How to Use Twitter to Find a Job

I love Twitter and think it's a great source of information, access to articles, and opening my thinking to new people, ideas, technology, jobs, and opportunities. I'm able to stay on top of what's happening in advertising, marketing, social media, and business. I'm alerted to discounted flights and specials at Whole Foods and Starbucks.

I found this article for job seekers particularly relevant and concise (both for Twitter newbies and those who have been Tweeting for a while) : How to Use Twitter to Find a Job | Digital Pivot

Enjoy and happy job search!

Do Employers Really Know What They’re Looking For?

I have seen scores of job postings for positions that seem to encompass multiple functions, skills, and backgrounds into one role within a company. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, corporate America and nonprofits, but you are highly unlikely to find anyone who has the skill sets to do everything from media relations to graphic design to copywriting to design of websites to strategic planning to media planning to social media well. The key word here is well.

I think it’s a great attribute for people to be generalists and to know a little about a wide range of topics. I may be familiar with how to use a drill and a hammer, but I don’t think anyone would want to hire me to design and build a house. Knowing how to use the tools in business isn’t quite the same as being knowledgeable about processes, communicating to your audience effectively, quality work, expertise based on years of experience, training, and understanding the rationale behind decisions.

Here are examples of some of the “Qualifications Needed” from recent job postings (these have been edited for brevity):

Director of External Affairs:

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree in communication, business, marketing or other relevant field; supplemented by 3+ years of accomplishment in a multi-faceted external relations position.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite & Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and Acrobat). Graphic design skills required.
• Web and Social Media experience required.
• Knowledge of media sources.
• Capacity to create consistent messaging and to manage events for cultivation, awareness building, and celebration.
• Strong organizational and time management skills.
• Preparation and periodic submittal of columns, letters to the editor, blogs, news releases and other public relations communications to ensure enhanced public visibility.
• Ability to comprehend and correctly use informational documents including budget reports, surveys and trends, and other reports and records.
• Ability to write for publication, conduct research on individuals and organizations, prepare statistics, and other job related documents using prescribed format and conforming to all rules of punctuation, grammar, diction and style.

If you’re not looking for a job, it’s almost humorous. I envision one person with about 12 arms and a head that is constantly spinning. It’s one thing to oversee and manage others responsible for a tremendous variety of skills; it’s stupidity to imagine that one must be skilled in it personally in order to get the job done. Here’s another example:

Marketing Communications Specialist

Primary Responsibilities:

• Develop, create, implement and manage communication and demand generation programs.
• Negotiate with, brief and manage external agencies
• Manage multiple campaigns across diverse channels, ensuring they are delivered on time and within budget.
• Collect, analyze and report metrics, including program effectiveness, lead generation and ROI

Requirements:

• 3+​ years of experience of designing and implementing successful B2B campaigns
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• Experience in communicating benefits of technical products to internal and external audiences.​
• Knowledge and experience of multimedia development and editing capability (Adobe Suite, InDesign, etc)
• Excellent project management skills
• Creative experience:​ In-Design, video editing/​production
• Excellent English writing skills
• B2C writing experience is preferred but not required

And one more:

Marketing Manager

Marketing Manager will:

• Juggle dozens of projects, head off issues and put out fires at the drop of a dime
• Translate needs and ideas into workable solutions and effective programs; act with diplomacy and manage expectations
• Be comfortable managing relationships with all employees from entry-level staff to executive stakeholders
• Think out of the box and know how to make a big impact without blowing a budget; personally like to research and stay up to date on the latest marketing trends
• Possess excellent copywriting and creative skills, web 2.0 expertise, ability to navigate the Adobe suite and have print production experience

You Must:

• Possess at least five years of experience working within a corporate marketing department
• Demonstrate a track record of performance managing multiple marketing programs; bring your writing or design portfolio
• Be highly collaborative, you understand creative services and work well on team initiatives
• Have experience in strategic planning and execution
• Play in the interactive space; you Facebook and Tweet, of course you’re Linkedin and you’re always on the lookout for the next great web 2.0 experience
• Possess a Bachelor’s Degree

I'd be interested in hearing the comprehensive or unusual job postings you're seeing in your fields, too. Maybe that's a business opportunity...helping companies to write job descriptions and job postings.

Mission Impossible?

Sometimes I feel as though I’m on a mission. Seriously.

Some days, my mission seems to be to catch all the grammatical errors and typos in the newspaper (and sadly there have been many in the past year or so). That usually leads me to a rant about the decline of newspapers and decent writing in this country, which then leads to the decline of a good, comprehensive basic education in the U.S.

Other days my mission is evil drivers; mostly, those people who don’t stop at stop signs. In my neighborhood, walkers, children on scooters or bicycles, people pushing baby strollers, and joggers have to watch out for the “slow down and go” drivers (most of whom seem to be on their mobile phones). Maybe this relates back to poor driver education?

But now my mission is bad advertising. I wrote an email a few months ago to the “We Want to Hear from You” contact for a particular organization in Washington, DC after seeing a particularly egregious, hard to read, and even harder to comprehend print ad. They must not have appreciated my feedback (or offer to help them) because I didn’t receive a response.

But today I was stopped by an ad in the August issue of Washingtonian Magazine (believe me, there are many ineffective, hard to read ads in this publication). Advertisers, you may as well not even waste your money advertising if:

• Consumers can’t read the copy because the type is too small and fine to reverse out of the background photo.
• A potential customer can’t easily distinguish the name of the restaurant (or any business) in the logo…again, because it’s too small and insignificant in the ad to be noticed.
• I may already be familiar with your business, but you’ve hidden the reasons I might want to go there again (in other words, the benefits to your customers, your key selling message, your unique offering) by listing four hard to read bullet points, none of which are compelling when selecting a restaurant. For example, “ A hot spot among the city’s elite.” Please.
• You select a photo that shows part of an empty restaurant and stairs leading…where, to the kitchen, the restrooms, the bar? I adore great architecture, well-designed spaces and serene environments, however all I’m getting from this photo is “dull.”

People, sometimes understated does not serve your business well. Think before spending your precious money. You’re advertising for a reason… does your advertising effectively communicate for you?

I fear I may be getting a bit curmudgeonly but I am a girl on a mission...and I love it.

Ford Fiesta or Siesta?

Anyone else get this commercial for the new Ford Fiesta? I first saw it this evening and was confused by the "Hands Free" sign at the end. What?

I know I am not the target audience for this particular car and I surmise that they are trying to reach a younger, hip audience, but I have lots of issues with how they are trying to do this:

• It's a complicated presentation of the benefits of the car (did you catch the 40MPH message and the full tank signage?). Come on, who doesn't want a car that gets 40MPH; that's a pretty big message that should be shouted from the rooftops.
• It appears less urban and more old fashioned (resembling a scene from "Singing in the Rain" or another old, classic movie). Does anyone want anything less than the most up-to-date, most effective technology when buying a new car?
• And what is the deal with people dropping from the roofs?
• We aren't really seeing the car or any features that make it look like it would be sweet to drive.

The car ads have been hitting the airwaves over the past few months, as car manufacturers are trying to boost sales. I am very happy that Ford (which did not request nor take any government economic bailout money) is doing well, increasing sales and market share this year. They are all battling for your dollars and hoping to lure you into a new car purchase.

But as Leo Burnett said about advertising:

Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.

What car ads have you seen that are right on target or captured your attention and admiration?

Health Insurance Options

Check out the government's new site to provide information for people seeking health insurance: healthcare.gov.

The site launched last month and explains very simply what is happening as a result of the landmark healthcare reform law that went into effect earlier this year.

You can find out which private health insurance plans (or public options) are available to you state by state. Once you see the health plans available to individuals (or families), you can go to each insurance provider to review individual plans, coverage and costs. I found this a great resource. It still means sifting through a lot of information from each insurance provider, but it allows you to compare the give and take of deductibles, co-pays, coverage, and monthly cost in order to make the best decision for you.

Happy, healthy shopping.