3 Search Engines You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

Move over Google – the future of searching is no longer just about you! Check out these 3 new search engines below, then consider how to manage your personal brand on them in the comments section.
OneRiot
OneRiot looks at what’s happening on Twitter and Digg in realtime results. They write, “Increasingly, the web’s most interesting content is what our friends and other people are talking about, sharing and looking at right now. However, when people search for that content, traditional search engines struggle to surface these fresh, socially-relevant results. That’s the hole – and it’s a big one – that OneRiot is filling.”
Wolfram
Wolfram’s Alpha version allows users to compute their search engine results, rather than find links that will give them the information. In seconds, you can use Wolfram to find the phase of the moon from the day you were born. They write, “Wolfram|Alpha’s long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything.”
Twine
Twine is, amazingly, completely unrelated to Twitter. But it capitalizes on the foundations of social media in that you can join groups based on what you’re searching for, and “connect” with people who are searching for the same things. It actually looks like the search engine version of StumbleUpon to me. They write, “The more you use Twine, the smarter it gets. Fill out your profile to discover new info and interests through Twine’s personalized recommendations.” At the least, fill out your profile to reserve your name!
Currently, none of these three search engines have much to say when I search on my name. But take a look into your crystal ball – how will these engines change the way we manage our personal brands in the future?
Monica O’Brien is a Marketing Consultant specializing in marketing strategy and consumer insights at the juncture of new media and traditional marketing. You can also follow her on Twitter (@monicaobrien).
Article courtesy of Dan Schawbel, the leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y. He authors the Personal Branding Blog and publishes Personal Branding Magazine and authored the upcoming book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, Spring 2009). Dan has been called a “personal branding force of nature” by Fast Company and his work has been published in BrandWeek Magazine, Advertising Age and countless other publications.

Carnegie Mellon Study: Convicts Safe to Hire After 5 Years?

I just came across this release from Carnegie Mellon University entitled “When Is It Safe to Hire Someone With A Criminal Record”. The study suggests that a person has been fully rehabilitated after a period of 5 years without any additional criminal records. By no means do I endorse this study. They might be right and they might be wrong. One thought though: just because a person hasn’t been charged or convicted of a crime in five years doesn’t mean that that they have not engaged in criminal activity. It simply means that if they did, they haven’t yet been caught. What do you think?
The new study, which appears in the current issue of Criminology, estimates that after five years of staying clean an individual with a criminal record is of no greater risk of committing another crime than other individuals of the same age. The research comes at a time when President Barack Obama’s crime agenda includes breaking down employment barriers for people who have a prior criminal record, but who have stayed clean since their earlier offense.
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Article by, Nick Fishman and courtesy of EmployeescreenIQ

Personal Branding Interview: Angela Maiers

Today, I spoke to Angela Maiers, who has been in the education field for 20 years as a classroom teacher and is the author of Classroom Habitudes. In this interview, Angela goes over what “habitudes” are, the knowledge students should have before they graduate, social media’s role in the classroom and how she’s built her own personal brand.
Angela, what are “Classroom Habitudes”? Why are they important?
“Habitudes are a combination of learning habits and attitudes.”
Not just something to do in school (or at work), but a 24/7 habit with an attitude of positive profit for your brain and heart. A truly curious, adaptable, persevering spirit, one with imagination, courage, and self-awareness is a person that lives a life of Habitudes.
We’re all born with these traits, but many times our schedules and busy work get put on a higher pedastal – which is poor placement. The Habitudes can and should be muscles built up in our classrooms – not hidden on the bottom shelf.

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Talent Disconnect?

According to research released today by Manpower, some employers are struggling to fill the following positions:

• Engineers
• Nurses
• Skilled/Manual Trades
• Teachers
• Sales Representatives
• Technicians
• Drivers
• IT Staff
• Laborers
• Machinists/Machine Operators

Considering today’s economy, it might seem counter-intuitive that it’s difficult to make these hires. But finding the right employee means making a close match of job-specific skills, soft skills, work ethic, experience and a good culture fit — a perfect storm of the ideal combination of traits and characteristics.
To learn more, visit the Research Center at us.manpower.com.
<img alt="Melanie Holmes" src="http://www.collegerecruiter.com/employersblog/melanie-holmes.jpg" width="67" height="67" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" Article by Melanie Holmes, Vice President of World of Work Solutions for Manpower, and courtesy of Manpower’s Contemporary Working blog. Melanie shares Manpower’s extensive knowledge while building strategic partnerships with government, universities and other leadership organizations across the country. She is also responsible for social responsibility at Manpower, which includes diversity, volunteerism, community involvement, community relations, philanthropy and workforce development.

Should You Undertake Graduate Studies if You Cannot Find a Job?

Jason wrote:
I recently graduated from university and have not found a job yet. With the recession, should I think about going back to do graduate studies this fall if I don’t have any interviews lined up for next month?
Looking for a job during a recession is already difficult. It can be made even more difficult if you are a new graduate and don’t have experience. Give yourself some time and try to figure out why your job search is not producing results. It may be that you approach your job search the wrong way. If after a few months of looking for a job you still cannot find something, doing graduate studies can be a good option, but keep the following in mind:

• choose an area of study that you like and that is in demand;
• choose your program carefully, some programs are more academic and some are more practical with coop terms;
• this is your second chance to prove yourself, so make your mark either with your grades, your involvement in organizations, or by publishing articles; and
• network and build connections while studying.

A last word of advice… graduate studies require commitment, so don’t take this decision lightly.
Article by, John Sylo and courtesy of WorkBloom, an employment blog incorporating a comprehensive career resources section, including the largest database of professionally written resume and cover letter samples on the Web.

How to Resolve Formatting Problems When Sending Resumes and Cover Letters Electronically?

Sophie wrote:
I went for an interview last week and saw the interviewer with my resume. I was surprised to see that it did not resemble what I sent out. I sent my resume by email. How can I prevent that from happening?
When you email your resume and the person at the receiving end has a different word processing software, that can lead to formatting inconsistencies, a thing to avoid, if possible. Further, even when you both have the same software, you might have different versions of that software (i.e. one person might have a more recent version), which could also lead to difficulties. A good way to avoid this is to send your job applications in “.pdf” format. Most companies pdf their documents for external communications nowadays and will have no problem opening the documents that you send them.
The following websites offer free pdf converters:
http://www.cutepdf.com
http://www.primopdf.com
Article by, John Sylo and courtesy of WorkBloom, an employment blog incorporating a comprehensive career resources section, including the largest database of professionally written resume and cover letter samples on the Web.

Recession Not as Hard on College Graduates

It makes sense that anyone with a college education has a better chance to get an entry level job. But this may be really true during a recession, like the one the U.S. is facing now. While many people have lost jobs in this recession, the pain doesn’t seem as hard on college graduates.

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The Journeys Continue

More and more, people are contemplating or actively researching the idea of going into business for themselves as the recession continues. Retirees and people who lost their jobs due to cutbacks are among the largest number of aspiring entrepreneurs. While there’s a lot of freedom involved with being the boss, there’s a lot of risk and responsibility, too. Author and entrepreneur, Sramana Mitra, illustrates that beautifully through candid conversations and brief personal insights.
As with her first book, Entrepreneur Journeys, Mitra has assembled a collection of one-on-one interviews with bootstrappers who overcame myriad obstacles and setbacks on their paths to entrepreneurial success. In Bootstrapping: Weapon of Mass Reconstruction, Mitra once again introduces her readers to successful business owners like Cree Lawson of Travel Ad Network, Rafat Ali of paidContent and Lars Dalgaard of SuccessFactors.
As before, the book is esoteric and packed with jargon, but still also packed with a lot of useful information for neophyte or aspiring entrepreneurs. One thing that stands out more than anything else is the amount of patience and persistence that’s required to be an entrepreneur. Such a venture is definitely not for anyone who discourages easily. But it’s also apparent that hard work, dedication and a keen sense of what consumers want or need more often than not lead to success.
Both Entrepreneur Journeys and Bootstrapping: Weapon of Mass Reconstruction, which is scheduled for wide release on June 1, 2009, are available on Amazon.com. They’re worth reading for anyone who has or plans to journey down the road of entrepreneurship.

Entry Level Jobs With IMRE

What do financial services, home/building and healthcare have in common? All three fields can expect good things to happen when they “converge” with IMRE, a full service digital, advertising, marketing and public relations agency in Baltimore, Maryland.
Let’s start with their financial services practice. Strategically expanded in July 2008 near the beginning of our country’s economic troubles, IMRE saw an opportunity for “financial services companies to gain market share.” Did you know you can buy wedding insurance from Travelers? IMRE won this client by proposing–no pun intended–to launch a campaign on Valentine’s Day about nuptial nightmares ranging from heart attacks to blackouts to hurricanes. They won the account and reached more than 74 million people with their messages. Like most public relations practitioners, I’m not a numbers person, but I do love weddings!
The “green” market is hot right now, so it makes sense for Arxx Corporation to be included in IMRE’s home & building practice. IMRE “moved Arxx away from a product message and positioned them as a longtime leader in energy-efficient solutions.” Despite being a midsized firm with only one office location, their client list in this practice is impressive–ranging from John Deere to The Home Depot to Target.
Their final practice area is healthcare, which is also my specialty. What I like most about healthcare PR is that you feel like you’re helping people live life to its fullest with every tactic you use to reach them. IMRE’s clients in this sector mostly are nonprofit organizations, including American Red Cross, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Shady Grove Fertility.
Interested in any one of those practice areas? IMRE is extremely open about who heads up each, providing their biographies, fun Q&A’s and e-mail addresses.
Read the full article
This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association. She is also the entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com, a career expert for the CAREEREALISM Twitter Advice Project, the job search expert for Campus Calm and author of the e-book “Gen Y Meets the Workforce: Launching Your Career During Economic Uncertainty.”
Article by Willy Franzen of One Day, One Internship and One Day, One Job