Since I wrote the first Guidelines For HireFriday in May of this year, our community has grown exponentially.  As an omnipresent social media community, or more accurately, cluster of online communities; we have learned new lessons about how to grow, and incorporate best practices that will benefit: the job seeker, the recruiting community, the job board community, the executive coaching community, the resume writer community, the human resources community, and the business community at large.  

HireFriday is going viral, and as we grow, we want to maintain the interactive, interpersonal communication that makes it the most unique new media communities in the digital space. I make it a point to interact with every single person in our community. It is the 1:1 that makes this so rewarding for me.

Social Media doesn't describe what HireFriday is, or what it has become.  We are a social media community, we also have a cluster of new media.  HireFriday started in February with one lonely tweet...it swept the US.  @CathyRecruit asked to replicate the model in the UK.  Bill Boorman helped her name it #HFUK (they thought HFUK would be an "eye catcher."Canada adopted it next #HFCanda.  It is spear headed by Laura Vezer.

HireFriday communities popping up on blogs around the world.  HireFriday launched in France last Friday.  Each Country that replicates our model is adding its own international twist.  We have a facebook page, and a new facebook group which I am limiting in size in order to provide one to one attention with each of its participants.  My professional goal for HireFriday is NOT to grow large, but to grow smart, slow, and steady. Because this is my passionate quest, I do not want to lose the personal touch I give each person in our community.

In order to avoid brand confusion, and chaos I have chosen keep the spot light where it belongs: on the job hunter, the job search evangelist, the unemployed person, the passive candidate who wants to go public, but not quite ready.  Bottom line, what makes HireFriday important is its focus solely on the job seeker.  Unemployment is hard.  HireFriday can help.  What we as a community do is lend a hand, and encourage a heart. Lou Bonica put it well when he said, "HireFriday reminds the job seeker that they are not alone, or forgotten."

Twitter does not need another job board which is why, for the time being, we will not adopt HireFridayJobs, as suggested on a blogtalkradio show I appeared on this week.  That would adversely affect my business model, and my business partners who make their living as twitter job search engines.  Monster.com was the first adopter of HireFriday.  The next HireFriday Fan was Tweet My Jobs and  Tweet A Job.  Tweet A Job also facilitates Tweet My Resumes.  As I consider the gigantic job boards, and the small Mom & Pop job boards, I realized in short order, I don't want to compete or play in that space because I am a CANDIDATE ADVOCATE. HireFriday is growing in leaps and bounds. It needs a full-time community manager, and I have promoted myself into the job.

HireFriday is growing, and I'm growing with it. It's time to explore what the buddhists call "right livelihood." It blends my vision for Compassionate HR with HireFriday Community Management. It's time to monetize this venture in a way that maintains the ethics, integrity, dignity, and respect of each person in the stream. I want your input about how I can do this in a way that provides value to you.

In addition, I am a dot connector.  I connect the dots, make matches, and connections with people across, throughout and around networks.  For years I've been saying, " you are either networking or not-working."  In essence, we are all on different trajectories in our careers.  This further explains my intense passion for shining light on job seekers, and keeping the HireFriday stream on twitter exclusively for JOB SEEKERS, and UNEMPLOYED people.  Yes, I'm capitalizing those words, because I want to emphasize how profoundly important job seekers are to me, my heart, my mission and my vision for what HireFriday was intended to do from its inception.  

Guess what, I'm not selling out to outside interests.  I carefully pick and choose ethical, dignified, authentic, and respectful partners in the recruiting community.  The ethical, compassionate recruiters have profound reach and resonance, and can be uniquely helpful to our community. I want to make an honest living, and work only with people who are doing the same.

This week I announced a new partnership with Paul Paris (also known as @Paris22) he's affectionately referred to as The Ex Recruiter.  I am encouraging my community to be as omnipresent as I am.  Participate in Paul's Employment Cafe.  Participate in #WorkWednesday. Be present in #JobAngels. Watch the #Jobs & #Career Stream, and as I frequently say, "Job Seekers: Think Like A Recruiter." Before I share too much, let me just say that some very exciting services are about to be offered with the two of us coming together. Now, what you've been waiting for my top 5 tips for getting the most out of HireFriday this week.  Bear in mind I wrote this from a job seekers perspective.  Chris Havrilla, a recruiter with Hitachi Consulting wrote a guest post for my blog at http://HRMargo.com two weeks ago.  She goes in depth how to use tweetdeck and global filters in twitter applications to screen in streams of exactly what you can find.  She's an IT genius, and a class act.  Please read her post on my blog.  

From a job seekers perspective: 

Here are my top 5 tips for getting the most out of this week's HireFriday on Twitter:

1. Use your real name in your tweet. It will make it easier for recruiters, hiring managers, human resource directors to find you.  HireFriday is a brilliant inbound marketing experience. Use it, and make it work.
2. If you choose to tweet through tweetmyresumes, do you buzz, or another service, put your name first, followed by an industry recognized job title that will tickle the search engines, and candidate sourcers radar.  They are watching you. The world is watching this human community experience. This is your chance to shine.  Do the research.  Go to google and find out what those job titles actually are, how they are indexed, and how they are written in the applicant tracking systems.  Research the job boards.  What do they call your job title?  Is it what you think it is, or is it called something else? Is your job industry specific? Or do you care about which industry you are in now? Figure it out before Friday.  Do not think outside the box.  Rather, get inside it.  Squeeze in tight and niche yourself.   Even if you are a generalist, you best make sure you are stripping out key words so people will find you.
3. Location, location, location.  Is it important? If it is, say so, if it is not, say so-clearly, so that people can identify whether you are a realistic candidate for the position.
4. Industry: if you are a java developer (consider yourself the unicorn) everyone the world is looking for you.  I'm not entirely kidding.  If you are in Information Technology hash tag #IT #Java #C++.  If you are in #HR hashtag #HR #EmployeeRelations #Benefits #Compensation #SPHR #PHR #Training #LeadershipDevelopment #StrategicPlanning you get my drift.  If you are an #OrganizationDevelopment Specialist hash tag #OD #Organization #Assessments #Diagnostics #MBTI #DiSC #OrGCulture or whatever aspect of OD you excel.  In future workshops, I will teach you how to research and break down the components of your job so you can hash tag them appropriately.
5. Create a bit.ly link (or another link shortener if you wish) to your resume or linkedinprofile.  My personal preference is a link to the linkedin profile because it does two things. 1) It builds your network and your professional brand, and 2) if your linkedin profile is well written, it can be even better than your online resume for lots of reasons (I'll discuss this in future posts)

Thanks to Alan for allowing me to post here.  I'm sorry I haven't posted since April.  My world has been engulfed in launching my new book, "HireFriday: A Boots On The Ground Approach For Your Online Job Search."

I'm looking for a publisher, so spread the word.