Heather Krasna, PhD & Associates

Just a quick update on some fun sites I’ve found lately.

First and foremost, http://twitter.com.  I’ve made a bunch of interesting connections in a short period of time by searching for relevant keywords and following people.  I also got connected to interesting people by connecting to people recommended by the founder of http://govloop.com, a relatively new social networking site for people working in government.  Thanks, Steve!  By getting involved in Govloop, now I’m also going to be volunteering for the site’s blog.  Not a bad way to meet even more people in the field I’m interested in, government.

I also am enjoying a really, really great job search organization site, http://jibberjobber.com.  It really helps organize contacts and connections and provides a great follow-up feedback loop.  I also think it’s very cool that it’s a “mashup” which includes a bunch of my other favorite sites like twitter, google, and linkedin.com.

Speaking of http://linkedin.com, I have to reiterate that this is the single most helpful tool so far for professional networking.  I didn’t mention it first because it, to me, is an old standby.  But it’s a vital tool that shouldn’t be overlooked, ever, especially for people who are not just job searching but trying to establish themselves in a new career.

Some other cool sites I’ve come across: http://devex.com, a site for international development professionals (which also includes social networking); http://brightgreenjobs.com, a headhunter for “green jobs”, http://netimpact.org (another fee-based membership site focused on corporate social responsibility / CSR), http://cgcareers.org (CommonGood Careers, a headhunting type site focused on social entrepreneurs), http://govtjobs.com (which lists state-by-state links to government agencies).  Here’s a list of government-focused groups on twitter & linkedin: http://gtra.org/.  I also keep coming across cool things like USAID’s Development 2.0 Challenge: http://www.netsquared.org/usaid and the State Department’s video contest: http://connect.state.gov/

By connecting to some other career services professionals on Twitter (in addition to the interesting government & nonprofit folks I follow there– did you know that WA State DOT is on Twitter, by the way?), I found these great articles: How to use social media to find a job http://www.americanworkforce.com/wordpress/employment/social-media-can-it-help-you-land-a-job/

and this great article on how to choos which sites to use in social networking for a job: http://www.jibberjobber.com/blog/2008/12/10/social-networks-for-the-job-search/

This article on personal branding also jumped out at me: http://mashable.com/2008/12/10/personal-branding-in-recession/

Lastly, just for fun– and to get your elected officials to update you via microblogging– check out this site which lists which elected officials are on Twitter: http://tweetcongress.org/legislators/state/WA

Thanks to all the cool people who posted these links, mainly on Twitter, especially my good twitter tweeple: @ariherzog, @dfletcher, @govloop, @Philathropy, @jasonalba, @CindyRecruiter, @CareersOrg, @meshugavi, and many more.