Last night a light bulb went off during my hands-on 2 hr workshop.
The workshop started off as usual. Introductions. LinkedIn, personal branding ninja techniques, getting to Google’s first page. And just as we were about to get into Twitter…Time ran out!
I realized that I’m giving out A LOT of information. Way too much for just 2 hours. Instead of raising the price, or cutting the amount of content I’m giving away, I decided to make my 2 hr workshop 3 hrs.
I don’t know anyone else simply giving away so much powerful material for so little money. And I feel good about it because my goal is simple. Help you get jobs faster. End of story. And I’ll do that as long as I can.
Way Too Much to Do with Social Media
During one of our break-out sessions, an attendee asked me, “how much time do you spend in front of the computer?”
“What do you mean?”, I asked.
“Well, there is just so much to do on-line. All of the LinkedIn applications, branding and soon Twitter. I don’t want to be spending all day there when I should be in front of interviewers.”, she retorted.
I’m so glad she brought this up.
Remember, everything you are doing online…from LinkedIn, to Blogging to Twitter is for one end. And one end alone. To get to interviews.
There is no prize for the most pretty LinkedIn profile. Or the most well designed VisualCV.
I’d like to share my answer to her concern with you. Remember, this is the crux. The reason. The main and fundamental motivation for every job-seeking activity you do.
I felt a collective sigh of relief from the group.
Maybe I can hear your sigh.
But here is my challenge. And I’d like your comments and feedback.
How can I effectively teach ALL of this material without overwhelming people. Without making them feel there is just so much to do? How can I better re-enforce the idea that we should only do as much as we have to to get interviews? That social media is just a tool and not an ends.
How can I help people overcome their fears and concerns about using this?
Please comment below if you have some thoughts.
This is a great opportunity to reinforce doing your research! Is the CEO of the company you want to work for a thought leader on LinkedIn? Are the software developers you yearn to work with engaging on twitter? Who are the people you want to work with and for? Emulate them!
you just did it. that you use social media to secure an interview. period. you’re done. and you have offered lots of options as to how to use that social media because some are easier and more interesting for certain people than others.
maybe do an individual blog just on that topic alone. social media is intimidating for people who really aren’t that computer-friendly and if that’s the case they’re going to need lots of luck securing a job anyway.
Lisa,
Wonderful idea. In a way, if someone is uncomfortable with social media, they may have some career skills to work on anyways. So the question is, is it my job to teach those career skills, or wait for graduation. A blog post indeed!
-J
Joshua,
I think it people achieve ninja status if you structure a few levels of instruction. It seemed that many people in your 2-hour workshop really needed the 1-hour course you taught at the career center first. While all of us can achieve the black belt, some need a few extra exercises on the way.
Joshua,
I think it people achieve ninja status if you structure a few levels of instruction. It seemed that many people in your 2-hour workshop really needed the 1-hour course you taught at the career center first. While all of us can achieve the black belt, some need a few extra exercises on the way.
You could coach your students to take social media one step at a time. Have them choose one business networking site that fits their needs, get good at it and then expand from there. I started with LinkedIn because several of my current and former coworkers used it. I’ve since added my own blog, Twitter and other services. I have also avoided some popular services because they really didn’t fit my needs and goals.
This is a sound approach – the problem is simple students need to have at least some familiarity with the SM landscape – that is they need to have a complete linkedin profile, they should have at least used vcv – for a simple starter profile and they should have done some simple Twittering.
It is nice if folks would also know something about SEM as well.
If folks come to the class without this background – then it is difficult to focus on the special use of these tools, and much that Josh presents is lost – I would suggest a course pre-req (not required, but recommended).
To that end it would be useful to have a list of pre-course requisites:
sites to visit, activities to complete and things to read.
Given that folks have the pre-reqs 3 hours should be adquate to cover the important stuff.
You could coach your students to take social media one step at a time. Have them choose one business networking site that fits their needs, get good at it and then expand from there. I started with LinkedIn because several of my current and former coworkers used it. I’ve since added my own blog, Twitter and other services. I have also avoided some popular services because they really didn’t fit my needs and goals.