CollegeGradJobSearch

The Most Marketable Skills (in marketing) for 2015

2015-01-29T10:26:00.000-08:00

The Most Marketable Skills (in marketing) for 2015

Webucator (www.webucator.com) asked me to blog on skills that would be most needed in 2015 and I agreed to write about Marketing.

The basic skills of marketing: strategic thinking, analytics, product and project management--haven’t changed. The tools and tactics that marketers use have changed dramatically. Online channels (Internet, phone, interactive TV, etc) have been added to the mix—in some cases dominate the mix.

How we obtain data and the speed it’s acquired has forced marketers to move quickly to adjust. Marketers have to be aware of what’s new and what is changing and seize on the opportunity.

Having some of these key skills before leaving college will give you a huge leg up on getting your first marketing job.

A recent look at available jobs on Linked In in the NYC metro area shows the following: 3,000+ openings in Marketing Analytics, 2,500+ Digital Analytics, 6,000+ in various areas of social media, 1,000+ for UX/UI people, 6,000+ Digital Marketing, 800+ Channel or Multi-Channel Marketing, 1,400+ Mobile App Development.

What does this mean for the recent grad or someone with a little experience?

1. Have some experience before you start your job search. If you can’t get a paid internship, work for free. If you need to earn money, work during the day and intern on weekends and the evening. Ask to work with the person who is doing the analysis, the social media plan, the UX development.

2. Investigate what software and measurement tools are needed and in high demand. You can do that quickly by looking up the open positions on Linked In, corporate websites, indeed. They all list what is required in the job description.

3. Know all the social media outlets: what’s hot, what’s new. Be the expert on how companies use their twitter feeds and blogs to their benefit.

4. Know the terminology: SEM, SEO, PPC, Paid Search, google adwords, site catalyst, webtrends, facebook analytics, CCS, Java, Ruby on Rails—the list is endless.

5. Marketing strategy: How does the digital channel fit with other channels (Uber is an app that uses email marketing, advertising and direct marketing).

6. How do we sell stuff and what stuff do we sell; again analytics and research.

7. Nimbleness—ability to learn new things as they come—the world changes so fast that you need to know what's next before the person next to you.

8. Doing more with less—budgets have decreased or been diverted to cheaper alternatives; much easier and cheaper to test on the web/phone than sending out a direct mail package.

9. CRM across the board: keep your customers coming back; cheaper to keep them than to get new ones.

Ellen Weber | Managing Director | CareerPath Executive Recruiters | Digital, Direct and Marketing Talent Acquisitions

https://www.linkedin.com/company/careerpath-executive-recruiters

ellen@careerpathassociates.com|www.careerpathexecutiverecruiters.com
Blogs: ellenweber.wordpress.com |collegegradjobsearch.blogspot.com |Twitter: @lnwebr| Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/ellenweber

New Facebook Page

2015-01-14T07:37:00.001-08:00

https://www.facebook.com/careerpathexecutiverecruiters

And link to my Linked In profile:
www.linkedin.com/in/ellenweber

And Linked In Business Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/3184464?trk=tyah&trkInfo=tarId%3A1421249921376%2Ctas%3ACareerpath%20executive%20%2Cidx%3A1-1-1

How to double your salary (Linked In article)

2014-12-15T05:27:00.002-08:00

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-double-your-salary-hiring-j.t.-o%2527donnell.

Thought this was really good--especially for those starting out your career. Not sure the disruptive cover letter will work anymore but if it's as detailed in actual specifics about the job the you want, maybe it would (hard to get anyone to look at that stuff anymore....)

40 Incorrectly Used Words That Can Make You Look Dumb

2014-12-04T10:17:00.001-08:00

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141203134446-20017018-40-incorrectly-used-words-that-can-make-you-look-dumb.

I would love for someone to write the same for oral/verbal usage .... We can start with "me and Mary went to the store"

College Majors and Lifetime Earnings

2014-10-01T07:07:00.002-07:00

And for those of you who are looking to change careers.....

http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/major_decisions_what_graduates_earn_over_their_lifetimes/.

When Google speaks, people listen

2014-09-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

The Biggest Mistakes I see on a resume (from a google HR person). I'm going to check my resume now...

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140917045901-24454816-the-5-biggest-mistakes-i-see-on-resumes-and-how-to-correct-them.

Remember this is from a company that hires engineers. Other companies will give you some slack--but check for anything obvious....

Resume Tips for recent grads and interesting blog

2014-09-15T06:25:00.001-07:00

This is an informative blog and a re-post--couldn't have said it better myself.

http://www.youtern.com/

10 Things That Aren’t On Your Resume (But Should Be)

This post was originally posted on YouTern written by Mark Babbitt .
Many young careerists – even those with a couple i nternships under their belt – feel as though their resume and LinkedIn profiles are, for lack of a better word… lacking.
And sometimes this is true – especially when you’re up against someone with three, five and even ten years of at least semi-relevant experience. In that case, how do you compete?
You compete – and win – by including on your resume the achievements, projects and assignments you may have overlooked, or chose not to put on your resume because they were short-term, campus-only related or “not a real job.”
Here are nine great examples (and one thing that probably is on your resume, but shouldn’t be):

Social Media Savviness

No. You aren’t a guru, ninja or an expert. But you do know your way around Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest. Your profiles may be the envy of all your friends and colleagues; the number of followers is respectful. Throw in your knowledge of Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Twitter Chats, LinkedIn Groups, Facebook ads – and whatever else you’ve dabbled in so far – and you just might impress the social media novice whose organization needs social help, right now.

Self-Learning

In today’s job market, there isn’t a single employer who doesn’t respect someone who took it upon themselves to learn a skill, or master a software program relevant to their organization. Demonstration of expertise using p roject management, Photoshop, Salesforce, Infusionsoft, Google Analytics – and maybe even a little coding – can take your resume from “meh” to “marvelous!”

Freelance Projects

Remember that project you did for the business near your campus? Or the couple of weeks you spent at that non-profit solving its biggest problem? Those mini-projects weren’t real jobs, no… but they were real experience. List every relevant project you’ve ever taken on. Display the impact you had on the organization you served (quantify!). Show your entrepreneurial spirit! And you’ll catch the attention of a hiring manager looking for someone not afraid to take on a project alone.

Theses, Studies and White Papers

Did you head up a research project? Write an industry relevant thesis that blew your professor away? Did you lead an on-campus or community-based study? Each of these projects shows attention to detail, problem solving and analytical thinking – three skills in high demand by nearly every employer. Again, show the impact of your work; and talk passionately about the mission. Employers don’t only want to know what you did… they want to know why you did it.

Content Creation

Have you begun blogging? Guest blogging? Have you begun to show your subject matter expertise in a podcast, or a video blog? Maybe a YouTube channel? Have you built a community of followers? All of those things go on your resume! Employers will respect that you are willing to let your thoughts be known, and aren’t afraid to stick your neck out. They’ll get a glimpse of your personality and passion. And – if the fit is right – they’ll develop a bond with the digital you, well before they call for an interview.

Industry Relevant Competitions

Speaking of not being afraid to stick your neck out: relevant competitions – online, through your community, industry associations, the local chamber of commerce, and your fraternity or sorority – are a great way to punch up your resume. Although a bonus (instant credibility), winning isn’t necessary!
Just show that you have competed for the third consecutive time at the regional business plan competition, for example, and entrepreneurial minded employers will be impressed. These organizations also make for great networking and keyword elements on your resume. An employer might say, “You were in the Alpha Kappa Psi CASE competitions? So was I!” And, just like that, a relationship has started – and an advantage gained.

Anything Leadership

On-campus clubs, volunteer assignments, part-time retail jobs, heading up a fund-raiser or a committee, campus ambassadorships… anything that shows you were leading from out front must go on your resume. Again, be sure to show your impact; don’t just say you are a lifelong learner, show your impact and talk about what you learned.

Conferences Attended

That person with the three to five years of experience on their resume… have they attended your industries’ annual convention this year? Last year? Ever? Probably not, but perhaps you did – giving you another advantage over the competition. While you were out there listening to Seth Godin, Dan Pink and Matt Cutts, your competition was watching Wheel of Fortune in their pajamas. Who would you hire?

Reverse Mentorship

All that social media and blogging experience you’ve obtained… ever put it to good use? Ever walk a CEO through a Twitter chat? Or set up a WordPress blog for a solopreneur? Maybe helped get a Mom and Pop shop’s books in order, then show them how to run Quickbooks? Each of these instances of reverse mentorship shows you are willing to give back and teach across generational boundaries – a fine, and marketable, skill in today’s workforce.

Bonus: Remove THIS from Your Resume

When you’re all done with the newest version of resume – when you’ve added all your relevant accomplishments – you’re going to take one more step guaranteed to help you compete better…
Unless you are going into a field where these things still matter (medical, engineering, law, etc.), you are going to get rid of everything that makes you look like a current or recent student. Everything!
GPA, relevant coursework, expected graduation dates – all of it. Why? Because no one hires students. They hire capable, work-ready young professionals prepared to help them achieve their goals and solve their problems. On your resume and LinkedIn profile: Don’t be a student.
How does your resume look now? More professional? More complete? Perhaps less… lacking?

Is your student prepared for life? Career Training 101.

2014-09-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

From the NYTimes: http://nyti.ms/1qtDkFp.

Very few colleges/universities are preparing our graduates for life. That may have been okay years ago, but not now. Courses preparing you to find a job/career should be required to graduate and should start early--by second year the latest.

There should be a dedicated office and staff within schools to meet this huge need. It should be staffed by people who have real world experience (corporate HR and recruiters for example) not academics. Helping to direct these students to areas of greatest need and opportunity is key. Start the experience building early in the summer and on-campus. Help the students to navigate the world of social media early--for business purposes not social.

There are many companies that are looking for a bargain--someone they can bring in on the cheap but has a little bit of experience so they can help immediately.

The 11 Top-Paying Jobs Straight out of College

2014-07-21T11:45:00.001-07:00

Thanks for this Lauren Hughes: http://www.careercast.com/career-news/11-top-paying-jobs-straight-out-college.

Two of the top 10 are in digital marketing/development.

UX/UI and more

2014-07-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

This post is great. http://www.fastcodesign.com/3032719/ui-ux-who-does-what-a-designers-guide-to-the-tech-industry?partner=rss&utm_content=buffer4be1b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer.

If you can do this stuff, you will be employed. It's hard to tell though what the real skill set is for most of these jobs. Can someone with limited graphic design ability do this?

Catching Up

2014-07-07T11:37:00.002-07:00

I haven't written in some time. I have lots to say (or read things that I'd like to pass along) so I'm back...

Just saw this article today and thought it would be great for new and junior people in the work force. And maybe even refresher info for the seasoned executive.

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140705055830-52594-the-five-deadliest-job-interview-mistakes?goback=.mpd2_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_20140705055830*552594*5the*5five*5deadliest*5job*5interview*5mistakes&trk=prof-post.

The article has very basic info on how to be remembered and coveted for a job--how to break through the pack of other applicants.

What I find very interesting about this article is the assumption by the writer (a seasoned ex-HR person) is that so many people would make it to interview stage. There has to be a screening out process somewhere (starting with the resume and then phone screens) so that only the top people are being shown to the hiring manager. If there isn't someone internal (or an external recruiter like me) doing this, then the hiring manager is wasting an enormous amount of time and resources just getting to the "meat". If at all possible, I like to present a maximum of 5 qualified people to a hiring manager. Best if each of them have slightly different skill sets and/or personality so the hiring manager can "nail" down what they are really looking for.

Good internal and external recruiters can help in this process.

College Student: Want a job? Get skills companies need…

2014-02-04T07:20:00.001-08:00

This past Sunday’s NY Times job article talked about how most college grads do not have the hard skills to be able to join the work force immediately in any useful manner. Fewer companies can afford or are willing to pay to train these young kids. A generalized liberal arts curriculum is no longer a prized calling card.

Great if you’re a freshman, but what do you do if you are in your senior year and will graduate with a liberal arts degree? The answer depends on what you and your family can afford to do. My first choice would be to send you off to grad school for something very specific—finance MBA, computer science, advanced analytics. Second choice would be an internship if you can find one, paid or not. But you’d have to be strategic in your choice of internships if you aren’t getting paid. Running around as a fashion intern might be fun, but will it afford you a job when you graduate? Your unpaid internship has to give you skills or it’s not worth it. I’ve talked about skills that are needed in my field before: web analytics, SEO, paid search, technical content management, data mining, etc. Many companies need skills where the demand outweighs the supply. Finance, technology, engineering, marketing/advertising to name a few.

If you’re thinking I don’t really want to sit behind a desk and crunch numbers, take it one step beyond that. Where can the number job take you? In marketing, many managers start off as analysts. They know that they’ll have to put in the grunt year of running numbers but what’s on the other side is the place they want to go. And employers love that you started in the analytic area—they know that you have a solid basis for understanding the metrics behind a business. I have to imagine it works the same in areas of finance.

So if you are in college now and deciding on a major—think smartly and strategically. Look up profiles of people whose jobs you’d like and see where they started. If you are graduating or recently graduated, find the best ways to get skills. (and if you’ve made it into a management training program with your liberal arts degree—congrats to you—but congrats won’t be for everyone).

Psychology of the recent college grad job search

2014-01-27T07:49:00.001-08:00

I thought this blog and article by Dr. Cummins was really enlightening. She discuss research about why recent college grads are having a tough time finding jobs: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/good-thinking/201311/why-recent-college-graduates-can-t-find-jobs.

You can read her blog for specifics but the two things highlighted are things that I've been saying for a long time:

"1. Almost half of the students surveyed believe a degree from a prestigious school is very or extremely important to employers. But only 28% of hiring managers indicated that this mattered in their hiring decisions."

I believe that the top echelon ivy league schools are in league of their own. Companies send campus recruiters to find the brightest. But just about everyone else falls into another bucket and what is really important is not the school, but what you did at the school to show mastery or cleverness. The kid who set up his own successful business plan and managed to pay most of their own college bill will get a bigger look at than the kid who did nothing but travel every summer on their parent's dime. Great internships mean a lot as well. I think the eager grads that shows they have good communication skills (can write a coherent email), social skills (follow up appropriately), good solid references from internships--they are the ones who will get the job. Which leads us to the next part of the findings:

2. About three-quarters (77%) of surveyed college students believed professional or personal connections were important for securing a job. But only 52% of hiring managers thought so.

I don't think that personal or professional connections are important to securing a job, but I think they are important to help you break out of the crowd and be seen. If you're not good, you won't get hired. But you can't get hired unless you are interviewed. If you can use those personal and professional connections to get you in front of someone, and you're good, then you have a much better chance than the star in the pile who comes across as one of many. I think this is true to getting an internship. Those with the connections are the ones that will get the internship. And the connection could be a professor who is known in their field that recommends you or a family friends who things highly and sends your resume on to the HR group with a personal recommendation. I genuinely think most adults want to help young people start their career--but only if they are sure they are good.

Is Discrimination of the 50(+) age group a benefit for the 30(-)

2013-09-10T12:19:00.002-07:00

1/14: I am happy to add an update to this: a good business contact of mine, now in their upper 50's just secured a job as a senior account person at a NY agency. Talent and smarts won out over age!

What is it about the end of one's career and the beginning that makes it so difficult to find jobs? People in the work force for 30-40 years who can't find a job that matches their experience and the newbies with no experience who can't get anyone to give them a break.

Statistics for those over 50 are daunting--those over 60, horrendous. But the good new for the newest to our work force is this, older worker discrimination should be a benefit to the young. New to the workforce (NTTWF) are generally paid less and don't have expectations of full benefits. They are happy to have a job--any job.

Since this blog is about college grads finding jobs (and those not over 50) I'll focus on that. But before I do, I want to say that most of the over 50's I know who are doing okay are those who have lowered their expectations and those who have developed a consulting practice. They may not be making the same money or have deep benefits, but most are happy having the flexibility.

So you're thinking, if older workers misery is to my benefit, why don't I have a job? I suspect it is either this: 1. your expectations are too high 2. your looking for the wrong jobs.

Where you need to be flexible:
1. Money--one job leads to another but you need that first one. Choose one that will give you the best work experience possible. If the salary sucks, live at home.
2. Industry--don't focus on sexy industry for your first job. You might be able to get the best experience somewhere you might think is not exciting.
3. Location--if you able to move, you might be ahead of the pack.
4. Find an area of what you do that is in demand. You're a writer? Can you write blogs, community pages, website copy? You're a numbers person? Can you learn some hard to find web skills that are in high demand (think web and media analytics). You have great people skills? What about a sales and marketing trainee job?
5. Take an unpaid internship if you need to--see if you can agree upfront that you can put the job down on your resume as a job so you can get "credit" for it.

Remember that most companies want some work experience. Get that experience any way that you can.

Questions you can ask at a Job Interview

2013-08-29T09:11:00.003-07:00

I think this post is really straightforward and good though I think I'd ask the questions a little less formally:

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130815094409-32175171-the-3-questions-people-always-forget-to-ask-in-an-interview?trk=mp-details-rc.

Products that can help you look for a job

2013-07-01T15:24:00.003-07:00

Since I've recently started my own business, I've had the pleasure of deciding what kinds of products work for me. I've recommended a bunch of them in the amazon sidebar--I am currently using them all and think they are all good.

In addition, I decided to set up a skype phone number to use as my incoming call number. It allows me to receive calls while making another call on another number (mostly a landline). The call quality has been great and I have a USB headset attached to my computer for use with this. So far so good.

I also had some issues with my computer and needed them to be resolved quickly. I needed my own tech support. I did a bit of research (including Consumer Reports) who highly recommended the Geek Squad (Best Buy) who fixed my computer remotely in about 1 hour. Now I can have tech support one phone call away--and I can have two other computers repaired as well. I signed up for a two year contract--very reasonably priced.

Make a New College Grad Employable

2013-07-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

Great article in the NYTimes on Saturday: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/29/your-money/a-quest-to-make-college-graduates-employable.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

Colleges haven’t changed that much in the past 40 years: they never prepared students for the skills discussed in this article: collaboration, interpersonal relations, dealing with ambiguity, flexibility and professionalism. They were also never very good on the job hunt front: how to search for a job, how to present yourself in interviews or how to write a powerful resume that gets noticed (and very important now, how to navigate the world of internet and social media in the job search process).

Let’s assume the job of a college is to educate, not help with the “soft” skills mentioned. One would then ask where this development of really important social and personal skills should develop. (and I’m not saying that I believe colleges shouldn’t do a better job in this area….)

I’m a firm believer that people grow these skills over time—mostly starting in high school, after puberty when some rational thought about what the future holds can develop. Some kids know innately what to do; others not so much or not at all. Parents can help by getting kids involved in long-term volunteer internships as soon as possible. Working on an election is a great idea. Colleges and universities also need to look again at work experience for credit, and how to get students involved in meaningful long term projects.

There are many success stories of adaptation by colleges. For example: the Charlotte N.C. area is a hot bed of Insurance companies—many of whom recruit local students because of the wealth of young people going to college in the area. UNC Charlotte adapted by offering specific coursework in different types of insurance. What if Microsoft and IBM (who also maintain huge operations in that area) got together with the local Universities and said we need students who can graduate knowing drupal, unica, HTML or be able to navigate from a creative and strategic perspective the new landscape of social media? And then provide them with internships during the school year or summer doing that work? Or direct the University in types of in-depth skill building projects that can be developed.

The NY Times article is well written and thought out, a good job Alina Tugend who wrote it. I’d like to see more like this with information from colleges/universities and corporations in need of talent.

What skills do you need to get you your first job in digital marketing (or expand your opportuniites if you've been around for a while).

2013-06-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

If you can get solid experience using any of these digital marketing or data tools, (even through paid or unpaid internships), you can find a job.
SEO
SEM
Webtrends and all other new web analytic tools
Teamsite
Google Analytics
Email tools to send out complicated blasts
Omniture
HTML
CMS
UX
JAVA
Website design tools
Data/statistical analytic tools: SAS, Unica, Eloqua, Salesforce.com.

Please feel free to email me with more and I'll add them to the list.

As a recent college grad, be careful about categorizing yourself in one of these areas. It's okay to start your career focusing on one of these things, but if you want to do more--you have to look at the career progression and opportunity after you master this.

Company Career Websites and responding to Linked In ads: Should you bother?

2013-06-13T12:36:00.001-07:00

I just finished a contract position at a major insurance company. They, similar to most major companies these days, post every new job on their career website. When someone applies for a position directly to the site, they end up in the applicant tracking system which is monitored by talent acquisition people assigned to that job.

In addition, many companies pay for Linked In ads to post jobs that are more difficult to fill. Linked In has an algorithm that matches your profile to a job and an ad pops up on the side of your page telling you that this is a match for you. If you respond to those ads, you will end up in an inbox of the talent acquisition person who is monitoring and evaluating what is coming in for that job.

So how can do you break through the clutter of masses of resumes and get seen? First, in my experience, there are not masses of resumes—mostly there are resumes of people who do not meet the qualifications of the position. The few “on target” resumes get reviewed carefully because they are an “easy” candidate. They came to you (you didn’t have to go find them and convince them of your opportunity), they are already motivated (they applied), and they’ll make time to interview. Passive candidates are more difficult to arrange interviews.

Here are some of the things I observed that may help you target how you position yourself when you are sending your resume in to a corporate ATS or answering a Linked in ad:

1. If your background and resume looks like a close fit for the position, the likelihood of you getting contacted for a phone interview are very good—this goes for both the career website or Linked In.

2. If the position is in a very difficult to fill category—you might get contacted if you are 60-70% match.

3. What that means from a candidate perspective is this: if you target your resume appropriately so you match close enough, you will get an interview.

4. Candidates really need to understand that talent acquisition people are looking for a skill set and cannot send to the hiring manager someone who doesn’t have the skill set required. However, there are degrees of flexibility that you can learn to use to your advantage.

- Write your resume with the appropriate key words in mind. Every one of the posted jobs has a job description. Write your resume to reflect the company’s terminology. For example, your company uses the term lead generation for finding interested people, but xyz calls it demand marketing—use what they use.

- If you have a blended background and the position is for a specific job function which is one of the things that you’ve done, focus on that—do not keep your resume generalized. For example, you are an experienced ux, website design, code in HTML and use Java. The position is to be a content manager that requires Java and other tools—focus the resume on that. Make it easy for the recruiter, not difficult.

- If you have only a few years’ experience but know that you can do the job and have a basic skill set, position your resume in that way. Many hiring managers are open to training young people who exhibit intelligence and work ethic and are a bargain—saving them money on salaries (or allowing them to use the salary savings on another position).

5. Find someone who works at the company who can recommend you. You’ll get a closer look especially if your skill set is not close to a perfect match (also the talent acquisition person can use that recommendation to get your resume in front of the hiring manager: blah in accounting knows this guy and says he’s great—he doesn’t have an exact match skill set but you might want to take a look….)

6. Only do this is you truly believe you are a good match for the position: find the internal talent acquisition person and send an email to them and let them know you’ve applied and why they should talk to you. You can also see if you can find the hiring manager and do the same—they will likely send it back to the talent acquisition person and ask them to speak to you. At that point, the Talent Acquisition person will talk to you because they’ll need to let the hiring manager know what happened. But again, don’t waste anyone’s time unless you have the skills.

Five Months as a Corporate Internal Recruiter

2013-06-07T12:56:00.003-07:00

I just finished 5 months working in-house for a global insurance company. I worked on filling their open marketing positions which included digital marketing, branding, analytics, corporate communications and product marketing.

It was an enlightening experience in many ways but the reason I'm writing about it here at Collegegradjobsearch, is to say to you: there are jobs available with only a limited amount of experience--if it's the right experience. And even more to the point, this is experience that you could get during internships, working on campus, or just stuff you help people with over the summer.

The skills I'm specifically talking about are: SEO, CSS, JAVA, webtrends among others. The group that I supported did hire (and would have hired more if I could have found them), recent college grads that had these skill sets.

How could you have found them?
1. do you check corporate career sites? do you check ads on Linked In? What you should be looking for is either "Entry Level" (obviously) or 2-3 years experience.
2. have the ability to relocate for these jobs. We posted an entry level marketing position in our offices in CT and got very few applicants. How can this be when there are tons of unemployed job seekers and an open entry level marketing position? Figure out how to move for a year or two so you can be the one to get this valuable experience.

So what can you learn from this? If you have the right skill set and it says 2 years, apply for it. It means that the company is open to very junior people and they hire someone junior and good if they can get the salary low enough that makes sense financially. And don't just apply. Find someone who knows someone and get someone to give you a positive word. Dig in and see if an ad is posted for the position. Is the internal recruiter listed? I always had my email address posted with ads but I didn't get any direct inquiries. Show me you're aggressive.

Can you move for that great entry level job? The CT office isn't in a high rent area. Could you move so you could get the experience?

I'll be coming back to my blog progression soon, but I wanted to write about these few things before I forgot about them.

Appropriate Behavior for College Job Fairs and on-campus interviews!

2013-01-08T17:45:00.000-08:00

Part 7

Appropriate Behavior for College Job Fairs and on-campus interviews!

I’m deviating from the natural progression of this self-help blog based on a recent conversation I had with someone who works as a company HR representative to college fairs and on-campus recruitment interviews.

He mentioned to me how horrified he was about the lack of training on college campuses to help students really know how to navigate the interview process and really importantly, appropriate behavior from during these interviews or fair encounters. Some of the students came across as cocky, belligerent, entitled and completely not knowledgeable how who they were talking to and the company the person represented.

Since this is such an important point and really goes to the heart of any interaction for a job, I thought I should write about it now.

What I’m about to say applies to college students who are going to fairs or applying to interview with individual companies who are visiting their campus. It also applies to recent college grads that are going out on first interview and/or attending fairs.

1. Do not go on an on-campus interview if you:

A. Have no interest in the company (for example, working at Apple is not appealing to you because you hate their products and the way they dominate the marketplace)

B. Do not have the qualification to work at that company (if Apple only hires MBAs or engineers and I am not either and do not intend on becoming either, don’t waste people’s time).

C. Know that the types of positions that this company hires for would not be something you’d like to do (I don’t want to work at Apple because they don’t have any creative marketing positions).

D. Is not in a geographic area that you’d move to (I’d never move to Cupertino, CA).

2. Know all the above because you’ve already researched the company before you decided to pursue. You’ve looked at their website and open positions—and looked at what is currently in the news regarding the company.

3. The same thing goes for job fairs—know what companies will be attending and then research who you’d like to talk to based on the above criteria.

4. Treat these fairs and interviews as if you’d actually like to work for these companies, meaning take do everything possible to try to “get the job.”

5. That means dress appropriately (Business casual is always a safe bet—I’ll write about this is future posts but look it up if you don’t understand).

6. That means be prepared with resumes and any other appropriate samples (writers bring writing samples; artist art; etc).

7. Treat each encounter as a job interview—you are there to impress. Let the company take the lead in the interview. You should have questions prepared and the interviewer will most likely give you time to ask them. Most of the company reps are internal HR people and they are looking to fill entry level or management trainee positions. Some will be there to recruit for specific things such as engineers.

8. Never, ever take the position of “what can you do for me” or “what do you have.” They are there to sell their company; you are there to sell yourself. If you are so valuable that a bidding war will happen, good for you. But handle yourself with maturity and appropriate behavior. The days of the entitled are over. Finding a job is tough stuff—personality and attitude do matter. If getting the position falls between two people who are almost equal in qualifications, the person who is liked will get the job (frankly, even if qualifications fall closer to 60/40 and the 40% person is much better liked, they will get the job).

9. Follow up. Get business cards and e-contact info for the people you’ve met. Send a thank your for time note, re-send your resume, and let them know why they should hire you. If you’ve not had all your questions answered, ask them now.

Coming up with some additional questions to show that you’ve thought about the company should also help.

10. If you have already created a Linked In network, see if you know anyone at that company. If you do, evaluate if you think they can help you. What I mean by that is: is this someone you know directly? Can you contact them and ask them to put in a good word? If it is a secondary contact, can you ask your contact to do that for you? See if there is any in-direct link to the company person that you can use. If someone already works in the company sends a “this kid is great” note, the HR will take note. You have been approved and validated in their mind. HR is also judged by the type of person brought in and if someone can vouch for you, they will be more likely to choose you over someone else.

How Recent College Grads can use Linked In

2013-01-01T11:48:00.003-08:00

Part 6

How to turn your resume into a Linked In Profile

Linked In has become an unbelievable resource for job seekers, corporations looking to fill positions, people who want to network and an online database of millions of people who let the world know who they are and what they do. Never before has so much professional information available to anyone and everyone.

If you are applying for a job, having you profile in order is as important as your resume. And the profile should closely follow the resume but with Linked In you actually have more opportunity on your profile to creatively highlight features of who you are and what you can do. Where there are “strict” rules about how to put a resume together, Linked in really allows for much more creativity—even just putting a nice professional, friendly picture of yourself on your profile.

Note: I’ve decided not to discuss about me pages because I don’t know enough about them and don’t really know anyone at a professional level who used them).

The best strategy to start using Linked In is simple: sign up, create a profile--then see who you know that you will connect to you, and start building your network. Join Groups that interest you—you can get connections that way. Ask family and their friends if they can connect. There are people who will link to anyone and everyone—find them and connect. If you send me a connection and refer to my blog or Infobarrel, I’ll connect with you—that will give you thousands of connections to start with.

Then start doing searches and find people who are just like you—similar background, similar career goals. Find people who have the job you want—see what they have to say about themselves—look at how they entered the job market. See how they positioned themselves. See what words they’ve used to describe themselves. Words are free and can’t be owned or plagiarized. All resumes are compilations of what other people have said, perhaps organized or displayed differently. Note: you can also use this stuff in your profile and resume so go back and revise it after you’ve done this research.

After you’ve gotten something decent together, start playing. See who went to your college and graduated with your major—what are they doing now? I bet they’d link to you if you sent a personal note (Hi Joe, I just graduated from blah university with a degree in journalism and I’m looking to build my professional network…). If you can’t link to them because they aren’t a connection, consider purchasing “inmails” and see how well they work.

Your Linked In profile is a work in progress that can be changed and improved whenever you want or acquire a new skill. You can use it in many ways as a business tool to market yourself. In terms of finding your first job, here are some specific ideas:

1. Use the slideshow tool to showcase something that you’ve written that might be impressive—even if it’s spec work.

2. If you have a blog, link it to your profile so people can see it.

3. Participate in groups by asking good questions and providing insights.

4. Ask people if they’d be willing to have a brief phone conversation with you about entering a specific job marketing—what skills are needed, etc. Have specific questions in mind.

5. Be careful with this but asking people within certain companies if they’d introduce you to an HR person because you know that the has a position open that you are qualified to do.

Never before have so many people become so accessible. Use this tool well and wisely.

Why I have a Blogger Account

2012-12-24T11:09:00.001-08:00

Having recently found Smartpassiveincome.com, I decided to really start to write the content I been only talking about writing. I want to help college students and soon be grads navigate the job search process. SP (short for Smartpassiveincome....) suggests that an easy way for people to overcome inertia is to start with creating an infobarrel account and accumulate content there. I thought it was a brilliant idea--it would get me going and I could write in small amounts when I felt like it and/or had time. I gave myself a goal of one article a week that more or less I've stuck to.

My true intent, in addition to truly wanting to help students, was to see how much passive google adsense income I could generate, thinking I could really become an amazon affiliate if I got more popular (I certainly could do links to appropriate clothing sites...). I first tried to link an adsense account to what I consider my professional blog (ellenweber. wordpress.com) and I didn't get anywhere, but really what I wanted was to link to Infobarrel but didn't have any content when I started so I tried to get everything going with my wordpress blog. I went into the Infobarrell website for instructions on linking and followed them. I didn't end up linking and found that google didn't approve many infobarrel people anyway.

I then realized, that google in all it's dominance, makes it easy only if you have one of their blog accounts. So, I cut and paste my infobarrel content to this site google Blogger site that you are on now. The content comes from: http://www.infobarrel.com/Users/LNWebr. I had planned to set up a wordpress site for this specifically (I already had started one before...), but figured that Blogger was fine and if it made it easier to do what I wanted, so be it.

Let's see how this works.

Resume Writing

2012-12-24T10:55:00.002-08:00

Part 5 Resume Writing

Think of your resume as a continuous work in progress that can and should be changed when you: 1. Add skills, education, etc 2. Think of a better way to say something that you said before 3. Forgot something you didn’t say before 4. Didn’t realize that something you did would be pertinent to a job you are now applying for.

We started with the address and moved to the title in my last post—talked about how no one cares about your objective. Now we’ve gotten to the next part of the resume.

Many young people will put their education next. Unless you have no work experience at all, or you went to Harvard, education should be at the end (and if you went to Harvard—good for you—but since most people didn’t, they might find it offensive or bragging. So almost always, put it last).

The top part of your resume is really important. It’s the opportunity to bullet point skills, highlight accomplishment and generally tell people why you’re good, not just where you have worked. It also may be the only area that someone looks at and if it doesn’t have some skill or experience they are looking for, they will likely move on to the next one.

A standard format after name and title is a brief summary followed by bullet pointed skill set and then some specific highlights of accomplishments.

So it would look something like this;

Senior Level Digital Strategy Exectuive

Accomplished and seasoned Strategy and implementation specialist with an eye on the bottom line and conversion to sales. Adept at writing long boring copy that may or may not interest anyone reading this resume but need to put something of value so they’ll consider me for this spot.

· Expert level omniture, site-catalyst, google adwords

· Advanced analytic capability using SAS and other like software

· Excellent presenter and communicator of difficult to understand concepts

· Data expert with….

· Strong ability to get along with others and play in the sandbox

(this generally looks good in two columns but my word processing skills aren’t good enough for this).

After this bullet pointed skill portion of the resume, you might have (or be able to legitimately make-up) specific accomplishment you can highlight in at this time. For example:

· Help xyz company increase leads 120% in my time running the strategy group

· Increased sales by 200% over a two year period

· Able to grow account 120% with in my tenure in this position

· Responsible for a data migration to a new system in a six month period

· Financial analysis was able to save my company $100million dollars

Since you’re new to the job market, it’s obvious that your skill set and accomplishments will be more humble. But you can still use the format to show your skills and accomplishments. For example,

-was able in a six month internship to research and evaluate market competitors that lead to companywide savings, etc.

The next part of the resume should be a clean chronology with company, title, location, dates—followed by job description and more accomplishments if you’ve not listed them in the above section. For example:

The Best Advertising Agency, New York, NY Summer 2012

Associate Account Executive (internship)

Responsible for day to day operation of the Blah Bank business. Specific duties included: competitive analysis using SAS, review of strategy and creative, writing in-depth recommendations to increase sales.

· Was able to help client increase sales 35% while working on the business

· Streamlined internal process to help make more efficient and move faster

Do this for all related jobs you’ve had. Education and specific qualifications should follow at the end.

There are lots of templates out there including Microsoft word. There is no reason not to use them, especially if you are “bullet and column challenged” as I am.

Next we’ll get into how to convert this to Linked In and About Me.

Starting to Get Your Resume together

2012-12-24T10:54:00.003-08:00

Part 4

Starting to get your Resume/Linked In profile/About Me together

Hopefully by this point you have started to amass some job skills, whether it’s specific software skills or more loosey goosey type skills such as “good with people.” Depending on what you want to do, you’ll likely need a combo of both. If you are IT or Analytical and can’t have a conversation with someone and can’t present to a group in a cohesive way, a management position in that area is not going to be for you. You’ll be considered a back-room player—which is fine, but your progression will stop at a certain point. (that doesn’t mean that the money will stop—think about how much back room actuaries earn…) And if you are a good manager and people person, you’ll need a skill set behind you to be able to move to the next step.

What I want to do now is to help you formulate your skill set into something that is easy to read, looks good and will help explain who are you are to people who will be looking at a sheet of paper.

1. The top of your resume. The only reason I bring this up is because many of you will be applying for jobs while you are in college and may not apply in the area that your family lives (ie you want to work in NYC for the summer or permanently—your family lives in Ohio—you are in school in Florida). In this case, you need to put only your name, phone number and email address (and a professional blog address if you have one).

If you’re trying for that NYC job, the company will want to know that you’ve figured out where to live so if you have a local address put it as part of the top. Putting one in Ohio will be turn-off some people (“I don’t want to deal with an intern/new hire who now has to figure out where to live….”). You want people to think that working with you is easy, not difficult—that you’ve figured out how to get where you want to work and how to live. If you don’t have an address, then talk about your situation in a cover letter. Even if it’s a full-time job, you want the company to know that you’ve figured out your living situation or can figure it before you start. You can do that by saying I can start with two week’s notice—and then figure out how to sleep on someone’s couch or get a quick temporary apartment share.

The next part of your resume should basically be a short summary preceded by a title. Your resume will be looked at quickly so you want to make the most impact as fast as possible. Generally HR people and recruiters look at the top of a resume first to see where you live, then go to the end to see where and when you went to college, and then will go back again to the beginning to see if it says anything related to what they are looking for.

So if you give yourself a title, you are capturing a moment where you are best able to position yourself in the readers mind. Your level and experience will define the title. My title is Senior Level Executive Recruiter and Talent Acquisition Specialist. When I worked in advertising it would have been Seasoned Advertising Account Executive, if I was in IT I would say Senior IT Professional with Financial services Experience. You can say something like Junior Copywriter or Social Media Strategist—as long as you have something to back it up and you’re not lying, it’s okay.

So look at this:

Brandon H. Quillian

646-822-2678

Brandonh@gmal.com

Copyblog.wordpress.com

Social Media Strategist

The next part of your resume can be a short summary and then some bullet pointed skills that highlight what you can do. The one thing that you don’t want to put on your resume is an objective. A “I’m looking to work….” Portion is not going to help you get a job. Companies don’t really want to know what you want to do, they want to know how you are going to help them achieve their goals. At some point in your career they will pay more attention to what you want, but not until you become a valued employee and a company wants to make you happy and not leave.

My next post will be the skill section and the rest of the resume.