careers

If you're reading this blog, you're probably drinking the social media kool-aid. You recognize the value of social media not only from a personal perspective but as a critical tool for your organization to reach new audiences, communicate more seamlessly with its constituents, raise money, and market products or services.  You may have spent months growing comfortable with the tools, building your online presence and that of your organization. You've explained what 2.0 means to the organization's leadership. You've helped move them to it...and then past it. You're one of the primary social networkers on the staff. It's great for your organization. It's great for your career. There's only one problem. A recent study showed that the average 26-year-old has changed jobs seven times in the last eight years. Especially if you're a Millennial, odds are that you're eyeing a jump to a different job, issue area or sector, or you will be soon. Have you thought about how you will approach the challenge of transitioning your social media identities?

I was recently chatting with a friend - let's call her Sarah - who had no idea what to do with her Twitter account. As a communications professional at a nonprofit organization fighting human trafficking, she's spent more than a year connecting with hundreds of people who also work on human trafficking. She's used social media to build the brand of her organization, foster discussion and distribute resources. Now she's transitioning to a new job that explores another of her interests - cooking. While she still cares about human trafficking, she won't have the time and energy to immerse herself in reading, writing and, yes, tweeting about the issue. Instead she will probably want to leverage her social media skills, and her account, for her new job.

But this could be a significant loss for her organization, which, at least in part, helped her to build her presence online. After all, they paid for the hours she invested in social media as a part of their overall strategy, and the organization's brand recognition offline probably lent her immediate credibility with new contacts online. On the other hand, without Sarah's initiative, skills and personality, her social media accounts, and those of the organization, might never have gotten off the ground. Now that their donors and partners are accustomed to engaging not only with the organization's official Twitter stream, but also Sarah's individual account, it might be difficult to transfer that relationship and interest to a new staff member.

This also creates a personal and relational dilemma for Sarah. She wouldn't go on attending human trafficking conferences or accepting speaking engagements on human trafficking issues, but her Twitter feed isn't so simple. Should she unfollow most of her human trafficking friends to make room for her new cooking friends? Should she start an entirely new account focusing on her new endeavor and build from scratch? Or should she make some Twitter announcements about her plans to switch to a new primary topic and let the chips fall where they may? Should the human trafficking organization have any say in how she talks about their break up?

With people of all generations increasingly and necessarily blending their personal and professional lives on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, we may be faced with many more tricky questions about how to move on. Have you made a major transition with your social media account? How can we make it smoother for ourselves, our followers and our organizations?

Many of you write and ask, "who are these social citizens you're always talking about?" 

Well, let me introduce you to KyNam Doan - he hails from San Francisco, graduated from MIT last year, and just launched a blog that will chronicle his efforts to find a job in marketing in the Bay Area.  But, let's just say this isn't your average job search.

On Wednesday, Jonathan Wolfe wrote a terrific piece on this blog called Remembering the "We" in Yes We Can about the continued engagement of the Millennials who were so instrumental in Obama's victory continuing to be engaged in helping to develop the priorites and policies of the new administration.

Lisa Stone, the co-founder of Blogher, makes a slightly different call to action,  She encourages everyone to come up with our own transition plan. We need to ask ourselves, she writes, "What will YOU do to help resolve the nation's problems?"

Good question!  And a particularly poignant one for us to ask in a bleak economy because the jobs in the social sector that may have been available a year or two ago may not be there this year and next. So, what's a social citizen to do?

The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently posted information about the Department of Education’s request for feedback on proposed regulations regarding implementation of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007.

Come again?

Basically, this new law forgives the remaining debt of student loan recipients who have worked as full-time “public service employees” for a period of 10 consecutive years while making their payments. In other words, you graduate, land a solid gig at a nonprofit, government agency, or other still-to-be-defined “public service” employer, and you won’t have to pay any more monthly debt owed after 10 years working there or remaining in the sector.

How To Befriend The Boss On Facebook

This is a post I’ve been wanting to write for a while, and as soon as I saw this video, I was inspired.

To set a little context, it was just about a year ago when we gathered as usual for our weekly staff meeting. As we took our seats my boss came in and proclaimed, “I joined Facebook over the weekend, and I think the rest of you should do the same – oh, and please friend me.”

The Wall Street Journal reports a surge of interest by Millennials in cause-related jobs. Teach for America and the Peace Corps are experiencing a surge in applicants in response to these frightening statistics: “Only 59% of employers surveyed expect to hire 2008 graduates by the end of the summer, down from 76% the year before … “

Historically, the public sector has seen a surge of job applicants in slow economic times, it will be interesting to see how the slowdown affects the nonprofit sector and its ability to continue to hire young people. Hopefully, the slowdown and the employment prospects for young people will all show signs of recovery soon.

(photo by dsb nola)

As the summer of 2008 is officially upon us, we see gas prices soaring to a whopping $4.00 a gallon, and an economy that is unpredictable at best. But even with all of the uncertainty in the world, one thing is for sure – very little seems to be stopping the new class of college graduates entering the workforce.

Sure, I’ve had more jobs in the past 8 years since I graduated college than my parents have had throughout their entire professional careers — and the funny thing is, the majority of my friends are in the same boat. But that doesn’t mean we’re not dedicated and committed to the causes and organizations we work for, that we don’t respect our superiors or won’t roll up our sleeves and pay our dues.