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How to Use Social Media to Get Hired

Posted on November 23, 2008 by Jeremy Toeman

I hate the term “social media”, but I didn’t really want to write a post entitled “How to Use Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, social networking, Google Search, Craigslist, and other Web sites to Get Hired.”  It just didn’t have a good ring to it.

The last time my consulting firm put out a job opening (on Craigslist and LinkedIn) we received a few hundred emailed resumes.  We phone-screened about 25 of these resumes (and I left some advice for the other 375), met 8 people in person, and hired none of them.

As the firm is hiring again (haven’t listed it yet, but similar to this description), I thought I’d give some tips to anyone out there in need of a job. First, pay more attention to the Jobwire from RWW and WebWare “spreadsheet of sunshine” (as opposed to the doom-and-gloom purveyors, who aren’t really helping anybody with their efforts).  Second, look for jobs on craigslist and LinkedIn, they are excellent resources.

Braindead Easy Stuff
These are the things you’re supposed to be doing.  In other words, if you come in my office and haven’t done all of this, you will not get hired.

  • Read the last 2-5 entries of the company blog and/or press releases.
  • Do a Google Search, Google News Search, and Google Blog Search for the company.
  • If the company makes a product, read reviews of that product, and be familiar with its current prices, offerings, etc.  If the company makes many products, be generally familiar with them.  Use Amazon to see user ratings of product(s).
  • Check to see if the company uses any social networking services (e.g. MySpace or Facebook Fan page), communities, twitters, etc.  If so, read through some recent content.
  • If the company has a page that profiles employees, read about them.  Ditto for a “clients” page.
  • Be very ready to talk about what the company specifically does as a business!  One of my first questions tends to be “so what do you think we do here?”, and while I don’t expect anyone to say it as well as I would, I expect them to roughly get it.
  • Make sure all your “social profiles” are job-ready.  Get the photos of you throwing up at the frat party off your MySpace page, and make sure your last few blog posts, twitters, and status updates aren’t embarassing.  While you should always “be yourself”, you don’t necessarily need to be all of yourself all the time (hint: it’s like dating – I didn’t tell my wife-to-be that I waited in line for 7 hours to see LOTR the first midnight showing on our first date).

Smart Moves
Here are some simple things you can do that will probably help your chances with any interviewer.  None are mandatory, but help a good candidate stand out from the dreck.

  • Comment (thoughtfully – don’t just suck up) on a recent blog post.  No need to leave a comment on all the blog posts, but one or two is a good move.
  • Try to get a list of who you might be meeting with before you come in.  Read their Facebook and LinkedIn pages before the interview.  Caution: don’t be stalkery, and if you don’t know the difference, you probably should skip this one.
  • Figure out if any of the people you are interviewing with blog, and if so, read it too!
  • If the company has a Web service, use it before you come in (that one’s probably a given).  Have some feedback to share (and it doesn’t have to be all rosy and good either).

Double Ninja Maneuvers
These are the things that I think can make a difference, but must be handled differently for every situation.

  • Send a Tweet to the company’s twitter account (or individual’s) before/after your interview.  There’s no “rule” to the content, but a cleverly handled message can be impactful.
  • Thank everyone you met by email.  You could send written cards too, depending on the length of interviews (I wouldn’t do it for someone you only spent 10-15 minutes with).  If you go down this path, your window of opportunity is 1 day, anything later is a big procrastiFAILnation.
  • Write a blog post about the interview.  Again, proceed with major caution, as any misstep here can cost you an opportunity.  That said, if you handle it right, it could also bring you the attention you want to show why you deserve the job.
  • “Follow” someone on any business or pseudo-business social sites.  Good ones: Twitter (and other microblogging sites, even though nobody else actually uses them), FriendFeed, Digg, Upcoming, Google Reader.  Bad ones (more explanation below): Facebook, Last.FM (unless, of course, you are interviewing at a music-oriented startup), Flickr (ditto), etc.

Oh No You Didn’t!
Here are a couple of things you really shouldn’t do, either due to inappropriateness or other potential backlash.

  • Don’t “friend” someone.  It’s perfectly fine to add anyone you meet as a LinkedIn contact, but unless you know, for sure, that someone treats Facebook “friends” as a list of anyone/everyone they’ve ever encountered, don’t cross this potentially bad line.  By the way, sending a message via Facebook isn’t a bad thing – but then again, you do have their email address…
  • Make any negative remarks about the company/employees, in any digital environment, anywhere (and yeah, that includes email and IM).  If you felt the guy/gal you interviewed with was “a total tool”, that’s just fine, and you can tell your buddies in person and out loud, as opposed to in writing.  You’d be amazed how easily an email can get forwarded.  By the way, I’d also advise against ranting in public, this town of technology companies is really, really small, and you never know who you’re sharing a bus ride with.

I hope this is helpful.  For those who didn’t pick up on the recurring theme, it goes something like this: use the Internet to thoroughly research companies and individuals you are going to interview with, and mildly engage with them before and after the interview.  Then again, if that wasn’t obvious by now, you probably don’t want to interview with me.

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Posted in Web/Internet | Tags: advice, hiring, interviewing, Jobs, social media, tips | 10 Comments |

What if Apple invented and sold the Segway?

Posted on July 21, 2008 by Guest Contributor

Steve Jobs on SegwaySo I was walking around Downtown Chicago last weekend, the very same weekend Apple pushed 1 million iPhone 3G units out the door, and saw a police officer stroll by on his government issued Segway, which got me thinking. What if the on-top-of-the-world tech giant invented, marketed, and sold the Segway today. Would Apple be able to push the 50,000 to 100,000 units out the door that Segway Inc. expected to sell in its first year of sales? I think the answer is 100% yes. Well, maybe 90%.

-Design Design Design
Apple has a knack for taking products to their limit of how good they can look. When Steve Jobs got a first look at the Segway back in 2003, he said, “Its shape is not innovative, it’s not elegant, it doesn’t feel anthropomorphic.” (For those of us that needed to look up that word: anthropomorphic adj. – resembling or made to resemble a human form.) If Jobs and his designers were to design the Segway, it would, for sure, be better in those three areas. Of course there would be a snazzy placement of a light up Apple logo, causing all the Apple lovers to eat it right up.

Also, the most important design & production point, Apple would be able to get enough of a mass production discount to keep the cost of the device down. They would shoot to have these priced at $2,999.00 (or as low as $77.00 a month). Crossing that $3,000.00 price point, for the base unit, is too scary for consumers.

-Bandwagon
With the popularity of Apple now, and the way people are eagerly handing over their credit cards for anything with an Apple logo on it, they would easily be able to push 100,000 units out the door in a year. I know some of you are saying, “Hey don’t push that overzealous bandwagon theory into this argument, everyone that buys an Apple product knows exactly what they are buying!!!” Well let me present to you this sample dialogue told to me by my co-worker that was waiting in line for his iPhone 3G.

20 something woman waiting in line, gets approached by what is assumed to be her mother.

Mother: What are you waiting in line for?
Daughter: Oh this new Apple phone. It’s cool, its got a touch screen, plays MP3, it’s really cool.
Mother: Really?! Maybe I want one of those too!
Daughter: Yeah, you should get one! Wait with me!

Woman and her Mother wait in line. An Apple associate comes by to answer questions.

Mother: What’s the deal with this phone?
Apple Associate: Ma’am the Apple iPhone is the most advanced cell phone on the market now, it has fully integrated PUSH email, calendar, and contacts. Along with real web browsing, an app store, and now integrated GPS.
Daughter: Oh really?! GPS, I had no idea it could do ANY of that!
*(Words are approximated, but idea is the same – Thanks Dave)

This was probably a common occurrence within the lines and lines of people waiting for the iPhone.

There are some of you saying, there are plenty of Apple products that Apple sells that don’t reach the numbers you are talking about. You are correct, but with the iPhone-like hype the Segway got when it was originally announced, Apple would be able to quickly turn that hype into sales. They have built up a well enough rapport with consumers, that as long as there is a line to get it, a cool factor, and an Apple logo on the side of it, people will shell out the cash/credit for it.

-Marketing is King
Apple is a marketing juggernaut and would have to assert its dollars in this area in order to make this product sell. They would saturate the movie and television market, making it look like everyone in our society uses a Segway on a daily basis. With the right ad campaign, they would be able to make everyone in the world think they were morons for wanting to walk anywhere. Commercials, billboards, and subway cars would all be screaming at us, “Soon there will be 2 kinds of people. Those who walk, and those who walk different.” Other ads will be telling us to purchase this new transportation device because, “It just goes”.

With the skyrocketing fuel prices, and the big push for “Being Green”, electric powered transportation is the “new black”. (Ironically, all of Apple’s successful gadgets come in black!) Apple would need to leverage this in their marketing and let people know, “Not only is this the coolest gadget IN the world, it’s the coolest gadget FOR the world.” A perfect example of this is the Honda Civic Hybrid. The Civic was already one of the coolest cars for teens and 20-somethings. But make it “Green”, and you got yourself a car that you have to get on a waiting list to buy.

Whether you agree with me or not, it seems like something just might be a brewing on this front, since on July 7th, the former CTO of Segway, Doug Fields, left to join Apple (JT: maybe this new hire has to do with the unknown “future product transition”).

Hopefully Fields can get this project on a roll. I know I speak for most when I say that we are just so tired of walking everywhere, and we don’t want to look like the biggest nerds ever, on a non-anthropomorphic Segway.

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Posted in Gadgets, General, Marketing | Tags: Apple, iphone, Jobs, Segway, Steve Jobs | 3 Comments |

About

Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

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