Thursday, June 9, 2011

Social Media Time Management Strategy: Make a Twitter List

In the newest issue of Resume Writers' Digest, the cover story is on "Social Media Time Management Strategies for Resume Writers." In the spirit of that article is this blog post, which addresses a time-saving tip for Twitter.

One helpful Twitter feature is the ability to make a List. You can add those you follow to a list so that you can see all related tweets at once. Think of it as a customized timeline.

 

Ideas for lists to create would be Recruiters, Colleagues, Family, Celebrities, etc.

 

Old Twitter:

To create a list in the old version of Twitter, you would click on “New List“ in the Lists section on the right side. Once you have created one or more lists, they will appear above where you create a new one so you can easily access them.


 

 

New Twitter:

 

In the new version, click on the dropdown arrow beside “Lists” and then click on “Create a list.”


 

 

 

The process of actually creating your list is essentially the same in Old and New Twitter. Assign your list a Name and Description then choose whether you want it to be “Public” or “Private”. When finished completing this screen, click on Save List.



 

Once you’ve created your list, you can add people by searching for them:

 

 

Or just go to your follower list and find the people you want to add. Just click the icon on the far right and you can select to add the person to any of your lists.

 

 

Once your list is complete, you can click on it to see the tweets of those on your list only.


Want more social media time management tips? Subscribe to Resume Writers' Digest -- it's free! When you've confirmed your e-mail address, you'll also get a link to download the Spring 2011 issue which features Social Media Time Management Strategies for Resume Writers.

 

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

CPC Awards of Excellence Deadline is July 1

The Career Professionals of Canada Awards of Excellence Program nomination deadline is July 1, 2011.

Nomination categories include:
  • Outstanding Canadian Career Leader
  • Outstanding Volunteer Contributor to the Organization
  • Outstanding New Canadian Career Professional
  • Outstanding Canadian Online Profile Developer 
  • Outstanding Canadian Resume - New Graduate
  • Outstanding Canadian Resume - Career Change
  • Outstanding Canadian Resume - Technical
  • Outstanding Canadian Resume - Executive
  • Outstanding Canadian Resume - Creative 
Both non-members and members may nominate PROFESSIONAL MEMBERS, and PROFESSIONAL MEMBERS may also nominate themselves for awards. Award recipients will be formally recognized on the CPC Recipients page, CPC News and Views, and in the Career Connections Newsletter, which is received by more than 2800 subscribers. Award plaques will be delivered directly to recipients.

For more information, visit the Awards of Excellence page. And get those nominations in by July 1!

Best of luck to all nominees!

Monday, May 30, 2011

Converting Voice Mails to Voice Files

Okay, so this blog post isn't 100% directly related to resume writing ... but it is something that you might need someday, so I'm sharing it anyway.

I've had my current (nonsmartphone) for about 4 years now, and it's time to upgrade. (Actually, it's long past upgrade time...), but I have about a half-dozen voice mails on the existing phone that I don't want to lose when I transition it over. I've heard enough "horror stories" from friends and colleagues who have lost voicemails, photos, and videos when switching over their phones that I want to be proactive about it.

So I've been investigating services that will preserve the voice mails by turning them into digital files -- either MP3s or CDs. I use Google Voice with my cell phone (which automatically creates recordings of my voice mail messages), but the calls I want to save were ones that came into my regular cell phone line, not my Google Voice number (which also rings my cell phone), so I don't have them as a digital recording ... only as a regular voice mail message.

I'm looking at two services in particular -- each with different costs and different features.

The first is voicemailsaved.com, which charges $34.99 for preserving voice mails (up to 30 minutes of voicemails included). They'll send an audio CD for $12.50 ($5 each for extra CDs), or send a link to download the recordings at no additional charge.

The second -- a much less expensive option, but one that requires more "me work" -- is savethatcall.com. For just $.50 plus $.05 per minute, you can use third party conferencing to record your voice mails (or any calls, for that matter -- which may actually be useful to resume writers conducting phone-based interviews of clients to collect information on their resume development).

You can also try CBW Productions, which charges approximately $5/message. You can receive files via MP3 download or CD or cassette. They also provide notary services, should you have a message that requires legal verification. [This is the service I used; I paid approximately $30 to have six messages saved, including shipping. I am a previous Alltel Communications subscriber, so I used promo code ALLTEL and saved 10% (thru 12/11). I'll let you know how it went when I receive the CD in the mail.]

Anybody have any experience with either of these services -- or another service they can recommend?

Friday, May 27, 2011

BestResumeWriters.net: Legitimate Promotion or Fraud?

I received the following e-mail from a resume writing colleague:


As you have probably already heard, BestResumeWriters.Net is a new online directory that has professional resume writers listed for free.
Our editorial team thought your free profile on BestResumeWriters.net will be a win-win solution to you and your potential customers.
Our data entry team had gathered some information about you, publically available on the Web.
Your profile is ready and live on the website now.
With this mail we invite you to visit www.bestresumewriters.net and type your name / last name into the search field, find your profile and verify you are fine with this listing on BestResumeWriters.NET.
Please see your profile with us, and let us know if you are fine with being listed as the Best Resume Writer on our website, and if your profile composed by us meets your expectations.
If we do not get your permission by May 30th, we will delete your profile until you request to have it recovered.
If you fail locating your profile on our website but you wish to be listed on BestResumeWriters.net please notify us with the email sent to support@bestresumewriters.net
From our side we commit for the online directory transparency and marketing:
* the messages/inquiries sent to you will be routed to your email in a timely manner,
* the information acquired from the messages we receive will not be used for any other purpose but relaying to the resume writer needed,
* the online directory will be marketed in terms of Search Engine Optimization and so called cost-per-click traffic to bring the best resume writers listed on our website more and more clients,
* we will be working next on the website functionality improvement, aiming to provide convenient and effective search tool to the job seekers in need for the resume writing help.
Thank you for being the Best Resume Writer!
--
Thanks,
Regards,
BestResumeWriters.net Team


She was asking for feedback about this "opportunity" -- in particular, she was concerned because there is no "name" associated with the website. When I clicked on the contact page, I tried the links for both Twitter and LinkedIn, and neither worked.

Resume writing colleague Roleta Fowler Vasquez, CPRW/CEIP, Owner of Wordbusters Resume and Writing Services wrote about BestResumeWriters.net on a "fraud alert" page on her website.

Roleta reported that there is some confusion as to whether the "contact this writer" inquiries are forwarded to the resume writer or not. I will investigate this further.

Do you have any information on this site? I will update this post with new information as I receive it.