Social Networking

Personal Branding: Lessons from GLEE

Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

By Wendy J. Terwelp, Career Coach, Brand Strategist

On Tuesday’s episode of Glee, Sue Sylvester tells two students, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to put in a call to the Ohio Secretary of State notifying them that I will no longer be carrying photo ID. You know why? People should know who I am.”

Do people know who you are? The right people?

While you may not have the need of Ms. Sue Sylvester, who feels everyone should know who she is, it’s important to have the right people know who you are.

Who are those right people? Here are some tips to identify them – and make the connection.

1. Know your career goal. The stronger focus you have on your goal, the easier it is to attain it.
2. Know the industry you serve. Target 25 companies.
3. Who needs to know about you in this industry? Make a list.
4. Who are the key players? Check professional organizations – and join! Attend meetings regularly. Play a key role. Get connected to the key players.
5. Know what you bring to the tables others do not. Think about it like this, why should someone hire you? What skill, ability, RESULTS, have you achieved that would motivate your new and current connections to open up their contact database and give you names? Share the reason with them.

Next, make the call!

Want more tips? Check out Rock Your Network® for Job Seekers.

Did you miss Glee? Here’s a link to the episode on Hulu.com.

PS: Lots more about personal branding in this episode – check out the last song by Mercedes.

Top 10 Ways to Reconnect in Five Minutes a Day

Wendy Terwelp 1 Comment

By Wendy J. Terwelp, Career Coach, Personal Branding Strategist
Excerpted from “Rock Your Network® for Job Seekers.”

1. Schedule time to network; create a networking plan.

2. Create your own on-brand sound bite (Chapter 5)

3. Take 5 minutes to update your contacts, including those on LinkedIn, to see who is currently in your network – and who needs to be. Think BIG.

4. Take 5 minutes and review your LinkedIn updates. Message those in your network who’ve shared news – like a new job, promotion, or speaking engagement.

5. Ask a friend how you can help him or her. You’ve got to fuel your network to fire it up! Those who give get.

6. Send an article or cool website link to someone in your network.

7. Take 5 minutes and introduce your friends to each other at the next networking event or gathering.

8. When you get business cards, jot down the date, name of the event, and at least one unique thing you learned about the person so you can follow up with them later.

8.5 If you’re at an event, use your LinkedIn QR code and connect with your new colleague on the spot.

9. Send a card on a weird holiday like Steve on page 65.

10. Take 5 minutes and thank a friend, family member, boss, colleague, college alumnus, or coworker.

© 2009 – [updated] 2026 • Wendy J. Terwelp • Opportunity Knocks™ • All Rights Reserved.

Wendy Terwelp has helped thousands of clients get hired faster and be rock stars at work since 1989. A recognized expert on networking, both online and off, Wendy has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Fast Company, The Business Journal, Careerbuilders.com, Monster.com, and other national media. She has published hundreds of articles online and in print and has written the book on networking, “Rock Your Network® for Job Seekers.” Learn more and get free tips to rock your career at www.knocks.com.

Order the book here: “Rock Your Network® for Job Seekers”

Job Seekers: Time for a Tweet

Wendy Terwelp 3 Comments

Job Seekers, are you on Twitter yet? If not, check out these current stats:

  • 73% of Executives find jobs through Social Networks.
  • Twitter was rated the No. 3 Social Networking site by Bloomberg.
  • Twitter has grown from 500,000 to over 19 million users in the last 9 months.

WOW.

With this in mind, have you explored Twitter for your career search? If not, do so now.

Keep in mind some basics when you sign up:

1. Keep your posts short – 140 characters.

2. Be relevant. Do not tweet about how you are still looking for a job, but rather what you can do for an employer; demonstrate your thought leadership.

3. Be current. This does not mean you have to tweet 20 times a day, it does mean to tweet with regularity.

4. Be on brand. What’s your career target? What is relevant to this target? Which companies do you wish to work for? What will they find interesting about you?

5. Be personal – but not TOO personal. I do not care that you are in the bathroom tweeting, drinking coffee, opening a door or other mundane activities. I also don’t want to know about your extreme political views, religion or super negative attitude. Think about it like this, are these statements relevant to your career, job search or current employment? Would your mom like to hear about these things? How about your boss? If you think they’d be in shock, don’t tweet the info. Do tweet: relevant info from a conference, an opinion on a hot topic, interesting RELEVANT hobbies, and so on.

Go ahead! Move forward and try it out. For more ideas on what to tweet, follow people you want to know more about. You can check out my tweets at: http://twitter.com/wendyterwelp.

UPDATE: New Book – Twitter Job Search Guide! Came out 3/2010

Source for more Twitter Stats: Twitjobsearch.com

5 Networking Mistakes

Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

By Nicole Williams, Works

Twitter, blogs, Facebook have made it easier than ever before to network with people who could help you gain valuable advice, insight and connections. But just because it’s easy to access people, doesn’t mean you should. Or at least it doesn’t mean you should just reach out without at least a nod to some good old fashioned etiquette rules of the pre 2.0 era.

Read on!

Success Stories from Job Seekers – HIRED

Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

I am VERY pleased to share some good news reported by By Joel Dresang of the Journal Sentinel. In this Sunday’s Journal, Dresang highlighted some job search SUCCESS stories – including my pal Robert (Bob) Bachman (read Bob’s story here).

My blog readers may recall Bob – he’s The Likable Engineer who created this tag line using what he learned in my personal branding presentation. As he says in the Journal Sentinel story,  “You make your own luck. If you don’t work at it, you don’t get lucky.”

Thanks to Joel and Bob for spreading the good news!

PS: Common theme throughout the story? NETWORKING. Want more help on how to network like a rock star? Check out “Rock Your Network for Job Seekers.”