Guest Post: 3 Hot Tips For Using LinkedIn to Secure a Job

In today’s business environment, seeking and securing a job has become an increasingly difficult task. With the economy still lingering in higher than expected unemployment rates, finding and securing a job has only become more difficult. Employers have a larger pool of applicants to choose from, and are also inundated with more applicants than they can talk to.

So how do you go about effectively prospecting for, and securing your dream job? One strategy for helping you do this is by using  the popular business networking tool, LinkedIn. Think of LinkedIn as the Facebook of the business world. When used properly it’s an extremely powerful tool for reaching out to, and connecting with potential employers.

To help you use LinkedIn effectively, here are 3 powerful tips for using the network for securing a job:

1. Fill your profile with valuable, and credible information

The value of LinkedIn starts with your profile. You can think of it as your online resume. It’s an opportunity to list previous work experience, accomplishments, and even be recommended by previous co-workers.

Often times employers will do a quick Google search of your name before giving you a call. When doing their initial research on you if they happen to find your LinkedIn profile filled with relevant data & great recommendations then you’re much more likely to receive the call.

2. Use LinkedIn’s job search tool

LinkedIn isn’t only a powerful networking tool! It also has a job search portal where employers can directly place job listings on the site. Unlike other job posting sites, listings aren’t scraped from sites like CareerBuilder, or Monster.com so they’re guaranteed to be fresh and active job openings.

How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile… And 18 Mistakes to Avoid

3. Reach out to key contacts

This is one of the most powerful secrets about how to use LinkedIn effectively to secure a job, and when used in combination with tip #1 it can increase your likelihood of receiving an interview by a huge amount.

Lets say you’d like to get a job at Acme Marketing Co. You find a job listing on CareerBuilder.com, and you know that the job reports to the Director of Marketing. You can use this information to head over to LinkedIn, do a search for “Director of Marketing” at “Acme Marketing Co” and find the exact individual who’s looking to hire you.

Many LinkedIn users accept messages, and you can write a quick note to let them know that you’ve applied for their opening, and that you’d like to schedule a time to chat about how you can be a part of their team. It sounds simple, but you’d be amazed at how many applicants submit resumes, then never come back to check on them. This simple act of reaching out is guaranteed to increase your likelihood of securing an interview!

Author Bio:

Shelby is a rising business professional that’s used the exact tips mentioned above to secure 2 different jobs in the online marketing space over the past 4 years. He has a passion for helping others, and also enjoys writing. He currently blogs about top news stories at his blog, ThePepp.

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The House on Garibaldi Street: I Get to Touch History

English: The Defendant inside his glas booth during the Eichmann Trial in Jerusalem. At the table in the foreground: Defense counsel Robert Servatius (lower center of picture, with headphones) and chief prosecutor Gideon Hausner (right lower corner of picture, with glasses). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NOTE:  This is a draft of a story I have coming out soon in Huffington Post.  Ale knows my love of all things history and she has volunteered to show me the place here in Buenos Aires where Adolf Eichmann was captured by the Israeli MOSSAD.  The photos here aren’t mine, but when we visit the site this coming Saturday, I will be taking photographs and using them in the HuffPo story.

Adolf Eichmann

The house on Garibaldi Street is gone now.  If you visit 14 Garibaldi Street today, you won’t see the single story, stone, flat roofed dwelling that used to occupy this piece of ground.  You’ll just see the ground.

There is just an empty lot now at what was once the home of history’s most infamous murderer.  Adolf Eichmann and his family lived here when he was captured by the Israeli Mossad and spirited away to answer for his crimes in Nazi Germany.

When Eichmann lived here the house number was 14.  Today it is 4261.  As Eichmann and his sons built the house, this suburb of Buenos Aires was rural and their house was one of few on this sparsely populated road.

Today the street is crowded with lower income homes and businesses.  The only vacant lot now is where Eichmann’s home stood.  Afraid of what the house might become, the city bought it — and then tore it down.

It was on the street directly in front where four Israeli Mossad agents parked their car.  Putting the hood up to feign engine trouble, they waited on Eichmann to get off the 7:30 bus from work.

The House on Garibaldi Street

The bus ran late tthat night and at 8pm when Eichmann stepped into the street, he saw the car and men standing around.  Walking over to ask if they needed help, the four men surrounded Eichmann.

Wrestling him into the car, they put him in the back floorboard and put goggles over his eyes.  With the goggles lenses taped, Eichmann couldn’t see where he was going as the sedan sped off into the Argentine night.

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Argentina Economics: Too hot for The Huffington Post to Touch

Español: Ex primer ministro Español Felipe Gonzalez saluda a Presidenta Cristina Fernandez durante funeral de Nestor Kirchner (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NOTE:  This article was submitted to The Huffington Post where I am a regular contributor.  They rejected this article saying it was too hot an issue.  

The sun glinted off of the candescent fuselage as the plane lifted off from Ezeiza Airport in Buenos Aires. Banking slowly north, the pilot set the course for Houston.

It would be a long trip and after several hours cooling their heels in Houston’s airport, some of the passengers would be heading towards Central America and a small nondescript country known as Belize.

Aboard the Boeing 737 were 135 people or “souls” as used in the industry.

Also onboard was Sylvia*. She hated the 737. She always felt a nervous weakening in her stomach when she had to fly on Boeing’s most popular plane.

As usual, there was more than just the plane that made her nervous. Above her in the overhead storage were two grey and black carry ons that contained the hidden reason for her weekly trips to Belize — One million dollars.

Lonely Planet South America: On a Shoestring (Shoestring Travel Guide)

Starting about a year after her childhood friend Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner assumed the role of President of Argentina following her husband’s death, Sylvia has been making this trip

Born and raised in Ringuelet, a suburb west of La Plata, Kirchner and Sylvia would be seen together almost every day. From sharing lunches in elementary school to sharing secrets as teenagers, the girls were inseparable until the day that Kirchner began studying law at the National University of La Plata where she would meet her future husband and future President of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner.

When Nestor died after suffering a heart attack in 2010, Cristina stepped up and became his successor.

A year later, her plan to guarantee her retirement was put in place and Sylvia was given a call.

Taking a page from the playbook of her late husband’s nemesis, Carlos Menem, CFK saw the route to financial stability for herself even if it left millions of Argentines teetering on insolvency.

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While simutaneously blocking the sale of US dollars to Argentines, she would have trusted aides pack one million dollars into two backpacks and prepare the for handing over to her most trusted confidante, Sylvia.

Sylvia is not alone however, Kirchner has surrounded herself with others that are as wickedly greedy and corrupt as herself.

Lazaro Baez
Many dollars are being laundered by Lazaro Baez, an old friend of Nestor’s in Santa Cruz province who has become a billionaire in Santa Cruz during Nestor Kirchner’s administration. Not bad for someone who labored in obscurity as an average, lowly bank clerk. Kirchner channeled 82% of the state contracts towards his old friend and CFK continues the family tradition today.

Nilda Garre
The head of the Ministry of Security in Argentina, Garre has been repeatedly described by Kirhner as a “good friend”.

Formerly part of a terrorist military organization in the 1970s called “Montoneros”, Garre was known as “Commandante Teresa” at a time the Montoneros was responsible for planting bombs and the deaths of thousands of Argentines.

Kirchner, along with her late husband Nestor were also members of the Montoneros at the same time Garre was. Together the three of them have become millionaires by stealing peoples money as well as “liberating” the companies and personal belongings of business owners saying they “are using the goods for social justice; to give aid to the poor”.

This “aid” never has gotten to the poor, but has been kept by themselves, friends and family.

Alicia Kirchner
Sister of ex-president Nestor Kirchner, Alicia is a leader of a group called “Koina” which is disguised as a social organization; Koina is actually a group of armed militants working to keep the president in power and remove any opposition.

With the blessings of CFK, Alicia Kirchner has “purchased” federally owned land for pennies on the dollar and has resold that land for millions. Stealing from the Argentine populace for personal enrichment has a long history among the Kirchner’s and their family.

Corruption and Democracy in Latin America (Pitt Latin American Studies)

Wag the Dog
With all this corruption swirling around CFK, she has to find ways to divert public awareness. With the deftness of a magician, she talks about starting wars with Britian over the Malvinas and has discussed with aides the possibility of taking over territories in Chile.

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Political rallies as theatre
While CFK speaks frequently at political rallies which her government organizes, they are primarily venues for her to speak about herself and all the “good” she’s done for Argentina.

With the audience deliberately made up of poor and disenfranchised, CFK and her government pay these shanty town residents from 20 – 50 pesos to attend where they get served a Choripan (sausage sandwich) and cheap wine that comes in cardboard containers.

The rally is videotaped and then showed repeatedly on national television creating the illusion of a broad base of political support.

Eva Peron and Nazi Jewelry
Hiding behind the lie of Peronism, Kirchner has many items of jewelry that originally belong to Eva “Evita” Peron.

“Evita” was given millions of dollars in jewelry and art by the Nazis who sought asylum in Argentina after WWII. Since much of the jewelry was taken from the Jews killed in Hitler’s Nazi Germany, Kirchner is implicitly giving her support to the holocaust.

With all of the bribery, theft and corruption going on in The Pink House, an honest question someone would have to ask would be “Why”?

The answer may be found in an old letter written by the French diplomat, Joseph de Maistre, on August 15, 1811:

“Every country has the government it deserves.”

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Guest Post: The Evolution of Photography

(Photo credit: http://www.robertorey.es)

You think nothing of pointing and snapping a digital photo before touching it up, tagging it and uploading it to your favourite social network. You can get a photo quality print from your home printer using special paper, or have it plastered on mouse mats, mugs or T-Shirts in a few clicks for a few dollars. The next time you do, spare a thought for the generations before us for whom capturing a special moment wasn’t so simple.

Take as many photos as you want

Have you ever wondered why so few pictures of Victorians show happy, smiling faces? It’s because the process took so long, and the subject had to sit or stand still otherwise the image would be blurred. Even when the Kodak box camera made photography widely accessible and affordable in 1888, the limitation of film remained. It would be almost another century before cameras capable of saving images to CD were introduced, quickly followed by digital cameras and smartphones.

With these new technologies, you no longer have to worry about composition, or about getting everyone to smile at the same time. Because you’re only limited by the size of the camera’s digital memory, which can typically hold thousands of images, you can snap multiple shots in quick succession, delete the ones you don’t like, and keep the ones you do.

Edit and ‘correct’ photos

Unlike the Victorians, you don’t have to live with straight-faced miseries or bunny ears jokers. If none of the photos come out the way you want, you can keep bits of two or three. Photo manipulation with digital photographs is a simple process.

Photo touch-up software has gone beyond red-eye removal and exposure correction. As well as using Photoshop or other imaging software to switch facial expressions to create the perfect family portrait, you can also use mobile phone apps or desktop software to add masks, swap faces in photos, or insert people on alternative backgrounds.

Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Photography

Share your photos everywhere

While our great-great-great-grandparents may have ordered sets of twelve pictures to post far and wide for inclusion in family albums, you can share your photos with Australian relatives instantly. Once you’ve created your masterpieces, you can upload them to social networks like Facebook and Pinterest either from your PC or direct from your phone. In most cases, it’s a simple matter of clicking an upload button, navigating to the picture you want to share and clicking send.

Printing digital photographs

What if you want a more permanent, tangible reminder, though? Just like your Victorian ancestors, you can have a print for the family album. Unlike them, though, you don’t have to pose for hours, wait days or weeks for the photographer to process and develop your photo, and pay through the nose for it.

Printing digital photographs has never been easier. Most inkjet printers will produce a high quality photo up to A4 size using paper with a special coating. Professional digital printers can offer next day printing on a range of services if you want larger sizes, or your photo on canvas, or even printed on acrylic to create stunning wall art.

Print-Print offer a wide range of professional litho and digital printing with free next day delivery, for more information visit their website;www.print-print.co.uk.

Jerry Nelson is a freelance photojournalist living and working in Argentina.  Contact him today when you need a photographer.  Connect with Nelson through LinkedIn.

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Where did Argentina go wrong?

Map of Argentina with it’s terrain levels (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My impression of Argentina is that the populace owns every bit of the failure as a nation. Argentina produces great individuals, but as a group, well, they tend to do the wrong things for the right reasons… every single time.

Once upon a time, the country had a political class that had a vision of what this country could be. Despite having different visions, they shard the passion and determination to stand behind their ideas for the common good. Rosas, Lavalle, Sarmeinto — just to name a few — were the visionaries that could see the path to better things.

READ MORE

Jerry Nelson is a freelance photojournalist living and working in Argentina.  When not busy turning the spotlight on the government, he is available for weddings, portraits and events.  Contact him today.

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Easy ways to turn your wildlife photos into something spectacular

Jerry Kirkhart’s Montaña de Oro Hazard Tidepool Digital Photo Walk 15 March 2008 (Photo credit: mikebaird)

With great digital cameras easily available and affordable to the general public, everyone fancies themselves a photographer and most people can now achieve a good photo. However, what turns that good photo into a great one that you want to get printed and hang on your wall? Follow these easy tips to turn your wildlife photography into something spectacular!

Pick your subject

There is wildlife to photograph everywhere, although travelling to a luxury lodge in South Africa to photograph the iconic King of the Jungle may be wonderful, you can also choose to photograph a tiny frog or butterfly at your local pond. It is about choosing your subject, researching what type of image you are after and observing the habits of your chosen subject so you know exactly how to get that perfect image before you have even taken your camera out of its bag.

Know your equipment

Knowing your camera and what it can do will immensely improve your wildlife photography. Even a simple point-and-shoot camera has an extensive array of functions to help you achieve the perfect balance of colour and to create stunning visual effects. Make sure you know what your camera can do before you venture out into the wild and ensure you have any accessories that you need to get that ideal picture!

CONNECT WITH JERRY NELSON ON LINKEDIN TODAY

Think about your composition

The difference between a good photo and a great one is often the composition. Ensure you create an interesting composition, play around with close-up and wide angle shots and get on the same eye-level with your subject to create an interesting picture. Remember the “rule of thirds” and use it as a guideline for your composition.

Use the day to your advantage

Go filming in the middle of the day and you are bound to walk away with nothing spectacular. Instead use your day to your advantage. Make full use of soft morning light and romantic evenings and don’t be afraid to go out in the rain or the mist as often the most interesting photos are captured in these unusual conditions.

Learn how to edit

Some simple photo-editing techniques can take your photo from good to great. Learn the easy things like colour adjusting, brightness and contrast and how to sharpen your image. Be careful not to overdo it as you could end up creating something completely unrealistic but for a wildlife photographer – Photoshop truly is your friend.

This guest article was submitted by Janine Mare. Janine works developing the text and images for the travel booking websites; South African Hotels and South African Lodges.

JERRY NELSON is a freelance photographer living and working in Argentina.  Specializing in covering social justice issues, he is currently focused on corruption within the Kirchner administration which is bringing Argentina’s economy to its knees and creating a whole generation of homeless.  You can help Jerry keep up his work by clicking here.

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VFP99 fawns all over Cindy Sheehan, revealing their gullibility

I just read online that Cindy Sheehan is speaking in Asheville this weekend.  I think everyone knows her name and her story, so I won’t repeat it here.

But I will say that she was a grieving mother who got co-opted by some political forces for their own good.  Swept up into the limelight and notoriety, Cindy got carried away with herself and started to believe her own press clippings — even challenging Nancy Pelosi for her congressional seat.

Now the Asheville VFP (Veterans for Peace) has gotten swept up in the “We Love Cindy” movement which in, the rest of America, is on life support — only in Asheville does Cindy still hold the status of grieving mother.

Why has the world of clear headed thinkers turned its back on Cindy?  Several reasons.  But the story about the fact that it took her two years to get a gravemarker on her son’s grave is one of the most telling.

Poor old Cindy.  Her son is gone and so most of the limelight that she enjoyed. Except for a few misguided and ill-informed members of VFP99 in Asheville, NC, the activist world in particular and the world in general have turned their backs on this train wreck.

But why do I dislike Cindy so much?  She started out on the right path and quickly allowed herself to get diverted.  Despite the warnings of some good friends who have since abandoned her and her bizarre behavior, she decided to start believe that the anti-war movement couldn’t continue without her.

A telling incident from her own life is her foot dragging in buying a gravemarker for the son who she publicly grieved for.

For two years, and even after a DOD payment of $250,000 life insurance to the “Peace Mom”, she did not have the time and couldn’t be bothered to have a headstone placed on her son’s grave.

During the two years that her son’s grave went unmarked, Sheehan could find time to protest on at least 3 continents, get arrested various times, go on vacation in Hawaii, have photo ops with the Marxists in Venezuela but couldn’t find the time to properly mark her son’s grave.

But what a strong lady. Even though she couldn’t be bothered to buy a grave marker for her son, she was able to treat herself to a brand new convertible.

READ MORE…

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