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.