Available Social Media Jobs from Ned’s Job of the Week: June 18, 2012

June 18th, 2012 → 12:22 pm @ Mark Story

I write about it in the book, but one of the best, yet least high-tech resources to find communications and social media jobs is “Ned’s Job of the Week,”  a “free email networking newsletter for professional communicators started way back at the beginning of the 21st century and attracted a cult following of more than 10,000 readers.”

I get Ned’s email every Monday morning, so from time to time, I’ll cull social media job openings from Ned’s list and post them here.

Here are a few from today, Monday, June 18, 2012:

1)   Part-time Online Communications Coord./Asst., The Children’s Inn at NIH, Bethesda, MD

Organization Profile:
The Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health is a residential ”place like home” for sick children and their families. Children come from across the country and around the world to stay together with their families in The Inn’s healing environment while receiving groundbreaking medical treatments at the NIH, the world’s leading biomedical research center. While the NIH takes care of the child’s medical needs, The Inn tends to the child’s heart, soul and spirit. Since opening in 1990, more than 10,000 families have stayed at The Inn, free of charge.

Position Overview:
The Online Communications Asst./Coord. will play a key role in all facets of The Inn’s online communications work including maintaining and updating the organization’s website, creating and sending monthly eNews updates and assisting the Media Relations Manager with creating content for social media. For more information, visit here.

2) Senior Web Designer, AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, Columbia, SC

Senior Web Designer – AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, a growing agricultural lender with over $30 billion in assets, is seeking an experienced Senior Web Designer. This position will work with bank IT staff and the marketing graphic design team to design, develop and maintain associations and bank websites. The Senior Web Designer will work closely with associations’ marketing managers to plan and develop websites that meet their business goals and objectives. In addition, the Senior Web Designer will research, recommend and implement features and functions to enhance membership growth and awareness including new e-commerce initiatives and social media involvement. This position will be responsible for analyzing search engine optimization (SEO) andwebsite statistics to accurately track, communicate and provide recommendations on traffic, usage rates, visibility and awareness.

Requirements:

• Minimum of Bachelor Degree in Business, Computer Science or Web Design preferred.
• Minimum of five years Web Developer / Designer experience a must with the following background:
• Familiarity with content management systems (CMS)
• Advanced knowledge of XHTML, CSS, and illustration with Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Illustrator with formal training an asset.
• Experience in developing proof-of-concepts and wireframes of easy to navigate user interfaces (UI) that consist of web pages with graphics,icons and color schemes that are visually appealing. Ensures that applications are compatible across multiple computing platforms and browsers.
• Excellent communication skills required.

Grade and salary commensurate with experience. AgFirst offers an EXCELLENT benefit package, competitive salary, smoke free work environment, and business casual dress. EEO – M/W/D/V. Apply at: http://agfirst.balancetrak.com.

3) Social Media Manager, Archdiocese of San Francisco, San Francisco.  The Social Media Manager will implement and continue the development of the Archdiocese Social Media, developing awareness of the Archdiocese and its mission, generating inbound traffic and encouraging communication and evangelization on all social network sites.  This role coordinates with the social media presence of the Archbishop and other archdiocesan officials, coordinates and collaborates with the departments and offices of the archdiocesan pastoral center in solidifying their presence in the networking world.  More.

4)  Community Specialist – Social Media, Discovery Communications, São Paulo, Brazil

The Community Specialist is the face of the brand, managing communications in both directions. This digital-savvy communicator is responsible for content creation for all Social Media platforms and focused on developing relationships that ultimately build the brand’s communities in order to increase consumer’s engagement. He/she is also focused on driving web referrals to our properties and drive tune-in to our networks while maintaining a balance that ensures and fosters a successful social media experience. Requires a highly detail oriented, organized and assertive individual with excellent communications skills who thrives in fast-paced, ever-changing environment.

Responsibilities:

Content creation – writing posts (messaging) and exclusive content/materials for social media use. Own the social media calendar and alignment with network and digital departments
Creating, managing and growing the company’s presence through Twitter, Facebook, and other strategically relevant SM properties
Be the eyes and ears of our brand, thus reporting key and relevant information to programming, research and marketing departments for optimization
Analyze campaigns and translate anecdotal or qualitative data into recommendations and plans for revising the social media campaigns.
Work with community manager to create local social media strategy, as well as, fan/follower acquisition plan to meet our growth objectives
Moderation of communities and crisis management when required
Execution of SM campaigns and/or activations on our SM properties
Achieve high levels of engagement of in our communities and focus on tactics that sustain these beyond program publicity

Requirements:

* Has work experience or training in advertising, PR, online marketing or similar field

* Highly detailed oriented and organized with keen ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously in very fast-paced environment

* Strong knowledge of social networks and best practices

* A passion for Discovery, television and the media industry

* Excels at research, possesses excellent writing skills and the ability to crank editorial and technical writing output without brooding.

* Demonstrated creativity and documented immersion in social media

* Knowledge of search engine optimization-think including basic keyword research. We name and tag our posts based on research

Happy hunting!

Mark

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Career Advice: Where the Jobs Are in Start Up Companies

April 23rd, 2012 → 12:31 pm @ Mark Story

I’m not a huge fan of infographics, but sometimes the information (note the root of the word “infographic”) is too good to resist.

On Twitter, I follow Dr. William J. Ward, a.k.a DR4WARD, is the Social Media Professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.  This week on his blog he posted an infographic in “Where Are The Majority of Startup Jobs? #infographic?”  The source of the data is StartUpHire.com and provides some interesting data.

In my book, I try to focus on how to start a career in social media in smaller and medium-sized organizations because that’s where the jobs are;  the overwhelming majority of job creation is NOT on the Fortune 500 list.  So if you aspire to a career in social media, at some point, you  could find yourself with the opportunity to work for a startup.

Here are some interesting findings, especially if you are thinking about working in a start up company:

Where the jobs are (top five states):

1. California (36.3%)
2. Massachusetts (7.43%)
3. New York (7.13%)
4. Texas (4.76%)
5. Washington state (4.02%)

No surprises here when you think about cities like San Jose, Palto Alto, Boston, New York City, Redmond and Austin.

What the jobs are (top five job titles):

1. Software engineer
2. Senior software engineer
3. Product manager
4. Account manager
5. Project manager

The infographic is below – and a shout out to Dr. Ward for bringing it to my attention – but if you are interested in a career in social media and a start up environment appeals to you, think about polishing your skills and hopping on an airplane to the states listed below.

Mark

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Social Media Career Advice: Salary Negotiation

March 6th, 2012 → 1:00 pm @ Mark Story

Yesterday in AGBeat, I wrote an article “Social Media: being a user doesn’t mean you are a good practitioner” that was about a) the dearth of qualified professionals in the social media job market, and b) how sometimes employers are confusing fluency in the tools for personal use with professional use: making full use of social media as a communications vehicle on behalf of an organization.

But let’s say that you have carried out the steps of becoming not only a user, but at least a personal practitioner and adviser for social media:  you have a professional Facebook page, a Google+ account, a Twitter stream that contains more than updates about your cat, as well as a blog that shows that you at least have an intellectual curiosity about social media – and you can take a stand on issues.

In short, you get it and should be paid for the fact that you get it.

One of the joys in my life has been teaching and counseling my students on how to apply their hard-earned degrees and make the first jump into a career in social media.  It’s hard to get through the first-level screening, the interview process and all of the ensuing waiting, but then BAM – you get an offer.

Sometimes, and especially on the junior level – or at “boutique” agencies – they will lowball junior staff on salary.  Employers think “well, it’s her first job, so she needs this more than we need her.”   That’s crap.  So if you are just starting in your social media career or advancing into a mid-level position, you deserve to be paid what you are worth.  Determining that worth is hard, so here are a few tips for salary negotiation.

1. Don’t be afraid to walk away.  If you are offered what you believe to be is a low salary, counter-offer.  If you are stonewalled by your potential employer (“Sorry, but we can’t go any higher”), WALK AWAY.  Unless your potential boss offers you a performance review in a short amount of time (say, three months) with the ability to prove yourself  and get a salary increase, WALK AWAY (caveat:  unless you are desperate).  Most of the time (and it has happened to me, too), when I can’t get what I know that I am worth at the beginning and accept the job, my relationship with my employer starts off on a sour note.  If your social media skills (even if you have gained them through self-study and practice) are still valid.  An employer who does not or cannot recognize this will probably squeeze you dry from a financial and workload perspective.There are plenty of caveats for this.  Non-profits and very small employers pay less but you may really enjoy the cause or the work, but if it’s an agency and you get lowballed, you will probably end up unhappy.
2. Beware of the “industry average.”  I shoot my mouth off way to often for my own personal and professional good. I once was a hiring manager for a national company.  My star candidate wanted just a little more money and I was fighting with human resources to get her a better starting salary.  The HR person said, somewhat defensively, “We have done research, and we pay the industry average.”  My smart-ass response:  ”If we pay the ‘industry average,’ we are going to get average employees who produce average work.”  This was not looked upon kindly, but it’s true.  Any employer who says “we pay the industry average” has a short-sighted view unless there are several concrete opportunities to increase your salary through performance bonuses.  Average salary = average work product.
3. Beware of the bonus.  When you are negotiating salary (and this has happened to me at about every stop in the agency world), when I negotiate on salary, I am told “we pay bonuses!”   Hey, that’s great.  When I worked for APCO and Flieshman-Hillard (both were owned by conglomerates while I was there, Grey Global and Omnicom, respectively), what I did not take into account is that both are publicly-traded companies.  Get who gets paid first?  SHAREHOLDERS.  The conglomerates’ job is to keep Wall Street happy.  Then senior management, then mid-level management, then junior staff.  And here’s another little secret:  most offices that operate as part of a network of agency offices that are owned by a conglomerate view each office as a profit center.  So if you are in the digital part of the firm and are making money hand over fist – yet your compadres upstairs in another practice group are hemmoraging money, you may well be penalized come bonus time.  The other practice group’s underperformance affects the office’s profitability, and your year-end bonus can suffer.  This, while not fair, is how the game is played.One more note on the mysterious bonus:  if this comes up in the interview process, don’t get wild-eyed.  Cooly and calmly, ask your potential employer to provide you with the average bonus numbers for your position and others over the last three years.  Ask what impacts the bonuses.  Ask which are subjective measures and which are objectives measures.  You’ll get a much clearer picture.  It’s sort of sticking your neck out by being so inquisitive, but IT’S YOUR MONEY.
4. You are worth what your next employer will pay you.  It sounds counter-intuitive and happens only when you get a little more experience, but if a company posts a job with a listed salary or you interview and the position pays $10,000 more than you are making, that’s what you are worth.  Period.  Full stop.  Your market worth is determined by THE MARKET.  I am not suggesting that you jump ship for the next big paycheck because there are many factors to consider, but more than once, I have gauged my value in the market. When it came time to negotiate salary, I would bring up the fact that Agency XYZ valued me at a certain salary amount.  Again, there is the caveat that your own employer knows you better than does a potential employer, but don’t lose sight of the fact when you are negotiating that what you are worth is what the market will bear.

I could go on and on, but good salary negotiation is based upon excellent professional preparation if you are junior, excellent performance when you get in with a company or agency, but also on careful research and an unbiased view of your value in the marketplace.  Plus, a lot of information and self confidence.

Mark

Image source: GlassDoor blog.

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