Below is the video portion of that story, the story can be found on the Fox 10 website here at this link.

I had been working from February through July for the 2010 US Census project, and have gotten back to some networking since being laid off.  I’ve been updating my networking calendar with upcoming events as well, and will continue to add events I will likely attend.

One of the things that didn’t make it to the on-air portion was about social media, in particular LinkedIn, which I have been using more regularly.  Since my initial layoff in September 2008 I have built a network on LinkedIn of over 300 professionals, and I’ve met the majority of them in person, though I do have some contacts i haven’t met face to face.

I mentioned “resources out there” in the interview which did make it to the on-air portion. Several  of  those resources, are:

• Networking groups including business groups, employment support groups, volunteering
• Outplacement resources (if available through a recent layoff as I had with the Census)
• Social Services including faith based organizations, food banks, unemployment, food stamps, etc
• Re-Training (or updating your skills) through Workforce Development

Please comment below if you know of other resources available that I did not mention, as I want to include other resources for my readers.

In composing this post I had most of it written and then I found a couple of articles on another web site that have some pointers, advice, and comments about the email address you use that I wanted to share.

One of the articles is titled “What’s your Email Address Prejudice?” in which the author,  Jason Fitzpatrick references an article,  “AOL e-mail address: Is it hopelessly square to keep it?” by Nancy E. Anderson a freelance writer for the Chicago Tribune.

I personally still have an AOL email address, but I haven’t given it out or used it in a personal or professional setting in a very long time. I no longer have the AOL service either, but the email address remains free and I do check it from time to time.

I find nothing inherently wrong with an AOL address, but as mentioned in some of the comments on the posts above, it’s a throwback to ‘old’ technology.  I’ve had the old Compuserve address with the number.number@compuserve.com, as well as an email address on a internet service called Delphi, (the link to Delphi used here is what the site used to look like from web.archive.org,  a wikipedia article on the history of Delphi is located here. I was a member prior to 1997 but that is as far back as the Wayback Machine had a site snapshot) which is what I considered my first true internet email address, back then it was simply, firstinitiallastname@delphi.com for my email address and the service was completely text based.

Yesterday I saw another post on the lifehacker.com site also by Jason, titled “Know What Your Email Address Says About You”

After browsing through the many comments and reading through the articles, my advice below has not changed, and it seemed most agreed about not using the ‘cute’ email address names, and Jason makes an excellent point with this quote – “Like your clothing, your hair style, and your manner of speaking, your email address is part of your personal image.”

First and foremost, for those people especially in transition, you want to be able to project a positive image in your job search with whoever you interact with.  My recommendation is to use something in the format of firstnamelastname@domain.com, if it’s taken it’s okay to use a number or maybe middle initial to make it distinct.

Another choice is firstname.lastname@domain.com, just keep it simple and professional, that’s the main thing.  Addresses such as deerhunter22@domain.com or freakyfreddy@domain.com or sometypeofhobby@domain.com are ones that you should avoided using during your job search, I’m not saying you shouldn’t have an email address like that, but with so many different email services, making a new clean email address for your job search should be very simple.

I’ve talked to some local recruiters this week as well and they also recommend against using those ‘cute’ type of email addresses.  To be more professional, especially on a resume you’re emailing or handing to someone, most recommended the firstname.lastname@domain.com or some variation of that type of format.

Even if you’re using your internet providers email, the company I use, Cox Communications, allows up to 7 email addresses to be created per account, if you haven’t reached that limit, create one there to use specifically for your job search and networking. Also, if you own your domain name, you may have the ability to create an email address with your domain hosting account such as info@mydomainnamename.com.

All in all what I found in those articles and comments is that it does make a difference what is before the @ (at) sign, not so much who the email provider is.

What are your thoughts or ideas on the type of email address that should be used? Is it ok to use “cute” handles? Have you been told your email address is ‘dated’ (ie. AOL, Hotmail, etc)? Have you been told by a recruiter or some other authority in your job search to get or create a new email address?  Please comment below.

Friends and family

This is probably the easiest place to start, people who know you, and you know them. Ask them to help you rehearse, have them show you how they would introduce themselves in a network event setting, and practice your elevator speech with them. Practice that firm handshake, practice making and keeping eye contact, and smile. Practicing with them will help build your confidence and make it easier for you to initiate that contact with someone else.

Network with people you have a common interest with

In keeping with my last post about meetup.com,  network with people you have a common interest with. Regardless your career path or field, having that common interest makes things easier, and for me, two activities I enjoy are hiking and geocaching. You will meet people who share that activity or interest, and it will be easier to speak with them, and open up the discussion to other topics.

Arrive at the event a little early

I have done this myself, and found this does help me, depending on the venue, and how the event is organized (breakfast or lunch meeting, evening business mixer, open forum, conference, panel discussion, job fair, etc), this can be to your advantage. Including the chance to meet and introduce yourself to the host(s) and/or special guest(s) before things get very busy.

Ask for introductions

Two ways you can do this are:

1. Attend an event with someone you know
2. Seek out the host of an event and introduce yourself

In the first case, having someone at an event that knows you, will make it easier. You already have a relationship with him or her, and they may be able to make a warm introduction to someone who can assist you with your goal. This ‘tag-team’ approach goes both ways, you may find someone while you’re there that may benefit from meeting your friend, and you can make that introduction.

Another thing that has happened to me is being introduced to someone who after a few minutes would say, “I think you may want to talk to John, it sounds like you may have something in common, let me introduce you.” Then proceed to introduce me to that person, making that warm introduction. I’ve never looked at that as a brush-off, and appreciated the new introduction.

In the second case, you will have to get over your shyness, take the initiative, and make that initial contact, but it will be worth it. For some events I’ve attended the hosts have been VERY helpful in making an initial warm introduction to someone else after you speak to them and they can ‘match’ you with someone who they know that matches closely with what you’re seeking.

After being introduced to someone, ask them a question

Simple thing here is to listen, in being shy and reserved, you have the chance to listen instead of speaking, and getting to know more about the person. A great way to break the ice and depending on the meeting if it’s business or more social  is to ask them about their business or a hobby.

If you’re introduced to someone standing with a group already engaged in a conversation, listen to the conversation, to get a feel for it and join the conversation if you have something to add and contribute.

Closing the deal

After you’ve made that connection with someone, they may ask for a business card, and if you don’t have a card I recommend Vistaprint.com as a source for business cards. If they did not ask for a card, ask them for one. Always carry a pen with you, and on the back of their card write down something about them, something you discussed, also jot down the date and place you met.

Followup after the event

I recommend taking their contact information and adding it to your contact list. Follow up with an email or phone call, mention where you met, and even briefly what you discussed. You’ve done the hard part, making that initial connection. In that followup, if you want to take it to the next level, invite them out for coffee, to really get to know them better with some slow networking. I met both my financial adviser and insurance agent at networking events during the last year. I’ve recommended them to others, which is part of what networking is about, building and keeping those relationships. It will take a while for you to build up your network, but the more you practice, the easier it will get.

Use social media

Several sites come to mind for helping build your network and helping you reach your goals, LinkedIn is one I highly recommend, and when you make a followup with someone from an event, ask to connect with them on LinkedIn.  Who sends the invite is up to you. I’ve got my LinkedIn web address on my card, so a lot of times I’ll get the request before making the request of them. If they have a website or blog, or are on some other social media sites, that’s also a good place to get to know more about them, their passions, likes, dislikes,and even how you can help them. Other aspects of using social media is being able to connect with like-minded people, joining discussions online, being a contributor.  This in itself can help build your confidence when meeting people face to face for the first time.

Ask for help

In closing, plain and simple, ask for help from those who are closest to you, ask a friend to go with you to an event with you, and practice, practice practice.

Happy Reading!

-Martin

They have been renamed Southwest Job Network to better position themselves and be recognized as the premier valley wide resource for those in the community who are  in a job search or career transition or for anyone considering a change in careers during these challenging economic times.

During the month of June they have held events in other parts of the valley, on the west side of the valley in Glendale for their kickoff event at co-sponsor Glendale Community College a workshop entitled “Get Wired to Get Hired”  held on 6/4/09.

They also held an event at Chandler-Gilbert Community College on 6/11/09 for the start of their six part job search curriculum, with part one titled, “Understanding the Emotions of a Career Change”.

I attended both of these events as a supporter for SJN and one of the things I remember Eric Walton saying in his presentation at the Chandler event was something like “We are not a job service, and won’t get you a job, but will teach you to fish.”  That is a big part of what I like about SJN, and why I will continue to volunteer my time after I’ve landed my next position. People helping people, is what it’s all about.

SJN is staffed entirely by volunteers, from the founder Chris Vicari, and the other board members, to greeters at events who take new registrations and answer questions, to people who speak at the events, to those behind the scenes providing support in a variety of way including monitoring and approving messages on the Yahoo group, uploading and updating files, responding to information requests, to people who run for refreshments for the meetings, people who review resumes at some events, and people who handle the setup and take-down of audio-visual equipment at meetings, and those that provide technical assistance when needed.

Volunteering for SJN has been a blessing for me, I’ve met many amazing people through this organization.  I started this blog after several conversations with people at SJN including Bill Austin, who answered my questions about blogging, and many other members who I am able to bounce ideas off of to get feedback.

There are many exciting things coming up for SJN, and volunteering and getting involved is one way I know to expand your network, get out and be involved.

Losing a job has many emotional sides to it, and having only moved here a year and a half ago for a job, and only knowing a handful of people which were mainly the people I worked with, SJN and people I’ve met through this organization are there for moral and emotional support, and have been part of my support structure as I move forward in my job search.

As I last posted, I was given the opportunity to speak briefly at a blogging workshop hosted by SJN and was asked to give a job-seekers view on blogging, and how it’s another tool to use in and during your job search.  I likely would not have had that opportunity had I not been involved with and volunteering for SJN at that time.  An article ran in the Arizona Republic a short time after that event and can be found here: Baby Boomers turn to blogs to find jobs

Currently the website for SJN is at Scottsdalejobnet.com but will be transitioning to Southwestjobnet.com soon.

Happy Monday and Happy Reading!

Its really important,  not just with photographs, but almost any online content, you should think before you post, who may see it, and how they may view it, especially if it is a prospective employer.

Keep it private if you need to.  I wrote a post on my blog and made password protected, and shared with few people who I trusted, and have since made it private.  It was an issue I had with copyright infringement that at the time was appropriate, but since I’ve been blogging for a while, I’ve learned to lighten up a bit and not take that issue as serious as I had.

I have chosen at this time to keep my Facebook profile public, I do have a Myspace page, but haven’t updated it in over a year, and don’t intend on doing so at this time, it is set to private so that only my friends can see it.  Nothing to worry about there, just that I’ve chosen not to update or use myspace at this time, and made it private.

Two things I’ve done actually are matching up my online profiles across the sites with the same picture, for brand recognition mainly, so people know it’s me and what I’ve written.  Secondly, when I change the photo one one site, I chage it across the board, even on sites that I would consider more social than professional.

I do have links to various social networking sites on my contact page. I do have a Youtube channel, I do have Picasa, and other photo sharing accounts which can be shared on different social media networks, but I have not and will not post inappropriate photos or videos of myself or others because on some sites such as Facebook you can Tag a photo with another users name, and it will be attached to their account, and can be looked up as well.

In my job search and in person networking, even meeting someone for the first time, I generally dress up than down, unless it’s stated prior to the meeting that it is casual.

Coming from a background in IT, the places I’ve worked in recent past have been business casual, allowing for polo shirts instead of dress shirts, and at times jeans instead of slacks.

I had an assignment through a staffing firm recently, and asked the recruiter about how I should dress for the assignment, and was asked to wear slacks, but when I showed up, almost everyone else was wearing jeans, I felt a bit out of place, but it was ok.

I had asked about dress code prior to the assignment, and done the work that was asked of me. I talked with one of the recruiters yesterday when I went to pick up my paycheck, asking him if there was any feedback from the client on the work performed, he said there were no issues, the work was performed quickly and correctly, and his comment was ‘no news is good news’.  I hope to work again for that client, because it was an enjoyable work experience, and I learned a few things in the process I hadn’t done before.

Another good idea is to google yourself, or set up a google alert, which I wrote about here,  because it can give you an idea of what employers can find about you online.

Happy Friday and Happy reading!

-Martin

We are both currently looking for work. She made a new post to her blog regarding how to syndicate your blog/website that I found interesting, and wanted to add my own ideas here as well.

Her post is located here: How do you Syndicate a blog or website?

The first thing she mentions is posting it on Twitter 3 times in a 24 hour period at different times of the day.  Her blog also has a list of applications for twitter. I’ve used some of them on the list, it is extensive, and something I’d recommend taking a look at to help make your Twitter experience a little easier.

One of the applications is called TweetLater, which I have utilized to spread out messages during the day on Twitter, even when I’m not at the computer. With as busy as I have been lately, it has been something I’ve used a bit more often.  I compose messages I want to send, even referencing older blog posts I’ve written to get people to read content that may be helpful or related to my most recent post, and also a couple just saying “Check out my new blog post @ http://martinpiraino.com/” without making reference to the specific permalink to the new post, and I’ve noticed this gets people to read more of the site than just the new post.

Along with this, I also send direct messages to new followers I get on Twitter, thanking them for following me, and just making a simple statement as above, and the response to that has been positive as well.

Her second point is to post on Ping-o-matic, I actually utilize this through Google’s feedburner,  and go into further detail about that later in this post.

I have also used Digg on my own post before, I don’t think it it something you should do too often as she also states in her blog post.

There are plug-ins for WordPress where you can add links for readers to click on to help them syndicate your posts for you, if you look at the bottom of my posts, there is a section that says “Share and Enjoy” where you can click on those links and share it on the sites I’ve selected to share it on.

She also says that you should update status on your social networking sites, and I do this regularly, with LinkedIn, even adding a short comment about what I may be doing for that day (networking, interviews, meetings, etc.)

On Facebook I also added my own blog to my profile there, you can see it following this link: http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/martin_pirainos_blog/ I then invite users in my network on Facebook to come to my blog, I have 6 followers there (including myself).  For now have to manually update and add a notice that I posted something, but if I get enough followers there, it will be following my blog feed automatically, I only need a few more users to follow it to do that.

One thing that I did add was a RSS feed from Twitter on Facebook, so when I do send a message on Twitter, it actually gets posted to my Facebook, and Friendfeed sites as well, basically making it easy for me to post in one place and it to be syndicated to other social networking sites that other contacts read.

It helps if you can use an RSS feed from one site to feed into another, or use applications on those sites that offer syndication, two sites I don’t utilize often but do pull my Twitter feed to are Plaxo, and Friendfeed. On LinkedIn they have a WordPress application and Bloglink appliction, so my network can see when I’ve either sent a twitter message or written a new blog post, even if I forget to update my status there.

Some people I know including Rachel and myself have also been in the news media in some form (News Print/TV) as some news media outlets turn to job searchers/bloggers to showcase their stories in regards to the current state of the economy.

I was actually contacted by the reporter for ABC15 a week after I wrote an email to him asking if I could link to a story he had on the job fair I attended. I never imagined that one email would get me the exposure I’d gotten, but I’m glad it happened.

I have links to the ABC15 story on my sidebar on my blog so that users don’t have to search for the blog post I wrote about it, and even now three weeks later I continue to get hits off that story directly, but for people reading my blog for the first time, I also direct traffic to the video interview and story on the ABC15 site, my being on a taped/televised interview, it gives people an idea of who I am and what I am passionate about with my blog as well.

When Rachel and I were speaking on Twitter on Monday March 9th, she asked for other ideas for syndication, Along with some of the ones I’d mentioned previously here, I thought of one that she hadn’t mentioned and that was to create a sitemap if she hadn’t already, I utilize the tools on my web hosting account to do just that, created in XML markup, and update it at least once a week, letting it find new URLs by my server logs or by what I post, update it, and push it out to Google.

The following is from a Google press release “Major Search Engines Unite to Support a Common Mechanism for Website Submission”

How Sitemaps Work
A Sitemap is an XML file that can be made available on a website and acts as a marker for search engines to crawl certain pages. It is an easy way for webmasters to make their sites more search engine friendly. It does this by conveniently allowing webmasters to list all of their URLs along with optional metadata, such as the last time the page changed, to improve how search engines crawl and index their websites.

There are also other things I’ve noticed in how traffic has come to my site through searches, people searching for particular tags or people I’ve mentioned in my blog posts. I’ve made it a habit to tag the names of people I talk about in my posts, and that too has brought some traffic to my site as well.  One of my last posts was indexed rather quickly on Google when I mentioned “Sean Connery” at “Austin’s Who’s Who in Arizona”, which pushed it to the top 2 pages in a search on Google.  It is worth it to pay attention to what search terms are bringing visitors to your site, and to work on different words to tag to help in that.

Another way to help syndicate your blog/website is to participate in other blogs, commenting on them, providing trackbacks to posts you reference in your own writing, as I’ve done here with two of Rachel’s posts.

I’ve also added google feedburner links on my site for the RSS feed, and the ability to subscribe to my feed by email, as someone had asked me about that recently, they preferred to be subscribed by email to my blog.

Another option in feedburner is under Publicize is called PingShot, where you can have it notify other services when you post a new message, the following is my list:

When I publish new content in my feed, notify these services…

• Technorati — Technorati is the authority on what is going on in the world of weblogs
• My Yahoo — a customizable web page with news stock quotes weather and many other features
• Bloglines — helps you subscribe to and manage lots of web information
• Ping-o-matic — Pinging lets dozens of services know you have updated your site and increases traffic to your blog
• Newsgator — tracks it all and brings the web pages to you

… plus up to five additional services.

• TailRank
• Blog Buzz Machine
• FeedBlitz
• Google Blog Search Pinging Service
• Alexa

Lastly, one other thing you can do to help get the word out, is to add your blog/website to your email signature, and have it on every message you send, my email signature consists of my name, email address, web site (this blog) and my LinkedIn public profile page.

While I’ve discussed ways to syndicate your blog online in this post, word of mouth is another very simple way to get more readership, adding your blog/website to a business or networking card is another way to get the word out with people you meet and network with face to face.

Happy Reading!

-Martin

1. Get out and get noticed, a great local resource in Phoenix for networking events is networkingphoenix.com search the internet for local network groups for your own area
2. Set daily, weekly and monthly goals in your job search, make them realistic, not unattainable, you don’t want to set yourself up for defeat
3. Take constructive criticism gracefully.  I’ve learned from some very helpful people that if someone tells you something about how you handle an issue, that more than one person likely has seen the same thing, so don’t over-react.
   • These are more than likely people in your ‘inner-circle’ and noticed something, whatever it is.  Pause a moment and listen, they care and want to help you succeed in your life.
   • Use it to your advantage
   • Take time to reflect on it
   • Grow and learn from it
   • Thank the person for bringing it to your attention later
4. Find someone else who shares your story, and bounce ideas off each other.  Remember the saying, ‘there is no I in team’, and teamwork is something that will help out in the long run, so don’t try to go it alone, here are  some resources you can utilize:
   • Alumni association and/or career services office of colleges you attended
   • Your LinkedIn Network
   • People you previously worked with in your field

I came across the following message on twitter this morning from a buddy of mine who runs jobshouts.com, Mike Quale that was Retweeted from another couple of people.

So I had to go look at it, and just a quick overview of that article, I am doing 5 of these things, I will go over them here. The full article is located here if you don’t click on the short link above: http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-experts-8_little_known_tricks_for_the_job_hunt-79

1. Add a signature to your outgoing email messages
   • While I have almost always included my name and email address, since I’ve been searching for a job and since starting this blog, I have added a bit of additional information to my email signature, to include name, email address, blog site and LinkedIn profile URL and I do recommend everyone not currently doing something like this to add one, most webmail providers also include an option to add a signature.
2. Include your LinkedIn profile URL in that signature
   • This is something I started doing once I had my LinkedIn profile up and running, my LinkedIn profile mirrors my resume for the most part, but still does need some tweaking
3. Use Twitter to keep your fans in the loop
   • I’m making a point to connect with people, and I send relevant messages, also letting people know when I’ve made a new post here so they can read it and follow what I’m doing, not only do I do that but I have my twitter feed pulled in to facebook, and I utilize the LinkedIn “What are you working on?” status update as well
4. Make your Facebook page work for you – not against you
   • This one is the one that I’m not doing, I just need to figure out how to work this, if there is anyone out there that can help me with this, I’d appreciate it
5. Add a qoute to your resume
   • This is another that I’m not doing, I can think of several things, but if anyone has a format or idea on where and how to place it on the resume, I’d like some suggestions
6. Get a Moo card
   • I have a ‘network’ card, listing my contact information, this Moo card idea is a bit different and something I will be looking into
7. Put a voice on your job search profile
   • This is one that I plan on implementing in a different way, currently my ‘voice’ was the short news interview I had on ABC15 which there are links to from my sidebar here on my site, but I need to expand on that a bit more in my own video or audio
8. Rewrite your resume so it sounds human
   • Currently working on my resume with Christian Kaijser of Career Evolutions to retool my resume and take it to the next level.

Happy Reading!

Martin

The hosts of the meeting are Kenneth von Hopf and Sandy Rogers I got there around 2, and while the schedule said it would be over by 4 I was actually there till almost 6 pm.

Here are a couple of pictures from the meetup, sorry if quality isn’t that great they were taken with my cell phone:

I met a couple of guys and one of the discussions I joined in on was how people don’t have a good follow through when you offer assistance or say ‘call me later’, I admit to being guilty of it myself at times but I’ve gotten better at calling or emailing back after making a contact. Michael Castillo was one of the guys who was talking about it, his business PostalMax is in the Scottsdale Airpark, and is a member of Associated Professionals Resource Organization

I had heard about APRO from a couple of other networking groups I’d been attending, and will follow up to find out more about that organization.

My story about follow through goes back to the job fair a week and a half ago.  I’d given out my ‘network’ card with my contact information on it to about 15-20 people while networking, telling them to call or email me later, and no one has followed up with me.

We also discussed social media, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  Several people including myself had their laptops with them, and one of the guys remembered me from the news story on ABC15 from Wednesday night. I shared with them how I connected with Chris Sign and ended up getting contacted a week later to do the interview.

I met a photographer by the name of Darren Stevenson, and we struck up a conversation because my niece Kayleen is a photographer herself who has started her own business. His website is at www.stevenson-photography.com.

I also met a woman by the name of Annette Griswold, who is a life coach,  we sat for a while talking, and she mentioned that she was recently laid off, and was looking for some contacts for her business, she designs and prints affirmations on t-shirts, she showed me some of her work. The  business is called Affirm-a-Tees, etc.

She relayed a story to me about the starfish, I’d never heard it before until now but it was inspirational. Also a bit funny at one point, but if you want to know the whole story you will just have to ask her about it, the story she relayed to me was more than just ‘the starfish story’ but the how and why she came into the business she is in. I asked her if she’d mind sending a picture to include on my blog here, and she did send me one as shown below:

Annette Griswold

We were both curious and so we Googled ‘starfish story’ and up it came.  I was curious so just a few minutes ago I treid to find the author, as most of the references online were unattributed, but I came up with Loren Eiseley.

A version of that story is below:

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of
walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a child, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The child was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”

“I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” asked the somewhat startled wise man. To this, the child replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But do you not realise that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

At this, the child bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, “It made a difference for that one.”

I had to chuckle a little when she finished telling the story, but I was also thinking about the organizations I’d been involved with recently, including JobAngels, and their idea to have each person help one other person.  SJN, the non-profit I’ve started volunteering for.  The network groups I attend that are roundtable format, where people give their ‘elevator speech’ and people in the room respond with advice/contacts and other resources they may have available to help that person, and I know one person can make a difference in the life of another in a positive and powerful way.

Happy reading!

-Martin

For those of you that came to my site from that link initially, thank you But for those of you just coming across this now, it’s a link to a story and video clip of my job search and networking.

I started a dialog through email with Chris Sign last week after the Jobing.com Career Expo, because I wanted to link my blog post about my experience at the job fair to a story he wrote about it.

I sent him an email and asked him if I could use the link to pictures and the story in my blog post.  He responded, and said yes, and I told him I’d let him know when I posted the story I was writing.  I shot him a quick email after that, letting him know I’d published my blog post.

I never imagined a week later I’d get an email from him saying:

‘I would like to do a story about your blog and experiences involving the job search’

I got the email  about an hour after after he sent it as I hadn’t been checking my email often, I thought about emailing him back, and asking more information, but he did give me his cell # in the email, so instead picked up the phone and called him and I am glad I didn’t miss out on the opportunity.  Chris said they were doing a quick interview in North Scottsdale, and he would like to come over after that to interview me.

I figured I was one of many they were interviewing for this story, and it would be fun to get out there, to have a little clip or comment on the news.

He asked me a question during the interview which I’m paraphrasing here as I don’t recall his exact words, “What would you say to people who may be afraid of or unfamiliar with the technology?”, and my comment about “You can choose to embrace it and go with it.” was part of my comment that made it on the air.

There was of course things that didn’t make it to the edited version which runs a little bit longer than a minute 30 seconds, I mentioned several other important groups and sites in the unedited interview that are a part of my job search efforts:

1. Scottsdale Job Network – SJN (www.scottsdalejobnet.com)
2. St Patricks Employment Support Ministry (www.stpatrickscottsdale.org/W2/ministries/)
3. Health care network group meeting (currently no active website, but hope I can help with that soon)
4. Jobshouts  (jobshouts.com) @jobshouts on twitter
5. JobAngels (www.jobangels.org) @jobangels on twitter

There are other resources I also didn’t mention in the interview and off camera that I will be sharing as I start to write more, as well as sharing more of my experiences since the story aired.

I will be adding a page to my blog with contact information soon, so anyone wanting to contact me off the blog can do so, but please feel free to post comments to my posts.

I have also tagged names of people who are part of the above mentioned groups and will write about the people and their relationship to each group at a later time.

Look for more coming in the next few days.

Happy reading!

-Martin

I got back a question from a contact on one of the lists:

With some 14,000 people attending the recent Jobing.com fair, should we even consider these fairs worth our time?

My response in part is below:

I went to the Jobing.com career fair the other day, arrived later than I had originally planned, but still got in front of employers, and got my resume in their hands, and what happens next, is anyone’s guess, but I did what I felt needed to be done in order that I may secure a job in the near future.

To put the answer to the question you posed “With some 14,000 people attending the recent Jobing.com fair, should we even consider these fairs worth our time?” The simple answer, for me, I say is YES, it is worth it, even if you never get in front of an employer (but hopefully that won’t happen), you are out there to network not only with the employers, but those around you also seeking jobs, and you never know if a recruiter or business owner might be one of the people you strike up a conversation and talk to ‘out in the open.’

It may sound counter-productive, but you never know where that next opportunity will come from, if it’s from a job seeker who’s got a friend or relative working at a target company or company in the same industry you’re looking in, all the better. I carry a business card holder with me with about 15-20 of my nework cards at ALL times, you never know when that opportunity will be there to network with someone.

Also, something I heard in the Connections meeting Wednesday evening … that got a laugh out of just about everyone in the room, and I can’t remember who said it, but they were at the job fair too and said ‘if you apply online at a company that was at the job fair, tell them you were at the job fair and talked to someone there, and they would ‘never know the difference’. That last part is what got the laugh, but it’s also mostly true.

Even though these folks behind the booths at the job fair didn’t have personal business cards for the most part (or if they did, they were not sharing), I would ask their name and write it down, and what company they were with if they were willing to share that information, one of the gals I talked to at one of the health care booths even offered me her work email address to follow up with her later.

As I was leaving the job fair with my portfolio in hand, I met one last person walking out with me who actually asked, “Are you a recruiter?” and I told her that no, I wasn’t,  and I asked her what prompted her to ask me that and she’d overheard part of a conversation I was having with someone else as I was walking out and I’d mentioned to that person about a recruiter I was currently working with to find a job … We talked briefly about our experience inside, I handed her my network card, and asked her to follow up with me later.

…I could be an advocate for any number of groups or causes, I happen to have strong feelings for both SJN and the St Pats employment ministry, each doing good in their own way on their own merits, and I’ve learned so much in such a short time about the importance of building face to face relationships and being professional about it…

My main point being, is get out in front of people, even if you think it’s a bit inconvenient, crowded, or whatever, make the time to connect. I networked with those around me at the job fair, and handed them my ‘network’ card, and asked them to follow up with me later.  How many of those people that will actually contact me, I have no clue. Only one other person I spoke to had a business card, and someone handed me a copy of their resume that had their contact information on it as it was the only thing they had.

…because I’ve really started to learn the value of networking, and it’s not just ‘collecting business cards’ or ‘connections’ on sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, or followers on twitter, but building real face to face relationships that will connect you with that ‘next great career opportunity’…

I have to admit that I’m a bit in awe of what face to face networking and social media has done for me, and the exposure it’s gotten me in just the last few days.

I asked Chris Vicari at the last SJN meeting “how can I help this group? I want to volunteer.” She referred me to another board member, Michael Prahl, who is in charge of forming an ambassador program for SJN, and we’ve discussed a few things, I will follow up with him next week. I’m no longer afraid of picking up the phone, or asking to meet someone for lunch, a drink, coffee or whatever, and saying ‘this is what I need, how can you help me?” or “this is what I have to offer, how can I help you?”

I even emailed a reporter for ABC 15 on Thursday morning asking to use a piece of his article on the job fair in my blog, he allowed me to link to the story and pictures, and I plan on following up with him once I post the information to my blog.

I was sent a private message by another prominent blog poster saying “thanks for the kind words.” I made some comments about networking and the tips they had on their blog, when we were chatting back and forth on Twitter, I went to their blog and posted my ‘tip’ about networking because they requested new tips and I didn’t see a guest commentary about networking, I don’t know if it will appear on their blog, but I did give that as my ‘big tip’

Also on Thursday after I sent out a message to about half of my network contacts on LinkedIn asking them politely to join a group on LinkedIn that I felt was going someplace and important to me, I got a reply back from the CEO of a company that I’d met at networking events the last two months, that he was ‘serious about working with me.’ He initially was looking for some free PR for his own business through various avenues of social media by my messages, (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn to be specific), but through a short dialog with him, I ended it with saying, “we need to meet and talk about how we can help eachother.”

I contacted a co-owner of another company who reviews job blogs, who said to me, “you should talk to ‘so and so’ at this ‘other company’, and here’s my idea on how to approach him…” … He’s already been reading my blog and said I was off to a good start and said if I needed anything to just ask.

I hope my long answer gives you enough insight on why I say “Yes” to your question “is it worth the time?”

Regards,

Martin

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I’m meeting with someone this morning in about an hour that I met through a connection and we are going to go over my resume and ‘spruce it up a bit.’  I’m looking forward to that, and he is meeting with a new client right after we meet, so my information will be fresh on his mind, and he will be thinking of a way I may be able to help this other company based on my experience.