Getting a job using social media...well, sort of.

Recently, I changed career paths.  When people ask how the opportunity came about, my short answer is that I landed the new job using social media (specifically Twitter).  But, I also explain that is not as simple as stating that Twitter actually “got” me the job.  It played a role in the process, which was important, but not the whole story.  My hope is that by sharing some of the techniques I used to initiate my career change, you can get some ideas for your own professional pursuits.

My Story:

For a little over a year, I have been actively pursuing career opportunities in the Twin Cities.  I had a great job in Illinois, with a great company.  My wife and I had just decided we wanted to make a change, be closer to family, and try a new location.

Getting Out There, and Setting Deadlines:

Once we agreed on the plan, the first thing I did was commit to physically coming to Minnesota once per quarter.  By setting hard dates, it was up to me to make sure I had enough meetings set up to make the trips worth while.  Quarterly visits were often enough for me to get moving on our plan without disrupting my current situation, or going broke on airfare.  To prepare for the visits, I used a number of tactics to make my trips worth while.

LinkedIn:  

I used LinkedIn’s Advanced Job Search function to hone in on specific job keywords in the location where I was looking.  When I found one that footed the bill, in addition to applying for the job (with the always important cover letter), I reviewed the company’s LinkedIn profile, the person that posted the position, and any other employees in a related department.  I sent these people messages explaining my situation, and inviting them to have a cup of coffee at one of my upcoming quarterly visits.

Industry Associations:

In my field, the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) is a great source of information, contacts, and events.  They have a very nice jobs board, which I frequently surveyed for opportunities.  I also became a member, so I could get familiar with the other members and companies.  I created a spreadsheet of the companies and members, and researched what they were all about, including twitter feeds, LinkedIn profiles, personal blogs, and professional histories.  When I found someone interesting, I subscribed to their twitter feeds and blogs, started interacting with them, and eventually reached out to invite them for a coffee at one of my visits (starting to see a pattern?)  

Twitter:

Twitter is a nice way to initially get to know someone.  The types of people I enjoy following are those who share a nice combination of business and personal information.  These are the people I actively searched for.  Plus, by paying attention to who they followed and interacted with, I was able to find other interesting people in the industry who I could start following and interacting with as well.  Soon, my network of Minnesota interactive marketing professionals started to grow, and I was meeting a lot of cool and smart people who I could invite for meetings.  There was never a moment when there wasn’t something else to do to get me closer to my goal, and with each new company or contact discovery, a new relationship soon followed.

The Meetings:

The nice thing about conducting my search while I still had a job was that I could be patient.  I was ready to give this initiative as long as it took to find the right gig, and was lucky enough to not have a financial or time deadline against which I was fighting.  I approached all my meetings as a chance to get to know people in the industry from the Twin Cities, and to get a feel for what is going on in the Minnesota scene.  I didn’t ask for jobs directly, or drill anyone for contacts.  I listened to stories on how they made it, and in some cases asked for their thoughts and suggestions on my approach.  In some cases, my new friend would say “you know you really should talk to X”.  Drip after deliberate drip...my Minnesota network continued to expand.  As I discovered more people, I would get in touch with them and set up a coffee at my next visit, and repeat!

Getting the Job:

One of these new contacts was also on the same path I was, and was making a change to a different career.  Not only did we have a similar industry in common, we were trying to accomplish the same goal.  Eventually, he landed a gig and was working when he received a call from his recruiter about an opportunity.  He declined the offer to apply, but said that he “had the guy” for the job.  I received a text message telling me to call his recruiter.  I was “his guy,” and the rest is history.

Lessons Learned:  It’s the Network

Personally, I think the power of these tools lies in the personal network you can build.  Since I started this process, I have been lucky enough to build relationships with people I now call friends.  These are people with whom I want to hang out, and now that I am here, I get to interact with them in real life.  

What I learned in this process is if you want to get into a career using social media tactics, you can’t ignore the hard work of getting out there and building a solid network of like-minded people.  If you know where you want to go, and what you want to do, find others that are already doing it and get to know them.  Don’t concentrate too much on getting the job, but building meaningful relationships with the right people.  If you repeat this process enough, and make yourself known, your chances of putting yourself into a position of getting lucky increases exponentially.  Plus, you get to meet a lot of very cool and smart people in the process.

That’s how I did it.  How about you?  What social media tactics have you used to land a job?  What frustrations have you run into?  I’d like to hear your story.

A New Chapter: Victory in Minnesota

Starting Monday, I will be working with Victory Motorcycles, a division of Polaris Industries, on their social media initiatives.  I am thrilled to be working with an extremely forward thinking company who is known in the industry for their superior products, and customer loyalty.  It is an opportunity for me to use all of the skills I am so passionate about, including video production (on the road), story telling, and multimedia.  To say I am excited would be an understatement.

This means today is my last day at Moneris Solutions, a company at which I have worked for 12 years in a variety of roles.  It was at Moneris where I learned the importance of personal customer service, and that I had an addiction to converting dissatisfied clients into brand advocates by working with them instead of reciting policies.  I didn't know it at the time, but all of my work on the front lines with our clients prepared me for this "new marketing" world of social media.  I have been lucky and blessed to work with some of the smartest and hardest working people in the financial services industry, and I will miss everyone very much.

Accepting the job also means relocating to the Twin Cities, where I grew up.  The kids will be closer to their grandparents and cousins, and we will finally get to spend more time with family, which is huge.

Plus, I am really looking forward to getting more involved into the Minnesota scene, which is one of the most engaged group of interactive marketing and social media folks around.

With no time to waste, I am loading up the truck and moving Saturday, and will be sharing time between Minnesota and Illinois until the house sells.  So fire up the hotdish and coffee Minnesota, ‘cause here we come!

Accessibility...to the Core

Joshua Davis' acclaimed book Flash to the Core

One of the things of which I get the most joy is finding sources of inspiration in artists, designers, and musicians. When I see something that is truly beautiful, I usually go through two phases…the first being the “wow…I’ll just sit back and enjoy that beautiful thing” phase, which is usually followed closely by the phase of “I wonder how the hell they did that?” There are a lot of artists that absolutely astound and inspire me with their work, and one of them is Joshua Davis. But this story isn’t about his work…it’s about him.

A couple years ago, before I had even heard of Social Media, I was trouncing through the internet on one of my inspiration quests, and I came across Joshua’s site, praystation.com (which has since been morphed into his current site joshuadavis.com). If you haven’t seen his work, it is worth a look. To me, his combination of technology and art was the stuff I could spend hours going through. Once I started reading about how he creates his art, and how he tries to push his tools to the limits, well…I became an instant fan. How many layers can you have in an Illustrator document before you kill your computer? Ask Joshua…he can tell you.

I found out Joshua wrote a book about Flash design called “Flash to The Core: An Interactive Sketchbook”, and jumped over to Amazon.com to pick one up. To my dismay, at the time, all my searches for copies ended up with an “out of print” notice. I was out of luck.  As a last ditch effort, I sent an email to his studio in New York, with the hopes that maybe an assistant could help me find a copy. To be honest, I expected a boiler plate message indicating that “due to the popular demand of Mr. Davis’ book unfortunately we are unable to…..blah blah,” but I figured it was worth a shot.

Instead, fifteen minutes later, my phone rang.

“Hi Dave, this is Joshua. I’m sorry you’re having some trouble finding copies of my book. I only have a couple copies left myself… but if you check eBay, you can still find some used copies.”

No assistant, no week delay in responding or straight up ignoring. It was the guy himself making a personal phone call to a complete stranger with a tip (that worked by the way) on how to find his book.

I was pretty floored. I can’t even get my cable company to commit to calling me back within a certain timeframe, and Joshua took it upon himself to call me personally so I could find an out of print copy of his book. It took him 15 seconds to call me, but it was his personal attention and accessibility that made the impression on me.

One of the cool things I see more and more with the onset of social media tools is the leveling of the playing field. The old barriers of business and celebrity are being knocked down and replaced with direct and immediate contact. What an opportunity for celebrities and companies to create more fans or ambassadors of their brand by these small, but meaningful connections.  It doesn’t take a lot of effort, but it does require a shift in thinking. Tools like Twitter are great new ways to provide accessibility and directly connect to your fans and customers, IF you choose to commit to the idea of a personal level of service like I received from Joshua.

We all know what it is like to have an experience that is so good, we tell others about it. Usually, it is not a huge event, but a small detail that stood out as a personal surprise. I’ll always remember the call I received from Joshua, and how special it made me feel.  Oh, and by the way, the book is fantastic!

How about you?  What surprises have you encountered that resulted in a story you like to tell?