Social networking your way in?

I recently received an e-mail from IABC Minnesota, who hosted a presentation in October about social networking. The presentation (and subsequent article) discussed how social networking is affecting job hunting, which brought some interesting questions to mind. It's true that networking has long been a driving factor in securing a new job; however, just how essential has it become in our current floundering economy? Can you still get a job in certain career fields without networking? With those questions in mind, how has social networking influenced employers and job seekers?

Let's take LinkedIn as an example. Due to my age and my family history in computers, it's logical that I am connected on LinkedIn and other social networking sites. But in our era of growing social disconnect, just how influential are those sites? I must admit that, as far as I know, no one has ever offered me a position due to my profile on LinkedIn - however, I have no doubt that my profile will help me to secure a position at some point in the future. LinkedIn provides a way for viewers to immediately see my work history (that I've posted) and recommendations that I've received from colleagues. LinkedIn also provides links to available jobs, although I haven't found that resource to be particularly useful as of yet.

All LinkedIn touting aside, the underlying question remamins: Do social networking sites help job seekers land positions? I lean towards yes, with restrictions just as with any other job hunting tool. If nothing else, these sites allow job hunters to post all pertinent information and lets potential employers browse the information at will. Social networking also provides an online Rolodex of sorts, providing near-instant connections with an unlimited range of people.

So with all of the social networking happening, when should standard face-to-face networking happen? ALL THE TIME. As our society grows more and more addicted to technology, for good or bad, younger generations are becoming more distant in their communications. It behooves job seekers to network with professionals in person or over the phone to provide an immediate connection. An in-person meeting builds a stronger rapport and often yields quick results.

All in all? Yes, social networking is a useful tool for job hunters, and should certainly be used as such - however, it should not be a job seeker's sole method of connecting, or it becomes a crutch. Social networking should be embraced as another key to networking, providing more ways for job seekers to find positions and employers to find the appropriate candidate.

Informational interviews rock my world

Last week, I had an informational interview with Tina Puente of Jack Morton. I really enjoyed the interview!! Ms. Puente is an extremely talented, smart professional who believes that anybody in a management position should pay attention to the future generation and help them out wherever possible. We chatted about the marketing field in general, about Jack Morton and experiential marketing, about Minneapolis/St. Paul and about the advertising/marketing companies in the region. She had a lot of fantastic advice and gave me some leads for future informational interviews, which I really appreciated. A big thank you to Ms. Tina Puente!!

I also had my first brand guide at Victoria's Secret. For those who don't know, I was working as a Sales Associate for the company, but recently switched to brand guides because I felt it correlated better with my career path and preferred the working hours. We ended up changing the entire floor set! It was hard work, but it was really interesting to observe and see how the company handles its brand management strategies.

Coming up...more informational interviews (hopefully!) and a Women For Hire Expo.

Career quizzing my way around

Many updates, the first of which is: I didn't make it to the Sur-THRIVE-al Learning Lunch. The Women's Club of Minneapolis accidentally listed the wrong address, so I ended up walking around the U of MN campus for an hour trying to find the meeting. Good came out of this, however, as I met a representative of Digital People, a creative and marketing placement agency. I had an interview yesterday and my representative seems quite confident that she may be able to find something for me. The Women's Club also refunded me and offered a free session to me, which I thought was very kind and respectful.

I also went to the Monster Job Fair in Bloomington, MN, yesterday. I must admit that I didn't really want to go, not because I think that Monster is filled with spam and not a useful resource, but because they didn't list any of the employers on the Web site. I like to prepare myself ahead of time. When I arrived, however, there were only 20 employers present and they were all of the standard job fair attendees: The U.S. Army, Wells Fargo, etc. I was a bit disappointed in the low numbers and lack of representation of Twin Cities talent. Boo.

I did realize yesterday that sometimes there's just nothing better than sitting in a coffee house working on career quizzes for a few hours. Being the ever-curious and analytical type that I am, I'm often curious about the idea of "dream careers." Perhaps this stems from my father's ability to figure out what he loves to do and make a career out of it. Perhaps it's because we spend at least 2,900 hours at work any given year, and that's only if we have a standard eight-hour day. If we're going to spend at least a third of our lives working, why shouldn't we be doing something we enjoy??

Anyway, the book I'm working through is called "Career Quizzes: 12 Tests to Help You Discover and Develop Your Dream Career," written by John Liptak, and it's actually really interesting. It's not saying that these tests are a be-all, end-all solution to figuring out what you want, they're more of a guide to helping you discover what careers would fit best with your personality. So far, I've done two quizzes and found the results very interesting:

Quiz 1: The Career Transition Scale
Through a series of questions, this quiz helps you identify with four types of personalities (although you can have parts of all four). My personality type is "Catalyst." I thought this was really interesting because it was very fitting! Here's an excerpt:

Catalysts are those who use their work as a means to engage in other pleasures and fill other life goals. They seek out multiple paths to overall life satisfaction; they commit to many different work and leisure activities - all of which have the potential to make them happy.

The biggest advantage about being a Catalyst is that they tend to focus more on personal growth and development, which I think is really important in a career.

Quiz 2: The Career Needs Inventory
This quiz assesses your needs using Abraham Maslow's Theory of Motivation (Physiological, Safety and Security, Love and Belonging, Esteem and Self-Actualization). Although each person needs to fulfill each need at any given time, I scored highest on Physiological and Self-Actualization needs. For obvious reasons (young and low-income), physiological needs are important as I need to survive. These may change in time, depending on my career path. Self-Actualization, however, is the desire for creativity and maximizing your full potential. This helps explain why, in my last two jobs, I was unhappy with the fact that the company wasn't using my talents and I didn't feel challenged creatively. I want creative challenges and the ability to use my skills to better a company and to better myself. Basically, I want a career that I'm going to enjoy and feel like I'm truly contributing. Liptak had a great comment that I want to share:

Self-actualizing people are usually involved in a cause outside of themselves - a calling or vocation. Often, they devote their lives and their work to the pursuit of higher values, such as truth, goodness, beauty, wholeness, transcendence, justice, or simplicity. Maslow suggested that such a pursuit represented the meaning of life for most people.

Now THAT'S an interesting theory!

Anyway, this post is getting a bit long, so I'll stop for today. I'm finding this book rather interesting, so if you're curious about how your personality may play into your career choices, I'd suggest checking it out!

Sur-thrive-al session!

I'm also planning on attending this event, which looks FABULOUS!!! Since I can't printscreen a shot for you, you'll have to settle for some relayed information and a link to the Web site. Sorry folks.

Sur-Thrive-Al details

Sur-THRIVE-al Learning Lunch
Thursday, September 25
11:30 - 1 p.m.

The Woman's Club of Minneapolis
410 Oak Street, Minneapolis

Cost: $30 members; $50 non-members; $20 students

Speaker:
Pat O’Donnell, McKinley Group, will discuss how to position yourself to get the job of your dreams.

To all Minnesota members...

Ad Fed is hosting a "True Blue" membership party next week - and it's free!

When: Thursday, September 25, 2008
Time: 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Where: AQUA Nightclub (downtown Minneapolis)
Who: Anybody - it's free!
Dress Code: "Be Chic - Wear Blue" (not sure if that means business casual..? That's what I'm going with)

According to the promotional card I received, you can build networks, meet people and potentially score some prizes, such as free Ad Fed membership for a year.

See you there!

The little things

Hello fellow recent graduates! I now have daily access to my computer again and thus can keep this updated on a regular basis. To update: I just completed my internship at Weber Shandwick, which was an incredible learning experience. I worked with top-tier clients, learned about the PR industry and gained a lot of fantastic experience. I'm currently looking for my next adventure. I think, however, I'll save my PR experiences for another time and, instead, talk a little about unemployment.

My last post gave a few points of advice when unemployed, including dressing up for an interview and calling vs. emailing. This one is going to give some smaller hints for ways to work through unemployment.

-- Don't email any resumes or responses late on a Friday or a holiday weekend. It'll likely get lost in the flood of emails that arrived over the weekend.

-- Send a thank you card with a unique touch. My friend gave me the idea for mine: Slip a string in the card with a note about not forgetting to call. Polite, creative and memorable.

-- I like to peruse the career books when I'm unemployed, just to see if anyone has any pertinent advice that I can take with me. The best one I've found so far (being I'm a recent grad, entry-level) is "Discovering Your Perfect Career" by the Complete Idiot's Guide group. Surprisingly refreshing and smart.

-- Get some exercise. Unemployment, especially in our current economy, can be a rough time for anyone. By getting fresh air and exercise, you help your body relax and recollect itself.

-- Establish hours for yourself. Consider job hunting your new full time job - it'll help you to stay on track.

-- This one may seem obvious: don't watch tv/movies while you apply. Even if you can multi-task, you'll likely end up missing a sentence error or some other costly mistake.

-- Make time for your life. This one may also seem obvious, but without money, it can be difficult to figure out how to hang out with friends and loved ones (especially if they like to go out). At the same time, maintaining relationships is an essential way to keep yourself happy and healthy while searching.

-- Ideas of your own? Comment!

Who loves job searching?

Searching for a job is one of the hardest things that someone can do...depressing because few people reward your efforts and nerve-wracking because so much of your life depends on having a steady salary. And as all know, today's weakening economy is making job searching even harder. So what can you do to improve your chances? Here are a few suggestions:

1) Don't take it personally. Think of how many people apply to one job. Then out of those people, narrow it down by the people who the company believes is qualified and fits the position...still quite a lot. Sometimes it's just not meant to be.

2) A call is always better than an email. Think of the number of emails you get per day. Now imagine how many emails an HR representative receives. My family owns a small electronic design business and can receive up to 50 resumes in one week. Imagine what a large business like Target or Best Buy would receive. By taking the time to make a simple phone call to ask if you could meet to discuss the field, you exponentially improve your chances at scoring an interview.

3) Make it perfect. Regardless of how many resumes companies receive, they do still look at them. If you have any, and I mean any, errors on your resume, it's in the recycling bin. So make it perfect. Have others edit it, review it, no matter how many times you have to rework it. It's worth it.

4) Dress sharp. First impressions count, and if you don't look sharp when you walk into that interview or networking event or application drop-off, that impression lingers. Make sure you wear a suit to every interview, regardless of the company's dress code.

5) Be positive, be proactive, be confident and overcommunicate. Wise words of advice I once received. Always be looking forward and go the extra mile...it will get noticed.

Good luck! And keep your head up.