Job searching has reached a whole new level. Even in the short three years since I graduated from undergrad, trying to stand out when applying to a job as changed vastly. I'm not sure if it's due to the economic recession and the more than 100 people applying to nearly every job, or if it's because of the way social media has taken off in the past few years. It's probably a little of both.
Laura Gainor, a young professional social media strategist for Comet Branding in Milwaukee spoke to our class last week about the way in which she was hired a few months ago. Moving from Charlotte, North Carolina to Milwaukee with her husband, she knew she need to do something extraordinary to sand out amongst a talented crowd of people who already lived in Milwaukee. She used video sharing, slide show sharing and social media (mostly Twitter) to market herself and tell her story. She kept emphasizing about what she could offer the company, not the other way around.
I kept going back and forth about what I would think about this if I were the company. Would I think it was creepy and that this girl was insane and desperate? Or would I think it was innovative and a smart way to differentiate from the other candidates? I think the type of position she was applying for (social media strategist) made what she did seem creative — any other position and she might have seemed nuts.
If Laura had simply e-mailed her resume to Comet Branding, my guess is that she probably wouldn't have gotten the job. Or, what if she put herself out there like that and still didn't get the job?
When I was in college it was all about making your resume stand out from others; about highlighting your experiences. In some ways, I think it's still about that, but just with using different forms of media. We no longer have to have just a paper or electronic resume. We have to have a Web site at minimum, and it probably wouldn't hurt to have a Twitter, Facebook, LinkdIn and slideshare either. (Slideshare is a slideshow like PowerPoint on a sharable Web site. You can link your slideshare to social media Webs sites.)
I wonder if this new way of applying for jobs is just a fad. In 10 years when and if we are out of the recession, will applying to jobs will be the same? Or, since it might be less competitive, will we go back to simply e-mailing a job a resume? I guess time will tell.
Laura Gainor, a young professional social media strategist for Comet Branding in Milwaukee spoke to our class last week about the way in which she was hired a few months ago. Moving from Charlotte, North Carolina to Milwaukee with her husband, she knew she need to do something extraordinary to sand out amongst a talented crowd of people who already lived in Milwaukee. She used video sharing, slide show sharing and social media (mostly Twitter) to market herself and tell her story. She kept emphasizing about what she could offer the company, not the other way around.
I kept going back and forth about what I would think about this if I were the company. Would I think it was creepy and that this girl was insane and desperate? Or would I think it was innovative and a smart way to differentiate from the other candidates? I think the type of position she was applying for (social media strategist) made what she did seem creative — any other position and she might have seemed nuts.
If Laura had simply e-mailed her resume to Comet Branding, my guess is that she probably wouldn't have gotten the job. Or, what if she put herself out there like that and still didn't get the job?
When I was in college it was all about making your resume stand out from others; about highlighting your experiences. In some ways, I think it's still about that, but just with using different forms of media. We no longer have to have just a paper or electronic resume. We have to have a Web site at minimum, and it probably wouldn't hurt to have a Twitter, Facebook, LinkdIn and slideshare either. (Slideshare is a slideshow like PowerPoint on a sharable Web site. You can link your slideshare to social media Webs sites.)
I wonder if this new way of applying for jobs is just a fad. In 10 years when and if we are out of the recession, will applying to jobs will be the same? Or, since it might be less competitive, will we go back to simply e-mailing a job a resume? I guess time will tell.
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