Fortune Encourages You To Tell Your Recession Story

Fortune, like many publications recently published an article highlighting ten unemployed Americans, and their search for a new job “Fortune: The New Jobless“. (Disclaimer: I was one of the 10 featured in the article) Like most articles, Fortune included a link that enables readers an opportunity to “discuss” what they’ve read.

However, instead of discussing the stories that are contained within the article, Fortune opted to encourage readers to engage with the article, and publication in a different way: by sharing their own story.

To me, this creative use of social media enables users to engage with the content in a much more intimate way; and, in turn, creates much more genuine commentary.

After the jump? Snippets from Fortune’s “Talkback: Tell Your Recession Story”

7 Tips For Finding a New Job

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to chat with a few people about job hunting strategies. One of the most common questions I’ve been asked has been: “How do you stay optimistic?” and, “What strategies are you using?”

After reading a lot of articles on the subject, and doing a lot of searching myself, I figured I’d share my tips here:

• Network, network, network. Find people on sites like LinkedIn who have careers you’d like to have, or are at companies you’d like to work at. If they look as though they’re receptive to “random connections” (i.e. they have a substantial network size, or say they’re interested in making new connections) send them a connection request and outline your interests in the request. Be succinct and polite. Also, people are more likely to connect with you if you have something in common– a past employer, a friend, etc. If you can establish that from the get-go, be sure to include that in your connection request. Meeting and connecting with new people is the best way to find a new job: most jobs are secured through internal referrals. By expanding your network, you exponentially increase your odds of landing your next gig.
• Ask questions. Take this opportunity to learn something new. Check out a Question/Answer board on a job site and see what types of questions employers and potential employees are asking. Check out boards that are specific to your niche/market and answer questions that you know the answer to. But be careful: only answer questions you know you know the answer to, and you know you can provide a solid, clear, and awesome answer to. Think of this as a mini audition/interview. These Question/Answer boards stick around for, well, as long as the Internet is around– if you say something offensive, or just wrong, it could come back to haunt you. Be sure that you’re putting your best foot forward and this could be your ticket to meeting new people, and securing a new job.

Hiring trend: Social media– contractor?

With the economy in dire straits, it seems as though many companies are turning to hiring on social media strategists as consultants instead of full-time,  full-salary (and benefits) roles. Though this is a bitter-sweet turn of events for the social media field, it’s also a great opportunity for true pros to prove their worth, all while having the flexibility of bouncing from company to company.

Why this is good for social media: By continuing to offer positions (though they’re contract positions) it proves that companies are still willing to spend some of their limited budget on social efforts, and understand their value. By offering the position as a contract role, the company is able to save on their end by not having to pay for pesky things like benefits and contributing to your 401k.

Why this isn’t good for social media: By failing to completely integrate a team member into a brand or company, that team member (or in this case, social media strategist) isn’t given the opportunity to truly embrace the brand in a way a “full time” employee might. They’re also (potentially) seen as a much more expendable line-item in the company’s budget.

Word Cloud Resume

I was perusing Oliver Blanchard’s “The Brand Builder” blog a little bit ago and came across a post that showed his blog as a word cloud. I’ve seen this done in the past, but what caught my eye was Oliver’s mention of David Bernardo’s Resume as a word cloud. I clicked. Yep, it was awesome, and expressed a resume in a truly unique way. 

So naturally, I felt obligated to enter mine and share it here. I was pleased to see that “community” ended up at the core of my word cloud.

To create your own, visit Wordle and give it a shot.