Kathryn Doud

I just returned from an event featuring Kristen Kane of Kane Partners who described how to use Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook in our job searches.  It was held in The 10 Show studio-  which was an interesting setting! – and it lasted for about an hour and a half.  I met Tracy Davidson of NBC10 when I walked in and then guests began to find their seats in the studio for Kristen’s presentation. 

Kristen gave some great advice and general information about each of the three social media sites, and she answered questions at the end.  Finally, we had the chance to meet one-on-one with consultants from Kane Partners for resume advice. 

I’ll admit it: I set up a LinkedIn account without completing my profile, adding more than five contacts or joining any groups.  Kristen gave some helpful LinkedIn advice:

• You should be a member of 50 LinkedIn groups.  I need to work on this.
• Customize your personal URL so that it’s not long and complicated.  (I did this tonight- it’s simple. Now my URL is: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryndoud)
• Make sure your profile is complete: I still need to write a summary about myself. Kristen described this as your “elevator speech” that briefly describes you.
• If you make your LinkedIn profile completely public, you will come up in Google searches for keywords found in your profile.
• Before any interview, it’s not a bad idea to search your interviewer on LinkedIn and learn a little bit about him/her.
• There’s actually a “jobs” tab on LinkedIn- which I never realized!  Doing an advanced search may generate some helpful results, and sometimes the name of the person who posted the job is actually visible as a link.  You can begin networking with this person before sending in a resume.

Kristen explained how to use Twitter to its full potential:

• Follow executives, managers, job bots, career experts and companies. These people might tweet information about job openings that you won’t find on other sites.
• There are job listings on Twitter, too!  Go to serach.twitter.com and perform an advanced search for a job in a category you are qualified for and within a specific radius from your location.
• Add a link to your LinkedIn profile in your Twitter bio. Don’t forget to write a brief summary of who you are.

Facebook is a more casual place to make connections and scope out potential jobs.

• Checking out the Facebook profiles of friends is a good way to see if someone might make a good connection.  But Kristen recommends taking it to a professional level if you’re interested in their company or business:  Don’t post a message on their wall- Instead, give them a call, send them a private message or add them as a connection on LinkedIn.
• Although few of us have noticed, there are job listings on Facebook too.  On your home page, there is a “jobs” tab on the left sidebar.

Have you ever found success from networking on a social media site, like LinkedIn or Twitter?

Do you have any advice of your own?

Wednesday was my introduction into the world of networking. Adam from BaldyDog invited me to join the Professional Business Network luncheon, which was held at Maggiano’s. I was definitely nervous about this occasion, but I did my best to look professional and I knew that it could not possibly be as bad as I imagined.  And it wasn’t!  Granted, walking up to a stranger and introducing yourself with the intention of promoting yourself and your business is uncomfortable- but once everyone in the room is doing the same thing, it begins to seem normal.

I worked a genuine smile and strong handshake (I hope), and struck up conversations with business people in which I mostly listened while they described their work. Going in with a “this is just an experience” attitude, I wasn’t expecting to make any connections related to my career plans.

For this reason, I was surprised to begin talking to a young man who shared my interest for writing- and although he didn’t major in journalism, he did some writing and editing for his college’s publication. Mike, who is in the advertising department at the Chamber of Commerce magazine, took my information, and I later had the opportunity to speak with Concetta, from the same publication, who is head of sales and marketing.  I was given her card and instructions to contact her at the end of this month.

Surprise number 2 was yet another prospect:  Brian, the circulation director of the Philadelphia Business Journal (http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/), attended the luncheon.  He suggested that I give the editor a call at the end of this week.

Not only might this networking event give me an advantage in my job search, but- at times- I was actually enjoying myself. The food was tasty and the event’s speaker was enlightening and funny. Not a bad way to kill an afternoon.

Have you found a networking event to be helpful to your business or job search?

This is a new idea for me: video resumes.  Writing a resume and cover letter can be stressful enough, but a video starring me (all my nervous “umms” and fake smiles included)?  I’m not sure about this, but I went ahead and did some brief internet research on the fad.  Let me know what you think because I’m still not convinced…

How do you write a video resume?  What are the parts of a video resume?

This is what you should include in your video:

• Introduce yourself: name, location, desired location
• Mention professional accomplishments- you don’t need to discuss personal life (In fact- steer clear. That could get weird.)
• Make sure you can answer these questions: Why me?  Why would I be a good employee? What is unique about me? (My selling point: qualifications I have, that others may not.) What would my former co-workers or boss say about me?
• Make sure to come across sounding/looking personable, but professional.  Be relaxed- not too serious! Your body language and tone of voice are important—If you sound awkward, nervous or annoying on video, you would have been better off on paper.
• Thank the employer before wrapping it up.

Look at suggestions for preparing to record a video resume: http://www.videoresumecharlotte.com/Tips_for_Video_Resume.pdf

How long should a video resume be? Keep it concise, about 1-3 minutes long.  The person watching it shouldn’t feel like it’s dragging on, but it should also fill them in on significant information about you.

Where can I see some video resume samples? Just type “video resume” in You Tube and you’ll get tons of results. The first one to come up for me was by Gautam Banerjee who won a video resume contest in 2007 with vault.com. His looks really professional and is definitely worth watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jnCic3RPn0

 How much does it cost to get a video resume made professionally? I don’t know if that Gautam Banerjee guy had a professional record his video, or a talented friend, but based on the site for a company called Bigler Productions, a basic promotional video could cost from $600 to $800.  You would have to be pretty serious to invest in a professionally filmed resume.

 Can I make a video resume?  Technically, it’s pretty simple to make a video resume using a webcam, camcorder, or digital camera.  But you don’t want it to look like a 6^th grader filmed and edited it, so it wouldn’t hurt to learn some basic techniques.

Anyone can post a video on You Tube (hence the name and tagline), but some sources pointed out that employers probably won’t waste time searching YouTube in hopes of finding a candidate to interview.  They recommend sites like Workblast.com or ResumeTube.com which specifically post video resumes.

However, a young man (whose video resume was mentioned in a blog on Time.com) posted his video on YouTube, was noticed and had a promising interview.  His video wasn’t bad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL1mUuYAPkI

 Can I make a video resume series? I didn’t notice any video resume series as I perused the internet, but if you are looking for jobs in two different industries- it is recommended that you make two separate videos, instead of combining them into one.  The video should be geared towards your experience in that area, and you want to be able to say specifically what you would like to apply for.

 Is there a business opportunity in the making of video resumes? Apparently, not really.  According to ehow.com, there’s a site called filmmyresume.com for anyone who would like a pro to record their video resume—but I can’t even find this site.  A blog by Lisa Cullen on Time.com blatantly said that what looked like a promising business opportunity completely petered out.  Researching the fad of video resumes (sort of like I was trying to do), she called a videographer whose site advertised filming for video resumes—and he laughed because he had received NO calls for his services.  This might not be a business worth trying to get involved in.  Even basic digital cameras can record videos which can then be edited on a laptop – so why pay someone else to do it?

Who are the major players in the video resume industry? Websites like vault.com and workblast.com seem to be big as places to post your video resume in hopes that an employer will check in at sites like these.  As for videographers, I don’t think video resumes have become a major thing for them—weddings and other events generate plenty of business, I’m sure.

Who should have a video resume?  This seems to be an individual decision.  Some suggest that a video resume will make you stand out against other applicants.  Others say it’s unnecessary and may even cause unintentional discrimination by the employers, who may be influenced by the way you look or speak.  Watching a video can also be tedious for employers, who cannot skim a video for specific content (such as, accomplishments) like they can a paper resume.  So, it’s your call.  Is it worth it?

When I returned to my internship after being on spring break last week, the gentleman in the cubicle behind me asked me where I went.  I told him, South Carolina to work with Habitat for Humanity.

“Oh, that’s work!” he said. “I would want to relax.”

It was hard work, but this was the third time I traveled to Georgetown, S.C. to volunteer with Habitat for a week, and it was worth it every time.

This is our group of 16 from Eastern in front of the construction site on day 1.  We spent a lot of time hammering nails and shoveling dirt around the work site.  The rain interuppted our work for one day, but we just moved inside to a home that Habitat is fixing up to re-sell. 

I think we all agreed that the physical work was satisfying- leaving us with a good, achy, I-feel-like-I-accomplished-something feeling at the end of each day.  It was a welcome break from the mind-numbing hours we spend in front of our laptops. I would encourage anyone with a little free time or a vacation to volunteer for Habitat: http://www.habitat.org/cd/local/default.aspx

You don’t have to be a college student- the majority of the volunteers working with us were retired men!  If they can still work this hard, who can’t?

“Seeing yourself in print is such an amazing concept: you can get so much attention without having to actually show up somewhere . . .You don’t have to dress up, for instance, and you can’t hear them boo you right away.” Anne Lamott

We read a short book by Anne Lamott and watched a documentary about her in a writing class that I took my sophomore year. Eight girls made up the entire class, and we all loved Lamott.  Her writing is honest and engaging- her personality comes through each sentence.

Something as simple as a byline on an article – or, for Lamott, her name on a book- is such a thrill. The first time an article of mine was published, it was for the school newspaper and I made sure that everyone knew about it.  The article wasn’t a big deal- it just described our campus’ student-led photography club.  Soon, the excitement faded as I wrote more and more about people and events on campus.  But, happily, the sense of pride returned when my name appeared under a few short features in the March issue of the magazine where I’m an intern.  Sometimes it’s enough to make it all worthwhile- the time spent calling to set up interviews, and writing and re-writing even the shortest blurbs to satisfy the editors.

Where would I love to see my byline, someday?  National Geographic.  This spring, openings will be posted for a post-graduate research apprenticeship with the Traveler magazine.  Sounds like an awesome way to kick-off the rest of my life.  Fingers crossed.