Career Placement Firm Advises Against Social Media, are they kidding? Get real guys!
Yesterday I saw a Tweet that instantly caught my eye. It was posted by VirtualMarketer and said "Career Placement Firm Discourages Sr. Execs from using Social Networking Sites http://bit.ly/VNUR4 ". This really got my attention, I had to read this one, I was hooked and clicked on the link.
I read the article and was stunned that someone claiming to be a savvy career advisor would advise people against using social media. The article by David Werner said that LinkedIn has "marginal value" and it was clear that he just did not see the point of this social media stuff. The tone of the article was that an executive would be much better off limiting their use of potentially dangerous social media and using his firm to build an online presence for them (Oh, I get it, we are too stupid to figure out this social media stuff, better pay you to handle it for us and land us a job because it is way to complicated for mere mortals and we could screw it up). It was clear in the article that he thought that LinkedIn has "marginal value" and he did not see the benefit of it. Interesting that he did not even mention Twitter and only mentioned Facebook in passing saying that he nearly fell for some lame attempt to get his password. My take on it is that he is clearly out of touch and does not have a clue about social media, LinkedIn, Twitter (not even mentioned!), and Facebook.
In fairness to him, he does warn against posting personal activities that could prove embarrassing and states that your Facebook and LinkedIn comments may come back to haunt you when you are applying for a job, so professionals should be mindful of what they post. OK, I'll go with that and concede that point, but to suggest that social media is dangerous and that senior executives should limit their use of social media, is this guy a dinosaur or what?
So who is David Werner and David Werner International anyway? Well a Google search under just his name is not all that enlightening, in fact he does not have much of a web presence and not much popped up. I checked his LinkedIn profile (that was interesting), http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwernerinternational and not much was there. I did another Google search under David Werner Scams and got some really interesting results, here are a few David Werner Ripoff Reports 22 Entries , David Werner Complaint Blog , and Pissed Consumer . Turns out David Werner's angry customers have a more dominant internet presence than he does! They dominate the first page of the Google search and he has 22 complaints on the Ripoff report from 2008 through June of 2009, quite a distinction.
A closer look at his LinkedIn profile was interesting. So this guy is supposed to be a career placement guru, right? He has 141 contacts on LinkedIn, (all of the recruiters I know have over 500), one recommendation (glad he found one person to do that for him), and almost no detail about his background. In summary he has a terrible LinkedIn profile. If he were a prospective job candidate this profile would rank in the totally unimpressive category right next to blah. And this guy is giving people advice about LinkedIn and how to get jobs!
I would like to suggest that David Werner read my webpage on Getting Started On LinkedIn and my page on Networking on the Web. He would learn a lot about the power of LinkedIn, Twitter and social media in the job search. Actually my guess is that he probably would not learn anything, but hopefully you will. I remain an advocate of social media in both the job search, for personal branding, and for career development. I also love using social media like LinkedIn and Twitter to develop new contacts, build relationships and maintain my existing relationships - that's why they call it social media David.
I think David Werner should pack up his Rolodex and plastic business card holder that he uses to manage his contacts and quietly go off into retirement and play some golf. Clearly he is no longer relevant in today's market, he is giving poor advice, and apparently he has really pissed off a lot of past clients. Good bye David, enjoy the golf, don't call us, we won't call you. One final thing, I have A LOT to say about career placement firms like David Werner International, I even used one myself one time. My next blog will talk about my experience with one of these firms and these firms in general (that will be fun).
As always, I wish you the best and brightest future,
Bill Grunau
I read the article and was stunned that someone claiming to be a savvy career advisor would advise people against using social media. The article by David Werner said that LinkedIn has "marginal value" and it was clear that he just did not see the point of this social media stuff. The tone of the article was that an executive would be much better off limiting their use of potentially dangerous social media and using his firm to build an online presence for them (Oh, I get it, we are too stupid to figure out this social media stuff, better pay you to handle it for us and land us a job because it is way to complicated for mere mortals and we could screw it up). It was clear in the article that he thought that LinkedIn has "marginal value" and he did not see the benefit of it. Interesting that he did not even mention Twitter and only mentioned Facebook in passing saying that he nearly fell for some lame attempt to get his password. My take on it is that he is clearly out of touch and does not have a clue about social media, LinkedIn, Twitter (not even mentioned!), and Facebook.
In fairness to him, he does warn against posting personal activities that could prove embarrassing and states that your Facebook and LinkedIn comments may come back to haunt you when you are applying for a job, so professionals should be mindful of what they post. OK, I'll go with that and concede that point, but to suggest that social media is dangerous and that senior executives should limit their use of social media, is this guy a dinosaur or what?
So who is David Werner and David Werner International anyway? Well a Google search under just his name is not all that enlightening, in fact he does not have much of a web presence and not much popped up. I checked his LinkedIn profile (that was interesting), http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwernerinternational and not much was there. I did another Google search under David Werner Scams and got some really interesting results, here are a few David Werner Ripoff Reports 22 Entries , David Werner Complaint Blog , and Pissed Consumer . Turns out David Werner's angry customers have a more dominant internet presence than he does! They dominate the first page of the Google search and he has 22 complaints on the Ripoff report from 2008 through June of 2009, quite a distinction.
A closer look at his LinkedIn profile was interesting. So this guy is supposed to be a career placement guru, right? He has 141 contacts on LinkedIn, (all of the recruiters I know have over 500), one recommendation (glad he found one person to do that for him), and almost no detail about his background. In summary he has a terrible LinkedIn profile. If he were a prospective job candidate this profile would rank in the totally unimpressive category right next to blah. And this guy is giving people advice about LinkedIn and how to get jobs!
I would like to suggest that David Werner read my webpage on Getting Started On LinkedIn and my page on Networking on the Web. He would learn a lot about the power of LinkedIn, Twitter and social media in the job search. Actually my guess is that he probably would not learn anything, but hopefully you will. I remain an advocate of social media in both the job search, for personal branding, and for career development. I also love using social media like LinkedIn and Twitter to develop new contacts, build relationships and maintain my existing relationships - that's why they call it social media David.
I think David Werner should pack up his Rolodex and plastic business card holder that he uses to manage his contacts and quietly go off into retirement and play some golf. Clearly he is no longer relevant in today's market, he is giving poor advice, and apparently he has really pissed off a lot of past clients. Good bye David, enjoy the golf, don't call us, we won't call you. One final thing, I have A LOT to say about career placement firms like David Werner International, I even used one myself one time. My next blog will talk about my experience with one of these firms and these firms in general (that will be fun).
As always, I wish you the best and brightest future,
Bill Grunau
Posted by Bill Grunau at 9/30/2009 4:35 AM 
Categories: Job Search Discussion, Networking, Career and Job Search
Tags: networking job search how to find a job
Categories: Job Search Discussion, Networking, Career and Job Search
Tags: networking job search how to find a job
Bill,
David Werner is at it again...trying to demonstrate Internet savy this time. Please coment...please!
http://www.prlog.org/10409825-ny-executive-search-consultants-explain-how-to-avoid-age-discrimination.html
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Bill,
Have you seen David Werner new website www.dwerenerco.com?
Everyone has to read Werner’s new article “The Hidden Job Market” http://www.dwernerco.com/hidden-job-market.html. It is simply astonishing. What a load of …MANURE! According to him, he has the keys to 70% of the jobs on the market!
Just read this stuff…it is amazing how stupid he thinks the world is!!!! How effective this guy is at insulting everyone’s intelligence in one single article.
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Thanks for mentioning his new website, I haven't seen it but from what you describe it is his usual scam. I honestly can't believe he is still in business. What is worse is that he is clearly out of date and out of touch and somehow people still fall for it!
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