Are you age 50 or older and looking for work?
If your answer is yes, you might want to check out Work Reimagined, a new service recently developed by AARP and powered by LinkedIn, the career-oriented social media website.
http://workreimagined.aarp.org/
The August/September issue of AARP The Magazine gave a very helpful overview of this service on page 76. Here is a link to the online article:
http://pubs.aarp.org/aarptm/20120809_CO?sub_id=ghP9yLlXA1Gv#pg66
Quoting from the article, “Work Reimagined can point you to those businesses on LinkedIn that have a special interest in workers with long experience….You’ll find firms that are looking for the strong work ethic, emotional maturity, and customer orientation that older workers bring to their jobs.”
One of the things I like about the article is that it provides some very easy to follow steps for ALL job seekers (not just those in the 50 and older generation) who are using social media to help them find their next job.
Having recently updated my own profile on LinkedIn, I know how intimidating it can be to create a enticing, readable, and skill-based description of yourself and what you have to offer.
Wayne Breitbarth, author of The Power Formula to LinkedIn Success, has some great suggestions for creating a profile on LinkedIn.
I think too often the 50 and older set can wax WAY too eloquent with examples of what they have done in the past rather than showcasing what they can offer in the future.
One of the key points in this article is that people need to talk about their skills instead of their previous jobs, and then post that information on their LinkedIn profile. There actually are two places in the profile where the user can post their specialties.
A book I read recently that could also be helpful to a job seeker, especially those age 50 and above, is The Start-Up of You. Authored by Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, and Ben Casnocha, the essence of this book is that to be successful in transforming your career you need to treat yourself as a business enterprise.
So my readers who are 50 and older, check out this new venture by AARP and LinkedIn and let me know what you think!
Joyce Feustel, Founder
Boomers’ Social Media Tutor
www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com
Good info. Thanks for sharing!
Glad it was helpful, Janet.
That’s the smart thinking we could all befneit from.
Hello and so sorry for the late reply! Your comment got trapped in a spam filter, which I just now noticed tonight. Thanks so much for what you shared.
Joyce