Progressively Linked In

I created a Linkedin profile last August, but didn't do much with it. When I started working on my profile today, it had one out-of-date job and no other experience/education listed. My profile "progress" was dismal. I'm proud to say it's all up to date, and now my progress is 85%.

The site has an import resume option, but I didn't notice that until I had all my information manually entered. I did find the import contacts option quite handy however, inviting quite a few people to connect that I had in my Gmail address book. On a side note, I love having my Gmail addressbook automatically synchronizing between Gmail (online), Thunderbird (on my laptop), and my Windows Mobile phone (anywhere I go). I also love how Gmail imports so easily into other online applications like Linkedin.

If you want to connect, look me up at www.linkedin.com/in/hirethatredhead. I've also now placed a Linkedin button on my the sidebar of my main job site at www.hirethatredhead.com. I've been told that getting a job is all about networking. I figure it's important then to use as many tools and opportunities to network as possible, as long as it's still manageable.

The Importance of Informational Interviews

I'm in my last semester now at Florida State University. I'm taking three courses this fall - Assessing Organizational Communication, Systems Thinking (which goes towards my project management certificate), and Analysis of Communication Theory. Over the summer I finished up Cases in Public Relations Management, Advanced Topics in Project Management, and Marketing Communication Managment (my capstone course). Taking a full load in the summer allows me to finish my master's degree a semester early.

I also have a meeting at Ron Sachs Communication (ranked in the top 100 public relations firms) next week. I met Mr. Ron Sachs a couple months ago, and he invited me to visit the office. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any internships left for the fall, but I will still go for an informational meeting to learn more about the agency and the work it does. I've done the same at Moore Consulting (also in the top 100) recently. Moore didn't have any openings either, but the internship director there has been quite helpful since then, passing my resume to some of his other contacts and informing me of other internship opportunities.

I have learned that informational meetings, while they do not carry the same weight (or stress) as a job interview, are invaluable for gaining insight into a company's work environment, processes, philosophy, and values. Such meetings are also great for networking (and hopefully opening some doors). I do not underestimate the value of informational meetings because you never know what opportunities they could lead to down the road.

Check Out the New Fan Page

I've built a Facebook fan page for HireThatRedhead at http://www.facebook.com/pages/HireThatRedhead/162561190608. This should increase my website's online reach and give interested individuals yet another way to connect to HireThatRedhead and keep up with my job search activities.

I've learned about Facebook vanity URLs today too. You have to build up a base of at least 100 fans to get a shortened, more user-friendly Facebook website address. I've also read that some people browse forums looking for "fanners" to build up to 100 fans easily. I'm not too comfortable with that, but I do have a button on the sidebar of my website http://www.hirethatredhead.com/ that should make fan-building easier.

So if you like the posts, the concept, or even just the name HireThatRedhead, check out the fan page to give a redhead a hand.

Confessions of a Twitter Newbie

I resisted twitter for as long as possible - mainly because I'm already on Facebook and it takes up too much time as is. I actually gave up Facebook for this past Lent, so I weaned myself off overuse, and I'm much better now.

Since learning more about twitter in one of my classes and now implementing it into my job search site http://www.hirethatredhead.com/, I've learned that it is a great networking, research, and informational tool. I'm using it to post updates about my job site and my job search, hoping my journey will be informative for others looking for work as well.

I've quickly learned that one of the keys to twitter is following to be followed. As of this post, I'm following 43, mostly employment opportunity posters. This is a great resource to see the latest job openings in my desired fields (advertising, marketing, communication) across the nation (and even in other parts of the world).

What pleasantly surprised me is that the more people you follow, the more people follow you. I've got 17 following me now (and growing). I've also been posting some website updates and links for Hire That Redhead on my Facebook page. Recently a friend I went to college with at the Virginia Military Institute saw my website link on a Facebook post. He loved my website name so much that he posted it for his twitter followers (all 121 of them).

I just looked him up to follow on twitter. I'm sure he posts great stuff since he introduced me to a great email philosphy through a Facebook status update. He posted about Inbox Zero, which has forever changed the way I handle and respond to email. Check out my enlightening VMI friend Jason Long at http://twitter.com/longjasonm.

All-Call for Commendations

If you have worked with me in a professional capacity (work or school), please post a commendation based on that experience as a comment to this blog page for potential employers to see. Include your first and last name, professional title, and company/organization. Please note if you are a classmate as well. Thank you for your help.

The Terrific Twitter Tool

Phase 2 of using Twitter as a job search tool is now underway. The first step was posting tweets of my job search site announcements and updates. I'm now following about 28 different "tweeters" who post job opportunities (and will continue to search out more). I searched for:

marketing jobs
advertising jobs
ad jobs
public relations jobs
pr jobs
branding jobs
new zealand jobs

The last one may seem odd at first, but my fiancee Leigh Ann is very fond of New Zealand, having spent a semester of college there. I've only seen pictures, but it looks beautiful, so I wouldn't mind spending some time there. Plus, Leigh Ann has told me that advertising and marketing is quite different (and in some cases much more fun) than in the US. Our parents might not be too pleased though, but at least they'd have a gorgeous country to visit us in.

On Monster

I've registered on http://www.monster.com/ to expand my job search. I've got a resume and some experience posted so far, but I've still got some work to do on my profile.

I don't know how effective the site is for employers searching out potential employees, but it should be a good tool for me to search out job opportunities. I haven't researched it yet, but I'm hoping the site has an option to email me every couple days automatically with communication and marketing opportunities.

I'll register soon on other job sites like Yahoo Hotjobs and perhaps The Ladders. I realize that The Ladders is only for jobs that pay $100,000+ but you never know what might happen.

Changes and Reposts

I've completely revamped how my announcements and updates are posted. I wasn't satisfied with posting announcements to the site, a scraping program pulling an RSS feed from the announcements, and then the RSS feed posting to Twitter. Dates were wrong, items were posted out of order ... basically just not good enough.

I have created a blog at http://hirethatredhead.blogspot.com to handle all updates, announcements, news, etc. I'll post to the blog, the blog will show up on the main site at www.HireThatRedhead.com/blog, the blog will create a feed through www.feedburner.com, which will then show up as headlines on the homepage. Feedburner will also create the RSS feed (in a much sleeker format now).

I'm getting happy with how it's all working now. The twitter piece of it should fall into place soon as well.

Since I've reworked the system I've labeled all the old posts as "Reposts" since they were first posted on my Announcements page on the main site.

Repost: Visit to Moore

I visited Moore Consulting this afternoon on the invite of my friend and classmate who works there. I spoke with the senior director and also met the internship director. I found out that the agency has one internship open for the fall. I'm quite interested since it would be terrific experience, and it's only five minutes down the road from where I currently live. The internship would also take the place of one of my fall classes.

I thought it was cool that Moore often works with healthcare and nonprofit organizations. I was the assistant director for a nonprofit ministry and also worked later for a hospital (which was later bought out by a nonprofit organization). It seemed I just couldn't escape nonprofits. I think that my inside knowledge of these fields would be a plus in a possible Moore internship.

Repost: Twitter Up

My "Announcements" to RSS to Twitter is now working. Sign up using the button on the sidebar if you want to get tweets of my job site updates. Or if you prefer sign up for the RSS feed or for email announcements (sent weekly).

Repost: GPA Up

I made all A's in this past summer term in my IMC master's program, so I've updated my GPA on the RESUME. It's now a 3.94, up from 3.91 previously. I told a friend from high school (the only one I still really keep in touch with) last night, and he wasn't surprised.

Repost: Now by Email Too

I've set up the option for interested parties (or individuals if you're by yourself) to sign up for weekly announcement updates by email. The sign up is located on the sidebar or you can sign up at signup@hirethatredhead.com.

Repost: RSS Feed Update/Twitter

I've switched which site I use to transform my Announcments into RSS posts. I'm using www.feedity.com. I found out that www.feed43.com only updates every 6 hours, which just isn't good enough for my tastes. Especially since I'm working on a way to automatically post my RSS updates on twitter (using www.twitterfeed.com). I'll have that twitter link posted to the sidebar as soon as I get it working.

Repost: Twitterific

I'm working on getting twitter updates of my "Recent Announcements." Not an easy process, but I should almost have it going. The button on the sidebar is good (pointed to www.twitter.com/hirethatredhead). I've got www.feedity.com scraping my homepage to pull the recent announcements into RSS. Then I'm using www.twitterfeed.com to turn the RSS into twitter posts. The whole process should be working now with some announcements posting by tomorrow. Sign up now though if you want the twitter updates later.

Repost: Sharing is Caring

I've now got a SHARE option (Facebook, Favorites, Twitter, Digg, etc) and an RSS option on the sidebar. The buttons come from a great site that makes sharing and RSS buttons super easy - www.addthis.com. I first came across this service during my Marketing Communication Management class. Actually getting the RSS feed to work by "scraping" my announcements page (using www.feed43.com) wasn't so easy. It's amazing what you can learn and accomplish with a couple Google searches, a little determination, and a lot of trial and error though. Oh, there's a hit counter on the sidebar too (set to not count when I check the page so there's no cheating). A hit counter's not necessarily essential nowadays, but I think it's kind of tech retro.

Repost: Going Viral

I just posted my website link www.HireThatRedhead.com on my Facebook status. I plan on sending it to some of my key "friends" as well, especially professional contacts. I'm going to look for other viral distribution channels as well.

Repost: New Pic for Logo

I've posted a more professional pic for my logo (seen in the header). Something with a suit and tie. My fiancee Leigh Ann felt I needed a new one. I agreed. Here's the previous one for old times sake (if it can be "old times" after only one day of the website being posted).

Repost: Go Live

The Chase Porter "Hire That Redhead" site is going live to the public. It's a resource for potential employers to easily access my resume, portfolio, and recommendation letters to find out more about me as a potential hire in a marketing and/or communication position.

I'll be posting a couple more recommendation letters from recent supervisors soon to the RECOMMENDATIONS. I'm also planning to post my references on the RESUME page once I can confirm some information.

If your an interested employer, the best way to get me is though email at cporter@hirethatredhead.com. Have fun getting to know me.