Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Donna Shannon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Donna, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I started teaching people the art of job searching back in 2004. I had been working as an HR/recruiter for several years, and I was honestly tired of having to cut qualified applicants just because they didn’t understand how the hiring process worked. I continued to teach the classes and work with individual clients on the side for several years.

In 2009, I realized that I was generating so much material for the class that I could easily turn it into a book. I took a real, hard look at my possible career paths: Either get very serious about my HR career or dive deeper into career coaching.

I discovered that I loved seeing people light up during my classes when they suddenly realized that their failure to land a job was not related to their experience, skills, or education. It all came down to their tactics, and tactics can easily be changed. That realization convinced me that I was on the right path.

I completed my book, “Get a Job Without Going Crazy” in 2009. In 2011, I quit the day job and have been leading my company, the Personal Touch Career Services, ever since then.

Donna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Our purpose is to help people land jobs that they love in half the time of the typical job search while earning up to 20% more in salary.

We offer our clients a mix of practical tools to achieve those goals, including resumes, LinkedIn profiles, cover letters, and online classes. Our coaching takes people through the entire job searching process, from setting their goals to interview skills. We especially love showing our clients how to tap into the hidden job market and increase their interviews by tracking down hiring managers and key decision-makers.

We help guide salary negotiations, which makes a huge difference in turning a good job offer into an outstanding one.

Everything we do is based on real-world recruitment practices. Based on my own background in HR, I continue to stay in touch with the Human Resources and Recruiting fields to ensure that our strategies constantly evolve to match the modern employment market.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

To date, I have over 6,300 followers on LinkedIn.

I did this “the old-fashioned way:” Generating consistent, quality content that is relevant to my audience while making it entertaining at the same time.

There are two secrets to building an audience on LinkedIn.

The first is making use of the Groups. Not only are these segmented by interest so you can tap into your niche markets, the content is also evergreen. I recently got a bunch of new traction on an article I posted six years ago because someone read it in the Group and made a comment. It boosted to the top of the Group’s feed, which caused a chain reaction of a lot of new views and comments.

The second is to let your posts in the main news feed ride for a while. Previously, the best practice was to post at least once a day, if not twice. Now, the key is to get more interactions on the post and let it build over time. My posts consistently get 1,500 to 2,000 views, 30-40 “likes,” and 15-20 comments because I let them run for up to a week.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Early on, I accepted a contract with another career coaching company in the area. Turns out, I should have checked their reputation first.

I prided myself on delivering quality content, writing services, and coaching programs. However, this other firm was relying on outdated methodologies that I was not allowed to change. Plus, they were charging exceedingly high fees for their services while not delivering on their promises.

One day, I get a notice that our company email addresses had changed. Curious, I reached out to the company owner. His response? “Well, we’ve gotten a lot of negative reviews online recently, so rather than try to fight it, I just changed the company name.”

Worst of all? He told me it was the THIRD TIME he had taken this strategy.

As a professional who highly values my reputation, I was appalled. I terminated my contract with the company, wisely choosing to developing my own firm that would fit my own standards of performance.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://personaltouchcareerservices.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/personaltouchcareer/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/personaltouchcareerservices/
• Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/donnashannon
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/DLShannon
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/PersonalTouchCareers
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/personal-touch-career-services-arvada

Image Credits
Mariah Ehlert Photograpy