The Wait is Over (drum roll please…)

After eight months of hard work, determination, a positive attitude, a move halfway across the country and LOTS of networking, I finally landed a great job in Chicago!!!

As of November 30th, I am the new Communications Manager at Standard Parking’s Corporate Headquarters, a publicly traded parking management company with over 16,000 employees.  The job will provide an amazing opportunity because I actually get to build a communications department from the ground up.  My first task will be to continue work on an internal communications plan, partnering with multiple departments for intranet implementation.  Shortly there after, the responsibility expands to more of a marketing and public relations role, while continuing maintenance of internal channels.  I’ll also (hopefully) be implementing a social media platform.

It will be a challenging and exciting time, as well as a huge learning experience.  I’m in eager anticipation to test the limits of my communications skill set.  After five interviews, almost six weeks of waiting and stress galore, I finally heard back with the great news.  But, it goes to show that good things do come to those who wait.

Thanks to everyone for their help and encouragement during my “down time.” Your thoughts and kind words really kept me going!

I’m also working on four blog posts simultaneously, so more justinarium content coming soon.  Stay tuned!

Pitt Students and Alum…FIGHT PROPOSED TAX!

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl proposes to tax working and non-working students 1 percent tax to help subsidize city worker pension plans.  You can fight this tax by reaching out to your city councilman (see Alumni Relations Site for sample letter and councilman contact information).

SAY NO TO THIS TAX!!!

Summary and Talking points (taken from Alumni Relations Web site):

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has proposed a 1 percent tuition tax on university students that is illegal, ill-advised and unfair! A majority of students pay City wage taxes through their part or full-time jobs, and pay City real estate taxes through their rental payments and home ownership. Universities play a critical role in the economic vitality, vibrancy and marketability of the City. The Mayor’s proposed tax weakens the City’s emerging reputation as a progressive city and will negatively impact economic and community development. Students need you to contact your Pittsburgh City Council members.

Talking Points: Taxing Students is Illegal and Unfair

• Many students also work in the City of Pittsburgh and pay City Wage taxes and the Local
  Services Tax.
• Most students and/or their parents pay real estate taxes either directly as homeowners or
  through their rental payments.
• Students also pay the Regional Asset District Tax, Amusement Tax and Parking Tax.
• As presented, the tax will charge a student between $27 and $400 per year for the privilege
  of studying at his or her school. These students attend school approximately eight months
  per year. Compare this to the $52 Local Services Tax per year that individuals living outside
  the City of Pittsburgh and working in the City pay, even though they may be earning
  anywhere from $4,000 to $4 million over twelve months of employment.
• Both of the City’s financial oversight bodies confirm that the City has not done enough to
  reduce expenditures and consolidate services and functions with the County of Allegheny to
  lessen its costs.
• The Mayor’s tuition tax proposal is contrary to well established law in Pennsylvania and the
  United States. This proposed tax is illegal and unenforceable. It is an unfair and
  counterproductive effort to force students to pay for decades of neglect and
  mismanagement of the City’s finances and pension fund.
• Education plays a major role in the vibrancy and marketability of this Region. As anchors in
  our neighborhoods, we act as economic generators to promote places where people want
  to live, work, play and invest, thus bringing more revenues to the City. The Mayor’s
  proposal weakens the City’s credibility as a progressive city and will hinder both community
  and economic development.
• Pittsburgh’s universities are part of the largest employment sector in the Region and the
  only employment sector to add jobs every year since 1995. Additional taxes on students
  will discourage attendance at Pittsburgh universities and reverse the job growth they
  provide.
• Pittsburgh has an emerging reputation as a dynamic, innovative college town. Taxing
  students will ruin that positive reputation.

Pass this along to all alumni that you know.

Brazen blogger tweets miscarriage…and I love her for it.

Penelope Trunk blogs, founded three internet start-ups and demonstrates amazing writing ability.  I’m a huge admirer of her work and a member of Brazen Careerist, one of her internet companies to help job seekers.

In late September, she posted a rather catching tweet from work:

I’m in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because there’s a fucked-up 3-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin.

This caused a huge stir with her virtual community and with a large percentage of women in general.  It also got her another interview on CNN.

Personally, I applaud Trunk for her transparency, her willingness to engage in the conversation and standing strong for her belief system.  There’s no denying that miscarriages suck.  It sucks to get pregnant when you don’t expect it.  But in Trunk’s mind, the tweet wasn’t about the miscarriage.  It demonstrates the ability to conduct your life accordingly in the midst of an unfortunate incident, and expresses frustration regarding an inefficient Wisconsin policy.

I have a dear friend who’s having a terrible time getting pregnant.  She’s in her late thirties and has a beautiful three year old daughter.  She and her husband would love to have a second child but her doctor stated that women in her age group have a less than 6% chance of getting pregnant.  What’s worse, many of her friends are going through the same thing.  She’s had two miscarriages since she started trying…high-cost fertility treatments and all.  And you know what?  She talked about it.  She went to work.  She’s cried and bitched and moaned.  In both instances, she was sad.  But she knew she couldn’t just stop conducting her life because of what happened.

It’s conversations like these that keep the virtual community engaged.  Why can’t people talk about their circumstances openly?  I think the line of what can be said to whom is quickly becoming a distant memory.  If you’re getting divorced, people know.  If you’re getting married, everyone knows.  If you get an abortion (whatever your belief) fewer people may be in the loop, but they still know.  If people choose to take part of the virtual world (which sooner or later they will), they need to be ready for the consequences.

Kudos Penelope.  I look forward to reading more posts and having you push the boundaries further.  Your posts make me think, laugh and learn.  Since I’m in Chicago, if you’re ever down this way and can spare a half hour, perhaps we can laugh face-to-face.

Ack! Life got to me.

Sorry I haven’t posted anything in over a week.  My hope was to have at least three videos up before now.  I haven’t even come close.

I’ve actually been working, and grateful for it.  I recently took a part-time job (or at least I thought).  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining.  It was just my impression that “part-time” meant 10-20 hours a week.  I’m scheduled 35 hours this week and 37 hours next week!  I also have two freelance jobs I’ve been working on, so needless to say my time has been tight.  The paycheck will be nice, though.

Some things of note:

I added an events calendar to my blog. I post marketing and communications networking events, conferences or meetings I feel would help out other job seekers.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  (P.S. If anyone knows how to embed a Google Calendar into a wordpress.com platform, please send me an email.  I couldn’t figure it out.)

Thanks to Apple for making “washing machine-proof” headphones. My heart sank when I opened the washing machine door and found my iPhone headset coiled up in a ball.  I don’t recommend trying this out because I felt like I lost my puppy or my favorite toy.  I was a little upset earlier that day because I had a conference call and had to listen to it on speaker, rather than on a headset.  But, I think I was more mad at myself for being dumb and allowing them to get washed.  I thought, “what the hell” and plugged them into my phone.  They ended up working like nothing had happened.  Even the mic worked.  Thanks Apple for making my day.  (As an aside, I wonder if Zune headphones would hold up the same way?  Perhaps it was a sign to head to Apple store and buy a PowerBook.)

I’ve managed to score a couple of interviews this week for full-time communications positions. Keep your fingers crossed.

Ok, I’ve got lots to do so I’m cutting this short.  I wanted to post something for you.  The next video’s going to be good.  I’m going to discuss Penelope Trunk’s twitter scandal, some job hunting tips and the piece I’m working on for Ragan Communications.

Until next time…

Introduction and Chicago Summer (first vid)

Social Media Part 3 – Boosting Positive Brand Image

Today summer officially ends.

I’m sad since the northern half of the U.S. didn’t see much summer at all.  We had some amazing days, to be sure, but the whole “hot” part of summer never came ’round.  I can count on one hand the number of days I actually got to swim, attend barbecues or even sweat and the lack of heat makes me wonder if we’re in for a long, frozen winter.  Ugh…I’m hurting already.

But as for the meaty part…

In my last social media post, I talked about leadership and where people obtained useful information.  This time I’d like to discuss how small businesses have the ability to enhance their brand image, drawing more customers to their site and ultimately generating business.  Like many leading marketers, I feel strongly that traditional one-way marketing strategies are fading, depending on your business needs.  It makes sense for companies like Coca-Cola and Budweiser to invest in traditional media, since they have broad coverage and a targeted market sector.  They’re competing with their major competitors on a broad landscape.

But what type of engagement (or ROI) can businesses, say a hospital, get from a television or print ad?  When people go searching for millions of items every day, they use their computer.  They Google “hospitals” or search WebMD.  How many people do you know that went searching for a doctor in a newspaper or the Yellow Pages?  Once traditional media, such as print or tv, is read or seen, it’s shelf life is expired.  People don’t re-visit traditional media.

For a large amount of smaller companies, social media is a small budget way to engage customers on the web.  It creates inter-connectivity and engagement.  It gives people a reason to visit your site over and over again.  Some organizations also use social media as a low-cost advertising mechanism, placing a human element into the campaign and getting a huge bang for their buck.  Take this example from Ragan Communications’ Rob Reinalda, regarding the Mayo Clinic’s utilization of the web.  The health care system uses the website to tell heart-felt success stories to the masses.  In doing so, they provide a sense of hope to potential patients, tell successes of their facility, and potentially generate new business.

more about “MyRaganTV – Broadcasting news and ide…“, posted with vodpod

Video posts are definitely on the rise.  I’m actually experimenting with some now, talking about my adventures as a transplant job seeker in a major metro area.  Stay tuned!

Shame on you Vanity Fair

Dear Mr. Grayson and Vanity Fair editors:

I’ve been a fan of your magazine since I was a teenager.  I’ve always found your articles are intriguing and your journalism insightful.  It evokes thoughtful points of view.  I enjoy your magazine because you discuss things in a way mainstream news can’t provide.  I also love your fashion spreads, your advertisers and overall ability to market to a certain clientele.  Heck, I even know that Madonna graced your cover more than any other person in the magazine’s history!  However, I was deeply disheartened when I opened this month’s edition, finding your feature on Levi Johnston, former boyfriend of Bristol Palin.

Honestly, Mr. Grayson, what gives?

This is a guy who impregnated an underage girl, then may or may not have walked away from the relationship.  As the tabloids ran to snap photos this past winter, he (or his hired publicists) leveraged the situation to exploit the Palin’s day-to-day activities.  I think what hurts is that your magazine endorsed him.

Johnston criticized the Palins for “bringing him into the spotlight” back in April 2008, then in the same exclusive CBS interview, contradicts himself by discussing the family’s activity.  He talks little to nothing about himself in your feature – or in any other interview for that matter – probably because there’s nothing to tell (oh, except for his willingness to pose in Playgirl Magazine).

Who’s helping out with the parenting while he’s out at Vanity Fair photo shoots and Tyra Banks interviews?  More than that, what will his kid think when he gets older?  Will he say, “my dad sold my mom and grandma out.”?

Salon.com’s comments on your recent article sums it up nicely:

The article is a gold mine for those still feasting on the picked-over carcass of Sarah Palin: One can go the trashing-working-women route; the political-scandal route; the please, God, why are we still talking about this family route. But to me, the most conspicuous thing about this article is what’s missing: namely, just about any information about his relationship with Bristol, his relationship with his son, his plans for school, and how he plans to get through it all.

As I question your, “Enquirer-esque” judgment in putting Mr. Johnston in your magazine, I’m a bit hurt by your decision to enable his activity or cast him in such a positive light.  Honestly, has he contributed to society?  Why does he deserve fame at all, much less a book deal, a movie role or valued space in your esteemed periodical?   Shame on you, Mr. Grayson.  I’m sure you could have found something more newsworthy or entertaining to write about.