For those of you who may have been following this journey, I wanted to let you know that it has ended successfully (Thank you for your support...see here). I accepted an offer at a local agency, Singer Direct, to be their new SVP of Digital. I start in 2009.
In my initial blog post, I described a few types of situations for which I would be a good fit. This position hits on components of several, highlighted below:
- Creating and leading an interactive or direct marketing department
- Leading business strategy
- Providing experienced leadership to a firm that needs to establish processes and operations to maintain growth, reduce costs or increase profit margins
Until recently, Singer was a family run business that Omincom purchased a couple of years back. It’s small yet growing, and offers a value proposition that should be compelling during a down economy.
The thing is…that’s not the only thing that was successful. As a totally biased jury, I’d declare this experiment in social media a success as well (Please offer your verdict/comments) for several reasons.
Social media expanded my reach and exposure
When I started the search, one of the first things I did was to expand my network on Facebook, LinkedIn and Plaxo. Most people accepted the connection requests. Each new connection expanded the web of RSS feeds. Think of each link as another set of eyes that could participate in the search. Moreover, the web of connections from each additional connection expanded my reach exponentially.
Efficient distribution for my credentials
By using my blog, Facebook and LinkedIn as content platforms, I made sure that everyone who was connected to me was informed about the search and received updates without having to send a mass email (see next)
Simple call to action
In my initial post, I tried to make it very easy for people to get informed and to take action, reflected in the post title “I’m looking for work; here’s how you can help.” At that post, there were three specific things I asked of readers:
- Review LinkedIn and recommend me
- Pass the link on to people you know
- Say a prayer
Now I don’t have the data on item #3, but I can report that many MANY of you acted on items 1 and 2, and traffic to the blog hit its highest levels starting from the date of the first post.
Made it easy for recruiters
Recruiters are being VERY AGGRESSIVE in this economy. There are a LOT of candidates and few jobs (i.e., more demand than supply). I liken it to five seagulls fighting for that last French fry in the parking lot of McDonald’s.
Anything you can do to make it easy for them to help you is a good idea. Sending emails to recruiters became easy. Rather than write a long cover letter explaining my situation, I simply was able to write a few sentences and point people to my blog post and LinkedIn profiles.
By reading my blog posts and reviewing my LinkedIn profile, recruiters were able to determine whether or not I was a good potential fit for their open positions. That’s one may reason why recommendations on LinkedIn are so important.
Emotional support
This result was very interesting, and unexpected. Losing a job, and then trying to find another one flat out sucks. It can be very frustrating and isolating. By reaching out to people via social media, I opened connections between me and friends, colleagues and acquaintances, some of whom I hadn’t heard from in twenty five years. Exchanging notes with them and getting the occasional “hang in there” message really really helped.
There are a number of tips in this message. If you think they have any value, please pass them on to your friends who are looking for work.
In an upcoming post, I will offer some do's and don't's for recruiters.
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