College Students Should Be Using Social Media as an Essential Part of Their Job Search

With the unemployment rate hovering around 8%, 2009 college graduates are facing one of the most difficult job markets in our country’s history. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers plan to increase their college hiring by just 1.3 percent this year over 2008, the weakest outlook in six years.
As a University Professor I have sadly noticed a huge increase in the number of students seeking my help to find work after graduation. I have also been contacted frequently from ex-students who have been laid off from their first job out of college. Many students are now asking for my assistance in both resume consultation and alternative job seeking methods. Students should consider using social media as part of their job search strategy. Many people are familiar with social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for having fun with friends and family. These can also be used to conduct a very successful job search.
Let’s first look at Twitter. Twitter is a social media website that allows you to follow/be followed by individuals who have the same interests as you. By cultivating your own network on Twitter of people who work in the same industry, it allows you to keep a pulse on what is happening within your area of expertise. It allows you to network with people and utilize excellent word of mouth to job search. Don’t be afraid to “Tweet” that you are looking for a job and what your experience is within the industry. Tweets get noticed and garner responses.
Twitter is also overflowing with recruiters nowadays. You can follow recruiters and search job postings. Many of the most followed Twitterers have links to their blogs where they are now posting premium job listings. One example would be follow @smheadhunter on Twitter. You can also search recruiter, headhunter, job posts, industries for more jobs and also join TweetMyJobs.com. This website offers new job postings sent directly to you via Twitter.
College students should also be subscribing to blogs that have job listings. I have found many of these excellent blogs via Twitter. One of my absolute favorites is Guy Kawasaki’s blog How to Change the World. His blog has a section where he offers an excellent list of job opportunities (http://jobs.guykawasaki.com/a/jbb/find-jobs).
LinkedIn is another great tool to use to look for employment as it can replace the traditional networking events. LinkedIn allows you to set up a professional looking resume and online recommendation/reference section. I suggest to students to target specific companies and then try and reach out and make a connection to a current employee. LinkedIn can allow you to gain introductions to others this way and perhaps find an internship or garner an informational interview.
Facebook is very popular with college students because it allows them to socialize with their friends and family. They also should be using Facebook to position themselves as a viable candidate for their industry. I have written blogs before about how college students should be creating a personal brand. They need to differentiate themselves from the competition. If students have relevant blogs, they should be linking them to their FB account. They should use FB to advertise their talents and make sure that their FB friends are aware of their job search. Facebook Chat is another great way of meeting and networking with your friends. Use it to start conversations or garner advice for your job source.
Another way to utilize the internet to improve your job search is by the use of Yahoo Pipes. On John Barker’s blog InspiredMind (www.d3sync.com/blog), he explains how to “Take the Job out of Job Search”. Barker uses Yahoo Pipes to combine, sort and massage data from a number of different websites. Barker gives a great example of how to search for a job in his industry. “The search I created pulled a feed from three sources: Dice, Craigslist, and jobs.zend.com and then searched for keywords [LAMP, PHP, SQL, DB, Python, RoR, Ruby, Rails, Apache, Programmer] in the city of San Francisco, CA. This allows me to easily sort through and identify from a list of jobs that pertain to only what really applies to my line of work and location.”
Just an end note: I met John Barker through a social media website called BrightKite. I posted on the site about the idea for this article. Within one hour he had offered his expertise by providing me with this entry on his blog. Just an example of how quick, supportive and relevant it is to be using social media sites…especially if you are in the market for a job. College students can’t afford not to be using social media as an integral part of their job hunt strategy.

The Marketing of Guilt

I recently watched The Sex and The City Movie and in it a pregnant Charlotte confides to Carrie that she is afraid her life is too perfect.....that something is going to happen to ruin it. She is afraid she will lose her child because she finally has it all. She can't believe that she can be happy.....that everything is finally positive in her life. Those thoughts resonate with me because I also believe the same thing. When things are going really well in my life, I sometimes feel guilty about enjoying it to the fullest because I am too busy waiting for disaster to strike. Some might say I am jaded, but when it happens time and time again to you it becomes harder to enjoy the perfect times.....knowing that just around the corner you are going to get hit by a Mack Truck.

Here are my reasons:
Got married and then I lost my MomMom who lived with me growing up and was like a second Mom to me.
Had my first child and my husband's Father past away. He also almost lost his Mom three months later. He still says to this day he doesn't remember the first year of our son's life.
Had my daughter and a week later my Mom had a Grand Mal Seizure and almost died.
My list goes on and on.....but I am sure I made my point.

From the business side, marketers also love to pile on the guilt when it comes to selling products or lifestyles. They use guilt to sell you sunblock (skin cancer), diet products (you don't want to be fat) and even vacations(you are not spending enough time with your family). I can't remember the last time I got through a day where I wasn't made to feel guilty about something in my life. Perhaps it started with the religion I was raised with. I remember being guilty of committing a sin, guilty of not going to confession enough, or guilty because I didn't finish the rosary as penance. The guilt continued to grow as I entered adulthood. Now I think my guilt is so internalized that it becomes more difficult to figure out if I am living my life to make everyone else happy or if I should be following a different path.


There are companies that are using guilt to market in a different way. One example of a company using "Guilt Marketing for the Good of the Consumer" that I found on Dan's Bullets Blog (Dan Henderson) is Esser Vineyards.

"Manfred Esser launched his own wine label. Esser Vineyards is now one of California's newest hot contenders, despite competition with, as Esser puts it, "about 80,000 different competitors." How does he do it? Esser calls it "guilt marketing."
"You treat your customers soooo well, that you create a sense of obligation for them to come back for more. And, even more than that, to become ambassadors for your company. They actually feel guilty if they forget about you."
He's not recommending tricks or or cleverness or high-pressure selling and hard closing. He's recommending a quality product and treating your customers like Kings and Queens. Make them feel special. Let them know you really care about them for even the smallest purchase.
It's rapport building and relationship building. And it works".

I agree with essence of Esser's marketing philosophy because I can't even escape guilt when purchasing products or services. I have my favorite brands that I have developed an emotional attachment with whether Disney, Adidas, and Victoria Secret. If I just happen to purchase a competitor I feel a small tinge of guilt. I guess those companies have wooed me enough that I feel like I am "cheating" on them by purchasing elsewhere.

Esser's style of guilt marketing works well in personal relationships too. I feel that if you treat your friends and family the same way......with dedication, sincerity, and love they will never forget you too!! As for dealing with guilt.....I hope that with age comes less of it.

The Marketing of Social Norms/Rules

The Marketing of Social Norms/Rules

I have been fascinated with the idea of what people consider normal. What rules are we supposed to follow? Which ones can we break without much repercussion? The idea of linking norms to marketing has also occurred as a way of implementing change. This idea of social norms marketing became extremely popular in early 2000.

According to the New York Times, "Social-norms marketing is the science of persuading people to go along with the crowd. The technique works because people are allelomimetic -- that is, like cows and other herd animals, our behavior is influenced by the behavior of those around us. The technique stems from a watershed study conducted by H. Wesley Perkins, a professor of sociology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y. Perkins found that students consistently overestimated how much alcohol their fellow students drank. In turn, these students drank more themselves, in an attempt to meet their misperceived standard of normalcy. Northern Illinois University began the first social-norms marketing campaign on a college campus in 1990, using newspaper ads, posters and handouts to deliver the message that, contrary to popular belief, most students had fewer than five drinks when they partied. By 1999, incidents of heavy drinking (five or more drinks) by Northern Illinois University students was down 44 percent. "So what is normal?

How hard it is too change the idea of normal? Is it normal to cheat, lie and steal your way through life? What is considered thin? Is it normal for most marriages to fail? How normal is it for someone to be successful...strike it rich? Everytime see a social commentary on some everyday life fact.....more teenagers are having sex, most college students have drinking problems, etc...I find the need to dig deeper. What are the actual facts and real data? Is everyone really doing it?

I find so many ads targeting young people and pushing some made up ideal of what is normal. This leads me to one of the most promoted social norm in society. The idea of instant gratification. I have observed that more and more young people are pursuing the idea of instant gratification as a religion. They look at life as with the same though on material items of "well if my friends own or buy it then I must also do they same". This has lead to dramatic increase in debt to young people. Why must your first car be a Lexus or BMW? Why can't your first home be a starter home and not a McMansion? I am curious where this mentality comes from. How did you learn about financial planning and monetary ideas? Did your parents stress the importance of savings or did you learn on your own through making mistakes?

I was fortunate enough to spend an entire day with a classroom of nine year olds. I was there as part of a Junior Achievement program that looks to teach young kids business ideas and principles. My last lesson of the day consisted of teaching the children all about credit cards, ATM cards and balancing a checkbook. We also discussed the idea of saving money. I was totally astounded by how many of the students accurately answered my questions. They knew that if you bounced a check you could get in trouble (it ranged from a monetary penalty to significant jail time in their words). The students also mentioned how you need to work hard and save money if you want to have really nice, large things (again..their words). What shocked me most of all was that 90% of them had a negative view on credit cards. The students said that if you use a credit card it is not really your money and so you should watch using them.

It seemed to that these young people had a very educated view on financial matters and that somewhere between nine and perhaps 18 years of age major changes occur. Is it perhaps they lose the idea of the value of money? Is it the current peer pressure the causes them to embrace credit cards? I am hoping that perhaps this new generation won't fall into the same traps that I have seen happen to cohorts and the younger generation. I hope the new norm will be saving versus spending on plastic.

I would love to see more social norm marketing experiments implemented to see if we can change the current norms. What if all magazines or top retail stores started using "normal" sized models? Skinny is out. Having some curves is in. Would it affect the general population's thinking? I recently saw a study of 9-12 year olds that asked them who the coolest kid was in school. Their view of cool was the computer geek....most responded that the student who had the most knowledge of computers and the Internet was the coolest kid in school. Perhaps things are changing.....

A Call for Effective Mentoring in College and Teaching Personal Branding

I apologize if the title of my latest blog entry is a bit ambitious but I am very passionate about these two subject matters. As the new year begins I have sworn to pursue both mentoring and personal branding. I have been teaching at local colleges for the past eight years, and feel that many do not offer a strategic plan regarding mentoring and networking for college students. There should be a class on Personal Branding and how to differentiate yourself in the marketplace. Semester after semester I have students approach me and ask how they can get a job in a specific industry. Students seem at a loss as to how to marketing themselves, which is ironic since most of my students are pursuing a degree in marketing. Here are some of my suggestions that I offer to each student:

1) You must have an idea of what interests you. What are you good at? What hobbies or talents do you have? Those are the industries you should target.
2) Update your resume to include not just where you worked, but what did you do for the company. Don't just say you are managed people for a retail store. Give specific quantitative facts that showed you increased productivity 20% or increased sales 10% versus last year. Students should also have multiple resumes that showcase specific skills. When you are applying for a sales job the resume should be focused on sales skills. Have a few ready to utilize based on the job you are pursuing. This is where personal branding is important. You must differentiate yourself from every other college student.
3)Personal Branding: Don't be afraid to network and advertise - YOURSELF. Join linkedin, Twitter and Facebook. Please clean up your Facebook account so that pictures of you drinking and passed out on the floor don't show when a potential business connection checks you out. Twitter is an amazing resource for networking. Search out people who are in the industry you want to join. Follow them and engage them with questions. You will be amazed at how willing they are to share ideas and information.

I am also constantly bothered by the fact that large companies offering lucrative jobs bypass my local university. There is a need to have companies such as Hershey, Frito Lay and Coke visit and recruit during on campus job fairs. I also wish that there was a better resource to utilize or match students with mentors during their college career. There are many companies that are looking for ambitious, intelligent students to work for their company. Somewhere though there is a disconnect.

An example occurred during my last semester. One of my students was desperately trying to find an internship for the Spring and wasn't sure what she wanted to do. I had her make a list of her skills and the type of responsibilities she would want in a job. Would she want to work in an office? Does she like to meet new people? Would she want the job to be writing intensive? She presented me the list and I gave her a few job industry selections. She thought about the industries and decided that based on our research she thought the Convention industry would be perfect for her. I contacted a friend of mine who worked as a manager for a Visitors and Convention Bureau and hoped that the two could meet. I was hoping that my student would perhaps find a mentor. The end result was even better than I hoped, as she was offered an internship for the Spring and was so excited for the opportunity. I believe that this should be happening in a more structured manner in the University setting.

Every semester I try and take a few minutes during a class and cover how to network and utilize social media for personal branding. I wish somehow I was able to spend more time on this subject matter so that students are prepared and self assured entering this difficult job market. Lastly if anyone reading this blog is interested in being a mentor...well ..you know where to find me.

Marketing Adaptation During a Recession

Companies need to adapt their marketing strategies during a recession to keep consumers' interest. Having an efficient and productive marketing plan is essential to all businesses, but during a recession the need becomes even more important if companies are planning on surviving. Before you adjust your marketing plan it is important to look at the type of product you are trying to market. Is the product a shopping, specialty or luxury good? As a marketer you also might need to change the focus of your product’s attributes in order to keep the consumer’s attention.

Marketers need to look at companies that are surviving successfully during an economic downturn. What ways have they adapted to keep their customers happy? One example is McDonalds. Instead of advertising their specialty burgers, they are promoting their value menu and are still getting people to “eat out”. Companies also need to consider offering free shipping or other discounts to attract consumers. Consumer good products such as grocery or health and beauty aids also need to adapt how they utilize sales promotions. Redemption of coupons is usually around 2 percent, so in recent years companies have moved away from issuing coupons. The latest numbers though show an increase in consumer interest. In a recent Brand week article, “72% of consumers are using more coupons than they did six months ago. Three-quarters of those respondents claimed the economy made them do it”. Smart companies are now offering online or traditional coupons with a shorter expiration date, which causes the consumer to make a purchase in the short term.

When corporate tightens marketing’s budget, the need to look elsewhere to advertise and promote your product or service becomes even more critical. Many companies such as Dunkin Donuts have embraced social media websites such as Twitter.com. Twitter.com is a social media website which allows individuals or even companies to follow or be followed by individuals. In short “Tweets” companies can update loyal customers about new promotions, new products and even ask for feedback. Most of the individuals on Twitter.com are innovators or the opinion leaders that companies long to reach anyway. The best is that the entire idea doesn’t cost Dunkin Donuts much except for the time of an employee to handle the media sites. Dunkin Donuts recent "Tweets" have consisted of free coffee giveaways near local colleges, and also reminding customers about D&D holiday gift ideas.

Is it possible to still sell a luxury item during a time when consumers are cutting back on their purchases? One way marketers can try to promote their more expensive products is to move away from focusing on status or image benefits and instead focus on quality or safety. An example would be to try and convince a consumer to pay more for a luxury vehicle by showing them that in the long run the repair bills will be less. Promote the idea of safety so that the consumer will feel that spending more brings them some type of cognitive reward and not just a feeling of status.

Understanding consumer demand and being able to rapidly adapt to changes is another important criteria. The American car manufacturers ignored the consumer trend of small and more fuel efficient cars. Missed opportunities are even more financially damaging during a recession. Marketers need to constantly reevaluate their marketing strategies and adapt wherever possible to the challenge of the financial landscape. By not keeping track of their consumer’s financial struggles will lead to a company facing a huge drop in demand and eventually obsolescence.

Do things happen for a reason?

I have been in a very philosophical mood lately. My entire life I have been a classic "Type A" personality. I find it very hard to just live in the moment and enjoy life. Constantly planning, organizing and learning are the epitome of my life's journey. I wish that I had the personality of my brother who can just deflect problems and live life with a much laid back attitude. There has been one philosophical approach that has helped me learn to take a bigger picture of life. The saying of "All things happen for a reason". I especially feel this occurs with friendships.

As the years pass and challenges are met, I am able to look back and clearly see a path that wasn't always obvious when I was careening down it. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do certain people come into your life....while you lose touch with others? Sometimes a person will just take over my life in this blaze and it is clear that we have a friendship due to a specific reason. Other times I am lost as to why I am engaging in certain relationships.....especially if it feels very one-sided. Sometimes the picture becomes clearer many years later when certain friendships become my anchor in times of stress. The times that I have been faced with the hardest challenges, the most difficult decisions, and the most traumatic events have all lead me down a path that has resulted with life-altering changes. Fortunately most have worked out in my favor.....so does that mean that I made the "right" choices? I love the 1998 movie "Sliding Doors" because its story is based on a story of Gwyneth Paltrow's Helen. "Helen is fired from her job at a PR company, and when the sliding doors of the tube car close on her, we start to see what would have happened if she'd made the train, and if she hadn't." The movie shows not only that things happen for a reason but the impact of fate.

Although I was brought up in a strict Catholic household, I haven't embraced any type of organized religion in years. I find philosophical discussions much more enticing and engaging. During the craziness of this holiday season I like to take the time to reach out to each of my friends and let them know how I value their friendship and support.......because without them I would be even more lost. I would love to hear any of your thoughts about whether you believe things happen for a reason?