Sara Thomas

Hellllo dear little Bloggity Blog. I’m sorry I’ve neglected you for the past 11 months. Never again, I promise.

What could have possibly happened in the last year?

Due to my notoriously bleak job prospects last spring, I worked at the good old Brookfield Zoo (6th year, for those of you keeping count) once again as a Research Assistant. In retrospect, that was my last summer of freedom, of living in the city, and days where I could use my .edu address at the Apple store without feeling guilty. I’m glad I got to have one last summer of lessened responsibility, because in August…

I was offered a real person job at Liberty Mutual in Warrenville! I’ll admit, I struggled a bit at first, but I’ve definitely got the hang of it now. (Disclaimer: I do not sell insurance and I will not try to sell you insurance, so you don’t have to start avoiding me). I’m currently in a college rotational program working in auto claims, so I’m the one asking you questions about what happened in your accident and setting you up with a rental car. Note to all: Friday at 4:45 PM is a horrible, horrible time to report your auto accident. It’s not exactly what I pictured myself doing, but I will say I’ve learned a lot, and not just about insurance. Plus, sometime in the next 6 months or so I will likely be moving across the country to fulfill my next role.  It will be nice to know where I’m relocating, particularly because there is suddenly a curve in the path of my life called “grad school.” Whaat? Something almost completely unconsidered a year ago is now is now a real possibility, certainly aided by the corporate offer of educational reimbursement. On this note, I’m heavily considering straying from the Marketing thought bubble I’ve had in my head since age 16, and moving towards a Human Resources goal. While obviously a different path, I think this could be something that really fascinates me and drives me to look forward to going to work every morning.

I’m sure my thousands of fans out there are dying for more details, but realistically, it’s not much more than this. The whole 40 hours a week thing sure does keep you busy, huh? ;) I will post again soon, possibly about something more substantial than my unremarkable suburban life.

On an end note, I’m finally going to start reading this book that was recommended to me by several people during my final year of college (thank you, Chicago Public Library Downloadable Media). If you’re interested, read What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Bolles along with me, and let me know what you think.

What if it was possible to use your Twitter account for something more productive than begging @justinbieber to follow you back?

If you’re in tears over the pop star’s refusal to put your tweets in his timeline, don’t rush to delete. Chances are if you have the time to tweet to the Biebs on a daily basis, you can use a job (or a better one) and Twitter may be able to help.

Twitter takes networking a step ahead.  “After a year of being unemployed, you start doing anything that you can,” said Critical Mass Content Strategist Tiffany Mo. “I just tweeted about how it was such a stressful process… someone asked for my email and resume, and we ended up contacting each other. She sent my resume to a few of her friends, and that’s how I got called in for an interview at Critical Mass.” From the interview, Mo was able to land a job that she loves.

Tribal DDB Jr. Copywriter Emily Kelly has a similar story. “I tweeted about how I applied for 12 jobs today, and it was back to the grind tomorrow!” Soon afterward, a woman she’d never met in real life reached out to her and told her she’d pass along her resume to a friend in the field. Less than a week later, Kelly secured a great freelancing job at Razorfish.

Another advantage to using the micro-blogging website is better exposure to opportunities. Recruiters often use Twitter to post job listings, sometimes ones that aren’t even posted to the company’s website. By following the companies that you have the most interest in, you have a much greater chance of hearing about an immediate opening than someone who just occasionally searches more traditional job listings. Groupon, MTV, AT&T, and Draft FCB are just some of the companies that have Twitter accounts dedicated to posting jobs. Even celebrities like Charlie Sheen have used Twitter to announce his search for an intern. Of course, whether or not you want to intern for Charlie Sheen is up to you.

Following and starting conversations with the right people is a great start your Twitter job search. But as is true with the traditional job front, there are a few tips to keep in mind before you enter this 24-hour digital job fair.

1. Don’t use your Twitter as your journal. “You have to really think about what you’re putting out into the world,” said Catherine Carrigan, a Career Advisor for the Career Center at Loyola University Chicago. “I’m pretty careful of how I get portrayed online. There’s nothing I would post that I wouldn’t be completely happy with my family reading.” If you don’t want your boss to know that you’re looking for another job because you dread going to work every morning, you shouldn’t post it to an account that he or she may be able to access.
2. Be relevant. “Start talking about things you find interesting,” said Mo. This is a great way for followers to see what you’re interested in, and show off your knowledge of the industry. But while it’s important to show what you’re interested in, avoid oversharing your guilty pleasures. “Don’t livetweet the Bachelor,” said Mo. “Things that won’t help your personal brand will hurt you.”  Just as you wouldn’t start talking about who really deserved the last rose during a job interview, you shouldn’t post it in a forum that potential employers may read.  As Mo explained, if you’re going to use Twitter as a way to promote yourself, it’s important to only post things that will make you sound intelligent.
3. Keep that smile on your face. “Always be on your A-game and never underestimate any resource,” said Kelly. “Even if it’s someone who’s not in a field you want to be in. Everybody knows somebody.” This advice holds true for both online and offline job searching. You never know who may have the hookup at your dream agency, so take all measures to stay pleasant and avoid burning bridges.

All parties agreed that areas such as advertising and marketing were more likely to see job postings on Twitter, especially positions that utilize social media. However, those in other industries shouldn’t rule it out entirely.”I’ve actually noticed it happening a lot more,” said Mo.  “A lot companies are starting to tweet job postings… it puts a face to a name. Recruiters know who you are and what you look like, it’s not just a plain resume.” Even if there aren’t many recruiters for your field, using the tool to follow important contributors to the industry is a great way to learn more information.

The idea of using a tool that some consider annoying and obnoxious to job search may not be well-known, but it’s a method that’s catching on quickly. While Mo was explaining her story, an older man sitting nearby interrupted our conversation. “That’s a great idea. I’m gonna start doing that!”

—

Special thanks to Catherine Carrigan, Emily Kelly, and Tiffany Mo for their help with this! Also: By pressing “publish,” I will be submitting my LAST college assignment. Yeaah!

If you, like me, will be out of college exactly one month from today soon, you’re probably feverishly scouring the internet for jobs. (Unless you’ve already landed a job, in which case, good for you… and keep an eye out for a laminated copy of my resume in your mailbox). Popular employment Internet mega-databases include sites like Monster, CareerBuilder and even Craigslist. And on these sites, there are hundreds of thousands of jobs just waiting to be scooped up by lucky, qualified candidates.

But how helpful are these sites in actually landing a job?

In Loyola University Chicago’s most recent Employment Report (2009), data was requested from all who graduated Loyola in December 2008 and May 2009. Data was broken down by students who graduated from the various Schools, such as Arts & Sciences, Social Work, etc. As an Advertising/Public Relations major, I first reviewed the statistics compiled by information submitted by the School of Communication 2009 graduates. Of the 40 students who responded to the survey, 39% had found their job through personal networking, while 23% had utilized the tools provided by the Loyola Career Center including job postings and career fairs. After these options, the numbers drop sharply. 8% is the three-way tie for jobs found through the company website, previous employer/internship, and yes, internet job postings.  With the number of internet databases seemingly filled with jobs, it’s almost surprising how few of us will actually find a job through them. But when considering how many applicants actually apply for these postings, it makes sense.

The six hours you spent painstakingly realigning the cities of employment on your resume and trying to think of a more creative way to say “detail oriented” in your cover letter feel all for naught when you realize the miniscule chances of a human being actually reading the application you submitted online.  I’m definitely still focused on the job hunt, but I’ll admit that I’ve somewhat given up on this method of application. While some of the job titles on Monster do look a bit enticing, it’s hard to get past the giant banner ads that cover the bottom 1/4th of my tiny 13in laptop screen. And despite typing in “Chicago” “50 mile radius” “Marketing Copywriter,” I still get jobs in New Jersey, Dallas, and a hundred other places I have no desire to ever set foot in, let alone work. Why does something seemingly so simple not work at all?

Admittedly, I’m not exactly in a place to give advice on how to land a job, but the stats don’t lie. You’ll probably never find your dream job scouring Monster or CareerBuilder (unless you’d like to run into Snooki at your local grocery store)- but you will find it by talking to people. Go to job fairs and meet recruiters face to face. Give them your resume, and make sure they know how much you appreciated meeting them. Talk to your parents, your friends, your professors, your dog groomer; don’t rule anyone out, because you never know what the most random connections may lead to. Those who already know you know you rock, and that you’d be great at X job at X company. It may be kind of awkward to get help from these people, but you might as well let them do it, because when it comes down to it having someone to vouch for your qualifications sure beats typing your Jobvite-submitted resume in all caps.

(only the first part of the video- come back later!)

For my final project in the Writing for the Web class I’m taking this semester, I’m doing a story on using social networking sites in the employment search. I’ll be talking to some people who have successfully done so in the coming weeks, but today I interviewed one of the inspirations for this project: Jessi Uhlir. As someone who once proclaimed herself “bad at the internet,” I thought it would be interesting to see what she thought about using these tools as a job search method.  Read on for our interview transcript.

Tell us about yourself!

My name is Jessica Uhlir. I just graduated early from Augustana College with an undergrad degree in Speech Language Pathology and I’m going to grad school for SLP in the fall.

Are you employed, looking for a job, or both?

I’m employed, but also looking for a job for the summer. It’s an internship where I work at the WVKI public radio station. I also work on my senior legacy campaign trying to get seniors to donate money and plan events for the whole class.

What kind of jobs are you looking for currently? How do you feel that your employment search is going?

Since I’m enrolled in grad school, only looking for summer job to help me save up money. You apply to a bunch of places and it feels impossible to follow up. No one answers their phone or leaves a contact email. I don’t hear back from any of them!

What kind of methods do you use?

Word of mouth, places my friends work, asking if I could get a job there. Randomly applying to places. I do have a job for the summer at a summer camp that I might take.

Have you considered using alternative methods to improve the search?

Recently my friend advised that I subscribe to sites like LinkedIn, but honestly I don’t really like those type of websites, and because I’m going into speech pathology, we don’t really use that thing for my profession from what I’m aware of in any capacity. Yeah, not really relevant to me.

What do you know about social media?

It’s pretty popular, everyone has it, it’s a good way to communicate with people, some people use it more to communicate than actually communicating face to face or over the phone. It’s become pretty crucial to have. It helps to stay connected.

What kinds of social media do you currently engage in? What platforms do you use?

I have Facebook, I use gchat a lot… does that count?

Do you believe that people can use social media to find jobs? Why or why not?

I feel like yes, they can, I think you have to be really persistent with it, using the LinkedIn website, making your profile look awesome and making connections. I don’t really know how it could work but I’m sure it could work. Everyone is connected through something. I don’t really have any experience with it, but yeah… It’s probably something I need to learn more about considering that’s where society is moving.

Do you think that this is dependent on the career field applicants are pursing?

Yeah. I feel like social media sites are more for business majors, whereas my job I would get a job at a job fair or something. My career… I just don’t think there’s a big market for speech pathology, education, I don’t think they’re on social media. More business jobs. I’m sure that speech path etc will eventually move to social media, it’s just an easier way.

Like many people, I often turn to music when I’m feeling stressed or overwhelmed. What I like to listen to depends entirely on my mood, and I have a bad habit of making a playlist of a few songs and playing them over and over again. I recently stumbled upon the video for one of my favorite Coldplay songs, and it was not what I was expecting, to say the least.

In the video for “The Hardest Part,” Coldplay jams alongside an unlikely pair of dancers: 84 year old Barbara and 25 year old rat-tailed, thong-clad Spencer. They perform an impressive acrobatic routine complete with spinning the little old lady around the stage until you think she might break. Of course, the video is from the mid 80′s, and Coldplay was not actually performing alongside them. I have no idea how someone decided that this should be the video for this brilliant song, but I think it’s quietly hilarious and it never fails to put a smile on my face. Bad days, beware!

I rediscovered this song on my iTunes a few weeks ago, and fell in love again. The best part is you can download the live version of this song, along with several other Coldplay songs for FREE here.

As many of you are probably aware, I’m doing my capstone (semester-long senior project) on the ways nonprofit organizations utilize social media. It’s obviously a little more detailed than that, but I won’t bore you with the details give away my groundbreaking work. There are three major components of this project: an extensive research paper, 5+ interviews, and an integrated communication portfolio. Right now I’m in the midst of my interviews, and I thought I’d share a short clip from a great interview with *Imerman Angels Awareness Coordinator Kate Levin.

After an epic battle with a certain free iPhone app (not going to name drop, because it was deceptive and evil)+ and WordPress being annoying- you can finally check out a two minute clip below.

Another cool thing I should mention, despite it being cut from the audio recording (thanks, iPhone app) is a short-term project  “Most Hugs Against Cancer”  IA did last month- promoted entirely through social media. Staff and volunteers (one dressed in a bear suit + Imerman t-shirt!) gathered on Michigan Ave. during lunch hour and broke the world record for most hugs against cancer, later creating a youtube video documenting their success. You can read more about it in their March Volunteer newsletter.

*Imerman Angels is a nonprofit organization that pairs cancer fighters, survivors, and caregivers with their “perfect match-” someone who has had/having a similar experience with cancer. They make connections all over the world from their cozy Chicago office. Recently, they were named an official partner of LIVESTRONG, Charity of the Year by Chicago Scene Magazine, and hit 10,000 “likes” on Facebook. Best of all, Imerman Angels is a completely free service… and has hands down the coolest staff/volunteers you will ever meet.

For my Writing for the Web class this evening, we were instructed to walk around and take some pictures outside (Water Tower area). These are my thrilling photos- iPhone photography at it’s best!

Notes:

- taking pictures of people rather than things is awkward

- it’s very windy out

- Almost got my camera stolen… stay vigilant, people!

As a 21-year-old graduating from college in less than two months, I find that I have very little free time. Between schoolwork, interning, and applying for post-grad jobs, I can’t remember the last time I got more than 6 hours a sleep a night. And for the most part, it’s awesome. If you are an avid reader of this blog, you may remember how bored I was at the beginning of the semester before things picked up, so I welcome the busy schedule. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while, and I’ve mentioned it to a few people, so here it is. Dating and job hunting: two very different goals, one very similar process.

The Online Search

Job hunting: After signing up for a site, you post your resume, sit back in your chair and wait for the “Company of the Year” employers to start flocking to you. After that inevitably fails, you desperately scan through thousands of job descriptions, hoping to find the one that has your name written all over it.

Dating: Cute picture from the beach last summer: check. List of all your favorite bands (but only the ones that would play at Lolla- sorry BSB): check. Setting the location to 5 miles, because let’s face it- Wicker Park is basically long distance: check. Whether you’re bold and make the first move, or you wait for Prince Charming to message you, you’ve put yourself out there, and you’re on your way.

Testing the Waters

Job hunting: Here, testing the waters is called an interview. Not only does the company get to decide if they want to hire you, but you get to learn a little more about the company. Maybe it seemed perfect from afar, but once you get in the door you realize you would rather sit through 8 hours of Rebecca Black in concert than show up to work there everyday.

Dating: Ah, the first date. Awkward and nerve-wracking, or fun and exciting. This date will set the tone for the rest of the relationship, whether it lasts a few years, a few months, or you’re walking out the door after ten minutes.

The Waiting Game

Job hunting: Okay, so you had your first interview, and it seemed to go well. The job was perfect, and you can definitely see yourself working happily at the company. You send your follow up note thanking them for talking to you, and you wait. And wait. And wait. You start to re-evaluate the interview. Did I actually wear a black skirt with brown boots? Uh oh. Did I laugh too much? Yikes. Did my breath smell offensive? I did have that onion soup for lunch. Oh my god. Oh my god. Why would I eat that?

Dating: Okay, so you had your first interview date, and it seemed to go well. The job guy was perfect, and you can definitely see yourself working happily at the company marrying him and coordinating outfits for your Christmas cards. You send your follow up note call/text thanking them for talking to you, taking you out and you wait. And wait. And wait. You start to re-evaluate the interview date. Did I actually wear a black skirt with brown boots? Uh oh. Did I laugh too much? Yikes. Did my breath smell offensive? I did have that onion soup for lunch. Oh my god. Oh my god. Why would I eat that?

Ending the hunt

Job hunting: I can’t actually tell you how this concludes. Check back in a few months.

Dating: You change your Facebook status to “in a relationship,” and you finally have a polite excuse to dismiss weirdos at the bar. Sweet.