Job searching on social media and online search engines is common.  But it can result in an overwhelming amount of duplicate job ads from scraping services, and less than stellar response time to online submissions of your resume.

A more efficient way might be to find and connect with the individuals who post the jobs you seek on a platform where they are likely to be responsive.  This post will help you use specific terms and search methods to focus your search results and streamline your efforts.

TIP:  Search Twitter for the type of job you seek and include location and #jobs.  If you use the term #jobs in your Twitter search or Google search of Twitter, you are likely to get a list of companies and recruiters who have hired for that position in the past or are currently hiring for that position.

Try this Google search: mobile app developer jobs dallas - you will retrieve a huge list of jobs, mostly from job boards and scraping services.  It is daunting and, I'll suggest, not a very focused approach.

Nothing wrong with job boards.  But if you search like this: site:twitter.com mobile app developer #jobs dallas - the results are several companies (actual app dev companies), agencies, and individual recruiters who have posted job openings for this skill set in the past and recently.

Simply adding the hashtag symbol # before the word jobs, and directing Google to search Twitter (site:twitter.com) will help narrow your results to actual people and companies.  Follow them on Twitter, interact with them, get to know them, reply, retweet, etc.  In other words, be a good networker and get friendly.  Then, if their culture seems a good fit  - and your skills do as well, let them know you are interested in possibly working with them and ask to set up coffee or a phone call.

Top hashtags associated with #jobs on 5/28/2013 per TweetArchivist.com

Most hiring companies and recruitment agencies still use job boards to post ads and collect resumes from their postings.  So applying that way still has plenty of value.  But if you want to network directly with the individuals who are posting these openings, searching Twitter and using hashtags is one way you might want to try.

Additional resources that I found interesting:

http://careerenlightenment.com/50-hottest-twitter-hashtags-for-job-seekers
http://www.socialtalent.co/resources/?p=7282 Mobile recruiting stats from Social Talent Johnny Campbell

See more at: http://blog.fishdogs.com/2013/06/how-to-job-search-with-hashtags-on.html...

If you are a younger manager with responsibility for managing people older than you are you know what a challenge it can be. This is the first time in history that people from all four generations are working together. Many seniors are still employed and are working side by side with Baby Boomers, Generation X and Y. One of the biggest challenges for younger managers lies in how they are going to supervise people who are older than them themselves, have more experience than they do, and in some cases are perceived as intimidating. According to a 2008 survey by Randstad USA, an Atlanta-based staffing firm, one-fifth of employed adults are older than their managers. The following tips will help you succeed in managing older workers.

• Don’t misuse your authority. You may be the boss but if you take an arrogant approach to managing others you will quickly find yourself in trouble. It’s obvious that you are in charge so don’t push it by constantly reminding your staff that you are commander in chief. You run the risk of turning your employees off for good.
• Value their experience. Don’t overlook the fact that older employees have more life experiences than you do simply because they have lived longer and in most cases worked more hours than you have. Whether they are a senior, boomer or one of the two younger generations, anyone older than you may have an edge.
• Motivation is an inside job. You won’t be able to get inside of their heads and force them to be motivated, but you can build a workplace culture in your department that is motivational in nature. And don’t hold back on recognition and rewards that are meaningful to people from all generations. Just make sure that what you have to offer is something they would like to have. If you don’t know what they want, ask them.
• Provide plenty of training. Don’t assume that just because they are older, that they know everything and don’t want or need training and development. And don’t hesitate to ask them what they need in terms of additional skills. They know themselves better than you do and they may have something in mind that would benefit them as well as the department.
• Don’t under-utilize them because you are afraid of them. If you fear your older employees or give the impression that you do, you have lost your ability to manage effectively. Get the coaching that you need from your boss or even a mentor if this is a problem. And don’t be afraid to give them assignments and put their talents to good use because you are unsure of yourself.
• Remain flexible. Anyone that is employed, regardless of their age, appreciates a supervisor who is flexible and open to creative work arrangements. If you have a need to tightly manage your employees and not allow for some flexibility, you won’t be the kind of manager that anyone would want to work for. This is the 21st Century and your job is to lead like you are in sync with the times and that includes being open minded and flexible.
• Include them in decision-making. One of the best strategies for getting “buy-in” is to include your employees in decisions that affect them. Making all the rules and decisions will be a turnoff for creative minds and experienced personnel. Sometimes younger managers think that they are getting paid to make all decisions so they don’t allow their employees to have any input – huge mistake!
• Don’t assume anything. If you believe that age defines qualifications, energy level, personalities or skills and abilities, you are short-changing yourself. Age is relative. You will find younger employees who are mature and wise beyond their years and you will find older workers who can run circles around your entire team with their energy, know-how and willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done on time and under budget.

In conclusion, whether you are a boomer managing seniors, Generation X managing seniors and/or boomers or Generation Y managing any of the above, you have responsibility to your employees to lead with respect, set a good example and put forth your best effort. You may have some rough days, but they are not insurmountable if you make a solid effort to learn as much as you can about managing from your more experienced employees as well as your superiors.

Commitment and pride are characteristics that are difficult to measure when interviewing prospective employees.  However, once you’ve found people who have great attitudes and hire them, it’s up to you to take it one step further and build commitment.   If you’re limited in what you can pay, or opportunities for advancement are scarce, how do you get employees to act like they own the place?

First, are you willing to work at bringing out the best in your employees?  It’s a full-time job.  Most employees want to be successful, but they sometimes lack the skills and know-how.  As long as people have bills to pay, businesses will be able to hire people.  But without structure, systems, and attitudes, employers will never be able to develop and retain what is every manager’s dream—motivated employees.

Second, getting employees to act like they own the place is accomplished in several ways.  The reality is, once fair wages are set, more money or better fringe benefits have a negligible impact on employee loyalty.  Loyalty is defined by the quality of the relationship of an employee to the organization.   There are a number of ways to build employee loyalty, but none of them come without effort.

This article is about what you can do to get your employees to emotionally commit to you and the goals of your organization—admittedly, no easy task—but proven to be doable if you’re willing to work at it.  The ideas contained herein are not meant to be all-inclusive.  However, they represent a cross-section of ideas that I hope you find helpful.

Behind the success of any thriving business are a number of key principles related to employee loyalty.  The late Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, said it well:  “There are two things people want more than sex and money - recognition and praise.”  With that light-hearted, but powerful thought, I’d like to share some ideas that HR personnel can use and share to keep top-notch employees committed and loyal to the task and the company.

1.   Let them know they count.  Don’t fail to overlook the use of low-cost or no-cost incentives as a way to show appreciation.  Why?  Because everyone needs to feel valued from your managers to your office personnel, and beyond.  A simple “thank you” can go a long way to get commitment from the people that you depend upon day in and day out.

2.   Include “fun” in your organization’s core values that should already include respect, trust, excellence, balance, ethics, adaptability, empowerment and calculated risk-taking.  Don’t give it “lip service.”  Live each and every one of your core values to the fullest!

3.    Create a recognition program that might revolve around any of the following: exceptional customer service, meeting or exceeding departmental goals, best overall new idea for increasing customer satisfaction, most creative cost-saving idea, or cleanest work area.

4.    When someone leaves your company don’t ignore the fact that the loss of an employee puts a burden on your other employees.  Anticipate the fact that your existing employees will be willing and able to pick up the slack only so long before they become frustrated.  You then you run the risk of losing them too.  Show your appreciation for the fact that they are holding things together until you can hire someone to replace the person(s) that left.

5.    Acknowledge customer praise of your employees by posting and/or reading letters of thanks from customers.   Everyone wants to be recognized when they’ve done a good job, especially when it involves customer-relations.

6.    Support an Employee Retention Council.  Everyone benefits when turnover is kept to a minimum.  This cross-section of employees meets as a team to discuss ways to reduce employee turnover.  Their suggestions are presented to management for further consideration.

7.    Promote new responsibilities when there’s no place to be “promoted to.”  Many organizations have limited room for advancement.  However, it doesn’t have to mean the end of the challenges.  Get input from your employees and together decide what new responsibilities they might be interested in pursuing.

8.    Recognize and reward employees who work on non-scheduled days.  These are the people you call on to work on weekends, holidays and/or their day(s) off.  We often take these people and their loyalty for granted.  Treat them special.  Don’t ask the same people to make this kind of sacrifice all of the time or you run the risk of losing them, especially if you fail to recognize and thank them.

9.    Write a personal note to employees from time to time.  It’s a simple, yet effective way to show your employees how much you appreciate them and the work that they do.

10.    Be your own cheerleader.  Set the example.  If you’re having a bad day, get over it.  Your attitude is contagious; your employees will model what you do and feel.

11.    Promote from within whenever practical.  Most people would like the opportunity to be considered for other jobs within the organization.  Overlooking your current employees and going outside your company for new hires is a real morale buster.  One of the most successful organizations that I know ALMOST NEVER goes outside their company to fill vacancies.  As a result, their turnover is exceptionally low.

12.    Make employees a part of your weekly “to do” list.  Add the names of the people who report to you to your list of goals to accomplish.  Then cross off names as you recognize them with positive feedback.

13.    Lead your team of employees in a standing ovation for an employee(s) that has done an exceptional job.  It not only gives everyone a chance to stretch, but it’s fun and costs nothing.

14.    Implement “no-pay-day” paydays.  On the week that employees don’t receive a paycheck, hold drawings for small prizes.  Keep this up for three months.  If it continues longer than that it may get boring.

15.    Give “Super Server Awards” to the employees that best exemplify superb service to your customers.  Co-workers determine who receives the awards and employees at all levels of the company are included in the contest.

16.    Write a year-end letter to your employees sharing the organization’s or department’s success for the year.  Include something about everyone on the team.  Part of the text might say:  “Let me express my sincere thanks for the dedicated and skilled work that was performed throughout the year.  We couldn’t have reached our goal without your help.  Here are some examples of your major accomplishments…”

17.    Celebrate everything you can - exceeding goals, meeting an exceptional challenge, attaining a good safety record, improving customer relations, eliminating waste, managing costs, or any other employee heroics.  You don’t have to be a large company to celebrate.  Small businesses can do this too, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money.

18.    Implement a  “Shining STAR” employee recognition program.  Recognize and reward employees who consistently go the extra mile to provide professional, quality customer service.  The focus of the program is the S.T.A.R. Standards of Excellence—Service, Teamwork, Attitude and Respect.  Recognition goes to employees who distinguish themselves by their exemplary performance in these areas as determined by their managers and peers.

In conclusion, people naturally want to grow in their work and in their lives.  Give your employees the opportunity to do both while having fun.  When employees seek growth in their jobs or areas of expertise, or in anything that personally interests them, the end result is happier and more productive employees who become loyal members of your team.  In addition, everyone wins when you regularly praise and recognize your employees.  Rewards, incentives, and positive feedback are like carrots; they’re there to get people motivated and on task.  They can be critical in getting your employees to act like they own the place through their loyalty to you and your organization.

#Shouldabeenacoder. My favorite hashtag du jour quickly sums up the market for software engineers today. The tech talent shortage, as it is being called, is a pretty big deal. Not only is it all over cool kid media but it even has the US Government debating changes to legislation. Heck, there is so much talk about it that some in academia even claim the whole thing is a big myth. It seems everyone has an opinion these days. But in today’s labor market, it is commonly accepted that the demand for skilled software engineers exceeds the supply. I agree.

To test the market last month, I partnered with a talented .Net Developer in Dallas, Texas. Dude is seriously in demand. I’m talking MVC 4, Jquery & HTML5 experience – a true dreamboat as some of our recruiters would say. He agreed to post his resume on Dice and Monster and share the corresponding voicemails and emails. The results were staggering. Within the first week he received over 50 voicemails and 70 emails recruiting him for more than 40 unique jobs. Talk about an ego stroke.

Despite all the competition and craziness in this job market, a few companies are excelling at hiring the engineering talent they need. So what is their story? How are some thriving at hiring engineers while most continue to struggle? Realistic Expectations.

In analyzing our client data on software engineering positions, we found a unique corollary between time-to-fill rate (the average number of days to fill an open position) and realistic expectations. In general, our clients with the lowest time-to-fill rates also have the most realistic expectations (do what it takes attitude) in their hiring approach. Not surprisingly, across a variety of industries, most of them are growing revenue and capturing market share as well. These are the companies winning the war for talent.

So what do Realistic Expectations look like in hiring engineers today? Here are a few themes common to companies currently achieving success:

• Clear hiring profile - These companies know who they are targeting. They plan the projects & apps a new hire will work on Day 1 and understand the skills and level of talent required to be successful. Today, too many companies are trying to hire a rock star for a position that is budgeted for an average coder or involves maintaining crusty code. Companies hiring successfully are not. Also, these companies look for potential and think outside the box on who can actually do the job effectively. Cisco is doing a solid job of this within their UX team.
• Compensation - These companies pay market rate for talent. They understand current market values and make appropriate offers. You would think this one is a no-brainer, but often we see companies who think their brand or culture or technology or work from home program enables them to pay less than market rate. Unfortunately, some of their competitors offer all that and pay the cash.
• Speed - Interviews are a top priority for managers. Internal schedules are adjusted in order to shorten the interview cycle. When they find the right candidate, they move fast.  SOW’s do not get dusty. Executive leadership is brought in and provides needed approvals quickly when required. These companies do not lose good coders to red tape.
• Partnerships - Corporate recruiters are communicating with existing engineers consistently and the engineers know the hiring strategy. Current employees are compensated and celebrated for their referrals. Also, a small number of local, trusted recruiting firms are engaged to help locate talent. The recruiting firms are viewed as trusted advisors and both sides operate with transparency.

In many cities across our country, the demand for engineers simply exceeds the supply. In order to win at hiring today, companies must be willing to adapt and change their processes. If you understand who you are trying to hire, pay market rate, streamline the hiring process, and partner with the right people, you are positioned to successfully hire engineers in 2013.

Your main goal in an interview is to show the company your strengths and tell them why you would be the best fit for the job. When the tables turn and the interviewer asks what your biggest weakness is, many candidates freeze. You do not want them to know why NOT to hire you! But there is an easy way to answer this question without ruining your chances.

First, be honest! But counteract that weakness with its corresponding strength. By using the list below, recently posted on LinkedIn by Dave Kerpen, you can actually turn this question into another chance to show off your strengths.

1. Disorganized ---> Creative 
2. Inflexible ---> Organized 
3. Stubborn ---> Dedicated
4. Inconsistent ---> Flexible
5. Obnoxious ---> Enthusiastic
6. Emotionless ---> Calm
7. Shy ---> Reflective
8. Irresponsible ---> Adventurous
9. Boring ---> Responsible
10. Unrealistic ---> Positive
11. Negative ---> Realistic
12. Intimidating ---> Assertive
13. Weak ---> Humble
14. Arrogant ---> Self-Confident
15. Indecisive ---> Patient
16. Impatient ---> Passionate

[By Dave Kerpen, CEO, Likeable Local, NY Times Best-Selling Author & Keynote Speaker]

Some examples of how this could work for you during the interview:

• My biggest weakness is I can sometimes be stubborn, but this shows how dedicated I am to every decision I make and every task I encounter.
• My biggest weakness is that I am extremely passionate. Unfortunately, sometimes that comes off as slightly impatient, but I truly am over-passionate about everything I set my mind to.
• My biggest weakness is that I am an incurable optimist. In most settings, my positivity is appreciated, but sometimes this can lead to unrealistic goals and aspirations in the workplace. It is something I am continuously trying to improve.

By using this question to show you know you are not perfect and still have room to grow in your new position, the interviewer will hopefully be able to see the real you. Hopefully this list will help you feel more comfortable in your next interview and show your interviewer more of your strengths. Best of luck!