Needing Experience to Get a Job vs Needing a Job to Get Experience

I remember it clear as day, the first time I heard this, or more correctly, the first time I read it on a flyer posted in the hallowed halls of high school. It was the mid ninties posted in flourescent green on the wall (outside of the Austin caf near the drama wing if anyone knows the area). You'll need a job to get experience, but you need experience to get a job. Ay, there's the rub. How in the heck to get both? Or at least get a break so you can prove how eager you are, show off your solid work ethic and prove you have terrific communication skills?

1. Volunteer
Offer your services to an organization that needs your help! Even better if it's for a good cause, for people in need, For a friend or for your community. Offer to undertake some skills that are parallel to those you'll need to perform in that dream job.  Sometimes, if you're lucky, you'll get thrust into a leadership position or become a subject matter expert, and you'll find that helps you score points for both job and experience.  No one said a job had to be paid!

2. Network
Talk to people.  Talk to anyone and everyone.  Attend industry events, talk to friends, peers, relatives, former classmates, their spouses.  Get your story straight, figure out what you want, be it skill or industry or personal development, and ask for that.  A wise man once told me: If you don't ask, you don't get. Networking is a great way to get in front of the right people so you can talk your way into that job!

3. Create your own job
This is a popular way to go, however it's not for the faint -hearted.  There's a lot of work involved, a lot of research and a lot of the first two elements of this post.  Sometimes you end up having to work for free, again just to get experience.  Other times you'll spend networking, just so you can get your name out there.

So which is it?  Go for the job first?  Or the experience?   How can you effectively do both?  Well, often you start out in one job, in one industry, when you really need to get into your dream industry.  There's no singular right answer,   but there's no doubt you'll need to do the above if you want to make your move.

Maybe you're dreaming of health care and you can't seem to get out of telecommunications.  Maybe you're desperate for one of those big IT conglomorates, but you can't get past cleaning products.  In another post, I'll discuss how to jump from one industry to another.

Professional Services Marketing 2.0

We all know that marketers representing sexy products and services can leverage social media channels to generate buzz about their offerings. People become Facebook fans of your carbonated beverage, you tweet your latest fashion insights to your followers, right? Even Sharpie has been successful in using social media to showcase products and ultimately drive people to their website which increases profile and no doubt brand awareness.*

Success in professional services, that is, legal, accounting, architechture, engineering etc., especially in the b2b space, is more often than not driven by the management of relationships between the fee-earners and the decision-makers of their clients' firms.

These relationships, while they may be orchestrated via business development or sales teams, are mainteined through constant engagement with clients through online and offline channels. Those include events, seminars, bidding for work, newsletters, updates, surveys etc.

Hey, wait, isn't relationship-building the very fibre of social media?

But how do you leverage social media marketing in the professional services space? In 2007, the veritable jurassic period of social media marketing, a survey completed by the Professional Marketing Forum identified that marketing experts in professional services firms are unsure of how to approach Web 2.0 and social media marketing strategies.

In 2007, the key findings included:

1. 18% of firms banned Facebook on office computers as a ‘time waster’
2. 20% allowed free access anytime arguing their people should be trusted
3. Large firms were actively exploring the possibility of upgrading intranets with Web 2.0 elements including RSS, blogging and social bookmarking
4. No firms were reporting commercial success through using Web 2.0 sites

Isn't it time for marketers of these firms to get on the social media marketing train?

What if in house thought-leaders tweeted their insights and clients were able to subscribe to their feeds? What if successes and tender wins were the subjects of blog posts? What if boring firms got rid of their staid, stuffy appearance and attracted new, young, forward-thinking talent through their Facebook groups? And how about if those leading-edge video podcasts weren't held captive to the company website, but were search engine optimized and posted on Youtube? Wouldn't these serve as ways to build profile, engage influential decision-makers (or decision-makers-to-be)?

Am I way off here? What channels are the professional services marketers out there using to leap into the social media marketing fray?

*Sharpie is not actually un-sexy, especially when associated with talent like David Beckham...

Where is that Social Media Budget Going, Anyway?

There's a lot of talk about being able to measure the return on a social media spend no matter how big or small. Presumably you'd set the metrics ahead of time and know when you'd reached your goal. Douglas Karr brings up an interesting point that social networks charge advertisers based on how many users are on a network, but marketers could be allocating their hard-earned budget on disengaged (i.e. inactive) users who aren't actually eye-balling their wares.

Of course, measurement of brand equity, how consumers think about your brand relative to other brand choices, consumers' behaviour toward your brand and their perceived future behaviour toward your brand can seem foggy at best. This is why clear-cut measurement, including people attending your events, creating local buzz about your company (comments on your company/personal blog), engaging potential customers (link click-throughs readership/conversion), can help tell you where that budget is going. Hopefully not down the tubes!

Image credit: Image by blprnt_van

When your job needs a stimulus package

Maybe your role is no longer a challenge for you, you've outgrown the role and you're feeling a little underworked and understimulated. Maybe you've realised that your goals and the organisation's goals, as noble as they may be, no longer match up. It could be that there's an office bully, or an incompetent manager. So many elements could make your work experience begin to sour.

The feeling of dread usually starts at the pit of the stomach as you approach the building on foot or you see the compound in the distance from the car every morning. The feeling moves upward from the stomach toward the heart region. Your chest feels heavy as you dig your security pass from your handbag or wallet. In the elevator, you pray that you don't see anyone since the awful feeling has finally enveloped you from head to toe and there's no way you could dredge any inane pleasantries from the depths of your loathing.

And yet, as the elevator approaches your floor, since you don't want to be seen as 'the toxic employee with the bad attitude', you slap a smile on your face, walk in with your chin high, and greet each person with enthusiasm and genuine* interest.

What reason could you possibly have to smile?

1) You're keeping a to-do list, that gives you structure and direction, even if your manager won't.
When you're pretty certain that you can do your job with your eyes closed and both hands tied behind your back, having a bit of self-imposed structure can help you maintain some initiative. It will also help the day zip past, and when review time comes around you can prove you've been "super busy".

2) You've been volunteering for the social committee or other extra-curricular office activities
Maybe you're now on the social committee and you're the mastermind behind the office Christmas party, or the latest charity fun-run. In any case, getting out there socially portrays you as part of the team.

3) You've been making friends in the office
Odds are that you've got some colleagues who are also bored with their work, so you can pool your ideas on how to get ahead, try to motivate each other, beat the boredom and stay on top of the workload. It's also the ideal time for you to speak to people you ordinarily wouldn't, and build a positive profile of yourself.

4) You've been looking around for other jobs
When you're stuck in a career or work rut, it can be incredibly frustrating, especially if you're intelligent, educated and you could probably do your boss' boss' job if given the opportunity. Especially in the current economic climate, maybe those opportunities aren’t around, and may not be for a while. There's no harm in looking, though, especially if you're finding out where your skill gaps are, and how you can address those so you're prepared for your next big thing. Who knows what you might find.

Whatever you do, don't fall into the trap of letting your office boredom consume your life to the point where you start to make mistakes or offer work that you wouldn't otherwise be proud of. Several combinations of the activities above will make you look like you're showing a little initiative to get ahead. This could help you move up the ranks which will revitalise your interest and ultimately alleviate your boredom.

*fake

Image credits - Interest Rates (by ArtemFinland - CC- BY)