A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

job hunt

Reaching out with social networks

I was working on a cover letter and reference list today for a job locally. It’s one I wouldn’t mind getting as it’s the direction I’d like to take my career. While I was figuring the people I’d want to use as references, I got looking at my Linkedin profile.

Then I got wondering a bit more (this happens often).

How far can one go with social networking when looking for jobs?

I know people who utilize each social network for possible employment opportunities — Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc. It seems to me, however, that by putting yourself out there in each spot, you are putting a lot of your information out there.

For me, Facebook is a friend/family thing. Basically, if I don’t know you in real life (with a few exceptions), I don’t add you on Facebook. I have a few photos up there and a few other things, but it’s not really something that can get me in trouble with anything. I have nothing incriminating, but I find it easier to maintain a “friend list” of 200 or fewer, rather than adding everyone and hoping for some networking.

Twitter, is a slice of my life. I don’t have it blocked (though I have in the past) as there’s nothing major on there. I post links, I update life’s little things and all that. I know how to use twitter, which can be beneficial in some jobs I’ve applied for, but my personal one is used for fun.

I’m still learning Linkedin.

It seems like a really strong tool for a job search. I’m trying to grasp and understand how it works and what I can do with it. I’ve added many people to my “network,” but as with other social mediums, how far is too far? I did a search with my e-mail address and noticed many, many people who I’ve had contact with at one point or another who are on Linkedin.

Do you add them all?

Or, do you stay selective?

While I understand that the more people who see your resume/credentials is a good thing, is is wise to just add people, just to add people? I can’t answer that. For now, I’ve been selective. I have to know who I am adding. I don’t have to know them all personally, but I have to know that the people I am adding are ones who I’ve interacted with — whether through online items, stories I was working on, or other social mediums, such as Twitter or blogging.

I’ve learned something since having my position cut in February — in a job market like it currently is, who you know can go a long way. I refuse to believe that my resume has been passed over so many times because I’m lacking in credentials. I’ve done a lot in my career — a lot I am very proud of. The jobs I’ve applied for are ones I know I’m highly qualified for, yet I constantly get overlooked for whatever reason.

An unfortunate part of the job market as it is, too, is the lack of ability to follow up and find out why you were overlooked. With upwards of 100 or more applications for many of these jobs, calling the hiring people wouldn’t always go well. If they are looking at so many applications, it could be anything that got you sent to the “no thanks” pile and the likelihood of someone remembering why you were put there is slim.

For a couple of the jobs I’ve recently applied to, I’ve had people in my corner. In at least one of those, a phone call has been made on my behalf. I hope that it helps as it would be a really sweet gig. There’s a few others I’ve applied for that I am really crossing my fingers about as well.

But where does the social networking come into play?

Do you add all these people on something like Linkedin and put it on your resume? Or one of the other social places? Do you have your own professional website?

Post a comment below and let me know how you do things or how you would do things. And if you are a reader and have Linkedin and want to join my network, let me know.

Finally, I am slowly working on my professional website. But I want to make it quite nice. I’m a little weak with web design, so does anyone have any ideas? Should I do it with a WordPress setup? Should I find someone to design me something? Advice?

Again, drop a comment or e-mail me!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

 

Notes from my noodle: May 10 edition

Proposals can be hard.

Especially when it’s new to you.

Over the past month or so, I’ve talked to several people about what we might have to do to get a nine-hole disc golf course into the ground at a really nice small park. It’s a park that has some nice trails, a pond and is really a hidden gem. Several weeks ago, Darren and I walked it and plotted what we think would be a good and family friendly nine-hole course.

Would it be a world-class course? No. But it would be a good spot to allow families and others to learn the game, play and improve. The best part? It would be in the area so people wouldn’t have to go far to do something.

One of the greatest arguments my town has always had is there is nothing to do. And that’s true, which is kind of sad considering we have a college in town.

I’ve spoken to several college kids who have expressed the hope that this course gets done. Other community members have said the same. It seems like there is interest, so I’ve worked on a proposal to submit to the land owners in the hopes that they’ll find it as something that can be beneficial to the park and the community.

Only time will tell, however.

This proposal is tough as you need to cover everything — from costs to if you need to cut trees and everything else. I’ve read many proposals for disc golf courses and I’m tweaking as needed. We’re going to hopefully raise most of the funds through tee sponsorships and donations, so we’ll see what we can do.

I’ll keep things posted on here as I continue on. I’m hoping to have the proposal finished by this weekend and handed over to someone with the owners of the land to see what they think before submitting it officially to a board.

***

The job hunt is starting to get frustrating.

I apply to jobs. Over and over. Some weeks there are more applications than others. But I’ve sent at least one out per week, and usually many more. Since being laid off, I’ve applied to more than 25 jobs.

I’ve yet to hear back from any of them for an interview of a follow up.

I have gone to workshops and such to try and help myself, but nothing seems to work. I don’t know if it’s the resume, the cover letters or what. I’m told you shouldn’t follow up on things because most places get way too many applications. So sometimes I don’t even know if they received my application.

Most places at least acknowledge receipt of the materials. Many have also sent out e-mails saying they’ve moved on in another direction. At least it’s nice to know that. But what’s a guy have to do to get an interview?

I realize the job market is tough. And it’s likely going to get tougher once this year’s batch of college graduates flood the job market.

I will keep plugging away and hoping something works out. I have a few other ideas in mind, but need to see if they would be financially beneficial to look into doing. We’ll see.

Until then, I’ll keep crossing my fingers.

***

Speaking of planning…

I’m still working on our family reunion for later this summer. With a date in place and a park area all reserved, we have that going well. Now, it’s basically the wait.

We know the food we are doing and we’re building the “will attend” list so we know how much each person is going to need to contribute to the reunion. With having both sides of my family coming, there will be a lot of people and I’m looking forward to it.

As of now, we’re looking at 50-60 people that we know of — with several more still outstanding in regard to letting us know.

It’s tough to get hotels in this area, however, so hopefully more people will start setting things up and let us know what’s going on.

***

I’m just realizing that the Allegany State Park Geobash is two weeks away.

That’s the first of two mega geocaching events that I’ll be hitting up this summer (hopefully). This one won’t be a long stay however, as two of us are planning a super long day trip by leaving early on that Saturday morning and coming back late that night. We’ll do some caching and some mingling while down there and then call it good.

With the other mega being GeoWoodstock, I knew the affordability of doing both would be awful tough to pull off, hence the decision to make this one a day trip.

In other geocaching news, I got the chance to do a very cool virtual at the Empire State Building on my recent day-trip to New York City. I’ll have a report on that most likely at some point as well.

I am also planning on getting out and checking several of my caches, hopefully tomorrow. I might archive a few and need to fix a few others. Maybe that will open up a few other spots for some people to place a few caches and maybe get others to this area to cache.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

Notes from my noodle: March 24 edition

If you are a fan of Family Guy, then you’ll know what this version of Notes from my noodle is all about.

It’s an edition of What Grinds My Gears.

Today, I was standing in line at Wal-Mart at the pharmacy. All I needed was to pick up a prescription, pay for some things and get out of there. No biggie, right?

Yeah, or not.

The lines are bad enough at this pharmacy. So I’m waiting and minding my own business when a couple gets in line behind me. How do I know that they are a couple, you may ask?

Because they figured it was a good spot to make out in.

And no, they weren’t high school kids.

It’s one thing to snag a smooch in public. It’s another to get all loud with your kissy-kissy crap. Even as another few people got into line after them, they didn’t stop.

Seriously, you’re in Wal-Mart. That’s a place to profess your physicality for one another.

Enough.

***

I really like Twitter.

I use it a bunch, both from my computer and my phone.

Too, I like Foursquare. Though I don’t use it as much as I used to, I do like the app and have fun with it when I remember. I also have Gowalla, though that is used even less frequently than Foursquare.

Further, if you’ve read this blog, you know I geocache. I really enjoy that activity.

OK, but what do all of these things have in common?

As much as I like Foursquare, Gowalla and geocaching, I don’t need to see every single thing another person is doing because they have each program synced up with Twitter. (Or, for that matter, Facebook, but that is much more controllable without deleting someone as a friend).

I was checking Twitter a night or two ago and there was one person I follow who had about 20 consecutive tweets about where he was checking in on Foursquare. This has happened more than once. First of all, there’s no way you can possibly be at all of these places in the span of two minutes. Second, who the hell cares?

Not me.

Unfollow was soon checked.

Several months ago, it was the same thing with geocaching. There’s a way where when you find a cache, it will automatically tweet. Considering one of the people I followed (note: past tense for a reason) was a prolific cacher and this person would have this set up and it would be constantly be “I found the geocache…”

Who cares?

Look, I don’t mind it here and there. I can deal. But if it starts to blow up my Twitter feed, I no longer care about what this person is tweeting. I know some people who tweet when they find good caches or something like that. But every park and grab on a numbers day? Please. If you want it all tweeted (for whatever reason?), get a second account and the people who care can follow. Or, prepare for people you might like etc., to hit the unfollow button.

It just grinds my gears.

***

Anyone who has hunted for a job in the past year or two know what I am going through.

You work on cover letters. Your resume. Your references. You research jobs and send out something you think should get a look.

Then, you never hear anything back.

Ever.

I realize in this job market, it’s tough to personally respond to every person who applies to a job. It’s just not possible. But there’s no reason a form letter can’t be sent out to let people know that they aren’t in the hunt anymore. Even if it’s via e-mail. Just let us know that you aren’t interested anymore.

At the same time…

I applied for a job last Thursday. By Tuesday, I had an e-mail saying I wasn’t in the running for the job anymore. Talk about being quick to dismiss someone, eh?

That was my first experience with the computer making some decisions.Well, first that I know about, anyway.

See, in the workshops I’ve taken lately, I know that many large companies, colleges, and organizations use some filtering systems. Some are a questionnaire, some is a scanning system where a computer looks for certain words in your resume and assign you a score. If you are below a certain score, you’re all done. If you score, you move on. It weeds out bad resumes (which could have happened for me over the past few years as my resume was awful) and finds people who tailor things a little better.

I guess, it’s the job market as it is. There are a lot of people looking for work (with me being one of them). I just hope eventually my resume gets scanned and gets a good score. I just want some interviews (and I realize the process is longer than a week or two with most jobs, so I’m not worried yet) so I can try and sell myself.

But, it would be nice to hear if I’m not one of the people the place is interested in. I spent a lot of time on getting stuff together. A form letter would be fine.

***

I’m in the midst of trying to plan a family reunion. I’m quickly finding out it’s not easy.

The following things are tough to pin down:

  • People coming
  • Dates
  • Things to do
  • Food
  • Hotels

I realized most of these things when I decided to try and put this together. Alas, the one thing that is grinding my gears here is the hotel situation.

Look, I know that hotels in this area are tough in the summer. We’re close to Cooperstown. There are a ton of youth baseball camps. There’s apparently a softball camp this summer, too. And these run from like May to September.

The hotels know this. And capitalize on it.

Many of the bigger and better places have a two-night minimum on stays during July and August. And the prices, of course, are jacked up (as, I’m sure, it is everywhere during the summer months).

So we’ve been working to try and get hotels blocked off and have been having no success. I’m just hoping people get rooms and don’t get too hosed.

Only time will tell.

I think that’s all that’s grinding my gears. I have a couple of cover letters I need to write, so it’s time to sign off for now.

More later!

And then it was white again…

Seriously?

Nearly all the snow in our area had disappeared. Though some still remained in some parks and on mountains, it had been going away at a pretty rapid pace.

Then it snowed.

In my town, it was about an inch or two on the ground. I hear three or a little bit more in different area spots. There’s some snow showers in the forecast for the next few days, but hopefully without any accumulation.

Wasn’t the first day of spring yesterday?

Sheesh.

Alas, the weather made me make sure to turn my attention back to the job hunt. The goal this week is 5-6 applications sent out. I have a pile of printouts I’ve done over the past day or two with about 15 jobs. I’m sure a couple of them I’ll discard as ones I am not qualified for or ones I don’t think would be a good fit for.

I spent about 4 1/2 hours this morning getting some photos together and creating an online gallery for a gig that a friend let me know about. I’m hoping that will come through as it could possible be a foot in the door for some future things. Or it could be just a cool gig to have. I’m not going to get into the specifics as I don’t want to jinx anything. If something pans out, I’ll blog about it at some point.

So as this cold weather sticks around for a few days, I’ll be looking to get some more cover letters and resumes sent out. Hopefully as the weeks go by, I’ll start hearing back on some of them. There are some really good jobs that I think I am qualified for, I would enjoy and I would do well at. Fingers remain crossed.

On a different note — my 70-200 lens arrived today from Canon. I was extremely excited about that. It’s crisp and works very well again. I’m especially stoked as I might go watch a road rally this weekend and it will be nice to have that lens with me.

More later!