(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

So, you remember when I told snaxcident about webinars and she told her boss and all hell broke loose?

We were talking about it the other day while she cursed the name of Webinar, and I said, "I have to ask, though, are the webinars at all productive? Are they bringing in new clients or at least new contacts?"

She made many frowny faces at me but said, "Unfortunately for me they have an incredible ROI - they are generating lots of leads, especially in the states. We hired an event manager to manage our webinars because they became so popular."

This means I literally talked a job into existence. I have created employment for someone! Let's hold onto that magic.

Let's have a SAM'S CAFE JOB FAIR.

The job fair is simple!

Leave a comment about where you are and what you do and what kind of work you're looking for (use your own good common sense about how much personal info to share). If you're looking to hire, know someone who is, or have resources to share, feel free to post those too!

I'll kick it off: I don't have many general jobsearch bookmarks anymore, but if you're looking for Not For Profit Jobs, there's a place to start.

Have at it!

ETA: Comments have been locked due to spammerz. Sorry guys!

Comments

[greyandgrey.livejournal.com]

What could it hurt, right? Thanks for hosting this, Sam!

I'm Molly, I'm a (very) recent college grad, I'm looking for my first job out.

What I'm looking for:
-An entry level position in Marketing/Advertising or Broadcast Media, or similar

-A chance to leverage my social media skills into a job that also allows me to learn more about the business I'm in.

-To be involved with a company that is creative and interesting, and that runs on good teamwork. An ideal Broadcast company would be something like Discovery Communications, National Geographic, or other communications companies that have a learning/exploring element to them. I'm also interested in Advertising companies that do a little bit of everything, rather than having a particular specialty - but I would love to be involved in a social media branch. Something like a Leo Burnett, DraftFCB, or Digitas would be aces!

-Ideally a position in Chicago, but I am happy to move for the right job!

What I'm good at:
-Social media. Being fannish, this is obviously not surprising, but I've also used social media for more practical purposes, like conducting research. I'm also currently working on a start-up NFP's social media strategy on a sweat-equity basis - both in overall strategy for social media and in technical elements such as page design and integration with the main site

-Multi-tasking/organization. I just finished being a student, where I juggled a full course load, a part-time job, a gigantic independent research project, and anywhere from 2-5 student clubs and managed to get everything done on time, well, and still have time for internetting. :D

-Talking to people. I've got great oral and written communication skills! Because I am a clever bee! I'm good at listening to people, understanding what they want, and then effectively communicating that to someone else or taking action on those wants and needs myself.

-Education. I have worked both as a teaching assistant and as an intern at a large children's museum, which gives me an understanding of both conventional and non-conventional ways of educating. This experience is what I think will make me a particularly good fit for an education/exploration oriented broadcast company


I'm happy to provide a detailed resume and/or references on request! I can be reached at chanceofgrey [at] gmail [dot] com (or via PM, or response here)

[skysplitter.livejournal.com]

There is a ton, and I mean A TON, of openings for those savvy in social media in Washington, DC. It seems like every NGO, non-profit and even big government orgs wants someone to harness teh power of them there social webs. DC is also the #3 media market in the country (after NY and LA) but it's a bit harder to break into. If you played your cards right, you might be able to sashay over to media from the social stuff for the right company. Anyway, no idea if you're interested in moving to DC, but at least there are jobs here for what you're interested in! :)

[kinetikatrue]

Ooh, so, okay - this info is not terribly relevant to me, but I have a friend who would very much like to move into the social media field but wants advice on how to frame her (mostly fannish) experience in order to do that. And would probably take other bits of advice on the subject as well. So, uh, got any tips?

[skysplitter.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I don't. Maybe there's a social media maven here or maybe your friend can find one on LinkedIn and ask them some questions? I think that business, much like the film and video business, is partly based off who you know, not what you know.

[greyandgrey.livejournal.com]

I can tell you how I've been doing it, though take it with the understanding that I am still job hunting and may be unknowingly shooting myself in the foot (skysplitter if you or anyone else have advice on other ways to frame this experience I welcome constructive criticism!)

On my resume there's a section that reads:
Participant/Community member 1999-Present
•Early to adopt new technologies and social media platforms and adapt them for fan community use
•Served on the art vetting committee to choose works presented at Prophecy 2007, a Fan Symposium
•Examined media for intended and unintended messages conveyed to audiences from various demographics
•Built community ties and web based participation through charity drives and special events

The nuts and bolts of my fandom experience is kind of generic. I list my role as Participant/Community Member, but if you have other experiences that sound more impressive or specific (Community moderator, tag wrangler, coder, what have you) you should do that!
Then my experience is basically a matter of taking my general fannish behavior and saying "I know this helps me understand social media audiences, but how can I show that to someone who isn't in it?" Since I've been involved in Fandom since I was really young, I also needed to understand what was it that I had done through fandom that wasn't something everyone does. Which mostly meant adapting skills from internet-speak into resume-speak. Saying "I have killer google-fu" doesn't really cut it on a resume, but "Excellent internet research skills" is something a lot of companies want


Hope that's helpful!

[skysplitter.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, there's some wording I might tweak-
•Early to adopt new technologies and social media platforms and adapt them for fan community use
to Adopted web 2.0 technologies (I'm guessing) and social media platforms for integration in an online community(the Participant/Community member isn't clear to me if you mean offline or online)
Kill the art committee line.
•Built community ties and web based participation through charity drives and special events
I might spin this, if possible, to say "Raised $X for various charities through online drives", basically impress people with numbers and if you can name specific tools (blog postings, twitter, etc) great.

But I'm confused about this line- •Examined media for intended and unintended messages conveyed to audiences from various demographics
What media? By examined, what went into that? Moderator? Audiences from various demographics is very wordy, can you just say a wide/broad audience? And, why was this task important?

Most of what I'm saying came from my last run-in with career services at my grad university a few years ago, and I think it helped me land my first job, especially in regards to the numbers thing.

[greyandgrey.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your advice! The intention behind the line that's confusing you is to demonstrate an understanding of how messages in the media are interpreted. I'm looking to go into advertising or broadcast media, so good communication and an insight into audiences is useful.

It could perhaps be worded better. Or it might be something that isn't easily expressed in a single bullet point and should be left to a cover letter or interview.

[greyandgrey.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks so much! Are there any particular companies you would suggest I target?

[skysplitter.livejournal.com]

Not in particular, but I would suggest setting up a job filter on Indeed.com which is where I see a lot of the listings, cruising through Washingtonpost.com jobs, craigslist in DC, and there's a media-specific mailing list for DC, but it's a membership list that costs about $100/year to join. If you move to DC, the WIFV or Women in Film and Video organization is worth joining for sure.
Also, if you don't have a LinkedIn profile, get cracking! And make a website just for your professional endeavors.

[greyandgrey.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll definitely look into those organizations

I have a linkedin profile, but have held off on making myself a personal/professional website because, well, what would I put there? It makes sense for someone who is a graphic designer or a freelancer of any sort, but I just don't know what kind of content I would put on a personal website

[skysplitter.livejournal.com]

What I've seen social media folks do is have a blog website. So it's part blog, part resume/hire me, part about me, etc. Twitter feeds are built into the sidebar. Blog postings are usually focused on social media techniques, case studies (that maybe you write), etc. The idea behind these sites is to A) show that you can use these SM venues well, B) illustrate your passion about a particular subject, and C) can use WordPress, Moveable Type, etc, which there's a lot of call for. And if you find videos on the web you dig and can embed them properly (it's not rocket science but some people think it is) then hoorah.
And I think for people who maybe don't have a ton of real world experience, this is a really concrete way to show that, hey, I know what I'm doing, really.