LinkedIn

Vote for Fidelis Companies!

Social Media is a popular topic in the business world right now, and we decided to join the conversation by participating in the Dallas Business Journal’s (DBJ) Social Madness competition! Part of the competition is daily, open voting for our company, Fidelis Companies, and the other part is posting relevant and engaging content that our followers and fans want to interact with.

We are currently in Round 1 and are sitting in the top 8. After this week, the final top 8 companies will move onto the next phase, one step closer to the finals.

What do we win, you ask? The winner of the Social Madness competition will have $10,000 donated in their name to the charity of their choice; our charity of choice is the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County.

 

How to participate:

1. Click on the following link to vote: http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/socialmadness
2. If you do not already have a DBJ account, you will be prompted to create a login for the contest. As long as you access the voting link from the same browser and computer, your login information will be saved and you will be taken directly to the voting page.
3. Once username and password are created, the voting page will open.
4. Scroll through to find “Fidelis Companies” and click the green circular VOTE button to the left of our company name.
5. Once you vote, please share your vote with your social networks and encourage your friends and connections to vote for us and move Fidelis Companies into the Top 8!
6. You can vote once a day until voting closes for round 1 on June 17th.

 

Thanks in advance for voting for us and we look forward to sharing more with you!

Finding A Job in the Social Jungle: Part 1

Finding a job with social media can be a daunting task for those not of the millennial generation. While more and more people, of all age ranges, have embraced social media as a social outlet to connect with friends and family, but using these same networks to find a job is an uneasy subject. Maybe you think employers aren’t hiring candidates they discover from social networks?

Wrong.

Companies are turning to social media not only to connect with customers, but to interact with potential new employees. There are hundreds of articles online sharing stats ranging from various user demographics to the most popular topics or brands people view/share/tweet/pin/+1/like, but what most people aren’t aware of is how to successfully present your social profiles to a potential employer.

Over the next several weeks I’ll be doing a four part blog, walking you through the top social media sites and how to use them to their fullest potential to land your dream job.

The question is though, with the US unemployment rate at 7.7%, where do you start?

LinkedIn. At the end of 2012, LinkedIn had over 200 million registered users, 160 million of those were active users on the 10 year old professional social media network. LinkedIn should be the first stop for any person looking to make a career change or join the workforce out of college. And with their recent site updates, it is easier than ever to boost your online profile (resume). With the addition of Endorsements, Projects, Publications, Patents, etc., it is easier than ever to present your entire virtual resume to potential new employers.

Be professional. First and foremost LinkedIn is a professional network. It’s not Facebook, so keep your beach profile picture on your Facebook page. People with profile images are more likely to be given a second look, so keep this in mind when deciding which photo to choose. A clean face shot, from the shoulders up is best. If you’ve been to a conference or work event recently and had pictures taken, choose the clearest picture and crop everyone else out. This profile is all about you, and first impressions are everything.

Utilize the company search bar. Know of companies where you are interested in applying? Search for them on LinkedIn. If they have a company page (which most companies do) you can research more about the company, view their connected employees and read reviews posted by other LinkedIn users. Have a common connection with a hiring manager or someone working in the area where you are interested? Request an introduction from your shared connection.

Utilize your connections. With the new Insights feature, you can see everything you have in common with a connection or other LinkedIn user, such as groups or connections, skills & expertise or previous work experience. For example, below is an image of my Insight graphic with a fellow employee:

LinkedIn Insights

Another way to easily find employees at potential companies is by simply looking through your own connections. And if a user doesn’t have their connections blocked, you can view the “People Also Viewed” section to find potential new connections.

LinkedIn People Who Viewed

Don’t harass potential new connections. If you request an introduction from a shared connection, wait and see if the company employee chooses to connect with you. If after a week or two you don’t receive a connection request, send one yourself with a quick note introducing yourself; mention your shared connection and why you are requesting to connect with them.

After you hit send, don’t ask for another request with them. If you have that option at all, it is because they denied your connection request and asking them again could only ruin your chances with that connection and not make a very good impression.

Instead, continue networking through other company employees. If you don’t have a shared connection with someone to request an introduction, but feel they would be a great way into the company or someone you should be connected with, send your own request introducing yourself and a brief note with why you are interested in connecting with them.

Once you are connected with someone in the company, begin a dialogue with them about the company. You can send messages (not paid InMails) with anyone you are connected with, so take advantage of this feature. However, don’t harass them this way either. You want to put your name in the back of their mind, but not in the “This person is crazy” way.

Join groups and be an active member. Groups are another way to see potential connections. Depending on what the company does, they may have groups they own, in which case you can join to network with other users, learn more about the company and participate in discussions.

Outside of potential employer-owned groups, make sure to join groups that are based on your field of interest and your alumni groups. At the moment, you can be a member of 50 groups on LinkedIn, so take advantage of this. If you are currently working and can’t view your group discussions during the day, you can choose to receive email updates about the most popular discussions on a daily or weekly basis. Take advantage of this and stay on top of group discussions and top influencers.

If you are actively participating in discussions, a potential employer’s employee could reach out to you instead of you doing the leg work.

Search for jobs directly. Another new feature is the “Jobs you may be interested in” section. On the new profile design, you can click on the Jobs tab across the top bar and search for jobs posted on LinkedIn. This can be done with a free account, which is great news to those not in the recruiting industry!

Searching for jobs can be as easy or as specific as you choose, by looking for specific job titles, using only keywords that may be listed in the description or with the advanced search, pinpointing a specific region, state or city. You can also narrow your search by industry or the number of days since the job was posted. You can do a variety of these searches and save the results so you can stay updated with the opening and easily view the company and not lose your search results.

LinkedIn Search for Jobs

Below the “search for jobs” search bar are “Jobs you may be interested in.” These are jobs LinkedIn thinks you may be a fit for based on the information you provide on your profile. This is a great place to get started if you’re not sure what keywords to use or what titles may be the most common for the position you are seeking. Search through the recommended job posts, get an understanding of the keywords and phrases companies are using when describing the position or required experience, and then begin your search.

LinkedIn Jobs you may be interested in


“Discover jobs in your network” is another new feature. This feature works similarly to requesting an introduction through a common connection; you can request to be referred to a position based on your connections and the company employees in your LinkedIn network. This feature may not be as personalized for your career path since it is utilizing your connections’ connections instead of your profile and experience like the “jobs you may be interested in” section. 

LinkedIn Discover jobs

Searching for a new job is tough; it’s a full time job in itself. There are numerous tools and sites available now to help job seekers, these are just a few.

Be on the lookout next week for Part 2 where I will dive into how to take Facebook from simply social to your job hunting tool!

Casidy Lemons

 Casidy_DBJ Event

 

The Difference Between ERP & EMR Consultants

2011 was a great year, but I have to say, 2012 sure is starting off nice. We’ve started gaining steam in our EMR division, going through the hiring process for a new internal Account Manager and the days are flying by with plenty of stuff to do! (At least for me!)

The last two weeks of December were pretty long and slow, with almost everyone using up their last vacation days by the end of the week. But I was here (with no vacation days to spare unfortunately) enjoying the quiet. My manager, Michelle Cessnun was able to complete not 1, but 2 training manuals for our contract division AND our Lawson and PeopleSoft software. Now we just need that new person to start so we can test it out. And as for me, I wrapped up a lot of “admin” projects I wanted to roll into the new year successfully. Now it’s on to 2012, a year of surpassing goals, unparalleled productivity and awesome production numbers for our division!

Now to our bubbling EMR progress…talk about some eager and pleasant consultants! This week alone, I reached out to one new consultant, and along with sending me her resume she also gave me the names and phone numbers of 10 other consultants that are looking for projects! I’m not sure if it’s because the new year has kicked off and projects are off of hiatus or the sad fact that these eager professionals have yet to be burned like the PeopleSoft & Lawson consultants by the, I’ll loosely use the term “eager” for them as well, recruiters of this industry. It’s a very sad comparison but that’s all I could think as I’m actually talking to these people AND getting returned calls and emails! It has been a very different market than the one I’ve worked in for the last year and I hate to think that in a few short years, or just one bad phone call, this market could also be burned and scarred.

Now don’t get me wrong, the consultants ARE NOT the bad ones!! They have just been treated so bad over the years, they’re very protective of their information. The consultants that I’ve spoken with and the one’s my manager works with understand there are the good and the bad firms out there. And it’s difficult at times (especially when you’re new to this industry) that the short answers and lack of information on the first couple of conversations is only a defense of the consultants’ relationships that they have worked very hard to maintain. Each project they work can either make or break their reputation, and once you realize that you’ll be golden! Once you show them that you call when you say you will, you actually check references, not flip them for sales leads and don’t beat them on rate, travel, etc. then they will start showing you a little bit of good will as well.

So back to what’s coming up in 2012. I think I’m starting to get some routines in place that will help speed things up and keep things organized in the coming year. I’m rolling my social media efforts out to the rest of the team, even last week I helped one of my Account Managers vamp up his LinkedIn and add some applications and skills that might help him stand out when managers start checking around. And let’s not get started on how Twitter’s 140 character tweets have flowed into my every day process. My other Account Manager loses interest in about 30 seconds, so I’m trying to follow #Twitter’s business plan and give him brief updates, questions, instructions and process changes in short, two line emails to keep his attention span in check.

All in all, as my first official year at Fidelis and out of college came to an end last Friday, I couldn’t be happier with where I landed and where we’re going. Definitely stay updated, as I’m sure things will get interesting and stressful with our increased goals and plans for the year.

Until next time,
Casidy

Wrapping 2011 up right!

Well, we just closed a 3-6 mo Lawson deal with Catholic Healthcare West! Congrats to Michelle & Bryce for that great job.

Also, our Biopharm department and Engineering department just added a new internal employee this week and our ERP division is looking for a new internal Business Development Manager so we’re definitely rolling into 2012 with an optimistic outlook on the market.

And from what we’re seeing, we’re definitely going to need the additional help. My division (ERP) has 2 Business Development Managers (AM’s) and 1 Practice Director (recruiter) and they’ve all surpassed their estimated 2011 goals and the 4th quarter isn’t even complete. Wow!

It’s been an interesting year for me though. I’ve transitioned through a couple different roles while trying to assimilate to the “real world” and the cut throat IT business. I finally settled in as Project Coordinator, which I LOVE, and hope things will start taking off after the new year. I’m trying to help track down and bring in new potential clients for my AM’s so they can have an even better 2012, so I’m hoping the market stays in this upward trend.

That’s it for now, so everyone keep your fingers crossed for that awesome 2012 we’re all hoping for in our ERP bubble!

What a busy time it is now!

So, getting this blog going has proven to be difficult. Not so much the writing part, but the finding time to take a breath these last couple of weeks, much less add a new post. I apologize.

What’s been going on around here:

EVERYTHING!!! I’m not sure what you’re seeing in the market but last week especially was crazy. We added 5 new clients and took 3 new openings! Even talking to consultants, the market just doesn’t seem to be slowing as we roll right into the holiday season and new year. Being new to the industry, I was told that things will start to slow down around the 4th quarter, especially for those companies who’s fiscal is calendar…WRONG! We’re evening looking to add more people to OUR team and branch out into the EMR marketplace. We have so many healthcare clients and the EMR marketplace is so strong right now, it just makes sense to start branching out in that direction.

And talk about loving your day to day job, I LOVE my new role here. Yesterday, I spent the entire day formatting resumes and typing up contracts while my manager was out of the office at a career fair. I spent Monday stalking company employees. Last week, I was on the phone tracking down hiring managers for PeopleSoft and Lawson for new companies. Oh, and somewhere in there I was also tracking down new consultants for my recruiter to network with for future projects. Phew. Never a boring day. Never the same day. Who doesn’t love a new challenge each morning.

We’re even branching into new industries within our ERP branch. It’s been amazing for myself to see how many different industries use the same software, and how differently it can be customized to each industry, then each company. And trying to absorb all of Lawson and all of PeopleSoft in the last 10 months…let’s just say I’m surprised my head didn’t explode. I don’t see how our consultants can obtain all there is to know within their specialty. Then to sit in an airport every weekend and be away from home, props definitely go out to all the awesome people that keep this market thriving!

My goal is to definitely stay in touch more often, and keep you updated on what’s going on with Fidelis!

Until next time!