not have asked for a better birthday present. All this weight had been lifted off my shoulders, I finally had a closing chapter for the job hunt. I had a job which I received the following comments;

I’m glad you did not settle for something mediocre just to end the search.
What a great role you have – well worth the wait!
It was always in the cards. :-?

So how did I land that job?

  1. A failed job opportunity which leads me to start social networking.
  2. Finding a conference that had a presenter who had connections to ex-colleagues.
  3. Winning My Personal Brand so I would have something to post about in my groups.
  4. People reaching out to me after my first posting in groups.
  5. Communicating with those who have reached out to me.
  6. Having one of these people convince me that I could write and people would be interested in what was coming out of my head. My blog is born.
  7. Reaching out to others who had connections to ex-colleagues.
  8. A failed job opportunity that leads me to start writing about data analytics, showing that there was something in my brain other than my “fluffy stuff”.
  9. Having many group managers reach out to me and give direction, the ongoing support from my connections and followers which keeps me upbeat and the blog continuing throughout this very awful period ;-) .
  10. One of these people has worked with an ex-colleague who has given me a recommendation.
  11. This person opens the doors for me at Cisco.

My journey has been very long and difficult. I pulled through with a lot of help from people who reached out to me, people who came from nowhere to encourage me in my quest. I have been blessed and am very grateful to be touched by so many selfless people. Thank you. 

How is my job at Cisco? I have only been here for about a month and has taken time to settle in. Most of my team, including manager, and the people I deal with on a daily basis are not in Australia. There is a lot to learn and I am very excited about the global projects I am working on. Though global does mean we have to share the hours, I had a 2 hour call the other night that started at 11pm or the early evening meetings with the Europeans and my lunch time meetings with the Asians. But is certainly better than the endless interviews I went to over the past 16 months or so.

Is this the end of my story? Definitely not! I still have a continuing social media story to tell ;-) . I will be taking a break from The Story to concentrate on my Data Analytics and being a business analyst.

Thank you! Thank you! To everybody who has been reading my story to find that job. I hope the story will continue to be read by others looking for work and inspire them to think differently about their personal brand. The image you perceive to others, those you have worked with and those you want to work with, is important if you want to stand out from all the other candidates and have people approach you with opportunities. Building a personal brand is like any brand image, not only glossy but must also have substance and quality.

Good luck if you are looking for work. To others, I hope that you also think about your own personal brand. Not that I would wish unemployment on anybody but you don’t know what is going to happen next. Our destinies’ are controlled by what is happening in the global sphere, our disasters – the natural ones and our many, many man made ones.

I hope you will continue to follow The Story when I start again after my break. Until then…A BIG CHEERS!!! :-D

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The Search

2 May, 2010 in The Story | 19 comments

Over the past months you have been reading about my journey through social networking, social media and creating an Online Presence to find that job. But how did I get that job using this medium that everybody is talking about, social networking. Is there anything to all this hype?  Believe the hype, social networking does work. I was a non-believer but now a true believer of social networking. This is my story of finding that job, which includes the “real world crap” as quoted in the thread, My Personal Brand, by my friend, Ken. Be warned, some of it does get ugly but in the real world, nothing is ever as pretty as it seems :roll: .

There I was unemployed with GFC in full flight. I had no choice but to social network as I had been told it was the only way to find work through these tough economic times.  I have to tell everybody I know that I am looking for work so people can help me. I join LinkedIn, The Story Begins… and win my personal brand advertisement at JobCAMP.  

I received one direct interview, with a recruitment agency, from the ad. This was extremely disappointing especially after all the hype at JobCAMP. The recruiter, who interviewed me was “let go” a week after, due to the GFC. He has since called and met with me again with another opportunity but did not eventuate.

The response could have been due to a couple of factors. The ad placement, it was great that I got such a high profile spot in the newspaper and the job boards but don’t believe they were the right places as these are places where job seekers are looking and not potential employees. I was looking for work, I believe placement in the Business section of the newspaper or the Executive Style section of the website would have been a better choice. An Australian connection, living overseas, had trouble recalling the ad then the posting of My Personal Brand he recalled it but thought it had been misplaced and ignored it :-( . The other reason of course was that we were in the middle of the GFC.

It was really quiet for weeks. I was forced to start blogging, I had my hands tired behind my back, I had no choice as there was nothing else to do. It was a real struggle starting and continuing the blog during this time. I was also talking to a lot of recruiters who were not allowed to use social networks to find candidates or even knew what a blog was, like me at the beginning. Very disheartening, this is when I nearly stopped blogging, Becoming a Blogger.

I keep on doing what I learnt a JobCAMP, keep networking. So I do. We were told that “every connection is a good connection”.  I start surfing my network, reaching out to people I believe maybe able to help me in my quest. Though at the time I was getting confused at who I was surfing for? Connections to understand social media in more depth, other social networkers, connections who share many, many of my connections, recruiters and more recruiters, and accepting every invitation that was sent to me.

After networking for the past 12 months, I believe that this statement is only true for some and not for others. I do not believe that every connection I have made has brought me the benefits that social networking has to bring. Only unwanted invitations onto networks that have no association with being a business analyst or related work, or recruiters that do not live in Australia or those who do not want to learn from my experiences, which is always disappointing and many hanger-on-er’s.

I received many interviews with recruiters who in turn did not return calls after the interview. Even though during the interview they were very enthusiastic about meeting and future prospects they had for me. One recruitment company had very stringent rules with the handling of their candidates. I ended up with a recruiter from the public sector. She knew it was not right but she did try to help me and did go to at least one interview, though I did get a rant out of it :oops: . In general, the recruiters were very good, they are trying to do the best they can do in very hard situations and some I developed a great rapport with.

So many consulting companies that I lost count, some short term, some long term contracts and even some full time work but…

  1. the firm would not get the contract so I would not get the job
  2. I am a data analytics BA not an IT BA, so many times…
  3. worked too much corporate, and one basically said I would a princess and would not know how to work in a small firm, maybe a little bit true, only sometimes, but is expected in corporate life, :-?  and,
  4. many that did not suit me.

I also received opportunities from some corporates, through them searching their networks. One had done all reference checks before they contacted me with an interview. Went to the interview, but you know when you step into an interview and you know and they know. Forty minute interview, with an answer at the 30min mark but the HR person had not looked at my blog at all, even though the other that reached out to me looked at my profile :-| .

Before my journey began, I was hitting the job boards. Everything and anything, one of these was a role I did not have enough experience but my resume was passed onto another recruiter in this very large recruiting agency. This recruiter became one of my best leads. I never met her and we spoke on a very regular basis, I did eventually meet with one of her colleagues but the opportunity did not eventuate. Every opportunity she had, was passed onto me, some did not suit but she sent me to interviews.

One of these was an interview with a very large Japanese company. They did not give me any notice. The recruiter rang in the late afternoon, with a one paragraph JD and 2 interviews the next day. The first with the C-Level and the next with the hiring manager in 2 suburbs, not close by.

I was not prepared. After the interviews, I believe the hiring manger liked me but the C-level did not. I did not have my left-of-centre personality out there, I was very conservative and also very nervous. Though, after 2½ hrs of interviews, I was very excited about the opportunity. But in the end, I did not receive any feedback. The recruiter rang so many times to reach the HR people but no response at all. That is just so poor.

So how do I get their attention? I know it was not me in the interviews. My first thought was to use my network to try and reach out to this C-level. I received some feedback from my network but it didn’t work. I have a blog, I can show them what I can do. Operations Dashboard for a Matrix Organisation was born, my first theoretical data analytics post.

The response from my data analytics posts has been well received and continues to appear in search engines. With these analytics posts, I received offers to speak overseas, in Asia and the US, at conferences and training programs. They would list out the people that had previously spoken at these events and I was extremely flattered that they would consider me in that league. I would write back to these people and received an offer from one of these events. It did put a smile on my face, in times when I would say was one of my low moments.

My recruiter was very pleased that I had gone to the effort to write the post and said no other candidate she had come across had written a post for an opportunity. She had tried to contact the HR person but no response, she contacted the C-level directly, and again no response.

Time lapses, I had an interview with a consulting company, they really wanted to hire me but did not have a role for me. The consultant said I would not have liked the culture of the Japanese company, the left-of-centre in me, so no great loss but it certainly didn’t feel like it at the time.

Sigh… :cry:

  

Next post in The Story -> Landing that Job

 

 

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An Interview with Colleen by Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg

21 February, 2010 in The Story

Using social media as part of your BA job search strategy.

Colleen Chan, “Business Analyst with a Difference” from Sydney, Australia, shares her inspiring story about her entrance into LinkedIn and blogging and discovering a true passion for social media all as a result of trying to find that “next opportunity”.

Read More…

 

“Bridging the GAP – Out of chaos, we create order. Out of disagreement, we create alignment. Out of ambiguity, we create clarity. But most of all, we create positive change for the organizations we serve.”

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Reaching Out

31 January, 2010 in The Story, Web 2.0 tips | 6 comments

This tragic love affair we have with our technology is having a snowballing affect on our lives everywhere. Now we need to social network to find a dollar. It is not what you know, it is who you know. But even now, it is not just who you know, you still have to be able to show the what you know or otherwise you are at a standstill. And social networking is the way people are doing it.

How do I do it? How do I social network? You are feeling very frustrated. There you are sitting in front of the computer, filled in your profile and connected to the colleagues you know. Then comes the question, how do I build up that network so I can reach out to people and people will reach out to me to help me in my situation?

Number 1. The most important thing is you must keep remembering, why am I social networking? Why am I here in this space? Am I here to find a job, to build up my business, to be an open networker, to find like minded people, to find a mentor, or just to stay connected with my colleagues and friends? And do consider why these people are networking as they may not be networking for the same reason as you.

Number 2. Your profile. No dodgy photos, we must be able to see your face and think about who you want to attract with your photo. If you are out to find a partner, then go for it but remember others are also looking at your photo and those connected to you who have to see your network updates all the time. Luckily for “hide network updates” and “stop following”, not that I have any of these on my network :lol: .

Fill in every section of your profile, do not leave any of the sections empty or missing. Summaries of your achievements in your jobs. There is no use just putting where you worked and your recommendations. What are you being recommended for? If you have other interests, include them. Tell people what you want them to know about you.

If these are not done then who are you? A slice of profile amongst the other 55 million you are competing against? I go into detail about building a profile in LinkedIn, The Campaign Begins and My Personal Brand. Read them, over and over again if you must. I know this will be boring but these are the questions you must ask yourself.

This will not take a day, a weekend or even a week for that matter. This will take time, you do have to do some deep thinking and maybe even some soul searching. Who do you want to portray and can you do it in real life. No use saying you are upbeat when you are a grumpy bastard :roll: . Focus on the positives and your achievements. Once you get there, there will be a clear direction and you will know :-) .

Number 3. Invitations. DO NOT send generic invitations. I don’t know how many posts I have seen about this topic, it is sooo…boring but I have to bring the topic a front as well :-| . Yes, I have been an offender but I have learnt and now I am teaching you.

When sending invitations to people, the question you have to ask yourself, how is this person going to help me in my quest and how can I help this person if we are connected? If the person is receiving a generic invitation, then how is the person to know that the connection will be of mutual benefit? We are being social here, there is always give and take. Whether the satisfaction of reaching out to others with shared interests or a business relationship with monetary value or finding that job.

So how do I connect to people? Introduce yourself, why their profile interested you, why you want to be connected to them and how you can help each other. Many people will accept these invitations and will appreciate your initiative.

Those who maybe able to help you on your quest. Interact. This why others are social networking, to connect to people of interest. Send offline notes before asking if you could send them an invitation. You never know they may send you the invitation first. Or you find that you have nothing in common and lose interest.

Recruiters. Aim only for those in the local area. Send them a note asking if they would preview your profile so you could send them your resume. Once you have been able to send the resume, ask if you can meet with them. Meeting is good, they are always going to remember you. And always remember if you have met a recruiter offline to ask if you can send them an invitation. If you cannot meet with them ask if you can send them an invitation and reasons for connecting with them.

I am a business analyst struggling to find that job and telling my story along the way. The story is to show that anybody can do it. The satisfaction I receive from being in the social media is being able to touch people with my blog through My Story, Rants and Data Analytics. This is my reward and landing that job, I’m not one for collecting connections :roll: .

Number 4. Interact. How do I find these people and how do I interact with them? Join groups, join as many groups as possible, doesn’t matter what size they are, actually the smaller the better, a more attentive audience. Follow the discussions. Get weekly email for updates from your groups so you can scan through the discussion list, you will eventually find a topic of interest.

You have searched for weeks, which means you have not tried hard enough, and you finally find a topic you can comment on but you don’t want to leave a comment. Think first what type of comment it is going to be. Are you going to agree with the author or disagree? If you agree with the author then reply privately. If you disagree, find somebody who has left a comment with the same conclusions as your own and reply to them privately. Then continue the conversation offline.

Please do reach out to people that have the same interests as your own. No good reaching out to business analyst if you are not one or you believe the person may be able to help you but they are social networking for their own purposes. You must have common interests and benefits that each can perceive. If you want people to reach out to you then you will have to leave a comment. Doesn’t matter if it is a failed comment like mine, Being Proactive. The connection I made then, this person still mentors me today :cool: .

The best way to have people reach out to you is to post your own discussions. But what type of discussion will I post? Think about what makes you passionate. I am passionate about finding that job so I am posting my story about finding that job and my data analytics to show people what I have been doing and can do. Doesn’t matter what you post, even if you are wanting to connect to like minded people, as long as you have passion for it. There are groups out there that cater for everybody’s needs.

Do not be afraid to post, do direct your posting to the correct group and the correct space, discussions, news or jobs section. Do not SPAM in one group, people will start ignoring your postings. If the group leader says something about your posting, shrug your shoulders and move on. There are so many postings out there that your one is not going to make a difference. Do not be disappointed if nobody responds. If you post in enough groups then you a bound to get a response somewhere.

I have been very lucky, I have had many, many people reach out to me through my postings. Each person has had a positive effect on my journey and I thank them all very much. Posting your own discussions will attract like minded people and those who are willing to help.

This is only a small glimpse into what I have learnt along this journey of mine. I am sure there is so much advice in the cyber world that this little post will also get lost in the many other postings but this is what I have experienced on my journey, some good, some bad. 

Good luck with your social networking efforts. Enjoy this new journey you are on, there are so many interesting people out there ready and willing to reach out to you but you have to make the effort. No good putting a partial profile up and then just sitting there expecting something to happen for you. It doesn’t work that way, you have to be social and work hard at it. You will make mistakes but that is part of the learning process. In the end, all the pain will make this one of the most rewarding journeys you will travel ;-) .

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Becoming a Blogger

25 January, 2010 in The Story | 2 comments

Me? A Blogger? I didn’t read blogs, why would anybody want to read what is coming out of my head? Several months later I am still blogging and people are enjoying what I write about whether the story, data analytics or even my rants. Hopefully, I can keep this up and the sentences do not stop flowing out of my head. Does this surprise me? Very much so. This person who does not like words has strung together nearly 20 posts and has a small following which I never thought I would have, ever, so thank you again for all of your support. I must admit though, it has not been smooth sailing through this part of the journey but very rewarding.

I had problems from the very beginning with social media and I needed a good kick on the bum to get myself motivated to start (Online Presence). I had struggled with social networking and I had been an extremely private person. Blogging meant that I would be losing more of my privacy to the public domain. I would have to be really out there to promote my blog so eventually that job will be mine.

I had read a few blogs and most of the posts were less than 500 words. I can’t fit what I want to say in 500 words or less, what can I tell people? I write The Story Begins and I make it fit on an A4 size, 500 odd words. That was my benchmark, fit on an A4 size and it won’t be too long, those are the rules.

I was ready to post in all my groups and my networks. I was nervous. I timidly post onto my networks then to my groups. I had installed a flag counter on the website, I had my 4 friends in Australia and my connection from the US who knew about the site. I was looking at the flag counter and saying to myself, “This is going to depress me watching these flags not move”. As I login to delete the script, the flags start moving with additional flags! My first post and people are hitting my site, unbelievable! Though the data from the flag counter does not compare to the data coming from GA but from my understanding different analytics packs calculate data differently.

You have to post every week, I had been told. Every week! I don’t have that much to say, let alone write! I post the next 2 parts of my story in a very feverish state. Then I decide to build my own website, (Online Presence) it takes 3 weeks, which means something I suppose in social media circles, a long time between postings. This is my first posting in more than 6 weeks :-? .

The next posting is JobCAMP, I also post my first rant, After Sales Service…. I only post details of the rant on my wall in FB, my one friend knew how I felt about hanging on the phone forever. I had not posted in the LI network, it was sitting there on my blog so I could get it off my chest. I receive my first comment for a rant on the blog then the comment from Sheryar, I could not believe my little rant had stirred someone to write such a conscientious comment. I was extremely flattered.

I’ve reached my 500 words, that’s it, no more words :lol: .

The next couple of posts, not much was happening, I was losing my engaged audience :cry: then The Campaign. I post in my groups, titled, “Social Networking and the faux pas of a Beginner”. I had just finished my postings and the visitors to my LI profile and my blog were incredible. My blog visits had surpassed any other posting by more than 10 fold, an overwhelming response. Yeah, I had 2 before, now I have 20 :lol: .   When I woke in the morning, my mailbox was bombarded with comments from groups. I had never seen so many! :-)

Since blogging, I have received online and offline comments giving me a pat on the back, saying I was brave for telling my story. This is all really nice but not what I am blogging for. I am not brave, I only assume everybody else would feel the same way if they were in my position. I just want to increase my chances of finding that job, if people can get a smile out of my story then all the better ;-) . I have also received notes from others who said that I had encouraged them to get their act together. This is always heartening. But all comments I receive, online or offline,  make it all worthwhile as I have been able to reach out to someone who I would not have touched before blogging :-D .

Where are the rough waters? Blog is running smoothly and I have all this attention. The Campaign ends with “But what now?”. I had arrived at another “but what now” moment, not only in the story but also in real life. I was not enjoying blogging at all. Communicatons had stopped from the first posting. I struggled from then on as I just did not know what I was doing. I was not enjoying the self promoting and I was not enjoying writing about myself as said before I had been an extremely private person.

I reached out because of my confusion as to what to do with the blog. Advice was given and I decided to stop blogging. I did not feel I had the passion. I started to write my final post, introduction, draft of the body and conclusion when I received one of these heartening notes. Which made me stop and think again, always dangerous :lol: . There is a reason why I am blogging, to increase my profile so I can find that job. I cannot stop, I haven’t found that job!

When I first started blogging, I did the Wikipedia lookup,

The personal blog, an ongoing diary or commentary by an individual, is the traditional, most common blog. Personal bloggers usually take pride in their blog posts, even if their blog is never read.

I wanted to take pride of my blog. I was not happy with some of my postings. I could see that I was not holding my new visitors so I went back and rewrote the one’s I had feverishly posted including the first one, more than 500 words now . After another 3 week hiatus, I wrote Online Presence and managed to keep the following I had achieved with the previous posting.

I have this sense of renewed energy and passion for my blog. I start writing my data analytics posts, same response but a different group people reading my posts. I said I was not going to rant but I am and another different crowd. With this new energy, my blog and I are now in harmony and my readership continues to grow with every posting. The blog is also recieving new visitors via direct entries, don’t know where these people are coming from as I only promote my blog in the LI network. I also decided that I was not going to post every week and not have a limit on my words as I would prefer to produce quality over quantity. Why don’t you subscribe to the blog using the above FeedBurner just enter your email addresss so you don’t miss out on any posts :-) .

The blog has three channels to increase my profile and find that job. I now call myself a blogger and even have a business card noting that I blog :-) . I have received leads and many more leads since I started posting data analytics on the blog. I am really, really enjoying reaching out to people and knowing people are enjoying my blog. I am now at the stage of my story where I am today, a business analyst and blogger, still looking for that job. I know there will be more stories to tell of my journey and hopefully, soon, I will be posting the day I got that job ;-) .

 

Next post in The Story -> The Search 

 

   

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Online Presence

15 October, 2009 in The Story | 6 comments

LinkedIn is the first social network I joined but not the only one I have joined since then. My public profile is not only LinkedIn, it is what a person finds when they do a search on your name, this is what I learnt at JobCAMP.

I do a Google and Yahoo search on my name. There are so many Colleen Chan’s but nothing on me. The only Colleen Chan in Sydney ran in the City to Surf fun run. Anybody who knows me would laugh as I do not even know the word exercise! Colleen Chan the business analyst does not have an online presence.

At JobCAMP we were taught that if we hit our own links enough then eventually increase your ranking during the searches. But I am nowhere, the only online profile I have is my LinkedIn. I now realise my LinkedIn profile will never rank above any other Colleen Chan’s in LinkedIn in the Google search as my public profile URL is colleenchan and Google searches on ‘colleen chan’ so does not even recognise me as Colleen Chan but Yahoo does, I’m nowhere in Bing.

We were told to create profiles in all social networks and make sure that we create a public URL as it is all free to join. So many social networks out there that it is hard to know where to start. I had read that XXXXX is “to connect with people you do know but don’t want to know”, (probably why they have lost 50% of their market share in the past year). Facebook is “to connect with people you do know and do want to know” and Twitter is “to connect with people you don’t know but do want to know”. I join Facebook and Twitter since then I have also joined Naymz and Plaxo.

Since joining all these networks, I must say I am not a big fan of Twitter, it is all too much for me, can’t keep up. I watch all the tweets and the thousands of followers people have. I am usually a quiet person, I don’t have that much to say, some may disagree ;-) , and these Twitterer’s tweet so much, so much to say. The only tweets you see from me are when I am posting on my blog. My little voice gets lost in the thousands of tweets already out there. It is a different way of reaching out to people by giving their connections short assiduous pulses of information. Many have grown their brand successfully using Twitter as part of their marketing strategy. I am sure there are many people that I do and probably need to know out there but it is just not for me :???: .

Facebook is a totally different kettle of fish. You must realise the only social network I have seen is LinkedIn which is very straight and no bright lights flashing at you when you press buttons. I start connecting to people I already know who are on FB as these are the people telling me I have been missing out. Yes, I have been hidden from the world of social networking, I did not know that if somebody wrote on your wall that a) Everybody on your network sees and that b) you are suppose to reply via comment and not by writing on your wall again, :???: , it’s like ignoring a conversation. Sorry friends.

I start getting these notifications and every time I start something, I have to send to a group of friends. I mean some of this stuff is really stupid, more fool me I answer everything and send to my friends as well. But eventually I realise my friends don’t want to see all this stuff and I see a skip button amongst all the flashing lights. During this time somebody sends me a kiss. So I think which friend of mine is playing silly games with me? When I get through the flashing lights, the name that appears is laughable. Ignore. I go to my wall 2 days later and there it is, I have inadvertently joined a dating site and the application had posted it automatically! :oops: . Mind you it was not the only time I had been fooled by spam, I had also gone into depth about my friends to a new connection as the spam said this person is new so introduce your friends. Duh! I basically ignore everything now, I don’t know where I might end up. FarmVille?!

Yes, FB is different and I am still trying to get the hang of it. So much advice about who you should be connecting to in this network. I am still struggling, as I have been told every connection is a good connection, but FB is for friends so where do I stop accepting invitations on networks. Is there not a space where I can keep private? Or does social networking mean that I have to be open to everybody? I want a job, I know having a lot of friends is good but a lot of friends verses a group of friends you know personally? I would prefer a group of friends I know personally and I am sure most people would feel the same way. :-)

I open a WordPress.com account but do nothing with the account for nearly 8 weeks. I don’t even know why I opened the account as I do not know how to write, I did poorly in English at school and had not written anything creative since then but it is to increase my online presence. I struggle for weeks. Do I want to be the 1% of internet users that becomes a content creator? I have nothing to write about, I needed a tag line and I needed a theme. I ran past my ideas across many people but I did not seem to be getting any traction. Everybody was telling me I had to write about data analytics but I can’t write and then trying to put my numbers into words is basically impossible, I needed someone to write my resume, I had to win a competition to get my personal brand done. How can I write about numbers and who wants to know about data analytics?

What I did receive was a good swift kick on the backside by one of my connections who had answered one of my group discussions during the campaign. And for that same person to agree that writing my story would be a good to start for my blog and move onto data analytics when I get the confidence in my writing. All I needed was somebody to agree with me and I was ready to go. So here I am communicating to you through my blog another way of reaching out to people.

I want to look at the numbers from my blog but to do this I have been told to use Google analytics but to do this I need to build my own website. Sigh… This is after I had started blogging. I had already been told I had the skills to do it but I didn’t know where to start. I put up a discussion in a couple of my IT groups to get help. The feedback I receive is very encouraging with new connections happy to help me through my process.

I start building this website, it takes me 3 weeks to get it together. In those weeks I was looking at words and acronyms I had never seen before, extreme headaches and my chiropractor said my body had not been that stressed since I had been out of work. More accounts, usernames and passwords and lots and lots of learning. I now know how to setup my own website and understand all the different layers I have to control and still learning about new layers :-| .

Building my own website for my blog increased my online presence without even knowing it. My blog did not rank in the first few pages before I built my website but once the blog was running from my own site, the blog is ranking on page 1 in Yahoo and sometime makes page 2 in Google. The numbers? I have been told by connections to ignore the numbers as 1. all cool websites do not get massive traffic and 2. I should not be worried about the numbers but an engaged audience. But I do look at the numbers, I can’t help myself. My traffic against benchmarks in GA show the blog is doing above average and I do have an engaged audience. So thank you all for your support. :-)

My online presence is now there. My LinkedIn profile has made No.1 using Yahoo search and my “Check with Chan” advertisement has made No.1 using Google search. With all the other social networks I have been able to make more than 2 of my links to be on page 1 using both search engines. This is due to the blog without the blog my rankings would not be up there.

digitally-distinct_badge120pxDigitally Distinct You are digitally distinct!
This is the nirvana of online identity. A search of your name yields lots of results about you, and most, if not all, reinforce your unique personal brand.

          

           

             

            

There are many social networks to join and many different ways to communicate with your connections. Some of my social networks do not even get touched as they are all linked some how to the handful of accounts that I use regularly. Creating my online presence has been an important part of my personal brand, people can do a search on my name and find me easily. Now all I am waiting for are my long lost friends to find me :lol: .

 

Next post in The Story -> Becoming a Blogger

 

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