Job Search Resources Weekly Update - 12/7/09

Weekly updates! Please let me know if know of other items to add, or if you have any feedback on events.

Follow these links to find the updates, and follow further for the full listings.

2 Updates and 7 New in SoCal Networking Event Organizations.

No updates to Networking & Social Media Job Search Webinars, Teleconferences and Podcasts.

Updates to SoCal Educational Networking & Job Search Organizations.

Updates to Other & Indirect Job Networking Opportunities

SoCal Networking Event Organizations

Name: So Cal Sushi
Cost: Free, excluding cost of food and drink
Review: Last week Neal re-started his LA-local meetings (they were primarily in OC) and of course there was an interesting selection of people. Neal Schaffer's concept/book "Windmill Networking" put into practice. Great format, from Neal's introductory statement, the table of biz cards, name-tags, round-table introductions (sometimes video recorded), to lunch (prix fixe). Recommended.
Updated 12/7/09 by Todd Zebert

Name: The Circle LA
Review: I tried to attend their last event at the Liquid Kitty on Pico. Granted, I arrived about two hours in, but I couldn't find the group. The venue was small, dim, mostly empty, and loud. I'll give it another chance.
Updated 12/7/09 by Todd Zebert

Name: Access Executive Network (AccessEn)
Sites: OC Chapter, LA Chapter
Self-description: " ACCESS Executive Network (AccessEN) is dedicated to bringing together leaders and senior executives to enhance professional connections and give back to our community.

Sharing Business.
At AccessEN, our entrepreneurs and business executives:

* Brainstorm and share ideas during "real-life" business case studies
* Share expertise and knowledge at monthly networking events
* Provide ongoing discussion and interaction via online forums
* Enable access to valuable resources including OC thought leaders

Giving Back.
Our annual survey shows that members join because of our strong network of entrepreneurs and executives. Yet, members say that one of the most important benefits they actually receive from joining AccessEN is giving back to the community.

* Members "give back" – a portion of every membership fee and event fee goes to our charities
* Members "share time" – we serve our community including "adopting" an at-risk child for a day at the beach and working at the community soup kitchen"
Frequency/Location: LA: roughly monthly / Sony Pictures Plaza, 3910 Madison Ave, Culver City , CA 90232
Frequency/Location: OC: monthly / Chairman's Room, The Center Club, 650 Town Center Drive Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Cost: $45/person or "$300 yearly individual membership fee for unlimited meetings in LA or OC Meeting and membership fees help support charity organizations. "
Review: Events include networking, a presentation, and a business case.
Added 12/7/09 by Todd Zebert

Name: SoCal SpeedNetworking
Sites: socalspeednetworking.com
Self-description: "SoCal SpeedNetworking is the premier solution to help you expand your network by bringing the professional working community an innovative solution to enhance networking opportunities. Make more business contacts at just one SpeedNetworking event than you can in weeks of ordinary business networking! It is well known that the primary way businesses, especially small or new businesses gain new customers, clients and contacts is via business networking. Getting face to face with a potential client or partner is the only way you really know whether you can do business with them or not but traditional networking events can sometimes be very unproductive. Many people tend to gravitate towards those they may already know, never getting the opportunity to meet others who could be great business contacts. In our structured environment you will interact with many individuals on a one-to-one basis that you may have never otherwise had the chance to network with. Being able to meet lots of people in the time frame usually set aside for just one or two appointments means you can spend more of your time actually doing work that earns money. "
Frequency/Location: Multiple times a month / Various locations including Northridge, Mission Hills, Beverly Hills, San Fernando, Burbank, Santa Monica, Simi Valle, etc.
Cost: "The cost to attend a SpeedNetworking event is $10.00 or $15.00 for online payment and $20.00 if you pay at the door. "
Review: "A limited amount of complementary appetizers will be served. "
Added 12/7/09 by Todd Zebert

Name: People (Men) Between Jobs
Sites: peoplebetweenjobs.wordpress.com, also an email list.
Self-description: "Free support base, job postings, network, career & job events"
Frequency/Location: "Monday nights 7pm" / Room 204, Shepherd of the Hills, 19700 Rinaldi St., Porter Ranch, CA
Cost:
Review: "Women welcome"
Added 12/7/09 by Todd Zebert

Name: Information Systems Security Association
- Los Angeles Chapter
Sites: www.issa-la.org, linkedin.com/groups?gid=141501, twitter.com/issala. Other SoCal chapters include Orange County, Inland Empire, and San Diego.
Self-description: "The Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) is an international organization providing educational forums, publications and peer interaction opportunities that enhance the knowledge, skills and professionalism. The primary goal of ISSA is to promote management practices that will ensure availability, integrity and confidentiality of organizational resources.

Why join the Los Angeles chapter of the ISSA?

* Great opportunities for networking and education at our monthly lunches.
* Fantastic savings on training, including CISSP, CISM, ITIL, Risk Assessment, Certified Ethical Hacker and Information Technology and the Law this year.
* Make a difference through our Community Outreach Program."
Frequency/Location: Monthly Luncheons(?) / Les Freres Taix French Restaurant, 1911 West Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
Cost: "LA & other ISSA chapter members - with reservations: FREE. LA & other ISSA chapter members - without reservations: $25. Non-members - with reservation: $25. Non-members - without reservations: $30". "General Membership $95.00/year, plus chapter dues (if applicable)" Chapter dues seem to be frequently below $50.
Review: None
Added 12/7/09 by Todd Zebert

Name: Marina Pacifica Job Club
Sites: linkedin.com/groups?gid=1948399
Self-description: "Job seekers in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas meet weekly to network, exchange ideas and best practice, share stories and provide support. Recruiters, Corporate HR Professionals, Motivational speakers, etc are guests and encouraged to provide input. Only active job seekers should apply to this group."
Frequency/Location: "Private club meetings are held on alternate Monday mornings at the Marina Pacifica Clubhouse from 10:00 - 11:30. Must RSVP."
Cost: Free
Review: While I haven't made it to any of the luncheons, I have been to a couple of the joint evening networking events they've done with Pink Slip Mixers. Expect a number of speakers (sometimes even myself!), raffles, cash bar, sometimes complimentary light appetizers, and of course plenty of networking.
Added 12/7/09 by Todd Zebert

Name: Happy Hour Mafia
Sites: facebook.com/group.php?gid=85363157401
Self-description: "Hello!?! Look at the name of the group. You'll figure it out. Basically this is about getting large groups of cool people together for a fun time. Events take place whenever the muse inspires us. There is no other agenda. So... enjoy.

Want more details? Well, so far we have four kinds of events, 2 of which are "live" and 2 of which are in development.

1. Happy Hours. Open to all Happy Hour Mafia members. Always take place on a Friday at 6 pm, at semi-random intervals, and always at unusual and interesting venues.

2. Field Trips. Also open to all Happy Hour Mafia members. These are non-sleep-over events at some interesting location, venue or activity. E.g., horse races, concerts, bowling, hiking, etc..."
Frequency/Location: Roughly monthly
Cost: Free
Review: Gordon Einstein leads this as a more social event as compared to his other group, NoNameTags (also in my list), which is more business. I've been to a few HHM "happy hour" events (but not the "field trips") and they vary from very social to a mix. At the last event, I traded a few business cards. They are well attended, ages from 20's to 50's. Dress is upscale. Venues are usually clubs with a DJ - it can be loud, dancing may occur. Usually there's a photographer, and watch for Fantastic Fig doing card tricks (and he's good!) Gordon is affable and will introduce you to others once you introduce yourself.
Added 12/7/09 by Todd Zebert

Name: #140Conf: The State of Now
Sites: meetup.com/140conf
Self-description: "An opportunity to discuss the emerging Real-Time Internet and the effects on business. A monthly gathering for friends of #140conf to get together and discuss issues of the day."
Frequency/Location: About monthly, across multiple cities
Cost: Free
Review: Events seem to begin and end with networking, with some presentations in the middle.
Added 12/7/09 by Todd Zebert

Networking & Social Media Job Search Webinars, Teleconferences and Podcasts

No updates this week.

SoCal Educational Networking & Job Search Organizations

Have you checked out Classmates? (Re-)Connect with your K-12 and College classmates. A word of warning though, others and myself find they have bad customer service (email "spam", customer service, etc.)

Other & Indirect Job Networking Opportunities

• Professional Associations, Groups, Societies & Events.
• Online Professional "Social" Networking & Branding.
• Outplacement Firms.
• YOUR Previous Job - Alumni "groups".
• More Social Ideas - Network Everywhere.
• InterNations - the Network for Expatriates and Global Minds. I've signed up but haven't used the site. Like XING perhaps?
• BlackPlanet "the largest Black community online" also with Professional and Job sections. Also owned by the same parent company is MiGente the "largest Latino-American community online."
• Other International/Multinational social networking sites include Bebo (Europe), Orkut (popular in Brazil & India), Piczo, StudiVZ (German-speaking mostly, but sister sites for other European countries).
• Volunteer - Network while doing "good".
• Other - keep your mind open.

Other & Indirect Job Networking Opportunities

This is a sister list to SoCal Networking Event Organizations and focuses on any other Job Search or Business Networking opportunities. Please let me know if know of others to add, or if you have any feedback.

Professional Associations, Groups, Societies & Events Directories:
See my details, descriptions and commentary on SoCal Networking Event Organizations.

• www.weddles.com/associations A nation-wide directory, categorized by industry/job.
• networkingeventfinders.com A nation-wide directory, broken down by state then region. View as listing or calendar. Includes specific events.
• meetingsandmixers.com/events/calendar/index.php (manually select Los Angeles, Orange Country, San Diego, or the region you're interested in) includes many chamber of commerce meetings, and business networking organizations like BNI, Le Tip, TEAM, etc.
• la.garysguide.org/events Business events in LA (and across the World)

Online Professional "Social" Networking & Branding, and Events:
Most of these sites allow the posting of a profile (resume-like), contact info, company info, and allows you to establish "connections". Some have some additional features: internal email system, "status" updates & feeds, groups, discussions, recommendations, blogging or blog feeds, jobs, and 3rd party extensions that extend functionality. Most have premium services and features. Since many offer a similar feature set, you'll have to decide where to focus your attention.

• linkedin.com and events: events.linkedin.com: The premier professional site, using self reported info, and is very "social". See also my article How do you get to 500+ LinkedIn connections? (Without being a LION?)
• www.naymz.com: very similar to LinkedIn. Looks promising but I haven't tried it yet. Can't find a specific events link.
• xing.com  and events: www.xing.com/events Also very similar to LinkedIn. I created a simple profile and also used it to get into a couple groups, but not for contacts.
• twitter.com You get a username, a brief bio, a single link, connections, and status updates.
• www.zoominfo.com This is a registry of Companies and Contacts. No social aspects, no events.
• www.jigsaw.com: This is a registry of Companies and Contacts, in which getting info costs "points", and where info is submitted by OTHERS to get "points". No social aspects, no events. I'm not a fan.

Outplacement Firms:
These companies are normally hired by your former company for a certain set of service for a certain amount of time. If this isn't a policy of theirs, ASK during your severance/layoff discussions. I've also heard that some employees have successfully convinced their former companies to extend their programs. These are just some of the common ones.

• right.com Right Management
• www.lhh.com/Careertransition/Pages/default.aspx Lee Hecht Harrison
• www.challengergray.com Challenger, Gray, & Christmas, Inc. See my write-up of their LA (and OC) events in the Networking Event Organizations section)

YOUR Previous Job - Alumni "groups":
Just because you no longer work for them, it doesn't mean they don't have anything to offer. Consider these ideas.

• Some companies offer in-house outplacement, job fairs, and other services
• LinkedIn has many Alumni groups for companies, official or unofficial
• Check Facebook (and other Social Sites, below) for Networks, Group, and Pages also!

More Social Ideas - Network Everywhere:
These are generally more social than business, but you never know. Some of these are SoCal specific, but they may have a broader reach, or at least consider them as ideas for what to look for in your area.

• flavorpill.com/losangeles "Flavorpill is an open network of culturally connected people." See their main site for other regions.
• Getty Center's Saturday Nights (formerly Fridays off the 405) Art performances, a cash bar, and an upscale crowd make these a great night "from fall to spring."
• Yahoo's "Upcoming" Events of all types across the World. Here's Los Angeles County, CA, Orange County, CA, and San Diego County, CA.
• meetup.com every type of (usually repeating) get-together you can imagine, across the world. Search within zip codes or cities, or by distance.
• socializr.com similar to Evite (but public listings) and Meetup. US only. Search by Zip code or in Los Angeles.
• www.toastmasters.org Learn public speaking and presentations (and maybe a thing or two about a thing or two).
• www.ning.com Find a social network (or create your own) for almost anything imaginable. Somewhat similar to Facebook but each network revolves around an interest. Search by keywords.
• groups.yahoo.com find or create a group around an interest, host discussions, file, pictures, etc. Search by keywords or browse categories.
• groups.google.com very similar to Yahoo groups above.
• www.groupsite.com Find a social network (or create your own) for almost anything imaginable. Somewhat similar to Facebook and Ning.
• www.facebook.com of course, search events, or view your friend's events.
• www.eventbrite.com/ hosts general event listings. Search by city or zip.
• InterNations (IN) - "the Network for Expatriates and Global Minds." It's a mostly full-service social network. I've signed up, attended two LA events (see my write-up in the Networking Event Organizations section), and meet more than a few interesting people. Besides Community Ambassador sponsored events, members may post their own. Worth checking out. By invitation (or can request own invitation).
• BlackPlanet "the largest Black community online" also with Professional and Job sections. Also owned by the same parent company is MiGente the "largest Latino-American community online."
• Other International/Multinational social networking sites include Bebo (Europe), Orkut (popular in Brazil & India), Piczo, StudiVZ (German-speaking mostly, but sister sites for other European countries).
• Mashable (The Social Media Guide)'s Events Blog - These are mostly conferences and one-off events, nationally. Or get only those items as an RSS Feed via Yahoo Pipes.
• ASMALLWORLD (ASW) - "international network of people who are connected by three degrees of separation." By limited invitation only. It's a mostly full-service social network. A mix of unique and cross-over events are posted by members; there doesn't seem to be an equivalent to IN's Community organization and events.
• French Tuesdays (FT) offers "contemporary men and women entrée to a network of successful individuals and a world of couture nightlife and entertainment. " Events (with strict attire requirements), discussions, and groups, etc. In about 20 US cities and more around the world. By invitation only; entry "Web Members" can only register for 2 events per year (but can be a guest of others).

Volunteer - Network while doing "good":
Look for a well-run organization, and a position with some responsibility. Find one that matches or complements your career. For myself, I'm reinforcing my DR/BCP skills by volunteering for CERT and Red Cross. And if you really commit, list your dedicated volunteer experience on your resume like a job!

• www.idealist.org
• www.volunteermatch.org
• servenet.org
• volunteerism.meetup.com a special Meetup portal for volunteering, with upwards of 500 groups.
• americorps.gov to matches you: "AmeriCorps offers 75,000 opportunities for adults of all ages and backgrounds to serve through a network of partnerships with local and national nonprofit groups."
• handsonnetwork.org find opportunities in "more than 250 communities across the country and 11 international locations."

Other - keep your mind open.

• Read your local business journals, such as the Los Angeles Business Journal or San Diego Business Journal or San Ferando Valley Business Jornal to find out abut business events, where the job market is going, who's hiring, and say on top of your target companies' news.
• California EDD (Employment Development Department) Jobs and Training check for networking events and job fairs and training opportunties.
• Find (and Create) Tweetups at: tweetvite.com, twtvite.com, findtweetups.com, and tweetup.meetup.com. Or try a custom Twitter Search such as search.twitter.com/search?q=+tweetup+near:%22Los%20Angeles,%20CA%22+within:25mi (modify it for your particulars).
• happn.in Find Twittered events and topics by locale by following (and taging): twitter.com/happn_in_la, twitter.com/happn_in_oc, and twitter.com/happn_in_sd