Zerply is a professional network built around people who love what they do. It provides users with the ability to create a professional online profile. It recently joined Dave McClure’s start-up accelerator 500Startups and celebrated by coming out of private beta earlier this month.

Founded by Europeans Christofer Karltorp (Sweden) and Taaniel Jakobs (Estonian), we caught up with their British PR guy Justin Style to discuss the future of digital job hunting.

How do you see the future of digital job hunting progressing?

It’s increasingly important that you take ownership of your social networks and be sensible about what is made public and private. Having a Zerply profile allows you to show your best face to browsing employers.

Employers are also looking into channels such as ourselves to source talented professionals, numerous users have already reported being discovered on Zerply. Our own lead designer Luke Beard (UK) was discovered by co-founder Taaniel as an early adopter to the network.

How can job hunters predict trends and get ahead of their competitors?

Building a network of industry leaders and peers in your given field can help you keep on the pulse on current events in your industry.

An example could be a designer, who by discovering talented fellow designers through a social platform like Zerply, can be exposed through their various social networks to new trends, tools and opportunities that can enrich their knowledge and help them develop professionally.

Often we see industry peers as competitors, but they can be a great asset offering advice, tips and inspiration. After all, collecting industry contacts and endorsements from respected peers can enrich your resume and reputation.

What’s the value of digital networking?

I believe that people tend to only see the value of digital networking and having a digital presence once they find themselves looking for work. Waiting until you’re unemployed to build and maintain a professional network online can increase the transition period between jobs. It’s best to plan ahead.

Making contacts with potential collaborators, employers, industry leaders and leads before its essential can be extremely helpful when you find yourself in real need. For example, by discovering and connecting with people within your field of interest on Zerply, you can maintain an online and offline presence while continuing to develop your professional skills.

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You can find out more, set up your own professional profile and start building your network at Zerply.com — You can also follow the team on twitter: @zerply

Ryan Stephens, a self-made man from the state of Texas who participated in Seth Godin’s virtual internship during the summer of 2008 with fellow Anti Resume All-Stars Charlie Hoehn and Aidan Nulman takes a moment to share his thoughts on the value of side projects in your job search.

How should I build up business?

Go with whoever gives you business first and then nitchify yourself based on what you’re good at.

Best advice to remember on my side gig?

DON’T do anything that feels like work. You’ll set yourself up for failure in the projects you take on as well as burn out quicker than you think.

Life’s too short: So why do anything that feels like work? Take on projects that you’d honestly enjoy being a part of in your spare time.

One thing to avoid

Don’t pigeon hole yourself.

Yeah, it’s great to be known as an expert in a particular field, but I personally believe that drilling down and only being an expert in ONE THING is BORING.

In my life, there are so many things that I am passionate about. I believe people should branch out and take on all kinds of different work.

One thing to always remember

Am I adding value to this project? If not, then you’re just becoming a cog in a machine that doesn’t make induce any positive change.

In terms of your own goals

What are you truly trying to achieve or accomplish with your side project?

With that in mind, always ask yourself: How does “task X” fit into what I am trying to achieve? If you can’t justify it, then you can probably use your time in a better way.

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• Time frame must be determined (in writing) before consultation begins.
• Payment must be received before consultation begins.
• Pay Pal and personal checks are the only two forms of payment available.
• The Anti Resume reserves the right to ask patrons for testimonial responses following their training and, with express written consent, publish these testimonials on theantiresume.com or any of it’s subsidiary properties.
• Time will begin on the “ready-set-go” mark of The Anti Resume. At five & one minute left in the session, The Anti Resume will call out time left in order to not exceed pre-determined commitment.
• The Anti Resume reserves the right to make career training FUN and will do so at all costs.

Written Consent & Paperwork

• On the way!

In the first ever Anti Resume giveaway, Courtney King will be the recipient of Jenny Blake’s brand new book Life After College.

Courtney followed the two entrance rules, which were a) “like” our Facebook page, and b) share a thought on our Facebook wall.

Take a look at her entry below!

Many thanks to all who participated!

Keep an eye out for our next contest: A FREE Anti Resume career training session!

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$1 a Minute Career Training

via

The Anti Resume!

Your career is too valuable to waste a single minute.

We know this and have developed a flexible career counseling program that charges by the minute.

This allows you to pay only for the time you need to develop your targeted job search strategy.

Need a minute of our time? That’s only a buck. Need 10 minutes to review? You’re looking at $10 even.

What Makes Anti Resume Career Training Different?

• Holistic Approach: We won’t simple focus on “your resume” (Anti Resume, remember?) or the interview skills you bring to table. Instead, we’ll focus on your ENTIRE APPROACH to finding that one job you really love
• Digital Expertise: Our extensive digital job search library and personal experience in online job hunting is at your disposal
• Free Thinking: It’s time to think outside the box — we can help you broaden the scope of your job search strategies
• Strategic Development: Let’s get a strategy down on paper, complete with action items that can help you measure your failures and successes

FREE 15 Minute Consultation

As part of our introductory offer, we’re giving away a FREE 15 minute consultation to hear your story and begin developing a job search strategy specifically tailored to YOU!

AFter 15 minutes, if you don’t believe we’re helping you out you are FREE to walk away.

If you did find the first 15 minutes valuable, we can schedule a follow up conversation to move forward with developing a tailored job search strategy specific to your needs.

Click Here To Check Availability!

** All written paperwork, terms and conditions can be found here **

Entry Deadline has been Moved Up!

We first outlined the rules and regulations of the Life After College book giveaway in this blog entry. Those rules stated that a winner would be announced on April 30 on our Facebook page.

BUT NOW….

In light of tax season, we are going to “file” the winner (bad joke, I know) on Friday, April 15!

In case you forgot the rules …

• Like The Anti Resume Facebook Page
• Share a single thought on our wall: One simple fact you wish you had known about the working world before you graduated from college
• Check the Facebook Page on April 15 for the announcement of the winner!

We’re looking forward to announcing our winner on Friday! Check the Facebook page at midnight to find out if you won!

Today, we sit down with Laura Dodd, the author of Dig This Gig, a book created for and by 20-something’s who were ready to claim (or START) their ideal job.

When Laura Dodd started talking with her 20-something peers about working, it didn’t take long for her to see that people are passionate about the jobs they do and the jobs they’d like to do.

Dig This Gig features an array of dynamic young people — from genetics counselors to adventure guides to food bloggers — and gathers their firsthand views of entirely new fields taking off because of technological, demographic, and cultural shifts.

Without further ado, we present the Q & A.

TAR: Could you please give us a quick overview of Dig This Gig — Why should somebody go out to the store and buy this book?

LD: This is the book i wish i had out of college. It’s not the typical book about what to wear to an interview, or top 5 resume tips …. These are real stories of real 20-somethings working real jobs and talking about the good, bad, and the ugly of their jobs.

TAR: What’s one gem from the book that young professionals can learn from?

LD: I hope that when someone picks up this book and reads it, I hope they’ll consider an industry that they never took seriously.

For instance, maybe something in the green industry. Maybe someone never took that seriously and until now, they thought they could never be an organic farmer.

Sure enough, there’s a profile on my site that describes a guy in Manhatten who wasn’t fulfilled in his city gig and he picked up and put down roots — literally — on a farm in upstate New York.

That’s an example of people picking jobs that they could never in their wildest dreams think they’d ever pursue.

TAR: In your opinion, what’s the most overlooked piece of career advice?

LD: I think it’s the informational interview.

I believe that folks are more willing to do that — to sit down with you if you say ahead of time “I’m only asking for a few minutes of your time because I’m interested in what you’re doing”.

You’d be surprised at the number of people who would give you that interview, especially because you’re only asking for information. There’s no pressure on the person you’re inquiring about, or yourself, because you’re not on the hook for a job interview.

If it does interest you and you come back 6 months or a year later, it shows you’re really invested in that.

Reach out for those informational interviews: You’d be surprised how far you can get.

TAR: How do you think networking is changing with the onset of LinkedIn or having to clean up your Facebook profile to appear appropriate to potential employers?

LD: Everyone is sharing much more. You want to be careful what you put out there because it’s not going away.

I also think it’s an amazing opportunity — LinkedIn and all the other social networking sites — to make the world a smaller place and it’s much more doable to meet people in industries that you’ve considered before.

Imagine your friend from high school who was so good at math and went to MIT; where is he now? Maybe you could look him up and ask him to set you up with an informational interview.

Or the person who was an athlete and went on to go to the NCAA tournament. Follow him and consider places that you discounted, at first.

Make sense?

TAR: It makes perfect sense, Laura. YOU are the expert.

LD: Whoa! I just want to clarify that I’m not the expert; I was there in the trenches too.

I want to make a very careful distinction, because I don’t know if people trust experts anymore. Just like you’re The Anti Resume, maybe I’m the Anti Expert.

I’m just really good at asking questions and telling stories and that is what this book is all about. I have no agenda, I’m not trying to sign anybody up for a 6 month career counseling workshop.

I think you can take from these stories what you want, really.

TAR: Thank you very much Laura. Guys (and girls), the book is out on March 29 go get it before it sells out! Thanks for your time, Laura.

LD Thank you!

Side Note: Parts of the introduction were paraphrased from Dig This Gig listing on Amazon. If you enjoyed Laura’s answers, then head to the Amazon store and buy the book!

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And more importantly, you should be consuming a wide variety of content. Reading content with the same focus only helps you learn from one point of view.

Broaden Your Scope!

That’s why I’ve included two very different sources of content in this first edition of Learning Curve.

Enjoy!

Career Oriented Resources

Powered by Chris Perry, Career Rocketeer is a full-service professional resource that free downloadable career advice, a specialized LinkedIn 360 section and professional event listings aimed at getting you hired.

Along with all the above, Career Rocketeer offers advice on social media, personal branding, networking, career management & more in their platform.

Career Rocketeer is a beneficial resource to your career path because it pushes you to improve upon your professional skills at all costs.

Talent Culture delivers on it’s mantra: Career. Workplace. Innovation.

At Talent Culture, you’ll find informative articles on career-oriented topics, leadership and innovation, to name a few. This format is supported by a slew of guest experts from across the blogosphere, highlighted by Heather Huhman & Margo Rose (HR Margo).

Bring your thinking cap to Talent Culture, as the subject matter will push you to become a better leader and professional.

Talent Culture is beneficial to your career path because it helps you take on the mindset of a professional leader, pushing you to achieve more within your company in hopes of taking on a managerial role.

Awesome Oriented Resources

The following resources are a little bit wacky — some might even call these guys “crazy” — but their influential material cannot be described as anything less than brilliant.

Without further ado, I present to you …

A little German and a lot of epic, Mars Dorian is a man on a mission.

That mission: Convince you to light a fire under your *behind* and go change the world.

Mars’ biggest strength is his spontaneous and brutally conversational blogging style. His range of topics includes personal growth, defining professional success and, above all, taking action! (which is why you see he fits in well on this blog).

Mars’ blog is beneficial to your career path because reading his work truly does light a fire under your behind and makes you want to produce game-changing work. The desire to work better than anyone else is a great asset to your employer (thus, his blog makes the cut).

Tyler Tervooren is a Portland-based blogger who preaches the concept of better living through uncertainty on Advanced Riskology.

On a quest to join the 1% club, Tyler’s uses his writing to push readers to take smart and more beneficial risks to improve the quality of their lives.

Advanced Riskology is beneficial to your career path because Tyler helps train you to assess and execute calculated risk in your professional life.

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The time has finally arrived: We’re doing our first inaugural Anti Resume contest!

We’ll be giving away a FREE copy of Jenny Blake’s new book, Life After College.

Here’s a little bit about Jenny …

• She’s worked at Google for 5+ years; currently a Career Development Program Manager, internal coach and manager of the Authors@Google program
• She’s a certified life coach (CPCC) trained by CTI and Myers Briggs Facilitator
• She’s obsessed with cupcakes

As for the book …

• The book is all highlights: a compilation of tips, quotes and exercises trimmed to the essence, divided into chapters for every major life area.
• Chapter categories include life (values, goals), work, money, organization, home, friends & family, dating & relationships, health, fun & relaxation, and personal growth.

Now for the important part: Rules and regulations for entering (and winning!) the contest:

• Like The Anti Resume Facebook Page
• Share a single thought on our wall: One simple fact you wish you had known about the working world before you graduated from college
• Check the Facebook Page on April 30 for the announcement of the winner!

It’s just that simple! Two easy steps enter your name in the hat and a third — checking our Facebook page on April 30 for the announcement of the winner — can be accomplished before you even roll out of bed!

Please share this contest with others who may be interested!

The objective of this contest is to deliver 200+ words of valuable insight into some young professionals waiting arms — please share the opportunity with any and everyone who may benefit.