• Access more than half a million jobs listed on Twitter
• Build and leverage your professional network
• Get the inside scoop.

So is it worth the read?  

 I recommend it highly for any newbie to social media, especially Twitter. Section 1 focuses on getting you acquainted with Twitter and setting up a basic profile. I especially liked their baker’s dozen of job-hunting tweeter success stories complete with their Twitter handles for easy following and modeling.

The tactical, step-by-step instructive style of The Twitter Job Search Guide makes it a useful companion for creating your social branding strategy and implementing their tools to create a “Twit-Fit Resume” or a cover letter in only ten tweets. There’s even a chapter devoted to helping both introverts and extroverts find their Twitter identity. There’s tons of information in this guide book and much of it’s actionable to reach your own job search or career networking goals.

The authors demystify Twitter and suggest recruiters and career gurus you can follow to get started. They also feature third-party Twitter resources to monitor followers, search Twitter, and optimize your Twitter experience.

The intention of the book is noble and I think it achieved the author’s stated goals: “This book is for everyone” and “Regardless of your background or circumstances, the principles covered in this book will work for you: they are universal.”

The Department of Veteran Affair’s Veteran Benefits Administration’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR & E) Program is a national employment resource for employers.

The VR & E Service provides effective vocational rehabilitation services to veterans with service-connected disabilities. Enabling our injured soldiers, sailors, airmen, and other veterans with disabilities for a seamless transition from military service to a successful rehabilitation and on to suitable employment after service to our Nation.

Learn more about the VR & E Service and the various programs and tax credits available to employers who hire veterans especially disabled veterans.

One such program, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a tax credit for businesses that hire individuals from certain qualified groups, of which one is disabled people who completed or are completing rehabilitative services from a state or the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. 

The Department of Labor offers an informative fact sheet about the target groups covered by the WOTC.   The credit can be as much as $4,800 for each new disabled veteran hire and the employer may hire as many new individuals who qualify for these tax savings.

To find qualified veterans to hire:

•  locate the VR & E Office in your state use  this link  to the Department of Veteran Affairs “Facilities Locator & Directory” web page. Scroll down the page and click on your state. Under “Veterans Benefits Administration” click on the Regional Office. You will find the address and phone number to contact the Regional Office. When you make contact ask for the VR & E Service Officer or VR & E Service Employment Coordinator.
• You may also send an   email  indicating your interest to hire a veteran from the VR&E Program, a description of the position and the best means to contact you. Your email will be directed to the appropriate VR&E Service Office and you will be contacted.
• Visit the National Resource Directory for a thorough list of programs available to help employ veterans.

 Banish employee burnout and keep your organization running smoothly with happy employees performing at optimum levels.

Be aware of the signs of burnout:

• Even stars crash and burn. Your star performers are most susceptible to burnout. Their champion attitudes will push them further and farther to do more and they can push themselves right over the edge.
• Mistakes. Little ones and big ones become more frequent. These mistakes can become costly against your bottom line.
• Burnout goes home. The toll on your employees goes beyond the work environment: illness, auto accidents, home problems and abusive behavior, to name a few.

Quell the flames of burnout:

• Provide training for managers and supervisors to help them avoid overloading staff. Be sure that they recognize the symptoms and the risks of employee burnout.
• Offer relaxation options like yoga or meditation or even just a quiet room to sit and think.  A focus on wellness and being centered can calm a stressed environment and refresh your employees.
• Try to minimize the cause of burnout: an imbalance in work/life time. Discourage working late and coming in early, as well as taking work home. Insist that vacation days are used, even if it’s just for staycations. Make it a company policy if you need to.
• Use teambuilding activities. Or, take it a step further and combine teamwork with philanthropy through a group volunteer project. When people feel like part of a team, a greater cause, and community, they know they’re not “in it” alone.

First off, recruiters might not even ask this of you. Instead, they’re more interested in hearing about the real you.  A recruiter in the industry for over twenty years shared, “After discussing their background I ask them questions like “How do you work?” “What did you contribute to your last position?” “What do you feel you excel at?” “What would you like to develop?”  She says, “Nine times out of ten, they relax and I’m able to see the true person.”

Secondly, realize that the question is silly. Most of us have no idea where we’ll be in five years nor should we worry about it. You build your career with your experiences while nurturing your network and fine-tuning your skills. Since the world around us is constantly changing, we can’t predict where any component of our career might lead. So, embrace change and grow.

If you are asked the question, here are some strategies you might consider:

Answer with integrity and intention. Treat your answer as a statement of purpose. The interviewer is listening to see if your answer matches the job.  First, are you the type of person who plans ahead and sets goals? Second, do your goals match those of the company and the position? When answering, use phrases like: “I have proven myself as… and I hope to help shape…” “I will continue contributing my abilities…” “I plan to define the strategic direction of…” 

Use the short and simple answer:  “working here.”

If you’re only interested in following job postings for your area, we also have regional Twitter accounts. All fifty American states and the Canadian provinces each have their own account. See the complete list on JobsFreeForAll.com.

For those seeking industry news or updates from our blog, follow our B2B Twitter account @JobsFreeForAll. Our CEO even has his own account @jffaBigKahuna.

Happy tweeting.

Surprisingly, 35 percent of employers reported declining to hire someone based on what they found on these social networking sites—with top reasons being the posting of inappropriate photos, content about drinking or using drugs, badmouthing previous employers or clients, and demonstrating poor communication skills.

Employers must understand, however, that researching job applicants online is risky. You may come across information that is inaccurate or misleading, and social media sites almost always contain information that employers cannot legally consider in making hiring decisions. For instance, if you learn someone’s race, age, sexual orientation, marital status, or similar data from reading someone’s blog or social media page, and then do not hire the applicant, there is the potential liability of a discrimination claim.

One way around this is to have somebody else in the company do the search—someone who does not screen applicants or make hiring decisions. This intermediary could then pass only pertinent, legal information on to the decision maker.

To get started, review your overall to-do list for the day.  Pick three as today’s Most Important Tasks. Then, complete at least the first of those three tasks before you do anything else. Following this daily regimen will help keep you productive.

What MITs should be on a jobseeker’s to-do list? 

• Create, update and/or refine your JobsFreeForAll.com profile and job alerts
• Update and refine your resume and cover letter
• Review interview schedules & appointments
• Write thank-you notes for recent interviews
• Submit applications
• Search for new opportunities
• Networking
• Stay on top of news and trends in your industry
• Make sure your interview wardrobe is ready to go
• Stay healthy in body, mind and spirit

Some companies have no more than 10 clear, easy-to-understand bullet points in their social media policy.

You may want to include some of the following:

• Whether participating in social media at work or at home, and no matter what the “privacy level” setting, employees are expected to conduct themselves professionally. (Some companies physically ensure that employees have privacy settings set properly on their personal Facebook and Twitter accounts.)

• When posting about the workplace in any medium, employees must make clear that they are not speaking on behalf of the company, and they may not post a company logo, graphic, trademark, slogan or similar.

• Employees must not post material that is embarrassing or damaging to the company, may be confidential or proprietary, is critical of the company, or which may, in any way, expose the company to liability.

• Whether the employee is at work or home, all company policies on company loyalty, ethics and anti-harassment apply to social networking.

• The employer reserves the right to monitor employees’ use of social media, whether the employee participates from work or home.

• Any violations of this policy, whether intentional or unintentional, may lead to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.

State clearly who at your company is responsible for overseeing online activity, and let employees know they can and should go to that person if they are unsure about whether something is permissible to post.

Some employers advise employees to keep photos and other more personal content away from social media sites where work friends and professional contacts would see them. This type of a decision should be aligned with your company’s culture.

Once you’ve created your social use policy, don’t merely hand employees a revised copy of their employee handbook. Train your employees so they fully understand the new rules, as well as the risks, they take by not complying and the consequences. You may want to include interactive training or tests to ensure that employees demonstrate understanding of your new policies.

Post your policies where they can easily be seen. Many companies remind their employees of their social media policy from time to time (annually, quarterly, in pay envelopes or elsewhere). Best practice is to have employees to sign an acknowledgement that they have read and understand the material (as you would with any other important policy).

As technology changes, your social media policy may need to change, too. Be sure to communicate changes to your employees accordingly. You may want to consult with an experienced labor and employment attorney to discuss legal aspects of creating a social networking policy.

Everyday – more and more cities across the nation are getting on board with JobsFreeForAll.com and the FREE movement – so there are lots of delicious new jobs to share with your friends and loved ones.

If sharing a blog post is more your speed, then click the permalink to any article and choose the service to which you wish to share.

Social media use policies can vary significantly, even within an industry, and each company’s policy is a reflection of its corporate culture. For instance, Zappos, the Las Vegas-based online shoe company known for its customer service (and for having been purchased for $847 million in 2009 by Amazon.com), is an often-quoted example of a business with a very liberal social media policy.

The company puts all new hires for its corporate office through an extensive, four-week “customer loyalty training course” at full salary. After the first week of induction into the company’s culture, these new employees are offered $2,000 to leave the company—no strings attached, no hard feelings. (This, the CEO explains, weeds out anyone who is just there for the money.) More than 97 percent turn down the money and stay on.

Here’s where the social media policy comes in: After their training, employees are expected to use their own judgment to represent the company online in a way they feel fits the Zappos culture.

At the other extreme, some companies entirely prohibit the use of social media in the workplace. While this draconian approach may appear to be a simple way of addressing the issue, the organization may be missing out on the benefits of social media and risking having dissatisfied employees vent their frustrations on social networks while away from work.