Month: November 2009

Random Thought — How Good is LinkedIn?

Earlier in another post,  I mentioned I’ve been on the job hunt the last 3 months or so due to a big layoff at work. Never saw it coming, but to be honest, I was job hunting before that, after having been doing the same thing for 8 years. But I was happy at my job, loved my co-workers, my bosses were always good to work for, and it was a nice environment, though I was ready for something more challenging in my professional career.

So, I’ve been a part of LinkedIn now for the last 3 years — maybe longer. I really don’t know. Not a fan of FaceBook or mySpace since they’re really not “professional” social networking sites. But here’s the thing — I have now 176 connections on LinkedIn. That gives me a network of 2,479,200+ other professionals. WOW.

Yet, not any one of my 176 connections, i.e. people who have either asked me to join their network, or have joined mine on my request have had ANY effect on my job search. Not even people in my connections who work for companies I’ve applied to and I’ve sent “inMail”‘s to (LinkedIn’s email system…), have replied back. Hmmm, and I know I shower each morning so it can’t be me…or can it?

I’ve been working for a very long time, over half of my lifespan so far on this planet. I have a very diverse background in business, creative, management, customer service, teamwork and so on. I know how to get a job done on time and budget. I don’t screw around. I hit the ground running, and when there’s a hole that needs to be filled, I’ll jump in and fill it.

LinkedIn has what one would consider a cool feature — Recommendations. You can ask past employers, colleagues or clients to give you a recommendation, and that shows up on your LinkedIn profile, so when someone sees your profile either by snooping around, or at your behest,  they can kind of gauge what kind of person or employee you are.

So, I really want to know what the purpose of LinkedIn really is. So far I’m gathering it’s not for any of us looking for a new job. That would be too easy. Is it just another Facebook pretending to be a professional networking site, which by the way, I’ve heard a lot of success stories of people getting new jobs through the latter…

How many people in my network are willing to help me find a new job, or those who are hiring (or are part of the hiring team) actually care, esp. those in my network I’ve reached out to? So far my guess is zero. To be honest, if it were the other way around, I would be willing to take a look at someone’s work and resumé, and if they were a possible fit or not I’d at least let them know- not ignore them.

So to me, so far LinkedIn is no more helpful than sending tons of resume’s out via email or company websites. I’m just as anonymous it seems either way. I really don’t want to think this is true. Until someone in my network helps me in my job search or at least responds back to jobs I’ve applied to at their companies, then I dare anyone to prove me wrong.  And you all know who you are.

 

 

Random Thought — Why do employers take so long to hire?

I’ve been out of work for about 3 and a half months, give or take. Statistically, that’s not so bad considering it can be up to a year for a lot of people in today’s economy to find a new job, not that they’re not looking. For the last 3 months or so, I’ve been scouring job boards, company sites, Craigslist for full-time and freelance gigs, and have sent approximately 350 resume’s and cover letters to potential employers. I think my resumé is pretty good, and I have customized versions for the different jobs I’ve been applying for, making sure key words are there for the job, and cover letters are each tailored to the job I’m interested in.

Yes, I realize there’s a TON of competition out there these days, esp. on places like Craigslist. I have had some recent luck to a point by at least getting more calls from headhunters who find my resumé on my website (http://www.gregschumsky.com) or LinkedIn (I still wonder if LinkedIn is a HUGE waste of time or if it really works for the whole networking thing…haven’t had any luck from any of my 139 or so 1st degree connections). So we’ll see what happens next.

But the subject here is about how it seems employers are taking their own sweet time to get back to people who have applied for those coveted jobs. Example: The fiancée of a friend of ours had applied for a position at UCSD back in FEBRUARY of this year (2009). He hadn’t heard anything for a few months — not a “thanks for applying, but…” or a “We’d like to interview”. Then he finally got an interview with them. Months passed before he was finally offered the job earlier this month. WHAT???

So, I wonder why employers take so long. Is it because they are swamped with resumé’s? Maybe. Do they actually think the top candidates they really want are still available months later and haven’t found another job? I mean, really, do they actually think that?

I’ll give you another example. My last employer kind of did the same thing, only didn’t wait months before they hired someone. In actuality, they moved pretty quickly, or I’d say within reason. Unfortunately, they even lost out on getting the best man or woman for the job, because their window of opportunity passed right in front of them and that candidate got an offer from someone else.

Each time that happened my bosses were pretty disappointed — either that the person of interest took another job because they needed it and didn’t (or couldn’t) wait around for us to make a decision, or in the process and how slowly it took their bosses to get the paperwork through in order to make an offer.

There were some really great jobs I applied for months ago I haven’t heard hide nor hair from since. Not a “sorry we’re not interested” (even though my resumé and background matched their requirements and then some), or “we’re reviewing”.

In any case, I feel that any employer should be more professional, courteous, timely and communicative when looking for someone to fill that next open position. It’s only fair to both the employer and candidates.

And that’s my current random thought.

 

Interior Design — Mid-century Modern

Yes, it’s been a while since I last posted anything. I’ve been pretty busy with setting up the sound studio at home (almost done), which included hanging doors between my existing office and the family room, moving the computer out of the room, and so on and so forth. Add to that being out of work, which has had an effect on my wanting to get anything done in the first place. I like working. I’m not the kind of person who is happy hanging out by the pool, relaxing, and doing and thinking about nothing- though that is nice for a vacation.

So, as I mentioned in this blog, and for people who know me, I really dig mid-century design, architecture, furniture, and so on. Luckily so do my wife and kids. We live in a 1950’s California Ranch with a big open living room and open beam ceilings, though we would someday like to live in a more mid-century modern home that’s more open, flatter roofs, big floor to ceiling windows, etc. Fortunately there’s a plethora of them in San Diego’s East County, where I happen to have been born, raised and still live in.

I’ve always appreciated mid-century architecture and design since I was a kid growing up in the 60’s (I was born in 1963), even before I knew what it really was. Coincidentally there happens to be some pretty cool shops in San Diego and a mid-century modern following among home-owners, designers, architects, and people in general. My favorite shop so far, located in the Little Italy area of downtown San Diego is Boomerang for Modern, located between Kalmia and Laurel on Kettner.

If you walk in or look from the outside, it looks pretty small.  But once you go in, be prepared to see some pretty cool stuff. The first floor is set up like a small living room/showroom. The second floor looks like a nice apartment living room and gives you an idea of what your place could look like, while the third floor is set up as a bedroom display. I highly suggest next time you’re downtown, check it out, sit and chat with David the owner, and maybe take something home.  Pics after the jump.

Speaking of home, we’re taking our house from shabby-chic (yecccch), to a more mid-century interior design. That will be in another post with before and after pics, and progress updates as well. Now if I could afford some of the cool furniture from Boomerang…

Web Design — Online Portfolios

I’m a big fan of LinkedIn. Not so much for all of the network connections I have (which til now have not proven to be of much value…), but more for the different groups one can join and contribute to as well as learn from. All of the groups, unlike Facebook or mySpace are designed by professionals for professionals.

One recent post under the Creative Design Professionals group had a link to a pretty great post focused on people’s online portfolios. The question was should designers spend the time creating a web site for their portfolio from scratch, thus showing off their mad web skillz (yes,that’s a Z), or use some third party tech and a template. I highly believe in creating a portfolio site from scratch using the latest web technology (web 2.0, Joomla, or whatever a designer is comfy with).

HOWEVER, if a designer is busy working making a living, and really doesn’t have time to focus on building a site from the ground up, then by all means I do feel that one should and could use a template or otherwise to get their site up quickly in order to generate more work. Just because it begins with a template doesn’t mean it has to look like everyone else’s site. Also, the focus should be on the content of what that designer has worked on — i.e. their portfolio. And sometimes templates keep designers from making mistakes with how their site is laid out, no matter how good of a designer they are.

A portfolio site should be easy for your customers or future clients, and or future employers to easily navigate so they can see your work, find your samples quickly, and not have to go on a treasure hunt within your site to find your best work. The website Astheria.com points this out perfectly, because that designer realized how badly his portfolio sucked, and wanted to prevent other designers from making the same mistakes.

Admittedly, my portfolio site at gregschumsky.com was built with Apple’s iWeb. Yes, I could have spent countless hours making it in html, or some web 2.0 tech, or even Joomla or otherwise, but my focus wasn’t on all the programming. It was on the design of the site and all of my design, animation and video work, and I really wanted to get it up quickly, while making sure the site was easy to use and my work easy to find. So sue me.

I love Apple products and how they work without me needing to put a ton of time into making the software work, and I can spend more time on the creative process. I have yet to see anyone else’s online portfolio that looks like mine as far as the look and feel. And it’s easy to use and navigate. Plus there aren’t all the tiny thumbnail images that are some part of a bigger image. Bleh.

Meanwhile as I wait for more work, I’m busy designing a sound recording studio here at home for my daughter, who by the way is a pretty amazing singer — yes I get to say that because I’m her dad, but I’ll let you be the judge of her singing ability. Check out her youtube video here: After Hours.

Or I suggest you listen to some of her work, admittedly recorded by her and her friend on her MacBook and is on her mySpace music page. We’re building the studio so she can cut a better sounding demo, and get some of her tracks up on iTunes. Having been an audio engineer early in my career path (which that path looks like it was designed by someone who can’t draw a straight line…), this should be both fun and rewarding for both of us.

I’ll post some pics of the studio when it’s done.