Photo: ChiBart

Eric Barker

Last month, Eric Barker received his MBA. Unfortunately, he still lacked a job… So he hopped on Facebook and spent $50 on ads targeted at people who worked at Microsoft. As he describes it:

…it’s been wildly successful. My ad got over 50K impressions, over 500 clicks, and more than 20 people contacted me directly offering everything from a LinkedIn connection to the email addresses of recruiters to sending me the job description for specific roles in their division that they offered to submit my resume for.

Eric isn’t the only person receiving job offers through social media. Maia Bittner received job offers as a result of her activity on Brightkite, Twitter, and Yelp.

Brightkite is a social networking tool where users check-in at their current location and they can see people nearby:

I updated my status on Brightkite to indicate that I was at the DMV to register my car–apparently, Going.com sent up an alert system anytime someone checked in near them. They checked out my profile on Brightkite, saw my personal website, which includes my professional background, and sent me an e-mail saying, “Hey, can you come talk with us about a job?”

Then, last February, she tweeted, “Going to my last day of work at Spock.” A friend at Apple knew someone at Zecco who was looking to hire a community manager, and introduced them via Facebook. “We met up, but the job description wasn’t a good fit, so I passed.”

Finally, a few months ago, an entrepreneur trying to launch a competitor to the online review site Yelp ran across a bunch of reviews Maia had written about Boston restaurants. “He found my homepage via my Yelp profile, and contacted me asking if I’d be willing to write a bunch of reviews under contract.”

While Maia–who is currently involved in marketing at Archivd.com–might be an extreme case, more and more people are using online tools to find jobs.

LinkedIn, a professional version of Facebook that focuses on business networking, has experienced a surge of growth. Job searches on the site rose 51% in February over December, according to David Hahn, LinkedIn Corp.’s director of product management.

In other recessionary times, we have seen people lean on education and go back to school. This is the first major recession where you have a tool like LinkedIn and can use your professional network more effectively.

Detroit, home of the struggling auto industry, has been the site’s fastest-growing region for networkers, said Kay Luo, LinkedIn’s senior director of communication. And when Wall Street powerhouse Lehman Bros. fell apart last autumn, Lehman employees tripled their site activity on LinkedIn.

But even as more people are hitting the job boards, the number of good canditates hasn’t increased. Dirk Zondag Jr, a recruiting manager with the Elevate Recruiting Group, says:

We are seeing a lot more noise, in regards to resumes coming in, and people on the job boards. Last summer, from posting jobs, I would receive maybe 8 resumes a day from direct applications, and now may see upwards of 50 a day. The number of quality and relevant resumes seems to be the same however. For example, last summer, 8 resumes would give you 1-2 good, relevant people, where now, 50 resumes, may as well result in just 2 quality, relevant people.

In a great blog post titled, “Why hiring is paradoxically harder in a downturn,” Auren Hoffman wrote, “the amount of resumes from C-Players massively increases while the amount of resumes from A-Players probably remains the same.”

With all this noise, how can you be sure to stand out? According to Dirk, it’s all about consistently broadcasting yourself:

People can better utilize social networking by keeping constant, and keep updating. You need to be constantly ‘broadcasting’ your radio signal. LinkedIn even has a status update section much like a tweet.Now, if you put up just one, it may not get seen by the right person(s) in your network. If every other day, you are putting up something new, or the same thing in a different way, it’ll eventually get noticed. Same goes with Twitter and Facebook. Not only can recruiters find you on these networks, they can also contact you quickly without needing your e-mail address.

It certainly works. While researching this post, I ran across someone on Twitter looking to do some free-lance writing, and connected them with my editor. (Unfortunately, he didn’t have room for another writer.)

According to executive coach Doug Peterson, while being active on all these sites is good, it’s also important to have a focused message:

People come to me and say “I need a job.” They’re scared that focusing too tightly will close off potentially great opportunities. But the opposite is true. As you’re more specific on your job description, your network is more likely to suggest somebody who can help. They’re not being mean, they just don’t know how to help until you clarify, “This is what my ideal job looks like… can you suggest two people I should talk with?”

Is it really worth all the hassle to maintain an updated online presence? For Connie Bensen, who blogged about working remotely for Techrigy, it certainly is:
All of my jobs online have come to me thru social networking venues. Since November 2006, I’ve worked remotely from northern Minnesota, and my earning capacity online is double what is available locally. My message is that if I can do it, anyone can create their own opportunities.

Even if you expect your job leads to come through face-to-face interactions, expect people to research you on Google. It’s worth the time to keep adding people you know offline to your online networks–multiple times, I’ve had an acquaintance contact me and say, “Hey, I’m considering working with John Smith on a project. I looked him up on LinkedIn and saw that you know him… do you think he’d be a good fit for this position?” (Similarly, these online networks are an excellent way to research a hiring manager before an interview.)

As more people become comfortable using online tools to research jobs and potential hires, expect your professional network to become even more important. As I told a friend recently, “The internet doesn’t replace your reputation, it just accelerates it.”

Did you know? Mint is hiring…

You know about blogs, Facebook, and MySpace. But have you heard about Twitter? It’s rapidly emerging as the next trend in online communication. Think of Twitter as group instant messaging–with a twist: all your messages (called “tweets”) are limited to 140 characters or less. You sign up for a free account, and then pick which people you want to follow. (If you’re new to Twitter, Mike Hyatt has an excellent post titled “The Beginners Guide To Twitter.”)

We’re not talking about sharing the intimate details of how much of your paycheck gets frittered away at Starbucks. That kind of thing is best left discussed between you and your significant other. Or, god forbid, for actual financial transactions. But Twitter can be a useful way to stay updated on the latest news about the economy or to find ways to save money.

Here’s a quick rundown of Twitter as it relates to personal finances–six ways it might help, and four pitfalls to avoid.

Six ways you can use Twitter to help with personal finances:

1. Find deals.

Many companies such as Amazon (@amazon), Dell (@DellOutlet), JetBlue (@JetBlue), Woot! (@woot), and others are using Twitter to announce up-to-the nanosecond deals on everything from airline tickets to robot vacuum cleaners. Some of these deals, such as recent $14 coast-to-coast airfare are Twitter only so you’ll want to make sure you are following the companies whose products and services you are interested in.

Trent Hamm, author of the excellent blog “The Simple Dollar“,  posted a list of ten Twitter accounts full of coupons and deals. These include everything from two-hour only Amazon Deals (@amazondeals) to DealUniversity (@dealuniversity) which aggregates a bunch of online steals on electronics.

Alison Storm, author of “Out of Debt Christian” also posted a great list of Twitter accounts with great deals, include @zappos for shoe deals and @booksamillion for book deals.

Many other retailers offer great deals through their Twitter accounts. Walmart (@WalmartDeals), Best Buy (@BestBuy), and many, many others.

2. Get customer support.

More and more companies–particularly consumer companies–are monitoring Twitter to see what you have to say about their products and to help you use them. For example, eBay Motors uses Twitter (@askebaymotors) to answer questions and just let customers know they’re available to help: “@User Good luck finding a car on eBay! If you need any help, let me know!”

Similarly, the aforementioned DellOutlet and JetBlue Twitter accounts spend a lot of time answering people’s questions, not just posting deals.

If you are not sure where to find a company’s twitter account, try searching Google for “CompanyName + twitter”.

Caveat: Not every company is on Twitter, nor do all companies use Twitter for customer service. For example, Walmart has a great stream of deals (@walmartdeals) but no interaction with customers.

3. Get financial news.

Twitter is quickly becoming the go to place for the freshest news available. The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ), The Economist (@TheEconomist), and The Motley Fool (@TheMotleyFool) all stream news headlines via Twitter.

Not only is it a great way to avoid website clutter, sometimes news gets announced on Twitter before it shows up in an article. For example, this recent Wall Street Journal tweet “BREAKING NEWS: Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges.”

And the Rhode Island Treasury department (@RITreasury) recently announced that they will post total receipts and expenditures for Rhode Island–every day! There’s a 140-character step toward government transparency.

4. Find out how people are reacting to recent financial news.

Use search.twitter.com, or hashtags.org to see what people are saying. People can tag their tweets with “#” before a word to identify a theme. So whenever you see “#stock” in a tweet, it means the author is tweeting about something related to the stock market.

Unlike Google, Twitter search is real-time. So you can find out what people are thinking right now, not just hours or days ago. Often you can watch entire conversations occur in real time around a specific keyword–like “treasury“.

It’s a great way to quickly get a pulse on how people are reacting to an earnings call or announcement. For example, here’s the current results for Apple’s stock symbol “aapl“.

5. Follow your favorite financial bloggers on Twitter.

The world is full of noise, and sometimes you only want to follow people who stay on topic. Personal finance bloggers like Ramit Sethi (@ramit), JD Roth (@jdroth), and Trent Hamm (@trenttsd) all tweet regularly about money-related topics.

Be careful who you follow, as not everyone who tweets about financial advice is worth following–see the pitfall section below.

But it is a quick way to see the latest posts from your favorite bloggers, a few money-saving tips that fit in less than 140 characters, and to simply remind yourself to handle money carefully.

6. Follow Mint on Twitter!

We have our own Twitter account where we regularly tweet about new blog posts and Mint.com news, and–best of all–we do respond to people! Check us out: @mint. Most of us employees also have our own Twitter accounts, from our CEO Aaron Patzer (@apatzer), on down.

Four Pitfalls To Avoid:

1. Following people who don’t know what they’re talking about.

Like anything else, be careful who you listen to. Just because they say they know what they’re talking about doesn’t mean they do. Even having 10,000 people following them on Twitter doesn’t mean they know how to handle money.

Be especially wary of those who advise get-rich-quick schemes or risky investments. Most spend-to-save programs are scams.

Instead, look for people who preach spending less than you earn, saving for the future, and understanding Roth IRA’s and 401K’s.

Especially with opinions on stocks, recognize that anyone can say anything, and no one is moderating anything in Twitter land.

2. Spending-to-save.

While you can certainly save money using coupons found on Twitter, recognize that you can never spend your way into greater savings.

If you have the patience and self-control, many big-ticket consumer goods can be found very inexpensively online. But for those struggling with impulse buys, following DellOutlet on Twitter won’t help you avoid purchasing a new computer on a whim.

Just as you plan your shopping list before going to the store, you should know what you need before following a Twitter account full of good deals on stuff you’ll never use.

And don’t hesitate to unfollow an account that tempts you to spend too much money.

3. Avoid the time trap.

Use Twitter, or it will use you. In our knowledge economy, time equals money. Every minute you spend catching up on the latest tweets is time you will never have again.

Particularly with Twitter, it’s easy to become lose focus because each distraction feels so small. Most veteran Twitter users advise treating the Tweet-Stream as a river to occasionally drink from, rather than trying to read everything.

Do a quick scan of Twitter once or twice a day, but no more. And certainly don’t leave it open when you’re struggling with a hard problem at work!

4. Getting too personal.

It’s just as easy for others to see what you tweet as it is for you to see what others tweet.

Never tweet information you wouldn’t be comfortable shouting from the top of a table at a party. Even when you’re directly messaging someone, be careful, as one mistake could have costly implications.

This person almost lost a job offer from Cisco for tweeting “Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.” More details.

Used adroitly, Twitter is a concise stream of financial news, great deals, and customer service. Like any other tool, it won’t solve your financial problems or produce miracles–”money doesn’t grow on Twitter”–but it can help you on your way to saving money.

While he doesn’t tweet much about personal finance, Jeff Widman is on Twitter too (@jeffwidman).

(Jonny Goldstein)

When David Allen wrote Getting Things Done back in 2001, no one predicted it would rise to #52 on the Amazon best seller list and spark an entire productivity subculture.

Like many productivity gurus, Allen recommends prioritizing tasks and eliminating distractions through to-do lists, calendars, and turning off e-mail notifications. But Allen’s theories differ in a few key areas. Unlike Covey’s “Begin with the end in mind,” Allen advocates dealing with today so you can stop worrying long enough to think about tomorrow.

So what happens when GTD meets personal finance?

Here’s four key GTD concepts, and how they can be applied to your money management:

1. Clear your head by capturing anything and everything that has your attention
   Allen observes that in the information age, the majority of work has to be defined before it can be done. You can’t do anything until you know what you’re trying to do.
   Application: Get everything related to money out of your head and onto a piece of paper.
   No matter whether you’re a financial ninja or a novice, simply writing down all the stuff you’ve been meaning to plan–like financing your kid’s education–will make it FAR easier to tackle. Don’t worry about planning anything, just get it out of your head onto paper.
   
   
2. Operate from the ground up
   GTD methodology says you will only be free to think long-term when you have successfully organized today’s urgent priorities.
   Application: Track how you spend your money.
   Determining long-term financial goals without knowing where your money is currently spent leads to cognitive dissonance. Tracking need not be obsessive. You don’t need to budget every last expense in order to realize your savings goal. As with other tasks, GTD suggests you should focus on a few key areas where you can have an impact, perhaps you can cut back on eating out, or spend less on iTunes each month.
3. Define projects into outcomes and concrete next steps
   Allen says 90% of to-do lists are projects, not actual to-do’s. Break all of your projects into actual to-do’s.
   Application: Look at your page of financial projects and break them into actionable to-do’s.
   A project like “taxes” will probably include tasks like “gather forms”, “pick tax software”, “enter information in tax software”, and “file taxes.” Once you’ve broken these financial projects into actual to-do’s, you can add them to your calendar and general to-do list.
4. Have as few inboxes as possible–but not fewer.
   Focusing all your incoming information into just a few buckets keeps things simple. Fewer inboxes means your brain can focus on thinking rather than remembering.
   Application: Streamline your financial accounts.
   Close unnecessary financial accounts or leave them at the minimum balance. (Exception: Closing unused credit cards may impact your FICO score.) Use dedicated accounts for savings , checking, and Roth IRA or 401K.
5. Build a trusted system so you don’t have to rethink things
   The brain is a phenomenal planner, yet incredibly forgetful. And we’re hyper-aware of that–even while writing this blog post, I worried whether I planned enough time to do my taxes.
   Application: Automate financial reminders whenever possible.
   Mint.com can send you an e-mail a week before your bills are due. (I’ve integrated my recurring financial to-do’s into my regular to-do system–I use Remember The Milk configured for GTD.) Since you can use the Mint dashboard to view all your bank accounts in near real-time, consider switching all your accounts to electronic statements–better for the environment too.
   
6. Do a regular review to “clear the decks” and keep your brain clear
   No matter how smoothly your system functions, your brain will still collect stuff. It’s just like cobwebs–every so often they need to be cleaned out.
   Application: Do a regular financial brain dump. Review your accounts regularly.
   Some folks like to review how they spent their money every week. Others prefer a monthly review, so you’ll need to find your own rhythm. This is also a good time to acknowledge failures and celebrate successes.
   

More resources:

The Getting Finances Done blog has two great posts on GTD + Personal Finance: Part 1, Part 2.