PFTA - Pertinent Posts

If I had a dollar for every time I plugged Please Feed The Animals (PFTA), I wouldn't need to be looking for work. I could easily spend my day passing along inspirational tidbits and pieces of pertinent information.

Recently, Erik Proulx, who masterminded the PFTA blog (and Lemonade movie, etc.), set about organizing a weekly schedule for his "Blog for the recently unemployed advertising professional."

On MONDAY's: Jeanne Schaad writes a column simply titled, "Monday Morning Coach," in which she advises how to survive a layoff and what steps to take to get your career back on track. Click here for a link to previous postings.

"Jeanne Schad is owner of Internal Relations Professional Coaching Resource. This former agency account service suit now works with companies to coach their people to have more fulfilling careers."

On THURSDAY's: Josh Copeland offers up advice for those of us on the account side of the business in "Account Service Thursdays." Click here for a link to previous postings.

"Josh Copeland is a 10-year digital account service veteran with experience managing Whirlpool Corporation, ExxonMobil, Frito-Lay and the Clorox Company. Josh has worked for Tribal DDB, Arc Worldwide and Elevate Studios."

Failure: The Secret to Success

Below is a short little video about Honda's take on failure. For many of us working our way through the job market, we know a little bit about this subject.

Guest Speaker announcement - 10/9 meeting

At our October 9th OCA meeting, Lisa Quast, author and founder/president of Career Woman, Inc., will join us to cover the following topic: "Creating a Strategy for Your Career Success."
This topic should resonate with both men and women, so I expect to see a packed house on 10/9.

From her site...
"[Lisa] is the author of the award-winning book “Your Career, Your Way: Personal Strategies for Achieving Your Career Aspirations”, is a sought-after professional speaker, trainer, and career coach, in 2005 was named one of the top 40 under 40 business leaders in Seattle by the Puget Sound Business Journal and in 2007 earned the "A Woman to Celebrate" award for achievements and involvement in the community from the ACT Theatre, YWCA of Seattle-King and Snohomish Counties, the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer."

Notes from 9/25 OCA Meeting

WELCOME to two new OCA members:
- Anne Bassing, a design & art director, most recently with Coldwater Creek.
- Anne Hur, photographer and production artist, most recently with Tommy Bahama.
Anne and Anne met while at Nordstrom, where they were there for 18 and 5 years, respectively.

NO GUEST SPEAKER, so we did things the old fashioned way... We just talked and got to know one another. Topics covered:
- companies on our 'watch lists'
- Thank You notes, and when to send / when to follow-up
- online portfolios and "blogfolios" - how to set up and "should we put together a hands-on workshop?"
- the ProLango seminars - thoughts on the Interviewing one, and shared tips.

Notes from 9/18 OCA Meeting

JOB NEWS!
The markets are saying the economy is picking up. If the recent job news within OCA is any indication, it's true. Several people have contacted me over the past 2 weeks with great news.
- Annemarie Beliard just accepted a 6-month contract job in Product Marketing for Adobe.
- Ed Ferguson started a new Product Marketing job last week with TCS (TeleCommunication Systems) in Seattle.
- Mark Jovan has taken a contract writing job with KING-5 news.
- Kristin Mackay starts a new Management Supervisor job this week with Wunderman's Team Microsoft.

At last week's meeting...
We Welcomed Several New OCA Members:
- Terry Coe, most recently with Encore Media Group as General Manager and publisher for City Arts Magazine.
- Laurie Krisman, new to Seattle from Denver, was most recently with Xcel Energy as a Communications Consultant.
- Kristina Muller-Eberhard, Creative Director most recently with Publicis.
- Paul Verner, product marketing expert with experience running brand groups and AT&T Mobility.

Zooppa Reps Arik Abel and Kirk Mastin Were On Hand To Introduce Their Company and to discuss the challenges of running and growing a community for user-generated advertising.
First things first... they are NOT a restaurant. Rather they are a robust, relatively new company which was originally formed in Italy, but is now headquartered here in Seattle. Their community is comprised of 44,000+ members worldwide, with more than 15,000 of those in the U.S.

Zooppa helps clients (for example... Mini Cooper, Jones Soda, Brooks Running) who are looking to add to their marketing campaign arsenals. These client companies, who have a new product or service to promote, work with Zooppa to set up contests in which community members can contribute original user-generated advertising content. A brief is written, and members then create video, print or web ads to further promote the brand's new offering.

Criticism among the creative community is that the model promotes spec work and downgrades the work from the pro's. But Zooppa contends that they are not looking to take the place of ad agencies. In fact, they are looking more closely at how to partner with agencies, so that clients can benefit from additional concepts.

Perusing the site, it is easy to find examples of concepts I wouldn't take to a client. But with the shear amount of the masses contributing, there are also lots of samples of great work.
For the best info on the company and how it all works, visit their blog.

Notes from 9/11 OCA Meeting

WELCOME to newcomer Maicie Jones. Maicie is a recent MBA graduate from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and has spent most of her career working with non-profits, including a 2-year assignment with the Peace Corps.

JOB NEWS... Geoff Tucker started a new marketing job with LMN Architects this week.

VOLT was our guest speaker at last week's OCA meeting. Erin Lastala and Dan Ratliff provided over an hour and a half of insight into their staffing agency and how they work with Microsoft and other companies in the Seattle area, including Starbucks, REI, The Gates Foundation. Below are highlights from the meeting:

About Volt
- Volt is premier staffing partner with Microsoft (over 20 years of experience), placing both V- and A-dash contracting positions. In some instances, they also help place FTE positions.
- After receiving your resume, Volt recruiters will generally have a phone interview to get more information about you and what you're looking to do.
- Getting timely, relevant feedback from hiring managers has become more difficult due to the recently implemented procurement process.
- When asked what sets them apart from other staffing agencies:
*weekly paychecks *401k plans *holiday/vacation/bonus pay
*ER (employee relationship) reps, who are on site the day you start to make sure you have everything you need for the transition.
*Volt recruiters meet face-to-face with the hiring managers, so they can get a better sense of what's needed to fill a role, team climate, and to help gather inside tips for interviewers.

Interview Tips
- No surprise here, but "Be prepared." Develop a list of Interview FAQ's, write out your answers, and practice.
- One of the biggest pieces off feedback they get from hiring managers is that some candidates don't show enough interest in the job. Their suggestion: "Ask for the job."
- With there being so many qualified candidates to fill one role, Dan and Erin feel that cultural fit and personality are 95% of what hiring managers are looking for.
- Along the same lines, have a prepared "Here's how I'm different" angle that you can work into the conversation.
- When interviewing for a contract job, never say "I just want to get my foot in the door" to a hiring manager. It conveys that you're looking for something else and don't plan to stick around.

The Current Market
- They both see things starting to pick up. Dan, for instance, is getting calls from small to mid-size companies looking for staffing help.

Contact Info
Erin Lastala - Sr Technical Recruiter (Microsoft)
Dan Ratliff - Sr Technical Recruiter (other companies)
21520 30th Drive SE, Suite 100
Bothell, WA 98021
tel - 425.806.1900
fax - 425.806.1920
elestala@volt.com
dratliff@volt.com

FREE Career Seminars with ProLango

At a couple recent OCA meetings, we've heard of a group over on the East side that is offering up free career seminars for the job seeker. Paul Anderson runs ProLango and bills himself as a "career psychology consultant."

In addition, ProLango is hosting a Career Mixer on Monday, September 21st, over in Bellevue. Click here for details.

"Using his background in psychology and communications Anderson specializes in helping his clients achieve stronger sales, effective communication, top careers, and masterful public speaking. His unique combination of communication and business psychology enables executives and businesses to significantly improve performance and productivity."

Upcoming seminars:
Resume Writing 2.0 Seminar
- Learn WHY your resume doesn’t work in Today’s market.
- The importance of personal branding and why it’s so useful.
- Do cover letters work? What purpose do they serve?

Career Search 2.0 Seminar
- Why is it so hard to find a job today?
- Why Social Media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) is the gateway to finding new opportunities.
- Where to find positions that are never posted publicly.
- What recruiters won’t tell you about your permanent hiring record

Psychology of Interviewing Seminar
- Why is it so hard to pass an interview?
- Take advantage of the number one hiring mistake that most managers make.
- How to leverage psychology to pass any interview.

Upcoming Events & Free SVC Workshops

Ad Club social tomorrow (Wed) night, 9/9, hosted at DNA.
Click here for details.

FREE workshops have been added to the new SVC Fall class schedule:
9/15 - How To Get a Job When There Aren't Any To Get
9/16 - Get to KNow Belle & Wissell, Co.
9/17 - Pre-Digital Motion Graphics Film Festival
Click the above links for details.

Inside all of us...

is hope.
... fear.
... adventure.

Inside all of us is... a Wild Thing.