Resumes Are Like Butts

Lets face it, resume's are like butts, everyone has one and most of them are full of crap.  The tech guys in this video talk about how they got great tech jobs.  They did it through personal connections and building cool stuff that shows a potential employer they knew what they were doing and could actually finish something.

That said, I'm not a tech guy.  I did actually get one job from a resume'.  After years in the TV industry in Southern California in the early 90's, I burned  out and wound up working some lame job in Orange County after a while.  I learned there was a small equipment rental company within walking distance of my house.  I didn't know anyone there, so I typed up a resume' and took it over to them.  But I knew from experience that bosses doing the hiring rarely read an entire resume'.  In the TV production world, nearly all jobs are filled through personal contacts.  So in the very bottom of my resume', I wrote, "lost in the woods ages 4 to 9, and raised by raccoons."  I walked over to the company, handed my resume' to the manager, talked a couple minutes, and walked home.  A couple days later they called and said they needed some help for a few days.  An hour into the job, I asked the guy I was working with why they called me.  He said, "We just wanted to see what a guy raised by raccoons was like."  We both had a good laugh, and I made $100 a day prepping equipment for a few days. That was the only time I ever got hired off a resume'.

These days, much of the working world operates like the TV production world did back then.  There are lots of qualified people seeking every decent job.  So how do you set yourself apart?  In the old days, the trick was to make friends.  That hasn't changed.  What has changed over the past 25 years is the internet, smart phones, and social media.  Are you on Linked In?  If you're looking for a decent job, you probably should be.  I'm creating my own job, so I haven't bothered with it.  But I do use Facebook to get art jobs right now.  I'm working my existing network.  Are you?

Here are some tips I've learned from my blogging and social media experience. 

1.  A blog, website, You Tube channel, or good Twitter feed show people you can actually do something.  I blog about my days in the BMX freestyle industry in its early years.  I have a blog of the artwork I'm doing right now.  And I have this blog, aimed at the 30 million unemployed and underemployed people in the U.S.  I'm one of those people, and I got to the point where I had to create my own job.  (More on that in future posts).  What a blog, vlog, You Tube channel, custom Facebook page or other web presence does is show that you're self-motivated.  It also establishes you as a possible expert in your field.  That's a good way to meet people who need talented employees or freelancers.

2.  Use social media to meet people in your chosen field.  As a 20-year-old kid in the BMX bike industry many years ago, I learned that the trick to finding work was to get around the people who make stuff happen.  In any industry, there are relatively few people who are really pushing the progression of the industry.  These days, you can often friend those people on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, link to them on Linked In, or connect in many other ways.  Here's the big trick:  don't connect and ask for a job.  Follow what they publish.  When you have something worthwhile to add, comment or contact them.  Make it short, sweet, and to the point, as the old cliche' goes. 

3.  Social media superstar Gary Vaynerchuk took his parents' New Jersey liquor store from $3 million in sales a year to over $30 million a year.  He did it with internet marketing, a video series, and social media marketing.  He stresses to GIVE what you can to people.  Get to know them, make friends.  Then, and only then, ask them for help, a reference, a job, or to make a sales call. 

For tips on using today's technology in the work world, check out You Tube talks (and blogs and books) by Seth Godin, Mitch Joel, and Gary Vaynerchuk.  There are plenty of other people you can learn from, but these three are a great start.