There is a natural tendency to want to hire someone who is already working, but in this economy, how do you convince those who you want to hire you that you are already doing what they want you to do?

When I decided I wanted to be a writing coach, I did two simple things. I added a “slash” to my business card (writer/speaker/writing coach) and to the signature line of my email address. Before I had even figured out the details of my coaching business — what I’d charge, where I’d meet with clients — people started asking me about my services. Within a couple of months, my coaching practice was off the ground.

The business card and email signature work well if you’re consulting or freelancing, but if you are looking for a full-time job, you’ll need to use different techniques. Here are some other ideas: {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

For some time, I’ve been recommending a service called VisualCV to anyone seeking to create a free online resume. The concept works especially well for those who want to offers samples of their work by embedding links, audio or video files, html pages and photographs. Which makes this type of resume a natural for designers, media professionals, or actors. One category of worker I hadn’t anticipated using these newfangled resumes was the military — and in honor of Memorial Day, I wanted to put the spotlight on Deborah Richardson, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army who is using VisualCV as she tries to transition to a civilian position.

{Read the rest at Yahoo!}

Recently I went to a conference without any business cards. When people asked me about it, I said I was “going green” and saving paper, but in truth, I just forgot. I know. That’s a weird move for a career columnist. But in my case, business cards don’t serve much use anymore. I have a website and email address so easy to remember that if anyone wants to find me, all they need to do is remember to spell Marci with an “i” not a “y.” And you can find me on pretty much any social network.

That said, I’m in the minority on this one. As I quickly learned when I wondered aloud on Twitter whether people still care about business cards now that so much of our contact information is posted online. Moments after my tweet, I was barraged with messages from people who are still clinging closely to their business cards. Job hunters need them. Those seeking clients need them. And if you’re dealing with people from other cultures, proper business cards are expected. {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

Personal branding has been one of the hottest buzz phrases ever since Tom Peters wrote a Fast Company article way back in 1997 that turned into the book, The Brand Called You. The notion is that individuals are all brands — much like our running shoes and kitchen appliances (though some of us are clearly more running shoe than refrigerator). And from that flows that logic that we all need to cultivate and nurture our brands so they thrive and prosper just as the brands managed by big business.

There’s a new kid on the personal branding block — Dan Schawbel — and he’s taken Peters’ principles to their next logical incarnation — branding in the social media age. I call him a “kid” because at 25, he is also part of the new generation of Internet wunderkinds who have become so adept at spreading their ideas online that they write their first books and hit the morning show circuit when barely out of college.

Now that we are all publishers — writing personal blogs, answering questions on LinkedIn, updating our status on Facebook or Twitter — Schawbel has a message that is very much of the moment. Which is that we need to harness these tools in order to convey our personal brand to the world. And once we do that, we will not only find career opportunities, but they will find us. (Read the rest at Yahoo!)

While headlines continue to report on the grim state of the job market, people are getting hired every day. This ongoing series will bring you snapshots of who’s getting hired now with the back-stories of how they’re snagging the jobs.

This week’s job successes include a nonprofit manager who made a move when it seemed like no one was hiring, an engineer who tweeted his way to a new gig, and an event planner who created a full-time position out of two part-time jobs to bring in extra cash during her slow season.

Dan Zarrella, Boston, Mass – From one job in online marketing to another position within the same industry.

Time searching: About a month

Techniques: Enhancing and promoting his “personal brand.” Networking on Twitter.

His story: When Zarella got laid off in December from a position at an online marketing firm, he took an approach that is becoming increasingly common — he immediately worked on enhancing his personal brand and made himself more known in the community where he wanted to find his next job. (For a quickie course on personal branding, read Dan Schawbel’s excellent new book, “Me 2.0″) He tells his job search story — on the blog of HubSpot.com, where he eventually got hired.  Even before he lost his job, Zarrella had the foundations of a good personal brand in place. He already had a personal blog, on which he identifies himself with the clever moniker “The Social Media and Viral Marketing Scientist.” He also used the extra time he had to develop some online tools related to Twitter, the microblogging site that is an essential networking zone for people in technology-related businesses. “Rather than trying to interrupt people in my space with advertisements about myself, I created things that people wanted to use and let them come to me,” he wrote about the experience.  He also posted on Twitter that he was looking for a new job and asked people who was hiring in the Boston area. A few people responded to his messages and directed him to Hubspot, where he saw that there were openings and submitted his resume according to the usual procedures. {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

At a time when nearly all of us are scrambling for opportunities and helping others to do the same, people are in networking overdrive. Not a day goes by that I don’t get a few emails from friends seeking introductions to other friends. All that connecting carries a huge risk of mistakes and missteps. Here’s just a sampling of the many ways that well-intentioned attempts at networking can go wrong, and some simple ways to do better.

1.  Asking for an introduction when you are too busy to properly follow up. We’ve all been there. You learn that someone you know knows someone you want to know and you are champing at the bit. You shoot off an email without much deliberation, the person replies promptly (since you have a mutual contact), and because you’re completely swamped, you find it impossible to make time to meet.

Solution: Next time you learn that one of your contacts knows someone you want to know, file that information away and tell your friend you might ask for an intro when you’re less busy. {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

As the economy tightens its grip, people are getting more inventive in their efforts to advertise their availability.

A California wife started the site, MyHusbandNeedsaJob, for her unemployed husband Michael Stearns, a newly minted MBA.  The site launched a few weeks ago and Stearns says it’s been a whirlwind ever since.  Some of his business school classmates sent the link to a few HR/careers bloggers and within days of the site’s launched he was interviewed by CNN. He says the other kind of interviews have occurred as well. His plan—find a position in marketing; the success of the site has gotten him interested in the social media world. He and his wife (who doesn’t reveal her name to protect her privacy) have been contacted by so many unemployed people that they are also thinking of continuing to maintain the site even after he gets a job as a way to help others.

I’ve been keeping an eye on these campaigns (and some even odder ones) ever since last summer when Joshua Persky, an out-of-work investment banker, appeared on Park Avenue wearing a sandwich board that said “Experienced MIT Grad for Hire” while handing out resumes to passers-by. Mr. Persky’s effort didn’t lead to a job immediately, though it got him lots of publicity. “It was a great adventure but like the Wizard of Oz, I landed right in my backyard,” he told me. About five months after his stint on Park Avenue, he got a job through a recruiter he had previously worked with. {Read the rest at Yahoo!}

In addition to my usual career-related activities, I have been working overtime lately talking with friends, family members and colleagues who have recently lost their jobs or are concerned about where the job market and economy are going. I’ve decided to share some of the things I’m telling them with you, so that we can all join in on spreading good career karma.

We all love bitching about email, but when it comes to simple and free tools that can jumpstart a career, nothing beats it. Here’s three easy things you can do with email to help your career, or the career of someone you care about.
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Karl Rove, formerly of the Bush White House, on Fox News, where he is an analyst. (Photo: Fox News) As President-elect Obama chooses his transition team, one thing is for certain: thousands of politicos in both parties are looking for new jobs. This morning I was a guest on WNYC Radio's "The Takeaway" with John [...]

If you are properly cultivating your career regularly meeting with contacts, attending industry events and being active on social networking sites a hunt for new work shouldn’t be noticeable.

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