Wednesday, December 24, 2008

I’ve got great friends

Earlier I wrote about the great support that I have received from my Twitter community since I was laid off last week. Now I like to share an update. The past few days have been a blur as I have been chasing job leads and talking to a lot of people.  Hopefully, I am moving closer to my goal of a new job that uses my online marketing and social media skills to make a strong contribution to a growth oriented, innovative company. I’ve had a lot of help from great friends in keeping busy and for that I am very grateful. They have been supportive, given great leads and connections, and provided wonderful advice. Here are some of the public ones that you may not have seen.

Peter Kim wrote an exciting post on his blog, Is Your Community Prepared to Help, in which he gives great networking advice on how to prepare in case of emergencies. I don’t know if I am the poster child for preparation, but I am certainly glad to have invested so much time in my network.  Rick Murray picked up Peter’s theme and wrote, Happy to Help, in which he not only talks about helping me, but also offers to accept Peter's challenge and go to work for you. 

The amazing Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell wrote How to Prepare for being laid off, the Warren Sukernek way by building up your social capital and cultivating an account of goodwill.  Smartest Man in the World, Saul Colt, wrote A few things to try if you happen to get fired/laid off this holiday season.  For those that know Saul, you know that he wrote a thoughtful, but humorous piece full of great advice. And finally, a new friend that I met through this ordeal, Jeff Shuey, who is going through the process himself, wrote Twitter for the Gainfully Available and Actively Under-Employed.

Each blogger offers great advice, using me as a poster child for the importance of having a strong network. I don’t think I want to be the “Rock Star of the unemployed” for very long, but I certainly appreciate the attention as it will bring more visibility.

How can you help?

Many people have asked how they can help.  Of course, any job leads or connections are very much appreciated. Please send me a message on Twitter or a DM if appropriate. But if you’d like to help, here are a few other things that you can do:

  • Tell some friends and contacts that may be in position to help.
  • Send my resume to your contacts and have them read Warren Sukernek’s social media resume.
  • Create your own post.
  • Write a LinkedIn recommendation regarding my skills, our relationships, whatever authentic work of mine that you are familiar with and can share. You can find me here.
  • Leave a comment here with your best job-seeking advice so that we can share it with others in need.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Holidays, Warren - and best of luck in the job search.

I,too, have had incredible support from the Twitterverse since I wrote my story via @jpostman's blog almost 2 weeks ago. I've also been lucky to have people like @PRsarahevans and @mediaphyter post about me, and dozens of prominent bloggers RT my info to their contacts.

Hopefully, the kindness and encouragement of our incredible community will result in jobs for both of us - and for many more folks out there who need and deserve work.

Yes, communications is the key - keep up the conversations, reach out - and something good is bound to happen.

All the best for 2009 - and long live Twitter:-)

@mscathybrowne

Warren said...

Cathy,

Thanks for the kind comments. Your community has been very supportive as well. @jpostman, @PRsarahevans, and @mediaphyter are great people. I wish you much success in your Twitter job search as well.

2009 will be OUR year!

Warren said...

Since I wrote this post, two more friends wrote about me and I encourage you to check out their blogs:

@Nealstewart wrote about my social media resume, http://nealstewart.wordpress.com/2008/12/25/links-for-2008-12-25-2/

And today, William Azaroff wrote a very insightful post about growing and then using your social capital, http://www.azaroff.com/blog/2008/12/brother-can-you-spare-some-social.html. I strongly encourage you to read it.

Warren said...

Two more updates:

- Jason Alba has named me Personal Branding Winner of the Month on his great career management site, Jibber Jobber, http://cli.gs/jibber

- Heidi Culbertson has written about me as a case study for community to help others, http://cli.gs/ZZmyYW

Check them out!