Many bands and other online personalities have established and earned online fame and cult followings with compelling YouTube videos (think “Annoying Orange“). Why not create one of your own in the form of a video resume? It’s not hard to do, and a quick, ninety-second recitation about you, your accomplishments, and your professional goals is a terrific way to set yourself apart from other candidates. It can be as easy as sitting in front of your computer and recording with the webcam on it, then saving and uploading the video to YouTube.

Keep in mind that behind only Google, YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine.  So if you want to make sure that your career credentials can get in front of the right people, consider creating a brief video resume.  Here are a few suggestions:

• Dress professionally.
• Rehearse what you have to say – and if you are recording your video resume in front of your computer, you can even have bullet points up to talk from.
• Keep your discussion brief and to the point:  what you core skill sets are, what you are qualified to do (or interested in doing), and what you bring to the table.
• Keep it to 90 seconds or less.
• Finally, if you have some basic video editing skills, post the easiest way to contact you as fade out at the end of the video.  When you have convinced people that you are qualified, give them a call to action:  contacting you.

A quick YouTube search for “my video resume” returned 30,500 results. On the first page of search results, I found “My Awesome Video Resume” by Justin McNurdo. He begins his video with a blank screen, providing only his name and phone number, and then, in a very funny way, a narrator talks about Justin’s work attributes (this may well be a parody, but it’s still funny and effective).  It’s worth having a look at even to formulate how you may want yours to be different.

Mark

This is a cross post of an article that I wrote for NextGenJournal on July 22, 2012 in response to Cathryn Sloan’s piece “Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25.”

‘Nuff said.

====================================

I am the Angry Old Guy representative, folks.

I’m the 47 year-old social media professional who read Cathryn Sloan’s piece on Friday “Why Every Social Media Manager Should be Under 25” and was angered by its content. Angered enough to comment – twice, as well as to read through what are the now more than 400 comments. Like many of you, I probably used words in writing that I may have tempered more were Cathryn standing in front of me.

I’m a guy who followed the debate and also read and commented on Connor Toohill’s own piece “On the Controversy: Cathryn Sloane’s Social Media Article” that appeared the day after. And was still irritated because it seemed somewhat tone-deaf.

But you know what? I’m tired of being mad or offended at the piece and am going to try to make good by the 30 or 40 or 50-something social media pioneers, the generation that was not, as written by Cathryn, “up close and personal with all these developments [and]…the ones who can best predict, execute, and utilize the finest developments to come.” I’m going to offer up some observations and lessons learned that will hopefully dampen the controversy and let us get back to what many of us do well – regardless of our ages – design, develop and execute successful social media campaigns.

Why me?

Why am I the self-appointed messenger, the Last Angry Man? Well, in short, I was there. I emailed Connor, offering this article, and despite the venom that he undoubtedly has received of late, he responded immediately and cheerfully. Good on you, Connor.

Second, the perspective that I offer is one of a soon-to-be 48 year-old male who started in what was not called social media in 1997 and has progressed up to being new media director for a large government agency. I have taught and mentored people Cathryn’s age as a professor at Georgetown University and the University of Maryland, University College and I have just finished a book that will be published on September 1, 2012, “Starting Your Career as a Social Media Manager.” It is 250 pages of career advice for aspiring social media professionals. So yeah, I think I got this.

What Cathryn Got Wrong

It’s time to turn the corner on the negative comments on Cathryn’s piece (there are more than 400 of them as I write this), but Cathryn, you got two major things wrong. First, you confused familiarity with using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter with the ability to turn that into offering actionable, solid communications advice for internal or external clients. There is a BIG difference between posting Facebook Timeline updates and telling General Motors what to do with their own social media presence in the midst of a crisis. Or a trade association. Or even the boutique down the street. Moreover, you will have to explain and sell social media wherever you go, and that means having enough savvy to turn your knowledge of the tool into a strategy and set of tactics that resonates for someone higher-up than you. And then make it work not for 25 year-olds, but for whomever the target market of your employer is. THAT comes from experience.

Second, comments like “the seemingly obvious importance of incorporating comforting social aspects into professional usage seems to go over several companies’ heads” is pretty incendiary because you intimate that younger people could do a better job, that we fuddy-duddies just don’t get it. Of my peer group, many of the smartest and most experienced social media professionals are in their 40s. “Experience” is the key part of that last sentence because it is accumulated from a career based upon learning, trial and error, success and failure. You try, you learn, you apply, you move on. There is no substitute for experience.

Moving On

I am moving on from the controversy and humbly suggest that others do as well. Connor, I appreciate the chance to offer a different perspective, but I hope that you understand that when an online crisis hits, people don’t want to hear from someone else, they want to hear from the person at the center of the crisis. I don’t know if Cathryn was willing to offer up a second post, but I can guarantee you plenty of eyeballs if she decides to write a follow up piece. It’s part of the learning process. She screwed up and when you do (especially on the Internet, which we know is forever), she should write a piece that apologizes, furthers her point of view and creates another record that future potential employers can read – hopefully one that will be well-written, concise and show some understanding of the firestorm that she created.

My big idea

Many of us in my generation (a lot of folks led off their post with their age and experience) and who used “young lady” in our comments likely have children. Maybe children Cathryn’s age. What would you want for your child if she made a mistake? I would advise my daughter to explain her point of view, apologize and then tell the offended people to move on. I think that the original article was off base and offensive, but I am moving on. I think that Connor’s follow-up piece was well intentioned, but still a little tone deaf and came from the wrong person. But I am moving on. With a suggestion.

Rather than (as I did, admittedly), firing off angry comments that are the equivalent of telling the young kids to get off your lawn, how about contacting her (she’s on LinkedIn and Twitter) and offering her some career counsel, an internship or a job – where she can learn, first-hand and in a controlled environment – where her views are so woefully wrong. There is no substitute for experience and the social media pioneer generation of which I am a part has quite a bit of time-tested wisdom to impart. Turning a negative into a positive and showing Cathryn how it’s really done is better than telling her that her career just went up in flames. Just a thought, but do we, as the pioneer social media generation have a responsibility to ensure that this sort of view does not take hold? I hope so.

And Cathryn: I am pretty sure that you will read this, so I will lead by example: contact me at mark@startingacareerinsocialmedia.com and I will do what I can to help you understand why this has all gone so terribly wrong.

Mark

Liz Strauss guested posted on Ragan.com on July 17th with her piece, “27 things to know before you work in social media,” one in which she describes her life working in social media:

I use social media tools to work on SOBCon with @Starbucker, to build communities and brand visibility for clients, to write blog posts, and to curate content for people with similar interests. Social tools are business development, customer service, marketing, PR, community building, change management, and leadership—all at the speed of the Internet.”

There are some things on this list to like, and other things that I think overstate the bad.

Liz offers a good – and extensive – list, but it reads like someone who has some social media burnout.  Most of the 27 reasons are negative or things that could cause one frustration.  it’s a real tip-off as to the tone of the piece when she kicks off the list by writing:

The problem with working in social media is that:”

“Problem in working in social media is that…?  You know a vent is coming after a statement like that.

Of the 27 items on the list, among those that I agree with include:

• You’ll have to be multi-lingual, speaking and translating between two vocabularies—that of the social media culture and that of the people who’ve little to no experience with it.
• You’ll have to figure out how to measure something that traditionally hasn’t been measured and to explain why those measurements are valid. You’ll need goals, tools to match the goals, and reasonable expectations. Without history, that’s hard to do.
• Some folks will believe impressions, eyeballs, and broadcasts are the best use of the tools.

My issue with the rest of the post is that I think it’s pretty negative:  working in social media can be hard, but it doesn’t always suck.  It can be fulfilling and exciting, too.  Many of the 27 items that are listed (that I am sure were designed to give an unvarnished view of a social media job) talk about the difficulities you may encounter.  But you will find positive aspects out of a career in social media as well.  I’ve listed a few of Liz’s items with a few comments of my own:

Liz said:

Social media work isn’t glamorous.”

I would describe very few jobs as “glamorous,” but if you are intellectually curious, want to stay on top of things  and work in a profession in which the only constant is change, social media may be for you.

When you do social business well, it looks easy. But it’s not, and no one will care how hard it was.”

No one?  This is an over reach. “No one” caring means your supervisors, co-workers and audience.  I think that if you are good at social media, someone will care.  Maybe not every time you tweet, but when you do something special, someone who matters will notice.

If you build a strong public presence, your mistakes will be public, too.”

What Liz says is true, but it’s the same thing if you issue a press release with a typo or a misquote.  Or if you say something stupid to a reporter.  Any public-facing job can have public mistakes.

Finally,

You’ll find most folks have a different sense of urgency, which will change as they experience the speed of the Internet.”

Not so much.  My experience has taught me that the speed at which other people want to happen is a function of their jobs.  Oftentimes, you’ll find someone jumping up and down to push you to get something out on Facebook or Twitter and either a) be held up by your communications or legal staff, or b) the message itself will be important really only to the sender and not to your followers in social media.

I could go on, but read the post  It’s not bad, but reads like someone who had a bad day and came up with 27 reasons to vent.

Image source:  Lifehacker.

In a January 2012 study, “An Examination of How Social Media Is Embedded in Business Strategy and Operations,” the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) came up with some interesting findings concerning what your career might look like working within an organization:

• In which department will you end up working? Marketing (35 percent), information technology (IT) (17 percent), human resources (14 percent) and management (corporate/senior) (14 percent) were the groups most likely to lead their organization’s social media activities.
  Takeaway: If you end up working in marketing (communications designed to help generate revenue), you focus will probably be on raising the company’s social media profile to make money. If you end up in IT, you may focus on more technical aspects of social media, rather than communications or messaging. Finally, if you end up reporting to management or senior executives, you may have more leverage in the organization when acting as their representative.
• Who is actively using social media? Overall, 12 percent of organizations indicated they employ at least one full-time employee, such as a social media director or officer, who is dedicated to the organization’s social media efforts.
  Takeaway: This is an area that is ripe for growth and indicates that while many organizations dabble in social media, precious few have dedicated the manpower and human capital to develop strategies, tactics, and presumably measurement metrics.
• What about social media strategy? More than 28 percent of organizations have a social media strategy. Larger organizations—those with 500 to 2,499 employees (35 percent), 2,500 to 24,999 employees (38 percent), and 25,000 or more employees (54 percent), and firms with multinational locations (37 percent) were more likely to have a social media strategy than smaller firms and those with US-based operations.
  Takeaway: Clearly, the larger your employer is, the better chance that it will have a social media strategy, presumably developed by social media practitioners, and this means opportunities. Chances are, however, you will begin your career in a small business, defined as one that produces less than $7 million in annual revenue[[ii]]. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses employ half of all private sector employees, have generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past seventeen years, and hire 43 percent of high tech workers (scientists, engineers, computer programmers, and others). You may well end up in a small business with few (or no) staff dedicated to social media. This presents a tremendous opportunity for job growth as well as the opportunity to define your own job.
• Will your work be governed by an official social media policy? Overall, 40 percent of organizations have a formal social media policy. Smaller organizations (99 or fewer employees) were less likely to have a policy compared with organizations with 100 or more employees.
  Takeaway: You will probably not only have a say in developing the strategies and tactics that formulate a social media outreach program, as the in-house expert and working with others, you will likely have a seat at the table when developing an official social media policy.

If 88 percent of companies do not employ a full-time social media practitioner, this, more than any other statistic, presents a compelling opportunity for those starting a career in social media. As I noted in chapter 1, “Making the Choice,” the explosion of social media platforms will compel many companies to begin to use social media: Seventy-one percent of companies use Facebook, 59 percent use Twitter, 50 percent use blogs, 33 percent use YouTube, 33 percent use message boards, and an anticipated 43 percent of companies will employ a corporate blog in 2012. Someone will need to know how to use these platforms in a professional manner to help companies achieve their communications objectives. There are too many companies moving forward quickly and a dearth of professionals devoted to the practice. That professional could be you.

Meghan Casserly, a Forbes staff writer, has just written a piece full of some really bad advice.  Sometimes, I read things and run straight to my computer to Stop The Madness.  This is one of those times.

In the June 14 article “Social Media And The Job Hunt: Squeaky-Clean Profiles Need Not Apply,” Meghan postulates that the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of entry and junior-level candidates “scrubbing” their Facebook pages, removing party pictures and replacing them with bland profile information.  For her, it’s time for candidates to put some personality back into their Facebook profiles, the profiles that can be found by potential employers.

Why should candidates stray from the recommended, cautious profile to the now more open view?

“But with all of the common wisdom floating around the web (and this site) on how careful job seekers must be about curating (read: editing) their social presence online, it seems to be that our advice might have crossed over from helpful to problematic.”

Problematic?  How’s that, Meghan?

She cites the example of a young friend whose job it is to screen candidates for a recruitment firm for entry-to-mid level positions in financial and legal arena in New York City.  First, the person doing the preliminary screening with your career in her hands is 21 years old, but second, it would appear that those candidates who have followed the conventional wisdom and have ensured that potentially embarrassing party photos do not show up go to the bottom of the resume pile.  Yep:

“’There’s a sense that a profile with no character has probably been scraped of some racy stuff or else the person has no social skills and won’t fit in.’” Either way, she says, that candidate has been moved to the bottom of the pile.”

There is so much wrong with this that I am not sure where to start:

1. Rather than thinking that someone has “no social skills,” what about thinking that the individual has some good discretion?  I shudder to think of what would have appeared on my Facebook page were it in existence when I was in college in he 1980s, but it would have been bad.  And hopefully, I would have had the common sense to either lock down my privacy settings or scrub my profile.  For today’s candidates, this does not mean the person is likely a wet blanket; it means that she has good judgment.  And I like hiring people with good judgment.
2. What do you do if you can’t find any information at all on Facebook?  My mouth runs way too much, so my profile is locked down like Fort Knox.  Does that mean that I am not a hipster and am not on Facebook?  Or could it perhaps demonstrate that what appears (LinkedIn, my blogs) is what I want people to see?  And that I am smart enough to control public perception of me?
3. Since for this 21 year-old screener, Facebook is an important marker of a potential fit, what about mistaken identity?  My name is pretty uncommon, but she is looking at resumes in the largest metropolitan area in the United States.  What is your name is “John Smith” and you studied at the City College of New York?  And the other John Smith’s Facebook profile is something that would turn off the person doing the screening?  Either racist diatribes or the dreaded “bland” profile?  How to do make sure you’ve got the right John Smith?
4. Finally, Meghan writes that her 21 year-old friend’s  “…bosses seem impressed with her comfort with the technology and are pleased with her vetting of new hires, but she describes the task as akin to ‘stalking crushes on Facebook,’ something she’s ‘gotten embarrassingly good at in college.’”  This 21 year-old is not making candidate screening positions based upon a solid knowledge of the inner workings of her employer.  She is making career-altering decisions for people on behalf of other employers.  One cannot have a true sense of the culture of a firm without working there, let alone performing “stalking crushes” that have concrete career ramifications for candidates without a firm understanding of the employing firm’s culture.  I would bet that there are as many firms who would be horrified at party/keg stand pictures as those who think that, as the article states, the person has “no social skills.”  And by the way, what pictures are appropriate and which cross the line?  And who gets to make that call?

To me – and still – entry-level and junior candidates should either very carefully look at their Facebook profiles and remove items that they are not comfortable sharing (some people simply don’t care about the impact that a keg stand picture would have, and that’s fine) not lock down their Facebook pages so only friends can see select information.   It’s common sense.  Common freaking sense.

That’s why I am so horrified at the content of this article.  Judgment is gained with experience and that’s why junior-level candidates competing in a crappy enconomy should err on the side of caution.. So I think it’s terrible advice, Megan.  And 21 year-old screener?  Maybe instead of the applicant with no party pictures having “no social skills,” she just has really good judgment.

Mark

Image source:  Global Voices Online

I write about it in the book, but one of the best, yet least high-tech resources to find communications and social media jobs is “Ned’s Job of the Week,”  a “free email networking newsletter for professional communicators started way back at the beginning of the 21st century and attracted a cult following of more than 10,000 readers.”

I get Ned’s email every Monday morning, so from time to time, I’ll cull social media job openings from Ned’s list and post them here.

Here are a few from today, Monday, June 18, 2012:

1)   Part-time Online Communications Coord./Asst., The Children’s Inn at NIH, Bethesda, MD

Organization Profile:
The Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health is a residential ”place like home” for sick children and their families. Children come from across the country and around the world to stay together with their families in The Inn’s healing environment while receiving groundbreaking medical treatments at the NIH, the world’s leading biomedical research center. While the NIH takes care of the child’s medical needs, The Inn tends to the child’s heart, soul and spirit. Since opening in 1990, more than 10,000 families have stayed at The Inn, free of charge.

Position Overview:
The Online Communications Asst./Coord. will play a key role in all facets of The Inn’s online communications work including maintaining and updating the organization’s website, creating and sending monthly eNews updates and assisting the Media Relations Manager with creating content for social media. For more information, visit here.

2) Senior Web Designer, AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, Columbia, SC

Senior Web Designer – AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, a growing agricultural lender with over $30 billion in assets, is seeking an experienced Senior Web Designer. This position will work with bank IT staff and the marketing graphic design team to design, develop and maintain associations and bank websites. The Senior Web Designer will work closely with associations’ marketing managers to plan and develop websites that meet their business goals and objectives. In addition, the Senior Web Designer will research, recommend and implement features and functions to enhance membership growth and awareness including new e-commerce initiatives and social media involvement. This position will be responsible for analyzing search engine optimization (SEO) andwebsite statistics to accurately track, communicate and provide recommendations on traffic, usage rates, visibility and awareness.

Requirements:

• Minimum of Bachelor Degree in Business, Computer Science or Web Design preferred.
• Minimum of five years Web Developer / Designer experience a must with the following background:
• Familiarity with content management systems (CMS)
• Advanced knowledge of XHTML, CSS, and illustration with Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Illustrator with formal training an asset.
• Experience in developing proof-of-concepts and wireframes of easy to navigate user interfaces (UI) that consist of web pages with graphics,icons and color schemes that are visually appealing. Ensures that applications are compatible across multiple computing platforms and browsers.
• Excellent communication skills required.

Grade and salary commensurate with experience. AgFirst offers an EXCELLENT benefit package, competitive salary, smoke free work environment, and business casual dress. EEO – M/W/D/V. Apply at: http://agfirst.balancetrak.com.

3) Social Media Manager, Archdiocese of San Francisco, San Francisco.  The Social Media Manager will implement and continue the development of the Archdiocese Social Media, developing awareness of the Archdiocese and its mission, generating inbound traffic and encouraging communication and evangelization on all social network sites.  This role coordinates with the social media presence of the Archbishop and other archdiocesan officials, coordinates and collaborates with the departments and offices of the archdiocesan pastoral center in solidifying their presence in the networking world.  More.

4)  Community Specialist – Social Media, Discovery Communications, São Paulo, Brazil

The Community Specialist is the face of the brand, managing communications in both directions. This digital-savvy communicator is responsible for content creation for all Social Media platforms and focused on developing relationships that ultimately build the brand’s communities in order to increase consumer’s engagement. He/she is also focused on driving web referrals to our properties and drive tune-in to our networks while maintaining a balance that ensures and fosters a successful social media experience. Requires a highly detail oriented, organized and assertive individual with excellent communications skills who thrives in fast-paced, ever-changing environment.

Responsibilities:

Content creation – writing posts (messaging) and exclusive content/materials for social media use. Own the social media calendar and alignment with network and digital departments
Creating, managing and growing the company’s presence through Twitter, Facebook, and other strategically relevant SM properties
Be the eyes and ears of our brand, thus reporting key and relevant information to programming, research and marketing departments for optimization
Analyze campaigns and translate anecdotal or qualitative data into recommendations and plans for revising the social media campaigns.
Work with community manager to create local social media strategy, as well as, fan/follower acquisition plan to meet our growth objectives
Moderation of communities and crisis management when required
Execution of SM campaigns and/or activations on our SM properties
Achieve high levels of engagement of in our communities and focus on tactics that sustain these beyond program publicity

Requirements:

* Has work experience or training in advertising, PR, online marketing or similar field

* Highly detailed oriented and organized with keen ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously in very fast-paced environment

* Strong knowledge of social networks and best practices

* A passion for Discovery, television and the media industry

* Excels at research, possesses excellent writing skills and the ability to crank editorial and technical writing output without brooding.

* Demonstrated creativity and documented immersion in social media

* Knowledge of search engine optimization-think including basic keyword research. We name and tag our posts based on research

Happy hunting!

Mark

Much of my book deals with preparing yourself for a career in social media and much of that is for people who are students.

While there are still precious few programs that teach pure social media and offer hand-on experience, when you are  a student, internships are important – and many college students do their internships during the summer.

The infographic below from Bachelor’s Degree Online (I know, I hate infographics, but this one is cool) deals with how college students should spend their time during the summers, from blowing off the world working at Grotto’s Pizza at the beach to internships to making money at a “real job” during the senior summer.

It’s a interesting read and also implicitly underscores the important of using time off during school to get a jump start on a career.

Mark

Presented By: BachelorsDegreeOnline.com

The nice thing about having a January publication deadline is that I get time to think about things that I may have overlooked when writing the book.  There are those occasional #facepalm moments in which I am seized by a firm grasp of the obvious, brought to my attention by someone else.  This is one of those moments.

In the June 7 ResumeWriting.com post “Jobseekers Forget About Craigslist At Their Peril,”  the author reminds me that Craig’s List is still a terrific resource for job listings in social media.  Unlike more prominent sources like Monster.com or Indeed.com that cost a company money, it’s free to post a job on Craig’s List.

The advantages of using this as a resource include the fact that:

• It’s hyper-local.  People from Columbus, Ohio are unlikely to be applying for jobs in Washington, DC.  The pool of people against whom you are competing is smaller.
• It’s still hip.  My experience has been that many of the smaller, boutique social media agencies are still using Craig’s List to post job openings.  I searched in Washington, DC for “social media” in job openings and the results included 43 jobs posted in the last seven days.  That’s significant.  Not all of them were spot-on, but 43 is a pretty big number.  I get that DC is a large market, but it’s still a healthy amount.
• Direct access.  When you respond to a Craig’s List job, you are, in essence, having an email conversation with the person who posted the opening.  My sense is that other, larger platform involve having your information dumped into a database.  I much prefer the conversational aspect to it.
• It shows that your potential employer gets social media.  Craig’s List is about as low-tech as you can get, but it’s s niche.  Those who use it for recruiting are much more likely to have an understanding of online, its impact and where the talented people are online.

The jobs that I have encountered on Craig’s List tend to be junior and mid-level, so I am not sure that I would recommend it for more senior job-seekers.  But if you are starting your career in social media, it’s a resource.

You have to start somewhere in your career, and it’s often a really good idea to begin your career in social media (or something approximating it) using the services of a temp firm.

Temp firms work like this:  they have jobs that last from a few hours to several months and serve as the broker between you and the company that needs you.  I know a fair amount about this because I worked in the field for almost ten years.

The advantage for both employer and employee is that you get to try each other out:  will the employer think that you have the ability and skills to be an effective member of their team, contributing to their social media efforts?  And from your perspective:  do you like the work, the culture and the people?  Temporary assignments, although they do not offer the security of a permanent job (at least initially) often offer benefits like health insurance and are a great way to take a job for a test drive.  You can gain exposure to a variety of companies and employers, hone your skills, learn about different aspects of what you are trying to do and most importantly, gain valuable job experience.

Finally, using a temp agency can reduce the job search pressure that you may feel.  Usually, your only interview is with the temp agency itself.  They assess your background and skills and make the decision to place you in a job.  It’s one interview, and from a successful interview, you get put on a list of candidates for multiple jobs that come in.  It’s that easy.

Top 10 Tips for Finding Temp Work and Contract Gigs

1. Understand how agencies work. Temp firms put people on their payrolls and then send them into short-term temporary assignments that could be either part-time or full-time. Temp agencies withhold taxes, Social Security and unemployment from a worker’s paycheck, like any other employer.
2. “Temp” and “contract employee” could mean the same thing. Some agencies call low-paid, administrative or light-industrial jobs that require little or no training “temp” jobs and higher-paid, managerial or white-collar jobs “contract” jobs. Regardless of the term, the individuals are employees of the temp agency.
3. Not all contractors are alike. Contractors who work through temp agencies shouldn’t be confused with independent contractors who set their own hours, use their own equipment and bill a company directly for their services.
4. Not all temp firms are alike. The temporary staffing industry has grown tremendously in recent years. As a result, it’s possible to find agencies specializing in specific industries, locations or job seekers–including blue-collar workers, doctors, lawyers and upper-level managers.
5. Don’t sign on with the first agency you visit. You wouldn’t go to work for just any company. The same holds for temp agencies. Visit several to find a good fit.
6. Use the opportunity to polish your resume and interviewing skills. If you haven’t looked for a job in a while, use your staffing agency appointment to freshen up your resume and interviewing skills.
7. Play the field. There’s nothing wrong with signing up with multiple agencies. The more firms you register with, the more likely you’ll get work.
8. Some work is better than none. Take whatever temp work is offered, even if it’s not exactly what you want to do long term. A temp assignment is a good way to keep your work history current, and that gives you a psychological edge with future employers.
9. Treat a temp job like a real job. Some people go into a temp placement thinking they don’t have to do their best because they’re short-timers. But that’s shortsighted, Renick says. Show up every day. Be on time. Stick it out until the end of an assignment.
10. Hard work pays off. “If you’re a star, it [may] lead to a full-time position.”

Most social media jobs, however, are not those for which you can slide in a person for a few days and get the same level of productivity.  It’s hard to imagine taking over a blogger relations program and a Twitter feed simply because most social media positions are constructed around building and maintaining relationships.  You can’t drop in a person in a position for a few days and expect her to pick up where the absent employee left off.

So if you need that foot in the door, think about starting your career in social media working for a temp firm.

I’m not a huge fan of infographics, but sometimes the information (note the root of the word “infographic”) is too good to resist.

On Twitter, I follow Dr. William J. Ward, a.k.a DR4WARD, is the Social Media Professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.  This week on his blog he posted an infographic in “Where Are The Majority of Startup Jobs? #infographic?”  The source of the data is StartUpHire.com and provides some interesting data.

In my book, I try to focus on how to start a career in social media in smaller and medium-sized organizations because that’s where the jobs are;  the overwhelming majority of job creation is NOT on the Fortune 500 list.  So if you aspire to a career in social media, at some point, you  could find yourself with the opportunity to work for a startup.

Here are some interesting findings, especially if you are thinking about working in a start up company:

Where the jobs are (top five states):

1. California (36.3%)
2. Massachusetts (7.43%)
3. New York (7.13%)
4. Texas (4.76%)
5. Washington state (4.02%)

No surprises here when you think about cities like San Jose, Palto Alto, Boston, New York City, Redmond and Austin.

What the jobs are (top five job titles):

1. Software engineer
2. Senior software engineer
3. Product manager
4. Account manager
5. Project manager

The infographic is below – and a shout out to Dr. Ward for bringing it to my attention – but if you are interested in a career in social media and a start up environment appeals to you, think about polishing your skills and hopping on an airplane to the states listed below.

Mark