January 10, 2012 by Sandra Rogers.

 Dear Veterans,

View this link to find  great job resources at ClearanceJobs.com

Veteran Career Resources Roll-Up

Source: ClearanceJobs.com

Excerpt:

“Vets aren’t looking for a handout, they’re looking for an opportunity. Defense contractors largely know what a great option hiring a veteran can be – they come with valuable skills, experience and security clearances, often require little training and are eager to jump in, learn the ropes and get to work. Making the transition from service member to civilian isn’t without its struggles, however. And sometimes veterans have trouble navigating the transition. That’s why we’ve developed a host of online resources to help walk vets through some of the basics.  ” (Lyndi Kyzer)

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November 8, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

Have you googled yourself lately?  What does the Internet search reveal about you?  As a 21st century educator, I’m building my online reputation with one search engine optimization (SEO) keyword, blog post, tweet, or online project at a time.  In fact, I’ve been wanting to blog about personal branding for some time because blog posts achieve higher SEO status than static websites.   Personal branding is something that most HR leaders profess as essential in today’s job market.   With the plethora of free and simple Web 2.0 tools, it’s fairly easy to create your own online brand.  Currently, I’m developing one for my new company, Teacherrogers Consulting.  Since my name is common, I created my own personal brand—Teacherrogers.  If you google “teacherrogers,” you’ll find all of my online projects and activities.  

Personal branding for a 21st century educator means showing your work online, posting your teaching philosophy, tweeting resources, and engaging in some type of “open” learning and/or teaching environments.  Open environments refer to the various free professional development sessions that I’ve been involved with as an e-mentor.   My e-portfolio hosted on WordPress is my attempt to share my work online with potential employers, students, and peers.  I personally believe that sharing my teaching philosophy with others challenges me to revisit my long-held ideals about teaching.  In fact, it’s a work-in-progress on my to-do-list now instead of somewhere in the back of my mind.

To further identify myself on the Web, I started using my full name: Sandra Annette Rogers.  Nowadays, it’s important to not only put yourself out there, but evaluate how others perceive you.  As for social networking, there was definitely a titanic wave of enthusiasm for Google+;  however, I’m playing it safe on the shoreline to see where the the  first wave riders end up.  My first instinct about Google+ is that it’s a bit too labor-intensive and redundant.  Moreover, I’ve already established many online bridges for personal learning networks (PLNs).   I’m willing to build new ones; I just don’t want to start from scratch!

Are you on the shore or riding the wave when it comes to personal branding?  Perhaps you joined several online learning communities and then never went back to complete your profile or never really got involved.  All these attempts will remain online forever plotting your digital pathway, so make sure you cull your online image from time to time.  Set up Google Alerts on your name or any other phrase; these alerts are sent to your Gmail account.  Let me know if you need any help.

Best Wishes,

Sandra Annette Rogers

P. S. I succumbed to the intrigue of Google+.  I’ll let you know how it works out for me.

Note: This article was previously published on my eportfolio blog on WordPress: http://teacherrogers.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/personal-branding-for-the-21st-century-educator/

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September 24, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

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August 24, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

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August 2, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

AW2 Community Support Network

This site has the most extensive outreach program for veterans that I’ve seen yet.  Here’s a little about what the site offers:

AW2 Community Support Network
Career Training or Education, Human Resources Support, and Employment Opportunities

Each organization listed in the AW2 Community Support Network offers services that are either covered by insurance or free to AW2 Soldiers, Veterans, and their Families. AW2 Soldiers, Veterans, and Families are encouraged to contact these organizations directly for more information about the services they offer.

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July 18, 2011 by Broke_Intern.

by Linda McIntosh

A very interesting article entitled “Pulling off the Ultimate Career Makeover,” from the July 4, 2011, issue of Fortune, emphasizes the importance of personal reinvention in today’s economy, where career changes are becoming the norm.  The article highlights the stories of five people in various industries who lost their jobs because of changes in business paradigms or layoffs.  Rather than becoming victims to their circumstances, these people took control of their situations and reinvented themselves through “learning by doing.”  Their success stories reveal several strategies for changing careers.

1. Pare down your expenses.  When David Kahn, former Blockbuster franchise owner, realized that his business model was no  longer viable, he downsized his home and vehicle.  He recommends going “into survivor mode.”  After a short stint as a Subway franchise owner, Kahn founded Yogurt Mountain and owns 35 stores.
2. Reevaluate your skill set.  Tom Murray, formerly a strategic development and communications director for a Best Buy subsidiary, charted what he likes to do as well as what he is good at in order to determine his next job move.  This exercise released him from being industry specific.  He now works for PointB, a consulting firm.
3. Exploit the power of social media.  When Mike Merrill was laid off from his job as a sales executive at NetApp, he immediately began reinventing himself through blogging and social media, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.  Merrill eventually landed his current job as director of marketing for ReachLocal, an internet marketing firm, after an employee saw one of his presentations on social media.
4. Consider contract employment.  When the dotcom bubble burst, Mae Tai O’Malley lost her job as an attorney.  She began performing legal work on a contract basis and created her own firm, Paragon Legal, which provides project-based legal assignments in other firms.  Her business model is reshaping the legal industry.
5. Update your technical skills.  When mystery writer Paul Levine realized that the sale of used books on Amazon would severely diminish his royalty income, he accessed Amazon’s “Direct Publishing” page to learn the art of e-publishing.  Levine bought the rights to his out-of-print books and now e-publishes both his new works and his formerly published books on the internet.

Of all the strategies explored in the article, exploiting the power of social media was the most important strategy for making a career change.  The “Social Media as a Career Tool” page on the www.brokebutnotforlong.org website is an excellent resource for personal reinvention.  In fact, the website provides a myriad of information about job searching in today’s market.  Additionally, they have a newly formed group on LinkedIn.com to engage job seekers in discussion of the use of social media.

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July 13, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

BrokeButNotForLong, Inc., strives to reduce ex offender recidivism by assisting them virtually with the job hunt.  Hence, our overall goal is to reduce crime. There aren’t many job resources available for them, as is evident in the few items posted here.  Contact us if you have more resources to share, and we’ll post them on our site.

1.  iSeek.org has a Web page on their site specifically for exoffenders on the job hunt. They cover barriers to employment, background checks, and resume writing: http://www.iseek.org/guide/exoffenders/index.html.

2.  H.I.R.E. Resources is a national network for both employers, ex offenders and those practitioners involved in criminal justice: http://www.hirenetwork.org/resource.html

3.  Goodwill Services offers job and literacy training for ex offenders.  They even offer services pre-release: http://www.goodwill.org/goodwill-for-you/specialized-services/people-with-criminal-backgrounds/

4. The Next Step offers job board with “Felon-Friendly Employers”, as part of the Cooperative of Felon-Friendly Employers (COFFE) database: https://www.thenextstep99.com/?ES=Y&EST=exoffenders

5. Jail to Job is a blog for ex offenders with advice from an anonymous author at Believe Publications.  Since the author appears to know what he or she is writing about, and given the recent and ongoing postings, we suggest taking a look at this: http://jailtojob.com/wordpress/.

6.  CV.net provides resume and cover letter writing advice, as well as disclosure rules:

http://www.cvtips.com/job_search_ex_offender.html

7. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Exoffender Resources: This Web page provides to the Department of Labor’s employment sites like the CareerOneStop, as well as information about financial aid and transcripts (including GEDs).

http://www.bop.gov/inmate_programs/itb_references.jsp

8. Those ex-offenders who are veterans should contact their local office of Veterans Affairs for assistance. They have a wide range of programs that can be helpful including rehabilitation services. The Internet website for the VA is http://www.va.gov, or you can contact their national toll free number at 1-800-827-1000. Local offices are listed in the government pages of the telephone book.

9. Employment Information Handbook for Exoffenders from the Department of Labor has a plethora of information on apprenticeships, unemployment insurance, and federal bonding programs to name a few.   

Visit our website for more information: http://brokebutnotforlong.org/13.html

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May 30, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

Dear Readers,

We created an electronic newsletter based on my twitter list of professionals in the following areas: HR career advice, military/veterans,  mental health, physical disabilities, financial education, internships.  Additionally, it includes US and international job boards from a wide range of sources, so check it out! This e-newspaper will update daily!  You don’t have to have a twitter account to read it.  Just subscribe to the paper, and it’ll be sent to your email account.   The newspaper is called the Employment Social Network.  It’s hosted on a free, Internet platform called Paper.li.  Here’s the link: http://paper.li/Broke4Jobs/1306417300#.  This e-newspaper becomes part of our social media outreach which includes a 21-page Web site, this blog, and a twitter account.

Paper.li is another positive way to use social media for the job hunt.  This is an easy way for our organization to share our list of reliable resources from the one thousand individuals and institutions that we’ve been cultivating since January of 2010.  We painstakingly cull every list we post for professional purposes.  For quality assurance, we even went over the list—all 1000—and deleted any that didn’t meet our mission of finding you a job.  This is our first newsletter and in keeping with our “Going Green” ethics, we are pleasantly pleased with the eco-friendly outcomes.  Plus, it looks very professional!  Let us know if you have some twitter accounts you’d like to recommend that we follow.  You can find us on Twitter @broke4jobs or simply leave a message below.

Best Wishes,

Sandra Rogers

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May 7, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

Thanks, Sandra, for the chance to share with your readers about http://MuchEnough.com.

At MuchEnough, we believe that everyone has specialized knowledge that is valuable to someone else at the right moment.  Whether it’s your first (or second or third!) language, knowledge of your local geography or history, a skill you picked up at school, at work or through life experience, someone needs to know what you know, and they need to know it now!  If only they could find you…

MuchEnough.com is a worldwide venue that helps people find the right person with the right skills.  Simply schedule time and set payment for the online training/coaching sessions.  While the site itself is in English, we support posts in any language and character set.  It’s is free to join and use for students and instructors. The company pays its bill by charging a small commission fee to instructors when a paid subject is sold through the site.  However, there’s the option to offer free classes.

MuchEnough allows instructors to describe their class, create a profile,  set their availability, and set their fees if any.   The site allows students to search subject listings, schedule time with instructors, and meet and pay online.  To use MuchEnough as an instructor, you register, create a profile page, indicate your availability, and create “subjects” describing what you teach.  On each subject page, you can add resources and learning activities, attach photos, YouTube videos, PDF documents and text.

The goal is to provide a genuinely useful description of your class subject that highlights your knowledge and primes potential students for further discussion online.  We make sure your subject pages are optimized for search engines, so students searching for your information can locate you!  MuchEnough also uses twitter, facebook, and blog posts to promote specific subjects (see @MuchieFirehose on twitter).

Your students can contact you through the site by leaving you a question, scheduling a meeting, or providing community feedback ratings.  MuchEnough meetings can be held using our integrated audio/video chat rooms, via Skype or any other tool you find useful.  The site lists various screen sharing, whiteboard, collaborative editing, and co-browsing tools to incorporate into your session.  We also offer training in each of these tools to get you started (arrange an orientation session).

So, what would you teach?  Please check us out at http://muchenough.com  or find us on twitter @MuchEnough or facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/muchenough.com/15237708111137?sk=wall.  We’d love to have you join our growing community.  Let us know how to adapt MuchEnough to your specific needs.  Be your own boss, set your own prices, and have fun teaching online!

Thanks,

Dave Rogers

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March 29, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

Dear Teachers,

Would you love to work from home?  How about applying for freelance work with the Educational Testing Service (ETS).  I’m an online rater for ETS.org and score the spoken Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), as well as the written California Assessment of High School Exit Exams (CAHSEE).  I have a California teaching credential and therefore qualify to score the CAHSEE, as well as a Masters in TESOL that qualifies me to score the TOEFL & TOEIC.  There are many other k-12 and college entrance tests that you could score if you qualify.

While at the TESOL convention, I spoke to ETS regarding my desire to score the written TOEFL, something I haven’t done before.  Plus, I love the job’s  high level of professionalism on a daily basis: interrater reliability calibrations, reviewing benchmarks, utilizing a rubric, and instant feedback from a scoring leader.  Moreover, I like the flexibility of telecommuting/working online.  ETS allows you to pick your work schedule: a.m., p.m., week days, weekends, even holidays!  One thing that I’ve learned is that you have to be flexible with your work schedule.

ETS handed me a flyer with a list of freelance work and internships!  Their summer interns develop test materials for the TOEFL, TOEIC and/or K-12 assessments.  View their internships online at www.ets.org; they have some in Princeton and Ewing, NJ and San Antonio, TX.  Send questions to the ELL Summer Institute Coordinator, Jeanne Malloy at jmalloy@ets.org.  I noticed that there are other internships  throughout the year.  Remember that you’re never too old to intern and/or learn something new.  Interns earn $25 an hour while online raters earn $15-18 an hour depending on the programs.

Freelance work includes writing for the TOEIC listening test; send your resume to Carol Gitzendanner at cgizendanner@ets.org.  As well as, rating TOEFL and TOEIC tests from your home computer.  Additionally, they’re looking for photographers at the professional and amateur level; send your email to pfreeland@ets.org or ncates@ets.org.  On their career page, you can also find full-time work.  I don’t live any where near Princeton or Ewing, NJ nor San Antonio, TX; consequently, I telecommute to work as an online rater.  Best wishes in finding your new online job!

Your blogger,

Sandra Annette Rogers

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March 3, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

The 2011 Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) conference will be held on March 16th-19th in New Orleans.  As an official blogger for the convention, I’m sharing information about the job opportunities at their Marketplace.  If you’re an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, I encourage you to register and attend this wonderful opportunity for professional development.  Furthermore, you must be registered to attend the Job Marketplace.

The Marketplace consists of 84 companies with jobs both stateside and abroad.  Some jobs are local to the Gulf Coast, like the ad I saw for an ESL instructor for the University of Alabama.  Others are in places where English is not spoken.  Certain government jobs are also available through fellowships.  For example, Georgetown University is looking for 125 Junior or Senior Fellows to place in countries around the world.

I’ve been an English Language Fellow before and was placed at a university in Mozambique, Africa.  I received a monthly stipend to cover my living expenses and the host country provided housing.  In addition, I had round-trip travel paid and medical benefits.  Personally, I grew professionally from this fellowship, in that I learned to speak Portuguese, I garnered overseas teaching experience, and I was able to implement my ideas on teaching as a trainer.

If you’re interested in attending this conference, the fees are high, as with any professional organization.  Here is the link to the convention: http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/convention2011/ .  If you go, leave me a message on the TESOL Blog at: http://blog.tesol.org/  I’ve been to several of these conferences, as this is my profession, and I can tell you that it’s well worth the time and money spent!

P.S. The US Peace Corps will be recruiting at this event, as well.

Best Wishes,

Sandra Annette Rogers

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February 25, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

Many people that want to work are having a hard time finding a job, as evidenced by the current high unemployment rate.  Many of the previous blogs have outlined proven and possible strategies for making ends meet and finding part or full time jobs.  All options should be explored and followed to their conclusions, either favorable or not.  One of the most difficult things is to remain positive when facing multiple reject or “check back later” responses.  One thing that has helped me in the past is the fact that anything worthwhile only seems to happen with hard consistent effort. 

Many years ago, I had a job selling books door to door.  Talk about rejection!  It’s hard to keep your spirits up when people keep saying “NO”! and slam the door in your face.  Part of the training I received was the premise that the more people I talked to, the more rejection I got, the closer I was to selling some of my products.  When I came to understand this principle, my mood and attitude improved, I started knocking on more and more doors, and looked forward to each rejection as the more I got, the closer I was to getting a “yes”.

Another lesson I learned from this experience was that I have to be patient, actively striving toward a goal, but realizing that it might take a while for it to come to fruition.  Success and failure are so closely related that one more incident of effort can be the fulcrum that catapults one from depression to achievement.

Mark Woodward

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December 20, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

“The times, they are a-changing.”  When Bob Dylan wrote that song, anybody looking for work searched the want ads in the newspaper.  Today that approach is almost worthless.  In contrast, social media tools like Twitter are the tools for today’s job seekers.  For instance, you can search job openings in your industry.  You can even find job announcements in your own hometown.  You don’t need a Twitter account; however, it is available for free.

Go to Twitter Search: http://search.twitter.com.  Twitter operates this free service, but it’s not on their regular Web site: http://twitter.com.  Look for the Twitter logo the small bar where you can type in the search words.  Just under that bar, at the right-hand side is a link that says, “Advanced Search.”  Click on that.

This brings up a new page that invites you to be more specific in your search.  You’ll see the phrase, “Find tweets based on…” followed by a whole page full of possible categories.  A “tweet” is the name Twitter uses for short messages posted on their site.  For now, we’re just interested in the section, “Words and Places.”

Let’s start with the field,  “Any of these words.”  We’ll become more specific by combining other fields in a minute.  Type the name of your industry and any related words.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page and hit the Search button.  Voila!  You’ll find a plethora of tweets containing those terms and hopefully a job that is matches your career.

On the other hand, if none of these tweets are job announcements, return to the Twitter Search.  Then find the field labeled, “This Hashtag” and type the word “#hiring” or “#jobs.”  Click on the search.  This time all of the tweets displayed should be job announcements.  There’s also another option that’s even better!

Return to Twitter Search and repeat all of the above actions.  This time narrow the search geographically by typing in your zip code or location in the section titled, “Places.”  Note that you can set the distance from that place, as well, e.g. “within 25 miles”.  Click on the Search button.  Now you’ll find job announcements for your industry in your local area.

A typical tweet looks like this: @wildlifesociety: #hiring Chief Conservation Officer Jobs at Ducks Unlimited, Inc. -The Wildlife Society http://t.co/zuVNLEX.   In this case, @wildlifesociety is the individual or organization who tweeted this announcement.  The job title and name of the company are next, followed by the hyperlink.  Click on the link to the full job information and application process.  This is how you can use Twitter Search to find job announcements specifically targeted to your career interests.  Furthermore, they’ll probably be hot-off-the-presses and, therefore, not yet posted on any job board.  Consequently, you could be among the very first to respond!

Guest blogger,

Robert Rowell

http://www.indeed.com/p/index.php?pid=7080813311402333

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December 20, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

 Dear Readers,

Our guest blogger, Robert Rowell, found a great article on the use of social media as a career tool.  Jobvite, a social recruiting software company, conducted a survey on the use of social media by human resource (HR) departments.   Robert stated that we, as job seekers, should learn more about the actual candidate selection process conducted by HR.  He learned that they’ll be using social media tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter more so than regular job boards.  Read more to learn the facts.

Jobvite Social Recruiting Survey 2010 | Jobvite Recruiting Software

Your blogger,

Sandra Annette Rogers

http://www.indeed.com/p/index.php?pid=7080813311402333

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November 11, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

Today is our 1st anniversary for our nonprofit’s website, 11-11-2010!  Since we’re a virtual company, I should be servings some Bar-B-Que as an avatar on SecondLife.com.  Instead, I’ll have my husband serve some real food at our home this Sunday.

To celebrate our past year, I’m posting my favorite blog posts on the job hunt.  I hope you like them, as I often poke fun at myself and relate my true job search experiences.  As always, we’d appreciate your feedback.  I had to stop accepting subscribers due to spammers, but if you’d like to be added to our subscription, send me an email to sandra@brokebutnotforlong.org.  Of course, you can still subscribe to our RSS feed.

Our Best Job Hunt Blogs:

http://blog.brokebutnotforlong.org/social-media-as-a-career-tool-twitter/

http://blog.brokebutnotforlong.org/diary-of-a-resume-how-i-found-some-great-jobs/

http://blog.brokebutnotforlong.org/diary-of-a-resume-part-2/

http://blog.brokebutnotforlong.org/once-i-had-six-part-time-jobs/

http://blog.brokebutnotforlong.org/mining-for-jobs/

http://blog.brokebutnotforlong.org/interviews-two-via-telephone-two-web-based-and-one-f2f/

http://blog.brokebutnotforlong.org/job-hunt-strategies/

Sandra Annette Rogers

sandra@brokebutnotforlong.org

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October 2, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

If my resume could talk, what would it say?  This should be interesting, even for me, since I’ve never looked at my resume for job leads.   This is a continuation from a previous article: http://blog.brokebutnotforlong.org/diary-of-a-resume-how-i-found-some-great-jobs/.  Now I’ll share my job history from the past quarter of a century including the specific hiring sources to give you some job hunt ideas.  I’m an educator, so that certainly makes a difference, as most teaching jobs are on the school district websites.

1985-1987: Peace Corps recruited me on my university campus during a job fair.

1988-1989: Nashville Public Library through an ad for part-time work in the newspaper.  Also,  a part-time job teaching at a Church Preschool through a friend’s referral. During this time, I decided to go back to school for a masters since the pay was so low. (Transitional time after Peace Corps meant I was jobless for sometime.)

1990-1992: Graduate Teaching Assistantship through the university graduate student work opportunities helped me earn a stipend, receive teaching experience,  and get tuition remission while I earned my masters degree in TESOL.

1992-1993: US English Teaching Fellow to Mozambique was acquired through an interview at a job marketplace at a  TESOL conference.

1994: Springhill College part-time teaching ESL job was obtained by  calling the office and asking if they had any openings.

 Also got a summer camp job teaching ESL at Babson College by responding to an ad in the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer  job bulletin called HOTLINE.

Then I got another ESL job at a boarding school in Palm Springs for the fall through the same job bulletin, HOTLINE.  (This was also a transitional time coming back from Africa.)

1995-1997: Los Angeles Unified School District teaching job was obtained by the same Peace Corps job bulletin, HOTLINE,  as LAUSD was specifically recruiting former volunteers for their language expertise.

Then I answered an ad in the Los Angeles Times for an INTRAX ESL camp director for that summer (1996) and was able to do it again the following summer (1997).

1997-1999: UCLA demonstration teaching job was acquired through an ad in the Los Angeles Times.

1999-2001: Founded an ESL  tutoring company in Los Angeles.  Entrepreneurship landed me several tutoring jobs until 9-11 caused many companies to re-examine their student visas and employees work visas and I lost clients.

1999-2001: University of Southern California ESL teaching job was obtained by responding to an ad in the TESOL online Marketplace.

2001-2003: LAUSD teaching job was secured by responding to their school district website listings.

2003-2005: Hampton-Brown publishing job was obtained by responding to an ad in the Monterey Herald.

2005-2006: Salinas Unified School District teaching job was secured by responding to their school district website listing.

2006-2007: Baldwin County Public School System teaching job secured through the school district’s website.

2007 & 2010: University of South Alabama ESL part-time teaching job acquired by calling the office and asking about opportunities.

2007-2009: Florida State University research assistant job was acquired by responding to their website offerings.

 2009 to present: Founded nonprofit to help others find jobs.  I actually resigned from my last job to work on this organization, BrokeButNotForLong, Inc., and The Broke Blog.

2010: Online rater position for Educational Testing Services was obtained through www.flexjobs.com. I usually don’t use sites that cost money but for my nonprofit, I tested it out and found this great job!  If you would like to give it a try, use this promo code for half off: SAVE50.

2010: Online teaching position with eTeacher was obtained through Indeed.com.  If you plan to use this site to look for jobs, please go to our job board to conduct your searches so we may earn a few pennies for our nonprofit: http://brokebutnotforlong.org/18.html.

2010: University of South Alabama online college reading instructor position was acquired by talking to various administrators and colleagues in my department.

Best Wishes,

Sandra Annette Rogers

sandra@brokebutnotforlong.org

Try Audible Now and Get A Free Audiobook Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 85,000 Titles.

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September 17, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

Executive Summary: The DOL VETS needs your assistance to enroll 300 Veterans ages 20-24 in new one-year, all-expense paid Demonstration Project with ETA’s Job Corp that provides training, a credential or certificate, stipend, housing, meals, employment and post-employment support!

Veterans’ Employment and Training Service VETS - VETS / Job Corps Training

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August 18, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

Nowadays, job seekers need to incorporate social media into their job hunt.  The good news is that these tools are free to use (unless you want to upgrade to the premium level on some of them).  Social media refers to connecting with people via the Internet to have a discussion; it’s often referred to as Web 2.0.  It was the latest evolution of the Internet.  The next wave, possibly Web 3.0, is already occurring.  With social media tools, you can share all sorts of information via documents, multimedia, or live chats all at the same time.

Our nonprofit has been part of the social network for employment since 2009.  We use the following social media tools: a Twitter account @Broke4Jobs, Blogging4Broke, Paper.li for e-newspapers, and our Web site, www.brokebutnotforlong.org.   I also use LinkedIn.com and Yahoo Connections to network with other professionals.  We decided not to use Facebook because it requires nonusers to set-up accounts.  Whereas, the twitter feed can be viewed without logging in via a widget (electronic gadget that is embedded into a Web page with HTML code).

First, you should create a Twitter account for the job hunt.  Twitter is called microblogging because you can only “tweet” 174 characters.  Be professional with your tweets because the Library of Congress is documenting them!  Moreover, what you “tweet” will show up in a Google search.  If you set up a Google Alert on your twitter name/handle, you will find that this is true.  Google alerts are part of gmail, Gooogle’s email, which is also free.

Why would you want to use Twitter to find a job? Because many companies have job boards on Twitter.   Visit our twitter account to view our list of US and international job boards.  Currently, there’s a polarized debate going on regarding the future of face-to-face and online job boards.  Matt Adler of Recruiting Futurology stated in his article, “The Job Cloud–Why Twitter is the Future of Job Boards, “Depending on your viewpoint/agenda it seems you should either believe they are going to suffer a painful death and all shut down tomorrow or carry on regardless effortlessly circumventing the massive digital changes that are effecting every other industry so drastically.”

He goes on to say that companies can get several hundred qualified applicants even though they don’t have many followers.  Basically, a “tweet” can go along way!  People retweet important or fun tweets that they find.  I’m always retweeting interesting jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities in hopes that one of my followers will go after it.  We currently have 573 followers, and I “follow” twice that amount.  If you’d like to learn more about Twitter for the job hunt, read the TweetSheet created by Marci Reynolds at www.marcireynolds.com.

Sandra Annette Rogers

sandra@brokebutnotforlong.org

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July 31, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

Dear Readers,

Here’s a compelling article written by the CEO of FlexJobs.com regarding telecommuting.  Last year, I decided to make a career change to teach and work online.  After many hours of retraining, volunteering in the field of online teaching, creating a hybrid class, and working online as a part-timer grading papers, in August I will go completely online!  Not to mention creating our Web site, this blog, and a twitter account for our nonprofit, BrokeButNotForLong, Inc.  I’m thrilled about working from home and saving money on gas, regaining my hour and 45 minute lost in commute, and also not adding wear-and-tear to my 10 year old vehicle.  Moreover, I’m going green, too!  The article below was written by Sarah Sutton Fell, CEO of FlexJobs.com whose whole company is virtual.

Why the heck aren’t telecommuting jobs at the top of the green jobs pile?

Your blogger,

Sandra

sandra@brokebutnotforlong.org

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July 27, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

A relative of mine tells me she’s amazed by the jobs I find.  Part of the job hunt includes lots of preparation.  It’s not just the search for employment but the specialized training to make yourself a necessary hire in any economy.  For example, I’m a teacher.  There are thousands of teachers. Therefore to make my specialized niche in the education field, I became certified as a bilingual instructor.

Of course this is due in part to my work and language training in the Peace Corps in Honduras.  However, many Peace Corps volunteers lose their acquired second language if they don’t use it.  I’ve made a concentrated effort to keep my second language and build on it.  Now in today’s job market being bilingual is not enough since you may be forced to move to an area that doesn’t have a need for a bilingual educator.  This was my situation, so  last year, I decided to add certification in online teaching.

Technical skills are in high demand, and I found that learning about technology is like learning a new language.  Luckily, it’s a language that I can speak now.   I would say that I’m at a high-intermediate level in technology on a proficiency scale.  I will finish my online teaching certification in the fall and already have two online teaching jobs lined-up.  Consequently, I currently have an online scoring job for a professional nonprofit in the educational testing field.

I wanted to share this information with you to help you focus on your job niche.  Whatever your profession, think about how you can train for a high-need, or specialized area of need in your field.  Definitely include in your plan-of-action, your desires and interests.  What motivates you to get up and go to work everyday?  Or would you like to have a work-from-home job environment?  I’m always strategizing my next job move.

When I was young, I didn’t think much about the effect of becoming bilingual; I simply volunteered for the Peace Corps after college.  It was a consequence of my wanting to help others in the Peace Corps.  Becoming bilingual spurred me to want to teach languages, so I got a masters in Teaching English as a Second Language.  Basically, what I’m saying is to follow your heart, as well as, the needs of your career outlook.

Your interests can add layers to your job specialty.  As for myself, besides adding technology skills to my resume, I have a compassion for learning more about adaptive technology to help those with disabilities. I already took a class and have been conducting a lot of self-study on the topic.  Self-study is critical and cost-free for delving into a new area of interest.  For example, it helped me conduct a self-study to get this nonprofit started.

This will be a series of diary-like entries about my job history.  There are a lot of articles on the Internet about where to find work and how to go about the job hunt.  However, there aren’t many anecdotal, real-life experiences on building your career.  I hope that my Broke Blog diary series can address that vacuum.  The next resume diary entry will detail all the places where I found work throughout my life!  This blog post is my 20th, and I’d like to close with a great big thank you to my followers!  If you liked this article, then read Part 2: http://blog.brokebutnotforlong.org/diary-of-a-resume-part-2/.

Sandra Annette Rogers,

sandra@brokebutnotforlong.org

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