Joining Carol!

As of today, I am, like Carol, unemployed. You can follow me on Twitter or hook up on LinkedIn. I suspect this experiment is a good example of how I'm headed in a different direction than the show I hosted the past few years.

A Fred Meyer Cattle Call - But Hope!

The good news first! Carol's connection to the recruiting company Boly:Welch, which happened through this blog, got her an interview for a receptionist position. The interview was today, the decision is due tomorrow, and the job starts Monday. So fingers crossed. . .Carol says it's a temp position the company is hoping to make permanent sometime. She was cheered by the fact another interviewee coming out was about her age, and that the interviewer said they are looking for a "career receptionist." Both lessen her worry that age discrimination will cost her.

In other news - the interview scheduled weeks ago with Fred Meyer, which is filling lots of jobs at a new store, was just a cattle call. The couple of positions there that had come up in Carol's iMatch searches were already filled, she was told when she showed up at her appointed time Saturday.

No other concrete leads at the moment. A "little" more savings. Still plugging away at LinkedIn and now she has a Facebook page. And a new resume:Carol Castle Resume NEW

Week 100 - Week 1 With No Income

So today begins Carol's first week with no income. Her unemployment benefits ran out last week, after she maxed out the 99 weeks provided through federal and local programs.

Her weekly unemployment check was $482 before taxes, $405 after. She says she has some savings, she's living with her mom, so doesn't have a mortgage or rental payments, and she's planning to sell her car and get a clunker.

And she had a yard sale last week.

A whole lot of people face similar situations. And, in reflecting on the response to this experiment so far, I realize it often comes across as "help me find Carol a job."

But here's what I remain really curious about: 

Can people who are socially and professionally linked on line can use their networks to loop someone like unemployed Carol into her own new world of networking? Can we help her move from having just heard about Facebook to creating an online presence that can help her find a job? 

So far, it's slow going! I've seen people offer suggestions - and their time to - who are perfect strangers. One helped Carol get on LinkedIn. A big hurdle is Carol's own cultural experience and expectations. But the concept seems to becoming embedded in her mind. Even if she doesn't get new connections that help her get a job right now, what else might bridge this incarnation of a digital divide?


For more - here is a Facebook event I created on this. 


Check back to see how the story progresses.

Nine Down

As I posted earlier, Carol got on LinkedIn this week with help from Boly:Welch, a recruiting company in Portland that heard about her through this experiment. Just checked in with her - she's up to nine connections. Here's the best so far: her old boss at the paper mill wasn't on LinkedIn, but she emailed him to invite him and he's now joined.

Her plan now is to get him to post a recommendation of her on LinkedIn (because he'd write a glowing one!" she says.) I asked her what she thought of LinkedIn with the small glimpse she's had.

She said: "It's very interesting. If this is a way professionals are keeping in touch and looking for new employees, it will be a good way to get exposure."

That's still a big if in her mind. If people are looking for new employees this way. Remember, she got her 99th, and last, unemployment benefit check this week.  And while getting a job ASAP may in reality take the same digital networking approach as plotting an eventual career move, it seems to feel different.

But when I suggested she could now ask one of her new connections, my friend Anna, who responded to the first Facebook post I put up about this, to connect her directly to the person at Anna's company who may be soon hiring some temporary workers, Carol laughed and said this: "It's all so foreign to me. Getting in touch with people who you don't know."

But she's starting to get it. She is a bit amazed there have been any concrete responses the little exposure to her situation Alexis and I have done on our networks. Next on her to do list:  improve her resume (Boly had advice on that too), get on Facebook, follow up with a friend whose husband might have some temp work, finish up a yard sale she and her mother are holding, sell her car and get a cheap clunker.

My take two weeks into this experiment: there are infinite ways Carol could push herself deep into online networking. But will be a slow process to make it her habit. There are more ways I can try to bridge the divide too. How about you?

Carol's Linked!

Got this message from Carol today:

Emily,

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.
Hey Emily - I am learning about LinkedIn today. Will keep you posted!

-Carol

Step one in digital networking - sign up!

The Connection Web

I'm trying to track how people hear about this. A couple trails: Donna Svei, a CPA in Ketchum, Idaho, saw it on @job_hunt_org. She emailed me to say Carol needs an accomplishments based resume. The recruiting company who invited Carol in for digital networking consulting said they found this blog via twitter streams using #portland and #pdxjobs.

Meanwhile - Carol got in touch with Anna and that possible lead for temp work.

Update and Picture!

Following Todd's advice, here's Carol!

And the update: Carol has an appointment with a Portland based recruiting company next week to help her set up online social networks. An employee at the company saw mention of this experiment in a twitter stream. She also has an interview in early June with Fred Meyer for a possible position at a new store.  That came from iMatch, a database job matching service run by the Oregon Employment Department. And she has a lead on possible temp work for the husband of a friend. Carol used to work with that friend. They haven't really stayed in touch, but Carol forwarded her a Mother's Day greeting and the possibility of the temp work came up.  So her basic digital networking is hard at work!