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joi, 21 iulie 2011

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

Posted: 20 Jul 2011 02:03 PM PDT

Posted by LCT

Hey SEOmoz Blog readers! Please be advised - this is NOT an SEO tech-fiend blog. This evening, I want to draw your attention to another SEOmoz tool. If you have ever wondered just how we found all the great people that make SEOmoz so awesome, here is a blog on how to read a resume for the tech-world, which, as you know, is very popular these days. There are also some tips for those of you tech-savvy peeps applying for jobs and wondering how to make your resumes sparkle!

So, to set the mood, let's imagine it’s summer, graduates are graduating, selling their extra long sheet sets, and ironing their one good, clean, crisp white shirt. Hiring season has begun! The evidence is in the résumés we’re receiving for our open Software Engineering positions. With recruiting efforts in full-swing, the pool is deep as it is wide. As we begin to review and sift through the seemingly endless stacks, we find that the we are comparing new CS grads to seasoned engineers. Knowing who makes a better candidate with even this distinction is not as black and white as one might think. While one candidate might have everything you need, the other just seems cooler and capable of learning more than the other candidate already knows. What to do? Google?

Yes, you Google. And yes the web is rich with “how to write a successful résumé” forums, and even paid sites, but a search for “how to read a successful résumé” yields scrawny results, particularly in the tech world. I would send you to those sites, however pebbles are more interesting.

So here we are again, trying to make the web a better place with yet another resource! Luckily, I was able to sit down with Kate Matsudaira and pick her brain on recruiting techniques. Below are practices Kate uses to sift through résumés, and, tips for those that are in the process of writing their résumé.

For skimmers, the TIPS in blue are for those writing their résumé, and the numbered sections are for those who are reading them. Hawt Points and Red flags are in, well, red.

How do you know who is interview worthy?

1. Reading and Deciphering

The most important question to ask yourself when reading a resume is: is it easy to distill information about this candidate? Candidates can certainly brag about themselves, but knowing when you are looking at something that is actually good and not a messy mud puddle can be hard to discern. Here are some hawt points and the way in which to read into them:

Hawt Points

• Objective. Sometimes software engineers want to be project managers. Know who actually wants the job you’re offering.
• Experience. Where have they been and do you like where they have been? Have they included dates of employment? How many jobs have they held in the last year? Relevant experience?
• Skills, Languages & Technologies. Are they versed in the capacities listed in the requirement section of your job post? Are they too expert sounding in too many languages? Did they list MS Office Suite?
• Projects. Do they include the duration of the projects they have listed, as well as people they probably worked with on these projects?
• Education. Did they go to an exceptional school? Complete their degree? If they didn’t, what was their GPA? Honors, awards, scholarships? Achievements?
• Outside of Work. Do they list their interests and activities? Do they appear to exhibit a sense of passion for the work you are asking of them?

TIP: The simpler the better. The recruiter’s job is hard enough, how about making it easier on them? Spell checking shows that you pay at least a little attention to detail, as does pretty formatting. But remember to hit the main points: Jobs, Education, Skills, and if it seems applicable, projects (including the duration of the projects), and accomplishments (such as graduating with honors or that you won 1st place at the Google Code Jam.)

2. Record of Promotion

If the candidate has moved up the ladder, successfully filling multiple roles while at one company, that’s probably something worth noting. Here’s a an example:

TIP: If you are creating your résumé and want to know what to show off, let the world know that you have an interest in yourself, and are genuinely, well, awesome! Show you have been promoted. Recruiters like that stuff. It also shows that people like you and what you do. Even if it was merely a change in job title and not an increase in pay.

3. Know the Good Companies from the Bad

This might seem obvious, but successful companies usually have strong employees behind them. How did they get those strong employees? Well, they are all American Gladiators… or they have a rigorous hiring process.

Sexy 80's American Gladiators Photo Source

If a candidate has worked somewhere you know hires only REALLY good people, they are probably worth checking out.

Also, don’t forget about the little guys! They might be small and new – but they tried! Not sure? Sometimes their mission statements, or job postings showcase the type of employees they hire. We do, and so do lots of other people out there. Next time you are looking at a resume, check out the companies your candidates worked for and see what THEY looked for in a candidate. You can also look at their current employees in similar roles on LinkedIn to get a feel for the caliber of talent they were looking for.

TIP: You will probably be Googled, so you might want to take that Facebook photo down. You know which one I am talking about. Oh, and set up a LinkedIn account and start networking! (If you build it, they will come.) Be sure to fill in as much information as possible, and start networking with people you meet in interviews, it lets the recruiter know you are interested (and helps them remember you (*wink*).

4. School is Cool

Obviously, if you are hiring for a tech position and the candidate went to a top computer science program and earned advanced degrees in Computer Science, Linguistics, Physics, Mathematics…. they are probably pretty dang smart. But don’t overlook those that have high GPAs from the lesser-known schools! A degree is still an accomplishment – especially if they graduated Cum Laude with a GPA higher than 3.7, honors, or additional degrees. Those folks are extremely interview-worthy and these are impressive achievements; it shows they worked hard and take pride in their work. Isn’t that what you want in a candidate?

TIP: Wondering if you should include your GPA on your résumé? If you received below a 3.5 GPA, then you may not want to showcase it on your résumé. But above a 3.5? Heck ya! Show your stuff and pump it up with activities, honors, awards, and personal achievements. That is an accomplishment and there are people who pay attention to these details.

At SEOmoz, we have interviewed candidates with otherwise unimpressive resumes because the candidate’s achievements at school or in their personal lives warranted a phone screen. Their dedication was simply too impressive to pass up!

As an aside, school is way cool, but it isn't necessarily everything a candidate has to offer. If you take all of those hawt points listed above, and they exceed your expectations without even looking at their education, bring them in! Did you know that SEOmoz's own CEO dropped out of college? Some people are just really smart, motivated and super dedicated, and that says a lot about character.

5. Trophies, Patents, Awards and Certificates

Not everyone receives a fancy award or honor, so those are good to look at, especially fellowships, grants and scholarships. If someone else is willing to pay them for something amazing they did, you might find them worthy of a few peanuts, too.

It also shows that the candidate is willing to go that extra mile to prove they have mad skills. And that’s what you should be looking for, right? Ask yourself, “What do they do outside of work?” Are they involved with Startup Incubator as a finalist or member, have they participated in industry events such as Google Summer of Code, Startup Weekend, or have they attended conferences, or presented at conferences. (pssst....hidden TIPS are in this paragraph!)

TIP: Get yourself awarded? No seriously, if you are amazing, then apply for a grant, or enter a contest! It’s not just for mom, it’s for your future (barf!) Show passion and achievement outside of what you get paid to do. “It’s more about the achieving nature of the person than the achievement.” Kate Matsudaira.

6. Projects and Mad Skills

Instead of being impressed by a long list of known technologies, an example of how the candidate has used them is way more impressive. Let's pretend we are looking for someone with experience in building a house using a hammer, screwdriver, nails and screws. A better resume would list how they used the tools (hammer, screwdriver, nails and screws), is a manner such as this: "My last project was building a house. For this project I used a hammer, a screwdriver, nails and screws." Savvy?

Also, the cover letter is the best place to discover if a candidate is looking to work vs. looking to fulfill a passion. If the developer is truly passionate about being a developer, then he/she’s probably working on side projects or learning a new language. These are things to look for in an application. If an interviewee told us they created a webpage especially for their interview, it wouldn’t be the first time, and there hasn’t been a time we didn’t consider them for the position. What scientist doesn’t like proof?

TIP: Flaunt it if you got it! In a meeting with Andrew Maguire, founder of InternMatch, he referenced a really interesting write up on an innovative way to draw attention to your mad skills. The concept: Kill the Cover Letter. Although this relates to interns looking for internships, it’s really not a bad idea all across the board. You can always write up a traditional cover letter and refer them to your nifty digital “cover letter”. Then you would really be cool, especially if there are multiple Tweets and Likes proving it. It’s a socially driven world, get with it!

7. Lesser Known and Used Ideas and Strategies

If you don’t use a platform like Jobvite, take advantage of Survey Monkey. Have them answer all the generic make-it or break-it questions you have before contacting them. You can also ask them questions that are geared toward the kind of culture you are trying to maintain, or even create. You know, weed out the pen sniffers and the too secretive, secret Santas.

Creepy Secret Santa Photo Source

When you find yourself completely stumped on a candidate, it’s better to err on the side of giving them a chance. In fact, at SEOmoz, we worry about missing good people while only depending on their resumes as a filter. This is when the survey comes in handy. You can format it to do the 1st interview for you, and control your interview process. Here are some of the questions from our survey:

Where do you want to be in 5 years? How would working at SEOmoz help you meet those goals?
What project do you consider your greatest success and why?
Tell us about a mistake you made recently that you learned a lot from.
What do you love best about being a software engineer?
Why did you apply to SEOmoz? Is there a particular product/feature/technology you want to work on?
Why do you think you'd be a great fit at SEOmoz?
Please provide a link to a page you consider to be the funniest on the internet.

8. The moral of the story...

The suggestions listed above are derived from implemented practices here at SEOmoz. While we would like to say that our process is flawless, it is in fact organic. Depending on your recruiter, these tips could really scale down the otherwise arduous task of locating that awesome fit! An interesting outcome in utilizing these practices, especially the survey, is that you’re uncovering a personality that may or may not fit, or may not fit in the cover letter or resume format, and therefore on your team!

A Few Red Flags:

When reviewing resumes there are lots of things to look for in a resume, but there are also some things that may make you raise your eyebrows. Below are some of the things that can raise doubts in our mind (so if you are writing a resume be sure to avoid them). Of course, never let one or more of these prevent you from talking to a candidate, since good people do write bad resumes; however some of them may warrant additional questions and investigation.

The never - ending resume.
No one cares about your high school job unless you just graduated or are still in high school.

TIP: If you have a lot of work experience, only include the most relevant if not the most recent positions.

The Expert at everything.
What did Anonymous say? Oh yeah, “An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less, until eventually he knows everything about nothing.”

TIP: If you suggest that you’re an expert at everything you do, you have nothing to learn. Often times, the experts are not who recruiters are looking for. They tend to be, well, know- it-all’s.

The job jumper
Unless you are a time bender like Hiro Nakamura, no one should have 20 jobs in 3 years.

TIP: Um, don’t be a job jumper. You’re not only wasting your employer’s time, but your time. Obviously you're not happy with what you are doing, so find something new.

The endless list of accomplishments (liars, freeloaders, scrubs):
Unless you actually saved a litter of puppies from certain death on your way to work while juggling 10 cups of coffee – don’t say you did. It’s lame, and if someone else helped you with that project, it’s good karma to extend those kudos.

TIP: Figure out what you have to offer. If you feel like you don’t have anything to show for yourself, express it as a goal in your cover letter. If you do have a ridiculous amount of accomplishments within a very limited time span, chances are we won’t consider you, because it's next to impossible.

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Why Wall Street Reform Matters to You

Good afternoon,

One year ago today, after a tough battle with the special interests in Washington, President Obama signed Wall Street Reform into law.

That law does three important things. First, it brings to an end taxpayer funded bailouts, so taxpayers will never again be left paying the bill if a big bank fails. Second, it stops the reckless risk-taking by Wall Street that put consumers in jeopardy and led to the economic crisis. And third, this law puts in place the strongest consumer protections in history.

And to make sure you can count on those consumer protections, we put a first-ever consumer watchdog in charge. It’s a new bureau – a new cop on the beat – with just one job: looking out for families in the financial system.

Here’s a quick video we put together last year to explain it:

The President faced a lot of opposition when we fought for this bill. An army of lobbyists and lawyers were looking to preserve the status quo, and one year later, they’re still at it. The special interests are trying to water down what we passed, and spending tens of millions of dollars to get their way. And they’ve got friends in high places.

But President Obama has made it clear: he’s not going to let them win. He’ll veto any effort to weaken or repeal Wall Street Reform. He’s not going to let them take us backward.

We can’t afford to go back to the days when consumers were ripped off by misleading fees and deceptive lending and our economy was vulnerable to greed and recklessness -- not when we know that millions of middle class families are still hurting because of the damage that was done.

So we have a lot of work to do to rebuild this economy. We’ve got to rein in the deficit to put our economy on stronger footing and ensure that seniors and middle-class families aren’t bearing the entire burden when millionaires and billionaires, oil companies, hedge fund managers and corporate jet owners are let off the hook.

We’ve got to keep money in your pockets by preventing payroll taxes from going up for working people. We’ve got to continue to make smart investments in clean energy, innovation and technology to create the good paying jobs of the future.

But we’ve also got to keep up the fight to solve the problems that led us into this economic mess in the first place.

It comes down to this. You shouldn’t need to have lobbyists on the payroll to have your voice heard in Washington. And in your financial dealings, you deserve a basic measure of protection against abuse. You should have the freedom to buy a home or open a credit card or take out a student loan with confidence that you’re getting a fair deal.

That’s what these consumer protections will do. That’s why Wall Street Reform matters.

Sincerely,

David Plouffe 

Senior Advisor to the President

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How to Be a Good Content Curator Graywolf's SEO Blog

How to Be a Good Content Curator

Posted: 21 Jul 2011 09:55 AM PDT

Being a good content curator or curating good content is one of the latest social media buzz terms to emerge this year. While I loathe actually using the term, the concept is good, and I think it’s something everyone can use to add value to their blogging, social media, or outbound marketing strategy.

What is a content curator? At its core, it’s sifting through the mounds of information, separating the good stuff from the bad stuff, and giving it some context. A good real world example of content creation everyone is familiar with is Reader’s Digest. Social bookmarking sites like Digg, stumbleupon, and reddit do this to a certain extent, using social proof or the wisdom of crowds to accomplish this goal. But these things are subject to voting cabals or other attention- and monetarily-incentivized groups. I know for a fact that, for a 6 month time period, the homepage of digg was controlled by a handful SEO/social media consultants who could almost guarantee a front page placement for a fee.

If the editor is able to maintain journalistic integrity and not be influenced by nepotism, their value within the community rises…

Techmeme is another example of content curation. While it sounded good on paper and worked well for a short while, pretty soon it became an incestuous, ego fueled orgy of a select few high profile tech bloggers (looks in the direction of Robert Scoble and Techcrunch). While there are a few good articles on Techcrunch from time to time (hi Alexis ), by and large it’s like watching a once great journalist who lost the battle with drugs and is going through withdrawals (metaphorically speaking–I’m not implying in any way that anyone has a problem with substance abuse). It simply doesn’t deserve to be on the leader board or rewarded for its page view journalism.

While it’s easy to sit around and pick apart others and what they are doing wrong, I think it’s just as important to highlight someone who is doing it right. For example, SAI business insider sends out an early morning email of the top 10 things I need to know in tech.

SAI 10 Things in Tech I Need to Know

It gives me a one or two sentence summary of the most important tech news in the past 24 hours and link to a more detailed complete story if I want to read it. By having the stories chosen and vetted by a human editor, I know the information wasn’t biased by a voting gang. If I trust the editor, I know the information is important and trustworthy, and that is the key to the role a curator serves. A curator can use automated tools to filter what might rise to the top via social proof or the wisdom of crowds, but they still need to use some level of judgement to determine if it deserves to be there. If the editor is able to maintain journalistic integrity and not be influenced by nepotism, their value within the community rises.

As the barrier to become a publisher drops to near zero (see Clay Shirky’s Cognitive Surplus Book Review), we need human curators, not machine coded algorithmic ones, to overcome filter bubbles. If you are willing to invest time and resources in creating/hiring or becoming a curator, you can solve the problem of readers having a limited amount of attention in a world where more and more people are competing for it.

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This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

How to Be a Good Content Curator

“Hello, this is the International Space Station”

Your Daily Snapshot for
Thursday, July 21, 2011

"Hello, this is the International Space Station"

At 5:57 a.m. EDT this morning at Kennedy Space Center, the space shuttle Atlantis touched down safely. This historic event marked the end of one era of American space flight, but it also marks the transition into a new era of exploration. On July 15, the President spoke with Commander Ferguson and the crew of the mission.

Click here to see the video, and read some of the highlights .

In Case You Missed It

Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog.

First Lady Michelle Obama Announces Commitments to Expand Access to Healthy, Affordable Food (video)
First Lady Michelle Obama announces nationwide commitments from major food retailers to open or expand over 1,500 stores to help provide healthy, affordable food to millions of people in underserved areas.

Shutting Down Duplicative Data Centers
As part of the President’s Campaign to Cut Waste, we will shut down 178 data centers in 2012, bringing us to a total of 373 data centers that will be closed by the end of next year.

President Obama Supports the Respect for Marriage Act
President Obama expresses his support for the Respect for Marriage Act, which will be introduced in the Senate on July 20

Today's Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

9:30 AM: The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing

10:00 AM: The President meets with senior advisors

11:00 AM: The Vice President meets with Ambassador Karl Eikenberry to thank him for his service in Afghanistan and throughout his career

12:30 PM: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney

12:30 PM: The President and the Vice President meet for lunch

1:45 PM: The President meets with General Cartwright

2:00 PM: The Vice President meets with Prime Minister Andrus Ansip of Estonia

2:05 PM: The President meets with Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League (NUL), and Ben Jealous, President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people (NAACP)

2:30 PM: The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary of Treasury Geithner

6:30 PM: The Vice President and Dr Jill Biden host a barbecue for members of the Cabinet

Get Updates

Stay Connected

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SEOptimise

Tracking Online Marketing Campaigns in Google Analytics

Posted: 20 Jul 2011 06:06 AM PDT

In recent months I have found myself using the Google URL builder tool significantly more across a range of projects, including tracking emails and tagging PPC accounts.

One of the most frustrating things I found about the Google URL builder tool is how time consuming it was and the fact that I was constantly copying and pasting the URL into a spreadsheet to record what was being tracked.

After searching for a simple free tool that would help make this process more efficient, I decided to create a spreadsheet that would do just the job – http://goo.gl/jI1Wd.

Why Track Online Marketing Campaigns

Ensuring that you are tracking all of your marketing campaigns is essential to seeing which channels are working for you and which are not. These online marketing channels could include Email, PPC, Social Media or SEO, to name a few.

When launching a product, a retailer would market the product across multiple marketing channels including online. Online marketing allows you to track how well the campaign has done and can put a ROI on the activity that has taken place, where traditional offline marketing makes this a lot more difficult.

A typical online marketing campaign would include, but not be limited to, PPC, SEO, Email and social media to enable promotion across multiple platforms and ensure maximum visibility. Below shows an example of how tracking codes could be used across different marketing channels promoting the same campaign.

Email Campaign – ?utm_source=Link 1&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Product Launch
Social Media Campaign – ?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social Media&utm_campaign=Product Launch
Social Media Campaign - ?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social Media&utm_campaign=Product Launch
PPC Campaign – ?utm_source=Yahoo&utm_medium=PPC&utm_term=Product Name&utm_campaign=Product Launch

If your online marketing campaigns are not being tracked then you will not be able to get the data that could be available to you if you had tracked your campaigns.

So I have told you about my recent frustrations with Google URL Builder and why you should be tracking your online marketing campaigns, so let's have a look at the spreadsheet.

How the Spreadsheet Works?

The spreadsheet works in exactly the same way that the Google URL builder tool works, with the user having to enter the URL into the destination URL cell, followed by filling in the following fields:

Campaign Source*
Campaign Medium*
Campaign Term
Campaign Content
Campaign Name*

*Should always be used

Once these fields have been filled in, the tagged URL will be generated within the "tagged URL field"; the URL can then be copied directly into your campaign.

Once your campaign is live you will start to see data filter through into Google Analytics via Traffic Sources > Incoming Traffic > Campaigns. Once your data has come through you can start to tweak your campaigns further to ensure maximum ROI.

The biggest advantage that the campaign tracking spreadsheet has is the ability to create/edit/delete a large number of tracked URLs easily, in a single document. The campaign tracking spreadsheet can then be used as a master document to ensure that all campaigns are recorded and archived.

Campaign Tracking Spreadsheet: http://goo.gl/jI1Wd

The spreadsheet is a very basic concept, but I feel that it does the job well, whilst leaving room for improvement and modification if you require something more sophisticated.

Have a look at the spreadsheet, copy or download it and let me know if it helps you save time and makes tagging URLs more efficient. I look forward to hearing your comments below or on twitter @danielbianchini.

I would like to give my thanks to Tony Sutcliffe who helped me make the formulas as efficient as possible.