About the Author

When helping people regain control of their social media use, Joshua Waldman, MBA, is fond of saying, "Be someone who makes life happen for you." His writing has appeared in Forbes, The Huffington Post, Mashable, and the International Business Times. Joshua's career blog, CareerEnlightenment.com, won the 2013 About.com Reader's Choice Award for Best Career Blog. When he's not writing, Joshua presents keynotes, trainings, and breakout sessions around the world for students, career advisors, consortiums, and professional organizations.

Joshua’s interest in social-media career advancement developed as a result of combining his life-long passion for technology and his extensive training in job-search strategy as an MBA. When he got laid off twice in six months and bounced right back into good jobs, he quickly realized that his philosophy and strategies were powerful enough to help not just his own career but also the careers of others. This experience, combined with five years of experience as a social media strategist, career consultant, and blogger, gives him a unique perspective on online job-search techniques. It is Joshua’s hope that by sharing his knowledge, others will gain a sense of control over their careers, find clarity on how to use social media more effectively in the long term, and rekindle their passion for why they got into their industry in the first place.

Joshua gained his degree at Brown University in 2000. Since then, he earned an MBA at Boston University’s International Management Program. He is a member of the National Speakers Association.

Joshua lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, their teenage daughter, and their little Pomeranian named Boy-Boy. When not working, Joshua likes to experiment with vegetarian cooking, CrossFit, and going for walks in the Northwest Badlands.

Dedication

To my wife, Lily, who is my partner in discovering what we want to do when we grow up.

Author’s Acknowledgments

The story of how I came to write this book is a perfect example of the power of networking. My dad loves a professional networking group for small businesses called Business Networking International (BNI). As the president of its Rhode Island chapter, he’s been trying to (unsuccessfully) persuade me to join the group. However, we both share a passion for social media and emerging technologies. When my dad found out that I blog on such topics, he put me in touch with Charles Westcott, a contact he’d made at his weekly BNI meeting.

Charles offered to introduce me to a friend of his at John Wiley & Sons, Inc. After six months, I received a phone call from the For Dummies group, expressing their interest in publishing my book. So from my obstinate refusal to join my dad’s networking group (and his patience with me), my book idea finally found its way into good hands at Wiley. So thanks, Dad. I don’t doubt how hard fatherhood can be sometimes!

To my mom, Linda Handel, who single-handedly recommended enough copies of the first edition to make this book one of the For Dummies group’s bestselling titles. Thank you for believing in me (and for forcing me to try Pinterest).

A few more people I want to acknowledge include Pamela Slim, for inspiring me and believing in me, and Laura Roeder, for painting a picture of success in my head. Also a big thanks to James Alexander for delivering a ton of great research to my doorstep when I needed it most.

If it weren’t for Wiley’s awesome editing team, this book would sound like gibberish. In particular, my special heartfelt thanks to David Lutton and Lindsay Lefevere, who dropped all other projects to see this one through. To Tracy Brown Hamilton for her patience with my inability to follow directions. And for Elisabeth Van Borselen, who didn’t just translate the book to Dutch but provided great technical editing in English as well. And speaking of English, big thanks to Caitie Copple for her careful copy edit of this manuscript.

Finally, I want to thank my customers. Those schools and organizations that believe in my message enough to hire me to teach your students, members, and staff. Together we strive to emphasize social media just as much as a résumé in our career-education systems. Toward a standards-based social-media curriculum!

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

Executive Editor: Lindsay Lefevere

Assistant Editor: David Lutton

Project Editor: Tracy Brown Hamilton

Copy Editor: Caitie Copple

Technical Editor: Elisabeth Van Borselen

Art Coordinator: Alicia B. South

Project Coordinator: Patrick Redmond

Cover Photo: ©iStockphoto.com/Andrew Johnson