Notes from 6/11/2010 - Networking Tips from a Networking Guru

Welcome to two new OCA members:
- Louise Matthews has an extensive marketing background, most recently in the banking and insurance industries (JP Morgan Chase/WaMu, Safeco). She's pursuing marketing positions that would utilize her branding, direct marketing, and marcomm experience.
- Scott Stracener is a process improvement & Supply Chain Management expert, with purchasing and production experience. He was most recently with Group Health and is looking to continue his career in the health care arena.

Our June 11th OCA meeting welcomed guest speaker, Sandy Jones-Kaminksi, business development consultant and networking guru. Though she's a bit reluctant to claim the title, "Guru," Sandy is increasingly being recognized for her networking talents and is the author of I'm at a Networking Event -- Now What??"

Sandy has a background in market research and broadcast media, but it's been her extensive work in business development that has honed her networking skills. After attending countless events, where she watched people flounder at making connections, she put a white paper together that led to her writing the book. Sandy genuinely wants to help others make the most of any encounter, and with networking being so important with a job search, it made perfect sense to have her in to talk with our group.

Crafting your Intro. Sandy recommends developing (and practicing) something between what she calls the "bumper sticker" (a personal tagline) and an elevator speech (your pitch). Make it memorable, and make sure you say what you're looking for. "A closed mouth does not get fed. You have to ask.") People remember company names, and as we've witnessed over and over again with OCA, it's easy to then make the connection between a company you're targeting and someone they may know at that company. Sandy put this into practice with our own group by asking everyone in attendance to name one company on which they're focusing. The conversations that followed were chock full of the phrase, "Oh, I know someone at..."

When you're at the event. Be the one to initiate the conversation. Sandy suggests the following lines as a way to get a dialogue started:
"What brought you to this event?" "What are you working on these days?" If the person you're talking to is somewhat adept at networking as well and tells you what they're looking for specifically, you can then easily jump in with, "What kind of help do you need with that?" This then leads to her next point.

"Start looking at networking as community service." People have a natural tendency to want to help each other, so why not use that notion while networking? Sandy suggests going to an event with the intention to help. In her book, she references this as the "give to get" philosophy. It also falls in line with what she calls "The Pay it Forward Approach." "... by helping [others], you can quite possibly change people's attitudes about at least a little part of their world through your unobtrusive acts of kindness."

Finally, "Never stop networking." Meetings, volunteer work, classes, etc. They are all opportunities to meet others and to help make connections. Plus, practice your networking skills by talking to people you encounter each and every day. You never know where it might lead.

OCA: The Reunion Show - Wed 6/16, 6pm

More than 50 people have come through the OCA doors and have gone on to land full-time or contract jobs. And some have even started their own companies.
Ever wonder what they did to get their current position? Or, if you're newer to OCA, do you wish you could have met them before they moved on?

On June 16th, we'll host "OCA: The Reunion Show"
(To view the evite, click HERE.)
Meet with alums and ask them the tough questions: "What worked?" "What didn't work?" "What would you do differently or over again, if given the chance?" "Are you hiring??" ...

This will be a social event*, and breaking from the norm, we'll meet in the evening. These people have jobs, remember??

Format:
6:00-6:15 - Gather, grab a drink, mingle, and get settled
6:15-6:30 - Greetings from Larry Asher (SVC)
6:30-7:30 - Q/A panel session
7:30-8:30 - networking, complete with beer/wine

*Anyone interested in beer/wine at the event, I'd ask for a $5 donation to cover costs.

Location: SVC Seattle - 500 Aurora Ave N., Seattle, WA
When: Wednesday, June 16, 6:00PM
Phone: 206.304.1455

A bit of good news

Nice press release by our friends over at The Creative Group last week that bodes well for hiring going into the fall.

"Eighteen percent of marketing and advertising executives interviewed said they plan to increase staff levels in the third quarter of 2010, while 12 percent anticipate declines. The net 6 percent increase in projected hiring activity is up five percentage points from the previous quarter's projection."

Press release here 3rd Qrtr Hiring Projections

Not having a job may disqualify you..

I don't like presenting a downer, but such is life.

Interesting bit floating around the net. There are some companies that are up-front about a concept that many suspect is out there – just no one would ever admit to. What interests me is the number of companies that have this requirement but don't advertise it.

"The unemployed will not be considered"

Do you think this is real?

Notes from 6/4/2010 - Crowdsourcing, Social Media, and More

From Mark Farmer and Duane Hobbs, who stepped in last week and led the OCA meeting...
The combination of rainy weather and a lack of parking (SVC had both a seminar AND a tree blown down in the parking lot) kept the meeting smaller-than-average level of attendance, but the attendees were top of their field and compelling!

Of discussion was:

Crowdsourcing: What it means to Creatives
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Discussed that crowdsourcing DOES radically affect creatives. It is hard when you've spent years developing and honing a craft that was once highly valued, but is now becoming commoditized. Never the less, arguing against evolution leaves you with the dinosaurs.

Evolvers may find themselves:
- Becoming the in-house creative that -- rather then produces from start to end -- now manages crowdsourced resources, educating the company on what quality is, what is needed and managing the crowdsourcers.
- There will ALWAYS be a place for specializing: that is, becoming one of the top 5% at doing ____X____
- Joining in the crowdsourcing

Social Media Metrics: Quantity vs. Quality
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With Social Media becoming more and more evolved and valued, the question remains: How do you MEASURE its efficacy!? There are ways to measure ROI, but all of these ways NEED to differentiate between *quantity* (how many connections, subscribers or followers, how many page visits, how many re-broadcasts) and *quality* (was the re-broadcast in a positive light -- "you have to see this, it's so cool!" -- or negative "Watch this: BP STILL doesn't get it!").

Quality often requires a different, subjective standard of measure, but frankly, is more important in social media, than quantity.

In discussing social marketing's strategy of strengthening relationships, Duane added in a profound observation that "Asking people for something often strengthens the relationship," and companies AND people can use that, by judiciously asking others for something they are easily able to supply (opinions?) and willing to supply.

Resume Review and the Job Search
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Members spent time critiquing others resumes. Duane observed he felt he would be FAR ahead if "If I spent as much time improving my resume and asking people out to coffee to learn about them as I do in applying [for jobs]", a point well made: Your resume is ONLY "marketing" for YOU. A/B test it and actively solicit consumer (erm... prospective employer) market research on it's efficacy in marketing YOU.

Duane offered to be a guinea pig on this one, committing to reporting to the group in 3 weeks HIS results in asking at least 3 prospective employers to critique his resume.

What Help Do You Need!?
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We ended with a recommendation Gayle Rose had made some time ago: By going around the room, each person announcing what help or connection they needed assistance with this week; the entire room brainstorming connections and tangible help.

The OCA Survey

“I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't work.”
- Thomas Alva Edison

If you haven't already, please take about 5 minutes to complete the OCA "what works and what doesn't" or "What I tried that worked for me" survey. (Tabulated results to be shared here)

If you've already been HIRED: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2QWJT9X

If you're still looking: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2TYTTQD

Hiring Frenzy

Maybe it's a sign that the economy is on an upswing (and hopefully continuing along that trajectory), or it's the power of networking. Maybe it's both. But we've had several OCA members recently become new OCA alums.

Congrats to the following people as they embark on new ventures:

• Melissa Baldwin - marketing manager for the Food Service group of Starbucks
• Carl Larson - site conversion manager for Global Market Insite (GMI)
• Cindy McKinley - sr. project manager for the Seattle Art Museum's internal design / communications group
• Michele Powell - sr. marketing coordinator for HDR/PHAROS
• Meghan Ragsdale - account executive for Cole & Weber advertising
• Mhairi Voelsgen - account director for Rally Marketing