Sunday, May 16, 2010

$6 bought Alec Brownstein a shot at his dream job

On the hunt for his dream job, copywriter Alec Brownstein purchased the names of his favourite creative directors on Google AdWords.
Whenever someone ran a search for one of the creative directors' names, the following message appeared at the top of the page: "Hey, [creative director's name]: Goooogling [sic] yourself is a lot of fun. Hiring me is fun, too" with a link to Brownstein's website, alecbrownstein.com.
According to CNN.com, the $6 campaign netted calls from all but one of the creative directors Brownstein targeted, two job offers, and two advertising awards.


Just goes to show you that a little ingenuity may be all you need to put your name in front of the right people.


Via @elliottkaty.

Sunday, May 02, 2010

resumé tip: include details about the magazines you've worked at

When listing your work history on your resumé, make sure you include enough information about the magazines and other companies that you've worked at. This will help give prospective employers a better sense of the type of experience you have, particularly when they may not be familiar with the publication.

For starters, always list the publisher (where applicable) and city beside the magazine's name. Something like this:
Assistant Editor, Chatelaine (Rogers Media, Toronto), May 2007 – January 2010
You may want to include the publication's website:
Editorial assistant, Alberta Views (Calgary, albertaviews.ab.ca), October 2008 – Present
You can even go a step further and include a brief description of each magazine/company before listing your accomplishments:
Broken Pencil, which publishes four times a year, is a magazine dedicated to covering zines, independent publishing and underground culture in Canada. 
Or, you could include information about the publication when describing your accomplishments:
• Assigned and edited the front-of-book section of the monthly woodworking publication, ensuring timely, relevant content and a balance of subject matter.
However you decide to do it, you want to make it easy for whoever is looking at your resumé to get a thorough understanding of your experience. Details you might want to include are subject matter, consumer/trade, circulation, region, audience the magazine serves, staff size (especially if you're listing a management position) and/or frequency. Information like this can indicate how similar/dissimilar your experience is to the position you're applying to, and can help explain the type of experience you have and the type of magazine environment you've been exposed to.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that everyone is going to be familiar with the magazines you've worked at, and don't assume everyone is going to Google them to find out. Make it easy for prospective employers to get a sense of where you come from.