Using Flickr Images for Your Blog

If you blog regularly (read too much) you will often need an image - you can use an image of your own, buy one or if you are posting a lot and don't want to be constantly buying or taking images then you can use Flickr. I read this article the other day about using Flickr Images for Your Blog and it is really helpful. Here are some really nice ones that I found as I browsed through it.

An image really captures the eye and if you edit it even slightly in Photoshop or your editor of choice it can make a difference. The one I thinks is best if you want to edit is the Attribution-ShareAlike License which llows you to edit the image as well. So here is an example the type of image that you can get on a topic even like running or even goal setting - crossing the line for example

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sportcommunities/

Photoshop Tips for Pop Art

Linkedin Revisited

I have had a Linkedin account for some time and while writing a recent post for my Getting Off The Dole blog I realised that I had not being paying as much attention to it as I should have.

Now there have been thousands of blog posts written about Linkedin but I think that it has stood the time over a lot of ther similar networks because it does what it says on the box and presents itself professionally and largely free as well.

Recruiters use it a lot and in the past 12 months I have received well thought approaches from different people on it without me networking in any way with them.  They basically found me through location and skill search.

Fixing The Boiler Will Not Get you a Job

Fixing the boiler is not part of job hunting
Cutting the grass is not part of job hunting
Nobody ever got a job hoovering the carpets in their house.
Watching daytime TV is not on the top ten ways of getting a job
Having a nice nap on the couch will not increase your network.
Sleeping late will not inspire someone to pass your CV


I have done all of the above when job hunting and believe me they are attractive and lure you into a space that you don't want to be.  Get out of it right now!

What Are The Others Doing?

When you are job hunting it is easy to feel you are alone.  You wake up at home stumble downstairs, browse the Internet.  Check for emails and there aren't any.  Cup of coffee, breakfast then stare ahead at the day.  In many cases if your spouse is working you have a list of tasks for the day related to house work, kids and ongoing house maintenance.  You start feeling like that this is the way things are meant to be and that you probably wont find a position in the workforce.

This is dangerous thinking and is like leaving the gas on and will poison your mind. It is perfectly understandable.  I recommend that you try and find a network of people who are job hunting either online and share tips and activities with them.  If one in your area doesn't exist why not set one up.  Set up a regular coffee morning and meet up and share leads and ideas.  this may sound a bit off the wall but it at least will kick start your job hunting juices again.

Major Definite Purpose

I often read and even show YouTube of Brian Tracy here and one his well know phrases is What is Your Major Definite purpose.  I think for the job hunt it is too general to say just get a job.  You need to be a little more precise and define what and where you want to be.  Does this sound like complete pretentious self help garbage?  Perhaps it does.  But if you aren't driven you will sit in your living room staring at the well or watching daytime TV and feeling sorry for yourself.  If this is your gig then off with you.

No you need to plan constantly and look ahead and get better than the other guy looking for the same job.  Be more knowledgeable have better interview skills.  For instance the other day I was telling someone about how when I was job hunting I used to dictate into a hand held old style Dictaphone and they thought that was hilarious.  If you are an interviewer do you want to speak to someone who sounds confident without sounding pushy with a level understandable speaking voice or to a mumbling fool.

No prizes there.  this is World Cup Job Hunting Competition not kindergarten.  There are 450K people out of work and a lot of them are looking for the same type of job as you.  Dig Deep.

Forget Recruitment Agencies

When you look at the job websites (and by the way job websites are useless for finding jobs - the percentages are low) then I would strongly recommend ignoring any positions that are being supplied though an agency.  Many of these agencies aren't even being contracted by the employer and are CV gathering in the hope that they can present yours to future employers and perhaps get you a position there.  During the boom years in Ireland there was a plethora of these companies but they are much reduced now.  

What you tend to see more of now is niche companies trying to fill specific areas.

So What Do You Do

All the recruitment agencies do is filter.  They do not add any added value whatsoever.  In some ways they remind me of estate agents and realtors.  They jus show the house to someone and that is all they do and they then take a percentage.  

I would recommend that you word directly with the companies.  Make a list of companies that interest you, research them, make up a phone list and ring each of them and try and get a HR contact.  Reach out to this HR contact in a very professional way and ask if they have openings through either a call or email and put a link to your online CV in your email.  Don't send them any document unless requested but they might find it interesting that you have an online presence and learn some more about you and you will be memorable.

If nothing happens with them then make a note to contact them again in 6 weeks and ask if anything has changed.   It may sound like a tiresome process but this is what recruitment agents do and you don't get any commission when you get a new position.

You can become your own agency if you think of what agencies actually do in real life.

- The form relationships with companies.
- Contact them pro-actively asking if they have positions
- Tailor CVs and send them to the companies

I am sure that you can do this as well?

Kieran