Job Survival in Today’s Technological World

Written by Michelle Bergstein-Fontanez Wednesday, 04 March 2009 11:00

Job Survival in Today’s Technological World

By Michelle Bergstein, Unique Option

By no means am I an expert at this topic, but we are all going through it. Moaning and complaining more than ever about depleting our savings, living under our paycheck to paycheck margin and fearful of what is about to happen next. Some of us are either unemployed, under employed, employed and wondering when is our job going to be next on the chopping block and the other quarter of us are self employed or company owners, struggling to get clients in the door, pay the bills, keep food on the table and their businesses afloat month after month.

So what are we to do? My company owner had some inspiring words for me today on the subject. Stay optimistic, positive and keep on, keeping on, eye on the prize, persistence, perseverance and never give up hope. Only the strong survive and if you can survive this you can survive anything. My husband has a similar take, in the face of adversity, how will you handle the pressure? One day at a time and work your ass off if you do have a job, because you want to keep your job right?

Keeping on top of all the latest trends in the industry- within marketing, media, online, event strategy etc., one particular article and blog pushed me to submit this story to our MMN forum. The Influential Marketing Blog by Rohit Bhargava, Rohit is a founding member of the pioneering 360 Digital Influence team at Ogilvy (One of the top 10 advertising agencies in the world), this 360 digital team focused on developing social media and word of mouth marketing strategy and campaigns for Top Fortune 500 companies. The Influential Marketing Blog is currently ranked among the top 50 marketing blogs in the world and was called "intellectual and educational" by the Wall Street Journal.

His latest blog entries have included an inspiring continual set of entries on Career Survival, what to do when you lose your job, how to keep your job and prove to be too valuable to be let go and how to find a job in this new technological world of Social Media/ Online Networking.

Check it out… This is a 5 part series, so for 4 and 5 check out his blog: http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/ for updates…

Career Survival Part 1: What to Do When You Lose Your Job

The first five things to do if you find yourself in a situation where you have lost your job:

1. Give yourself a reason and accept it. No matter how confident you are, losing a job always causes you to question yourself. Generally the two reactions are to doubt yourself and your ability, or to blame your situation or your people at your old company. Neither is worth doing. The best thing you can do is find a believable reason why this happened and then actually believe it. It's the first step to moving on.

2. Decide on two things to do. It's a cliche to tell you that you should try to discover what you want to do with your life now that you've lost your job. The better advice is to decide two things to do. The first is what you would do to bring in the money you'll need to support yourself or your family. The second is what you really want to do for a career. By separating the two, you can think more clearly about your future in the short and long term. That way, if you need to take a job for money that isn't perfect, you can keep your eye on preparing for the better job at the same time.

3. Map your social graph. Chances are, your next opportunity will come from somewhere or someone you already know - so the most important thing you can do at this point is to create a "graph" of your social imprint online. What sites do you belong to? Where do you have a concentration of your friends or previous work colleagues? What sites are you not a part of that you may want to join? Whether you consider yourself "technical" or not is besides the point. If you're going to get another job, you're going to need to network and unless you happen to have a social calendar filled with perfect networking opportunities every evening, you'll need the Internet.

4. Identify your influencers. Within your social graph will be people who are in a position to have a disproportionate effect on your getting a new job. Contrary to what you may think, these are not necessary the people with the highest titles or the most fame. Often the person hiring or who knows the person hiring is the one working at a mid level. So spend time with the sites that you belong to and start to make connections. Not to "sell" yourself to college friends you haven't spoken to in years, but to understand who you really need to convince and build a plan for them and others like them.

5. Get some face time. Now that you have identified your influencers, see if there are any common places where they will be. Don't underestimate the value of having some real face time to remind them who you are, and to show them that you're not retreating into your home office in the basement and sending out LinkedIn messages in your pajamas. Face time sends a message that you're there and ready - and has the side benefit of giving you the chance to expand your network to meet more people.

Career Survival Part 2: Using Social Media to Keep Your Job

In an economy like this one, your best career survival tip may be to hold on to the job you've got. If you're working at a company that isn't necessarily shutting its doors, but may need to let some people go ... your challenge is to prove yourself too valuable to let go. Social media (blogs, social networks, forums, online video, etc.) can help with this. Here are a few ideas for how you could use social media to keep the job you have right now:

1. Grow your personal brand. Having a strong personal brand gives you something to stand for. It builds your reputation. It's not about blogging or any one thing. Your personal brand means having a way of describing yourself and then using tools online such as social media to bring it to life. You may choose to start a blog, or build an online profile, or start actively using Twitter. Regardless of what you choose, start building brand "you" right now.
   
   
2. Be an accidental spokesperson. An "accidental spokesperson" is someone who begins to speak for a brand even though they have not officially been designated as a spokesperson. Being an employee of a company, you may need to tread carefully with this advice, as I am certainly not telling you to go out with social media and portray yourself as a spokesperson for the company you work for if you are not authorized to do so. Still, if you are in a sales role - start talking about sales and joining communities for sales people. Simply by nature of your experience, you will start to be seen as a representative of the brand you work for.

3. Invite testimonials. With most social media, there is the potential for two way interaction. This means that you can and should invite comments from people who interact with you. This could come in the form of a tweet on Twitter from a customer happy with your service, or a client posting a comment on your blog. Depending on what is appropriate with your particular role, you need to find ways to invite people to share these testimonials visibly. And then you need to share them with your boss to make sure he or she sees them.

4. Network internally. Many organizations have Facebook pages or LinkedIn groups. As an employee, you should find where those are and join as many as you can. Social media gives you the chance to network with your colleagues and others that may work at your company but that you haven't met before. Connecting with them not only gives you a sense of belonging and purpose - it can also create opportunities within the company for you to get involved in more.

5. Join or start the social media team. As more and more organizations start to figure out how to use social media strategically, there is very often a task force or internal group appointed to figure it out. Regardless of your role, sometimes the main qualification to be part of this team (or to start one if none exists) is a passion for social media. Take your passion/interest in social media and put it to use. How do I know you have this passion? Well, you're reading a blog right now, aren't you?

6. Go beyond your job. One thing reading or writing blogs, participating in social networks or using new social media tools offers you is the chance to go beyond what may be described as your job. For example, you may not be responsible for customer service, but if you read about someone in your social circle that had an issue with your product and you can help them resolve it - you should. Social media allows you to be a real person and add more value to the place you work beyond performing the bullet points that are on your actual job description.

Career Survival Part 3: Job Seeking 2.0

When it comes to looking for a new job, the rules are different to what they once were. Of course we all realize the power of technology to bring us job listings from sites like Monster or CareerBuilder, but when it comes to finding your new role - if you're still relying on a resume to get you in the door then you're stuck in the old way of doing things. To help progress, here are some tips on job seeking in the social media era.

1. Kill your resume, get a social media bio. Anyone who thinks they can still get a job with a traditional one or two page resume is living in a fantasy land. Instead, think in terms of creating your social media bio to explain what you can bring to an employer.

2. Apply for nonexistent jobs. When I started working at Ogilvy, there wasn't a specific posted job opening. Instead of waiting for one, I found out who the right people were and sent a link to my website and information about my background to them. It took two months, but I ended up getting that nonexistent job - because when they did have an opening I was already in line.

3. Answer user generated challenges. Depending on what kind of job you do, there are many emerging sites that allow you to create content or answer some type of challenge in return for money or connections. Crowdspring is a site where designers can answer challenges posted by people, for example. Using sites like this can keep your skills fresh, and also give you an introduction to someone who may be able to help in your job search.

4. Join interest based networks and mailing lists. Often jobs are posted on affinity based networks. So, for example, a PR community online may have job listings not included anywhere else. Or a free newsletter from an industry trade association may have a job postings section that again has less promoted roles

5. Get a reputation with the recommenders/influencers. There are people in any industry who are always asked to recommend people for jobs. These are often professors, bloggers, or people with the same job you are seeking on LinkedIn. The more of them who know you and what you can do, the more referrals you can get.

6. Waive your fee. I'm not a big advocate of working for free. Free means you're cheap. If, however, you choose to "waive" your regular fee ... then you're not really working for free. It's a subtle difference, but one that lets you give away some of your time without compromising your reputation. And by giving away your time, you might be able to find the perfect paid position.