March Career Madness: A Round-Up of Advice from Job Search Experts

Is your job search is becoming a twisted version of the NCAA "big dance"?

Do you find yourself applying to 64 opportunities before making it to the "final four" candidates for a position?

In the process of beginning a sudden job search? Feeling stuck? Need to get "back in the game" with your career? Don’t despair…the time has come for a new kind of office pool.

Introducing the Twitter Invitational, otherwise known as “March Career Madness.”

This event, which will run throughout the month of March, is a joint effort of a team of career experts who have committed to sharing their wit and wisdom with us in “tweets” of 140 characters or less on Twitter. Posts will be written on a singular theme--innovative strategies for your career.

All posts will include the following code: #mcm (referred to in the Twitterverse as a hashtag)

You can follow March Career Madness through Twitter Search (search #mcm) or by following the tweets of individual contributors (name and user “handles” listed at the bottom of this post). Share posts with others by “Retweeting."

New to Twitter?

If you’ve been meaning to try Twitter, this is a great time to start—and a safe place for watching experienced users interact and share knowledge before you dive in as an active user. A word of caution: Keep in mind that Twitter is a searchable public forum, and don’t share any information you don’t feel comfortable having passed on. As with Facebook, employers have been known to monitor “how they’re talked about” and how current and potential employees represent themselves online.

We encourage you to watch—and participate in—March Career Madness. Here are three resources to help you getting started.

How to Twitter
The Social Rules and Tips for Gaining “Followers,” Why Opinionated People Win
A new user shares her experience using Twitter, including writing suggestions for content

Newbie’s Guide for Twitter
Social media expert Chris Brogan’s straight talk on how to get started.

Round-Up of Users Guides and Tutorials for Twitter
From Pistachio Consulting, a firm specializing in the business use of Twitter and other “microsharing” applications

Participating Career Experts (& Their Twitter “handle”)
This list will expand as additional career experts join us.

Barbara Safani (barbarasafani)
Brian Kurth (briankurth)
Chandlee Bryan (Chandlee)
Deb Dib (CEOCoach)
Katherine Hansen (kathansen)
Kimberly Togman (ktogman)
Laura Allen (la15secondpitch)
Megan Fitzgerald (expatcoach)
Miriam Salpeter (Keppie_Careers)
Pam Slim (pamslim)
Paul Copcutt (Paulcopcutt)
Phyllis Shabad (Phyllisshabad)
Sital Ruparelia (SitalRuparelia)

Join us, and find a new play or two that helps you make a "three-pointer" in your career!