Frustrated in Looking for Clients or Job? Soften Your Approach

 

Nov. 26, 2011

Is the holiday season a misnomer for you? It probably is if you’re overwhelmed looking hard for income — either for clients or in  job hunting. Take heart, there are options for a new approach. 

These days if you have desperation in searching for clients or a job, it doesn’t feel like a holiday season. So turn it into one. 

Yes, this can be an unnerving time. So don’t try so hard. 

Aside from family and close friends, this is a season for reconnecting with longtime business associates and pals. Use the holidays to your advantage. 

Sure, continue your quest, but spend the majority of your time building your network. Meet for coffee. Take someone to lunch. Connect with past associates or people with whom you’ve done some profitable business. 

Out of sight, out of mind – too often , that’s true. So rekindle your relationships. Your acquaintances will remember your commitment to excellence and skills. 

Don’t forget to get your exercise. 

Oh, now’s a good time to brush up on the 22 Do’s and Don’ts for successful negotiations or to get a head start on New Year’s resolutions to recover from the Great Recession. 

And if all else fails, look around for someone less fortunate to help. Believe me, these folks are out there. Volunteerism will put a smile on your face. You’re more apt to get some deserved attention. 

You don’t have to feel frustrated in looking for clients or job. Soften your approach.

From the Coach’s Corner, whether you’re searching for new clients or job hunting, here are more resource links: 

Business Got You Down? Tips for a Morale Boost 

Discouraged in Job Hunting? Powerful Tips for the Best Job 

Job Hunting? Tips to Land Your Dream Job with Style, Substance 

“Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!”

-Amanda Bradley

 

_________

Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?

 

Will Social Media Take Driver’s Seat in Search?

 

A study shows about one in five Internet users now use social media instead of portals and search for their online navigation. That’s the finding of The Nielsen Company, www.nielsen.com, in an online panel survey of 1800 respondents in Aug. 2009.

“While still a smaller percentage than those who use search engines or portals like Yahoo! or MSN, it is a significant figure,” wrote Jon Gibs, VP Media Analytics at Nielsen. “And as social media usage continues to increase (unique visitors to Twitter.com increased 959 percent YOY in August), I can only expect this figure to grow.”

What type of Web sites do the respondents use for search?

• 37 percent - search engines
• 34 percent - portals (e.g. Yahoo, MSN, AOL)
• 11 percent - specific sites
• 9 percent - Wikipedia
• 5 percent -  blogs
• 4 percent - Facebook, Myspace, Twitter

(The latter three, totaling 18 percent, are considered social media.)

With vast number of Web sources of information, Gibs indicated Internet users feel the effects of consumer overload.

“Socializers – those who spend 10 percent or more of their online time on social media – feel this effect more than others do,” he wrote. “When asked, 26 percent feel that there is too much information available on the Internet, compared to 18 percent of people who predominantly use portals and just 5 percent of people who primarily use search engines.”

Why this scenario?

“Socializers trust what their friends have to say and social media acts as an information filtration tool,” explained Gibs. “This is key because Socializers gravitate towards and believe what is shared with friends and family. If your friend creates or links to the content, then you are more likely to believe it and like it. And this thought plays out in the data.”

He stated nearly 15 percent of the Socializers trust blogs and 20 percent rely on information posted on message boards.

From the Coach’s Corner, Nielsen reports higher-income urban dwellers tended to be Socializers.

“Nielsen’s online data shows that about half of the U.S. population visited a social networking website in the last year and that number grows every quarter,” said Wils Corrigan, AVP, Research & Development, Nielsen Claritas. “The rising popularity of these sites and the deep engagement consumers have with them has advertisers and marketers asking for more and more detail as to which lifestyles should be targeted for their online advertising and promotions.”

Other findings:

• Facebook users have a largely upscale profile. The top third of lifestyle segments relative to affluence were 25 percent more likely to use Facebook than those in the those in the lower third.
• The bottom third segments related to affluence are 37 percent more likely to use MySpace than those in the top third.
• Users of Facebook were also much more likely to use LinkedIn, a network geared towards business and professional networking, than those who use MySpace.