Which is a problem when it comes to Photomeets and Photowalks. And slightly impromptu events and meetings, as the initial invite is sent out via a Facebook invitation. I sort of went off it in the flood of applications, and I’m not surprised that LinkedIn is getting a flood of new users.
The one thing I loved was the friend feed. The quick status updates of “Bob is arriving at three” and “Alice is looking forward to the meeting” and “Eve is still listening”. Of course these are the essential parts of Twitter or Jaiku, or even FriendFeed.com (not the same thing, but I’m intrigued by their rooms to abate noise).
The main use of Facebook I’m doing is trying to track someone I don’t know down and contact them, or as I mentioned, meet-ups (as opposed to Tweet-ups or Meet-kus).
Why all this, it’s because I know about the next photowalk this weekend, (and yes I’m grateful that it e-mails out all messaes and the message contents now) but I have no idea if I’m going yet (and won’t know until that morning). I just don’t want to have to log in to FaceBook to say so.
There seems to be an alternative, Seth Godin brought it up (pictured right), and it seems to be one that Aaron Strout of mZinga is looking at. Namely don’t send in a CV or Résumé (either in the post or as an attachment). Since they ale looking for a community-centric person person, contact them via Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn or what ever social network they both use (its not clear if he willing to join a new social network just to look at a job applicant. I really should do more in making one). Then (or beforehand), blog about why you should get the job. I presume that they have media monitoring in position (or at the very least, Google Alerts).
Unfortunately for me, the job is in Burlington, MA, USA. But it is an interesting way to pick someone. Essentially it is a try before you decide exercise, which ends up benefiting both parties.
However there is a downside to all this. As Virginia Miracle explains, it is very time consuming. I suspect that if the person’s profile and blog is interesting, you could stay there far too long.
But is anyone trying this technique on this side of the Atlantic. Did anyone try this in Europe let alone Ireland? And how did it work out?
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m currently looking for work (and keeping my own fingers in my own projects) so I’m interested in companies and people that do things differently.
First off there is the CV. Yes I have a few that get e-mailed out (and even, gulp, posted), and I have a LinkedIn.com profile (and feel free to recommended me) however I’ve noticed that some people go further. I know I could put a résumé on the blog here, but that isn’t my style.
It is now possible to create a multimedia CV (something no longer limited to portfolios) by using Visual CV. The idea is to update the CV from it’s (mostly) unchanged roots of 1902. There is some sense to it. You can embed examples of your work in the CV. You can show off your showcases. However, being selfish, I’m not involved in the media (pix.ie account aside that is) and given that all the programming work I did has “Confidential, Proprietary” slapped all over it, embedding anything is more of less impossible (and certainly not a good idea. I mean would you hire someone who won’t keep company secrets? I really hope you answered “no”).
Are there other ways to get jobs. As in headhunted. This is where a profile comes in. Be it Monster, IrishJobs or Recruitireland (and others), putting your details in a site like these mean that companies and recruiters can scan through your details and put you firmly in the “maybe” category. Simply put, it is a keyword search. The problem with such a keyword search is that a lot can be missed. Like the little thing called you.
I’ll stick to LinkedIn for now. But despite being recommended I don’t really pump my connections for prospects. But if someone in a company knows me I will be sure to mention it.
So in the meantime I’ll apply for jobs, and hope that they haven’t been filled, like this one.
Source: WikipediaFirstly, what happens to your social network account matters financially. The Irish tax authorities are keeping an eye on Facebook and LinkedIn. And depending on what happens on your account may effect you being audited. In the case of a nasty divorce… its possible to create fake announcements which just might lead to an audit.
“attempt to gather as much information to make sure that the claim is legitimate. [They] take our members privacy very seriously. Once [they] have sufficient evidence [they] can remove the account. Unfortunately there is no notification that goes out to all of their contacts.”
This apparent network might not even be a true reflection of who-knows-who. Jaiku Invites is an example of this. When Google bought Jaiku they shut down new user registrations. There are a lot of people out there who would love to join and take part in all the great discussions we have there, particularly around events like OpenCoffee and BarCamps. Luckily each existing member was given 10 invites that they could hand out and Ciarán Rooney created a method to do this. However this means that the inviter does not know the invitee despite the apparent connection made. (And hello to those strangers who used my invites).
