A blog gets the job (done).

Writing a blog entry about a blog entry seems a bit silly.  It’s like having a meeting about a meeting.  But friends, the power of social media has once again made itself oh-so-very apparent to me, and I can’t help but share my experience with you (especially all of my recent college graduate friends).  Why, it’s this very blog that you’re reading the got me a job.

Over the course of the past few months, my stomach has been in knots (more-so than it normally is) over the prospect of having to find a job.  A real job.  Most of you know that for the last 11 months, I have been serving with AmeriCorps Project Conserve at the WNC Nature Center.  There I was blogging, Facebooking, YouTubing and Tweeting for them.  I loved what I was doing so much that I knew in my next job, I wanted to really hone in on these abilities I was developing.

And so the search began….I sent my resume out to agencies here and there and all around.  I reapplied for my AmeriCorps program.  I even had a few interviews.  But there were two problems: 1) I didn’t really feel that excited about any of the places that I was applying, and 2) it didn’t even matter because I was rejected from each and every single one of these places.  I’m sure you can imagine how down I was feeling.  I pride myself in being not a very prideful person (heh…but really), but with a college degree, a year of experience in the communications field and countless other things I did while I was in school, I felt confident that I had something to offer all of these agencies.

I guess that’s the nature of this economical beast.  I’m not only competing against all of the other unemployed college grads for entry-level jobs; I’m also up against a lot of talented and smart folks who have significantly more experience than I do.  In order to get a job these days, a candidate has to figure out a way to really stand out among the rest.

And I did.  And here’s how I did it:

A good friend of mine at Lenovo (quite a smart gal is that Stephanie Newton) forwarded an email to me from her supervisor. Let me stop here.  Friends are the best kind of support system.  They are and always should be your number one networking tool.

This email from Steph’s supervisor was short and sweet — he was trying to get the word out about his friend’s thriving new business, a small public relations firm in Raleigh, and that the agency would be hiring its first account coordinator.  That agency is Clairemont Communications.

It took once glance over the agency’s chic Web site and the job description for the account coordinator position to know that this job was for me.  Finally, I was excited about something, and I knew that no matter what I was up against, I had to stand out to Dana Hughens, the agency’s founder and CEO.

After sending in my resume, answering a few questions and going through the first round of interviews, I knew that I needed to keep my name at the top of Dana’s list or risk being drowned out by the sea of other applicants that applied for the same position.  It was time to get creative.

I decided that instead of sending the traditional thank-you note for my interview, why not use my blog to get the job done?  Dana is, after all, a queen of social media and an avid blogger (see for yourself on the home page of Clairemont’s Web site).  When it comes to conversing with folks (namely, the client’s audiences), she understands the importance of not only traditional media, but that of nontraditional media, especially in the form of social networking.

After a little thinking and a bit of writing, I was ready to take a leap of faith and made my post.  Like any good blogger, I followed up with a post on Facebook — more specifically, a post on Dana’s Facebook page.  I initially suspected that Dana would very much like this and that maybe I’d even get a little bit of feedback from a few of her friends.  The response was overwhelming.

Twenty-five “likes” and 18 comments later, I had no idea my little idea would have such a  big impact.  Dana thought it was awesome, Kris Schindler thought it was savvy, Julie Price thought it was conversational and the list goes on.  Not only had I impressed Dana, but I had a whole audience of very smart people listening.

And boy, was I surprised!  Even though I say it and think it all of the time, I was reminded once again that power of social media should never, under any circumstances, be underestimated.  Of course my blog entry didn’t ultimately get me the job, but I think it’s safe to say it got me into the second round of interviews.  And for me, that made all of the difference….That this very blog got the job (done).

So I encourage all of you, fellow graduates, to follow your technological instincts and figure out what it is, exactly, that social media can do for you!  And Dana…I look forward to a fantastic career with Clairemont!