If you are a blogger or microblogger and are in the Dublin area on Saturday this week, the 10 May 2008, be sure to join fellow bloggers at The Market Bar in Fade Street, Dublin, from 4.30pm.

This is a Dublin Blogger and Twitter meetup organised by Bernie Goldbach.

Hope to see you there.

And even if you have not started blogging yourself or have yet to step in the virtual world of online social networks or social media, do come along and meet some of the people behind the blogs.

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One of the social networks that I’m a member of here in Ireland and recommend to any female entrepreneur or would be entrepreneur is Irish Business Women, founded by the CEO of County Mayo Enterprise Board, Frank Fullard.

It’s a great community of women and a few men who support each other with tips about starting and growing their business - many of them work at home moms (WAHM’s).

I was fortunate to be a key note speaker at the first ever Irish Business Women conference back in 2006 and since then their membership has steadily increased to almost 2000 members.

They have recently announced the 2008 conference details which will be taking place on the 29 May 2008 at the Mullingar Park Hotel. 

The theme for this years Conference is “Inspiring Women” and speakers include Sue Stockdale, author of“Secrets of Successful Women Entrepreneurs”,  Senator Mary White, co-founder of Lir Chocolates, Newstalk’s Karen Coleman and Celebrity Chef Jenny Bristow.

Unfortunately I’ve a prior commitment so won’t be able to attend. But if you are thinking of attending, register soon, as I am sure it will be a sell out.

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As you know I write a lot about the power of social media to help you build your reputation online.

One of the case studies I share in my speaking about social media, personal branding and career success is of my good friend and mastermind buddy  Jessica Bowman who is an SEO expert.

After relocating across the US, taking up a role at Yahoo, Jessica lost her role in the recent massive shakedown to everyone’s surprise in just 90 days after taking up her appointment.

Jessica has a blog that is well regarded in her field of expertise and as she has been providing excellent advice and tips there, she is well known by key influencers in the world of SEO.

This has led to her story and how she has successfully managed career transition since leaving Yahoo to be picked up by a major US glossy where she will be featured in their July edition (sorry can’t tell you who until she makes it public) and she is attracting great opportunities from consulting to speaking, all through her network both online an offline.

So Jessica is using the power of her social network through blogging to manage her career transition.

But here’s the thing - you actually don’t need to be blogging yourself to make sure of the power of blogging and social networking when in career transition or when searching for another job.

I can not recall the thousands upon thousands of speculative CV’s I have received through the post or email over the years. And unfortunately it is rare that those speculative CV’s ever amount to someone landing a new role in the businesses I have been recruiting for- the reasons for that warrant an article or two on their own so I won’t go into it here.

I must declare that I get really frustrated when someone connects with me by email with their CV looking for a new role and they have not gone to the time to research who I am or how to correctly spell my name.

Take a situation that happened just this week when someone addressed their email to me ‘Dear Sir’. You see I am not a man. 

So take note of the following - this is something I can guarantee most career coaches, recruiters, HR professionals and executive recruiters will not even think to tell you…

A little time researching online would have told the job hunter that I have a business blog where they can find out a lot about what I am interested in, what services I provide and what kinds of clients my company serves. They can research me online before even applying fingers to their keyboard to send me their speculative CV or resume.

They could also have found me on Facebook or LinkedIn, noted who is in my network and who are mutual contacts so they could have had someone introduce them to me in a more personal way.

They might even have followed me on Twitter where they could get a feel for other things that are going on in my life, not just work and business.

Even better would have been if they invested a little time in building and nurturing a relationship with me online before they email me about looking for a job move.

For example they could have added insightful comments or experiences about the issues I cover in my articles or podcasts.

You can be sure I would have taken more notice of them when I received an email about them looking for a new role. 

I would probably even have connected them to my network to assist them in their job search.

So before you hit the send button on that next email, whether it be a job opportunity you are looking for or a new assignment, why not use the power of the Internet and the accessibility of social media to research and nurture  relationships with the people you are connecting to.

That will ensure that you are more specific and relevant in who you connect to and what you say in your letter or email.

The result is that your personal brand will stand out from the crowd of people interested in that same next job or assignment you are interested in.

So why not access the power of social media and social networks in your career research - I’m sure the results will surprise you.

And if you are not looking for your next big gig, why not pass this guidance on to someone you know who is.

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As you might be aware, I’ve been a key note speaker at Bank of Ireland series of workshops called ‘Starting And Growing Your Own Business’ for entrepreneurs in Ireland. 

These have proved excellent events to connect to resources and advice from experts about how to start and grow your business - and of course the opportunity to network with fellow entrepreneurs.

I’m on the panel of speakers and talk about ‘Marketing On A Shoestring Budget’ so that you attract more clients and more profit.

The events are free to attend.

Here are the dates for the next events in the series (venues will be detailed as soon as they have been confirmed).

If you do plan to attend let me know - I look forward to seeing you there:

• Monaghan - Tuesday 13th May 2008 - The Westenra Arms Hotel, Monaghan
• Limerick - Tuesday 20th May 2008 - The Hlton Limerick Hotel, Ennis Road
• Wicklow - Tuesday 27th May 2008

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If you are based in Cork, Ireland and interested in how personal branding can support your career success, then you might be interested to know that I am the guest speaker at at the Marketing Institute Ireland Munster Regional Breakfast Meeting in association with
The Sales Institute of Ireland Munster Region.

The details are as follows:

Date: Wednesday, March 5th at 7.30 a.m

Venue: The Imperial Hotel, Cork

In this breakfast seminar, we will have the opportunity to spend time considering how we can apply personal branding strategies to expand our personal and career success.

EVENT OVERVIEW

• An Introduction To Personal Branding – the origins of personal branding and why it is relevant for our success in the 21st century workplace
• Defining The Essence of Your Personal Brand – the key steps we must take to define our personal brand
• Expressing Our Personal Brand – how do we make sure that everything we do is “on-brand” and consistent with our personal vision
• Getting Known Now – the three keys to an effective personal marketing plan for marketing and sales professionals
• How To Become Digitally Distinctive – tips for nurturing your personal brand online so we stand out from the crowd and recession proof our career through new media and social networking strategies.

HOW TO BOOK YOUR PLACE

There is a nominal fee to cover expenses of €20 for The Marketing Institute South Region / The Sales Institute of Ireland Munster Region members; €10 for students; and €25 for non members. 

To secure your place at this event, please RSVP to Leigh Gillen, Cork Chamber on Tel. 021-4509044 or email leigh@corkchamber.ie by Monday 3rd March 2008.

It’s great value and I promise that it will be worth your investment in time - not just because of the content I’ll be delivering - but because of the opportunity to network with fellow marketing and sales professionals - one of the keys to recession proofing your career!

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