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!

First Responders

A few minutes after posting a link to this Wednesday night on Facebook, Anna (someone I know through my mom) offered a possible lead for temp work - plus some advice:

Most of the jobs I've gotten are because someone I know works/has worked there... but online things like LinkedIn/FB helped and also networking places like Center of Excellence Portland (which Carol should look into for sure!) www.coeglobal.com..

Mac (who went to high school with my husband) said he'd pass Carol's resume on to his HR department.

And Todd Sattersten (who saw this after a friend in Minnesota forwarded it to him) emailed to share his own history finding jobs by creating a strong online presence, and to offer a critique:

My main thought on your experiment is that you are playing a very one dimensional game - a sort of six degrees of can we find Carol a job. I will not be surprised if you get somewhere, but for this to really work, there needs to be some currency. Posting a generic resume is like trying to use Indonesian rupiahs at your local supermarket. It doesn't really tell us anything interesting about Carol, nothing that sets her apart. The reason that social media works is that people get to know people without having to meet them in person. We can read a narrative about them.

He suggests a picture or video and suggested some questions to ask. Good idea. Watch for it!

Who is Carol Castle?

Carol Castle has extensive experience with data entry, invoicing, and other administrative work. Almost all her experience comes from one company, a paper mill that went out of business in 2009. Carol worked there for almost 25 years.

I'm writing about her as an experiment in social media - can people who are digitally networked help individuals who are not?

Carol is looking for anything. Although she is focusing on clerical, data entry, and reception jobs, she would love to learn something new. She doesn’t see that happening though; she says companies want “someone who can show up, put their purse under the desk and start working.”

She has been getting unemployment most of the past couple years, save for a few weeks of temp work. She's close to hitting the 99 week maximum; as of today, she has two weeks left. She would move for work, although she would most like to work in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. 

Her strongest skills as she sees them: “Data entry and getting along with people.”

Her most recent job interview: “With a commercial helicopter company that does heavy lifting.The position included taking calls from pilots who, it seems, are a bunch of rough, tough people who would be used to hollering and cursing.”

Why she wasn’t hired: “They wanted someone who they perceived as having a ‘thicker skin.” More experience dealing with “difficult people.”

Here is her resume:

Help Carol Get Connected

Carol Castle and Alexis Grant live in different worlds.

That became starkly obvious shortly into the March 25 show of Think Out Loud, the public radio program I host. The show is a daily talk show with a Northwest perspective. 

On March 25 we were talking about how people really find jobs. Carol was laid off in 2009, from a paper mill near Portland, where she'd worked for almost 25 years. Alexis is the careers editor for US News and World Report. They were both guests on the show.

Carol does most of her job hunting online, especially through the state jobs database. She doesn't use Facebook, although she's heard it's a good way to share photos with grandchildren. Alexis got her job in large part because of her online social networks. Her tips for getting hired include figuring out where you want to work, who there does hiring, and getting that person to follow you on Twitter.

Different worlds.

Alexis recently wrote about the challenges digitally un-networked people face in today's job market, highlighting Carol's experience as an example. They both agreed to try an experiment with me. Hearing the wide gap between them on the show, I wondered if people who are linked in to social networks can help those who aren't by offering access. So Alexis and I put word out about Carol and this experiment on our personal social networks, trying to broaden her exposure to people who might be hiring.

You probably found this page by clicking through such a link. In the off-line world, this might be akin to providing an introduction for a friend of a friend. It's a bit different in this case, since neither Alexis nor I really know Carol (or each other!) We didn't meet her through friends either, but through our journalism work. And that makes this even a bit more unconventional: Our jobs are not to help interviewees find work.

I might even argue this experiment crosses a journalistic line. But I'm curious enough about the social network divide to see what happens.

So if you're looking for someone to do data entry, administrative assistance, or reception work, or you know someone who knows someone who is, read on to learn more about Carol or see her resume. You can comment here too, or email me or Alexis. Tell me what you think of this experiment or your own experiences with the digital network divide.