Using Pinterest in Your Career Services Business

Pinterest is the fastest website in history to hit more than 10 million unique monthly visitors. That's faster than Facebook, faster than Twitter and faster than Google. It went from 4.8 million unique in November 2011 to 11 million in January 2012, a mere three months.

Although Pinterest is growing rapidly -- and you may even have an account already that you are using to collect home decor ideas, or recipes -- most resume writers and career industry professionals don't understand how they can use it to get new clients.

(If you want to learn more about setting up a Pinterest account, you can access the free 27-page "Resume Writer's Guide to Pinterest" in the Free Level Resources section of BeAResumeWriter.com. You can apply for your free membership -- or sign in, if you're already a Free or Bronze Level member -- at www.bearesumewriter.com/join)

Bridget's Pinterest Profile: http://pinterest.com/rwdigest/

Over 80% of Pinterest users are women. Pinterest is a powerful tool for interacting with female buyers and decision-makers online. 

Here are some creative ways to use Pinterest in your resume writing business.

Become an Authority on Pinterest

Ideas for Jobseekers

Much like on Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere, one of the best ways to get attention is by providing high quality content.

As a resume writer, you can curate content that relates to the careers industry. I've got a couple – including the "Ideas for Jobseekers" board.

Create content-based boards that give other people ideas and help solve problems. You can create boards for things like interviewing (curate "dress for success" photos, for example) or for "Career Books You Should Read."

Keep doing this until people see you as an authority on Pinterest.

 Market Research

Use Pinterest as a market research tool.

What are prospective resume clients thinking? What do they want in their lives? What are their hopes and dreams?  Figuring out the answers to these questions has traditionally been quite tough. With Pinterest, however, you have a live feed of exactly what everyone in your target market is thinking about and cares about right now. 

Look at who is following your boards, and click through to their profiles. (On your personal profile page, you'll see your number of Followers and the number of people you follow -- "Following." Click on the one that says "Followers.") Check out boards with titles like "Things I Love."

  

Future Product Ideas

 Along with the idea of using Pinterest to conduct market research, you can use it to capture future product ideas. What kind of ideas is your company considering? One way to let your users participate in the decision making process is to just throw up all the possible ideas on a Pinterest board.

For example, if you're putting together a new special report on "Getting Started with Facebook In Your Job Search," you might commission a couple of inexpensive cover designs (I recommend using Fiverr.com) and then put up the choices and have your Pinterest followers "vote" on a design.

Throw the concepts up there and let your customers decide.

Affiliate Pinboard

Example of an Affiliate Board

An affiliate pinboard can help you give value to your customers by helping them find resources that are relevant for their needs while you earn affiliate income when they click-through from your Pinterest board.

Create a pinboard out of resources you can find in your industry. Slip a couple of your own in there as well. Customers will find your pin board and buy from both your recommendations and from your company. 

Showcase Your Work

Drive traffic to your blog

One of the best ways to use Pinterest in your resume writing business is to drive traffic to your website and your blog, and to show examples of your work and places you've been published. You can pin blog posts to your board, link to books you've been published in, and post fictionalized resumes.

Looking for an examples of resume writers who "get" Pinterest? Check out these profiles:

• Maureen McCann
• Rosalind Kimber
• Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter
• Charlotte Weeks
• Mark Dyson
• Tim Tyrell-Smith
• Daisy Wright
• Kristin Johnson
• Miriam Salpeter
• Adrienne Tom
• Dawn Rasmussen
• Jan Melnik
• Walter Akana
• Holly Bunn

These are some creative ways you can use Pinterest in your resume writing business. Pinterest is an extremely fast growing website that’s only going to get more and more relevant as time passes. Are you ready to get involved?

Like this post? Check out my post on "Pinterest Tip: How to Follow Other Pinterest Users."

How to Make Your Resume Writing Business More Credible

© iQoncept - Fotolia.com

With so many resume writing businesses marketing and promoting themselves online nowadays, you may be wondering: "How do I set myself apart?"

One answer is through credibility. Credibility helps separate you from your competition (or colleagues, if you prefer the more collegial definition of "other resume writers.) It also helps your resume writing business appear larger to your prospects and customers. Credulity gives your customers confidence in you. This confidence and trust results in purchases and profits.

So how do you create this credibility? How do you demonstrate to prospective resume clients that you can be trusted?

Professional Policies and Procedures
One of the best ways to establish trust and credibility with your prospects instantly is to make sure you represent your company online in a professional and credible manner. The simplest way to accomplish this is to publish your policies and procedures on your website. Make sure the policies page is easy to find and that it covers all the information someone would want to know. For example, what is your privacy policy? What is your payment policy? (Payment in full up front? Half due now, and the rest when the resume draft is delivered?) What about refunds? Do you have a guarantee?

Transparency is a key credibility builder. Consider also including a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page on your site. It may cover much of the same material that your policies and procedures page covers, but that's okay.

Large Networking Presence
More than 800 million people are on Facebook right now. It's important to have a presence on mainstream social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You may even want to have a Pinterest account. It's also important to integrate your activity and social networking presence on your resume writing business website. For example, include links to your social networking profile on your site. Allow people to connect with you on the platforms they use.

Social networking is a credibility builder because it's a personal way to connect with your company. Again, it goes back to transparency and availability. If you're open and easy to connect with online, it builds trust. Most resume writing businesses are solo operations -- so when a client is choosing to work with your company, they are really choosing you.

Additionally, if you're connecting with other notable experts (especially thought leaders in the careers industry -- other resume writers, career coaches, recruiters, HR professionals, etc.) on social networking sites, your prospects will notice that. You will earn credibility by association.

Great Content
Finally, great content is essential to building credibility. You want to make sure your content positions you as a knowledgeable expert in your industry. You can publish content on your website or blog. You can also publish content on your social networking profiles.

Each article, blog post, or web page will ideally offer value to your reader. When you offer value, you help build a foundation of trust with your readers. They begin to learn from you and about you. This helps them feel like youíre a company they can count on to continue to solve their problems.

In addition to publishing great content, it's also helpful to publish content frequently -- and on other websites. For example, if you are able to publish content on your site and contribute to other relevant blogs as a guest blogger, it helps establish your credibility. Publish articles on article directories or on sites like Squidoo. If other business owners are turning to you for great content, then you must be an expert!

Building credibility isn't difficult, but it does take a plan. Represent your resume writing business online in a professional manner. Make sure to be completely transparent and to publish content that offers value.

Career Directors International Announces 2012 TORI Award Nominees

Each year, CDI hosts a resume writing competition for the Toast of the Resume Industry (TORI) award.

Winner announcements will take place at CDI's award ceremony at the 2012 Career Empowerment Summit in October in San Diego.

Here are the 2012 TORI Nominees, in no particular order:

Best International Resume

Barbara Safani, Career Solvers

Victoria McLean, City CV Ltd.

Kimberley Bethke, Surcorp Group/Resume Solutions

Amanda Andrews, Professional Resume Services

Gayle Howard, Top Margin Career Marketing

Best New Graduate Resume

Adrienne Tom, Career Impressions
Brenda Bernstein, The Essay Expert LLC
Kornelia Telesz, Surcorp Group/Resume Solutions

Victoria McLean, City CV Ltd.

Jennifer Rushton, Keraijen

Best Creative Resume

Tina Nicolai, Resume Writers' Ink, LLC®
Cheryl Simpson, Executive Resume Rescue
Kristin Johnson, Profession Direction
Patricia Duckers, Prism Writing Services, LLC/CareerPro Global, Inc.

Barbara Safani, Career Solvers

Best Re-Entry Resume

Brenda Bernstein, The Essay Expert LLC

Kimberley Bethke, Surcorp Group/Resume Solutions

Wayne Pagani, W.P. Consulting & Associates

Surranna Sandy, Surcorp Group/Resume Solutions

Amanda Andrews, Professional Resume Services

Best Technical Resume

Richard Coombes, Itouch Professional Resume Writing
Sandra Ingemansen, Emprove Performance Group, LLC
Alexander Kofman, Resume Pros 4 Less
Surranna Sandy, Surcorp Group/Resume Solutions

Barbara Safani, Career Solvers

Best Executive Resume

Surranna Sandy, Surcorp Group/Resume Solutions

Amy L. Adler, Five Strengths Career Transition Experts
Sandra Ingemansen, Emprove Performance Group, LLC

Jennifer Rushton, Keraijen

Donald Burns, DonaldBurns.com

Best Sales and Marketing Resume

Laurie Berenson, Sterling Career Concepts, LLC
Kimberly Mohiuddin, Movin' On Up Resumes
Jennifer Rushton, Keraijen
Sharon Williams, JobRockit
Barbara Safani, Career Solvers

Donald Burns, DonaldBurns.com

Best Military Conversion Resume

Amanda Andrews, Professional Resume Services

Alexander Kofman, Resume Pros 4 Less

Fran Sheridan, CareerPro Global/21st Century Resumes

Sandra Ingemansen, Resume Strategies

Diana Dryden Smith, Federal Resume Resources

Best Cover Letter

Kimberly Mohiuddin, Movin' On Up Resumes

Wayne Pagani, W.P. Consulting & Associates

Gayle Howard, Top Margin Career Marketing
Kevin R. Morris, CareerMobile
Donald Burns, DonaldBurns.com

Sandra Ingemansen, Emprove Performance Group, LLC

Robin Schlinger, of Robin's Resumes, coordinated the TORI awards this year.

Judges included:

Barb Poole, Hire Imaging, LLC

Darlene Dassy, Dynamic Resume Solutions

Laura Labovich, Aspire! Empower! Career Strategy Group

Annemarie Cross, Advanced Employment Concepts

Jill Kelly, Career Edge

Susan Guarneri, AssessmentGoddess.com 
Michael Kranes, Resume Slayer
Audrey Prenzel, Resume Resources

To learn more about the TORI awards, click here.

Read the CDI news release about the TORI award nominees.

How to Grow Your Resume Business Through Crowdsourcing

With the death of my Dad earlier this month, I found myself facing a double-edged sword of having a crushing amount of responsibilities related to planning his funeral ... and a concurrent case of writer's block. It wasn't resumes that I was having trouble writing -- I had backed off of those in July when it was apparent his health was declining -- it was the August Pass-Along Materials package for BeAResumeWriter.com.

I had already decided in July what the topic for the content would be, and had outlined and written several sections of the report by the time he died. But every time I sat down to finish it, I was just stuck. I sent out an email to Bronze members to let them know what was going on -- and received wonderful, thoughtful, amazing responses from so many colleagues. The message was pretty consistent: Don't worry about the work. But I got my work ethic from my Dad ... so not worrying about finishing it was eating at me. The second consistent theme of the emails was: Let me know if I can do anything.

And that's what sparked an idea ... what if I crowdsourced ideas for the report content? Instead of relying on my own initiative and strengths -- which were sorely lacking at that point -- I would ask for help, in the form of crowdsourcing content for the report, which became the "Jobseeker's Guide to Leaving Your Job."

© FotolEdhar - Fotolia.com

What Is Crowdsourcing?
As defined by Wired Magazine, "Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to an undefined large group of people or community through an open call." In this case, I sent out a follow-up email with a link to a QuestionPro survey. Immediately after sending it out, I began to receive survey responses (and emails from folks letting me know they had taken the survey).

You'll also see this principle at work with resume writers. I wrote a blog post this month about whether you should "Like" another resume writer's Facebook business page. Asking colleagues to "Like" your page is an example of crowdsourcing. You'll often get people who immediately comply with your request. You're asking the masses to help you grow your resume writing business.

So How Do You Grow Your Resume Writing Business with Crowdsourcing?
First, think about the various ways you can grow your business. These include:

• Marketing
• Content
• Product development
• Website traffic
• Branding

Second, you'll want to think about your crowdsourcing resources. As you can see from the earlier examples, social networking and list-building are often the keys to success. The key part of "crowdsourcing" is crowd -- the more people you can reach, the easier it will be to pick up momentum quickly for your initiative. (You've seen on Facebook how word can spread across the country in a matter of minutes.)

Do you have a large network of friends and followers? Are you currently active on social networking sites? It doesn;t have to be Facebook. Social sites like Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube are very powerful too.

Third, consider your goals. What do you want to accomplish first? For example, do you need a lot of content for your website? Ask for submissions or guest blog posts from your friends and followers. Make it a contest and ask readers to vote on the best blog posts.

If you want to use the power of the crowd to develop your first information product, ask for input. Ask your jobseeking clients for their top 3 challenges in finding a great job.

The power of the crowd is immense. You can use it to grow your resume writing business in a number of ways. Instead of paying a product development team or hiring a focus group, you can now go directly to the source and ask your prospects to contribute. And it doesn't cost a thing. Consider your goals and your resources, then take action.

For me, I am immensely grateful to my colleagues who contributed their ideas and inspiration to complete the "Jobseeker's Guide to Leaving Your Job" Pass-Along Materials content.