Networking and Hunting for Media, Technology Jobs in a Web 2.0 World

Whether or not you’re in the middle of a job search, or you are comfortably ensconced in a new role, it is incredibly important to keep your Rolodex up-to-date. That adage plays out in industries and regions throughout the country, but no more so than in the media-technology community in Unique York City.

Having spent the bulk of my career in this online community, first in finance, then in media, I’ve stored a few tricks up my sleeve that I wanted to share to make the most of your networking.

On The Hunt

If you are in job search mode, there are several key goals that you should spot for yourself, and a handful of easy tactics that you should follow to get your ideal job in fair a few months time.

1.) Update your LinkedIn profile. In the last few years, LinkedIn has become an invaluable tool for professionals of all stripes. LinkedIn not only services as a communications hub for your valuable connections, it also can be an important tool to use to look for jobs. Make sure to email friends and current (and future ex-) colleagues and ask them to connect to you. Do not be embarrassed to try and link to people who are more tenuous connections – this is a workplace social network. It operates very differently than your personal site. When you find a job of interest on the LinkedIn jobs board, you gain important clues about people you may know that work at that company, or colleagues that can connect you to those who do. Seeing that you have connections to well-liked individuals is a big validation tool for recruiters and employers compared to the black box of many online job application forms.

2.) Create a company target list. Make an Excel spreadsheet of all the companies you’re interested in working for, and investigate whether you know people at those organizations. Your job search will be much more effective if you can get a warm introduction to these target companies. If you do not have any apparent contacts, visit the company web sites and look for and apply for relevant jobs in your line of work. I also highly recommend creating a custom news page, like Google News, for some of your top companies of interest. That way you can begin to keep track of the latest news, and potentially even catch whether they are hiring for certain positions, whether they’ve had personnel changes, etc.

3.) Google “You”. It is not uncommon in this day and age that companies do research on you, just as you’ll do on them, before the interview. You should try to take control of your Google search results. Professional recruiters will care more about your work history than the fact that you finished in first place in a recent 5K race, or that you are a grandmaster of a favorite MMORPG (though these interesting facts are not bad since, if they are found they prove character, depth and outside work interests). Some recruiters recommend developing a Social Resume – a web site that you develop (either by purchasing and programming your own domain, using one of several sites that can help you, or starting your own blog) to showcase your work experience. This enables you to “own” the impression that potential employers will have of you before they get to meet you. This web site, or blog, can also be a stage for you to share insightful commentary on industry news and events, and such analyses – if done well – can serve to platform your value before you stop in the door for an interview. Another price of caution, be careful to set privacy settings to your personal social networks like Facebook and MySpace to ‘high’. While those pictures of you doing keg stands at your cousin’s wedding may impress your friends, they may not trace potential employers.

4.) Find Your School Spirit. Your college or grad school’s alumni database can be one of the key resources of your job search. Appealing to a person’s school affiliations can open a wide variety of doors. Also consider getting more involved in your alumni organization. By attending meetings, and even volunteering to organize events, you can easily make unusual connections in a natural blueprint. Who doesn’t want to encourage out a fellow alum? In addition, many alumni organizations have career building events and resources that you can draw upon. You paid your school a lot of money over the years – let me them help you out.

5.) Shout About It. Well, don’t literally yowl – but don’t be fearful about your job search either. Depending on the circumstances for leaving your previous role (if you can be public about it), send an email to close colleagues and let them know what you are looking to do in your next job. Consume your judgment as to appropriateness, and potentially your humor, to update your LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter profiles to let people know what you are up to. (For example: “Superstar marketer – yes, that’s me – looking for new challenge at an online startup. Know of anything for me? Hit me up.”). You may be surprised what opportunities comes out of the woodwork. If you are keeping your job search on the “down shameful”, then you can still let trusted colleagues, partners and customers know that you are involved in a unique position. Having multiple people with their ears to the ground, letting you know if new opportunities reduce up can go a long way to helping you find your new ideal job.

5.) Hit the Conference Floor. If you live in a major city like New York, there are likely to be several conferences every month on your subject area. Some of these conferences have exhibit floors that are free, or inexpensive, to the general public. You should walk the exhibit floors, striking up conversations with participating companies and collecting business cards of those firms that you want to follow up with. (Tip – jot down notes on the back of collected business cards to remind you of the conversations that you had with that individual that you can reference when you follow-up). The lobbies of conferences are also a tremendous state to introduce yourself to people working in that industry, and to schedule meetings. If you can attend a session or two, they often provide valuable insight into particular organizations and industry challenges and opportunities. In these sessions, do not be afraid to ask questions of the panelists, and then try to get a minute or two of their time after they speak. Mashable and Silicon Alley both have lists of upcoming events in social media, technology that they update each week.

6.) Eat, Drink and Be Merry. Set a goal for yourself to schedule at least one networking breakfast, coffee, lunch, drinks each week. Most people are very accommodating if you reach them – not for a job – but for information and advice. When you are first starting out, it may be helpful to have a set of questions that you would like to get answered during the course of the conversation. Always remember to offer (and plan) to pay as thanks for their time. If the person you want to network with is not available in person, ask them if they would be available for a “brief conversation” one morning.

7.) Set up an RSS Reader. When you’re looking for jobs in a particular industry, you should always be sure to stop abreast of the latest news. Often, some of the most interesting and exciting news is not found through traditional newspapers, but rather on industry-specific blogs. The best way to retain track of these dozens and dozens of blogs, is to state up an RSS reader. While there are dozens of RSS Readers around, probably the easiest to use is Google Reader. Simply add the blogs that you want to keep track of and you can spend a few minutes each morning scanning the headlines, and diving in to read the articles of interest. Some of my favorite blogs in the media, technology industry include: The Business Insider, All Things D, Mashable, NewTeeVee, GigaOm, PaidContent, TechCrunch and VentureBeat. But there are plenty of blogs to suit every specific industry.

8.) “I’m Not in Businessman, I’m a Business, Man”. To paraphrase Jay-Z, you are your absorb best marketing tool. Make up a logo if you like, but you should definitely print up some business cards with your contact information, and potentially even your LinkedIn profile. There are several affordable sites that can obtain you a decent amount of business cards for well-under $40, like VistaPrint, or you can check out quirky, memorable, easy-to-use MooCards.

9.) Man the Boards. While the above tactics are determined to get you well on the road to your next job, you should also be sure to open up accounts at major job search sites such as Monster.com, Hot Jobs, The Ladders (a pay status) and Jobfox. There are also many industry-specific job search sites like those found at MediaBistro, PaidContent or Idealist. Finally, search job aggregator sites like SimplyHired which scans multiple web sites to keep up-to-date on the latest job openings.

Keeping the Doors Open
Even if you are well situated in your current gig, there is no harm in keeping and fostering new connections in your industry. You never know when you’ll need to look for a new job, or potentially recruit people into your company.

1.) Join Networking Groups, Meet-Ups. This can, and should be, part of your job search as well, but you should continue to mix and mingle with your counterparts. Check out meetup.com to find events of most interest to you. In Novel York media technology circles, the following groups are key: NY Tech MeetUp, NY Video 2.0, NextWeb, NextNY, MashMeetNY, Web2.0NY.

2.) Drink Again. While you may not have to hold yourself to a once-a-week goal, it is a good opinion to keep connections strong. Hold ex-colleagues, old bosses, interesting people you meet at conferences out for drinks, or meet with them over lunch. Having a more personal connection with people in your industry will only stand you in respectable stead in the future.

If you follow these simple strategies, you are sure to find an ideal job in just a few months time. After a dozen years in the work world, these job search guidelines have continued to work for me – I hope they work for you as well.