I am a job seeker. I will be honest. I believe there is a caste system among my job seeking peers. I must say there are a lot of sudras out there when it comes to social media. When I look over a job description, I am looking for something very specialized and specific. My top skill is Strategy so when looking for a job I am not just looking for a paycheck. I am looking for a position and a company that will add value to my personal brand, and they should be doing the same. As this mutual dance should be about what we can get from each other. I always liken a job interview to a first date. You wouldn’t be there if you weren’t qualified, they just want to know if you’ll get along well in their current culture.
In my recent job search I came across a job listing that stated they wanted someone with Social Media Experience. Which is such a loose term these days as everyone who’s every posted a picture on Facebook claims they are a super user. Many in reality are using these tools for pleasure and not business. Which is fine if that is what you do for entertainment, but these powerful tools are being used by big business to make a splash in the engagement marketing arena to get you to buy their products or use their services. What struck me as different about this ad, was that they wanted you to prove your social media chops by taking a little quiz on a website called Smarterer.com
I was excited and impressed all at the same time. I love coaching my small business clients and friends about their social media needs. But there is so much gray area out there how do you know you are talking to an expert? I literally laugh out loud when I read that people are looking for folks who have a degree in Social Media. There are courses; enough YouTube tutorials to fill 3 Saturdays, and even books about how to use these tools, but no real structured accredited college degree, yet. I work full-time at a prestigious university and we only have 1 count’em 1 course about social media. And I had peers in the course the first time it was offered, and she said that it was a snooze. She could teach the class, and to top it all off the professor hated twitter. I digress.
In recruitment session after recruitment sessions there are millions of people who will check the box yes: “I’ve made millions of pivot tables. I love charts. I currently have about 500 presentations on Slideshare”, but who knows if you know how to use the tools well enough to pass a test on it. In walks Smarterer (Start the triumph music). Klout will tell people how influential you are with your very segmented online tribe. Smarterer literally puts your skills to the test. Do you know how to edit your background on G+? You don’t? Well if you were Smarterer you would know that you can’t. Have you not heard of Pinterest yet? Well it is still in Beta and is taking the visual world by storm. (P.S. Send me your e-mail address and I can get you an invite: D’Babetta)
Since finding this wonder online I have been obsessed that was only a few days ago, but I have taken 15 tests, and I am an expert in 7 areas and proficient in 4 others. Once I get to Master Status, I don’t know if you get a golden chalice, but I will let you know. The truth is when I am online and during my search for companies, and in connecting and networking there are some pretty weak online presences for some people who run the social media for major brands. It makes me wonder how did you get this job? What did you have to prove in order to explain your skill set? As the world goes to more digital media there has to be a way to separate the power tools from the tinker toys. I even read an article last week about how recommendations on LinkedIn are skewed and can’t be trusted. I think as companies start to grow their social media staff and digital marketing efforts they will need to ask people to put up or shut up. I am putting my money on Smarterer.
You can check me out my scores online: Terez Baskin – Smarterer (Because I want you to know how hot in the streets I am) *wink*
