At Least the Numbers are Encouraging

According to the McKinsey Quarterly article How Businesses are Using Web 2.0: A McKinsey Global Survey:

Asked what might have been done differently to make the previous investments in Internet technologies more effective [forty-two] percent say they would have strengthened their companies’ internal capabilities to make the most of the market opportunity at hand.

That would mean hiring people like web strategists and community managers...w00t!

Also according to this survey, companies in the retail, high tech, and telecommunications industries had the most respondents say that they were planning to increase investment in social media over the next three years.

Oh, and they're using them as much for internal coordination as they are for customer interaction.

This bodes well, at least in theory. Now to put it into practice and get myself a job...(yes, I'm using blog posts like this as a motivation tool!)

Social Media Presentations

One of the (many) things I'm doing these days is exploring the social media space in a lot more detail.

I've actually been a part of numerous Internet-based communities over the years so I know a great about social media already [1]. I also keep up with the latest news, trends, and studies.

Still, if you're not working on something full-time, you miss out on a lot of stuff -- like when you read the news article or blog post about the study instead of the actual study itself. So these days I'm doing some more research.

Among the many cool things I've found is this bunch of presentations on social media on Slideshare.net.

There are some that give you an overview and lots of information about social media:

• A good one to start with is Social Media & Marketing: Evolution or Revolution by Alex Wong
• One of the most comprehensive is this presentation called Social Computing: The Impact of Emerging Technology on Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Strategy: by Forrester's Brian Kardon
• Another good Forrester one is on European Social Computing by Rebecca Jennings
• Here's one by Nedra Weinreich on using social media to promote health and social issues called Next Generation Social Marketing

There are some presentations that talk about social media from a marketing and branding perspective:

• This is short one by Francois Petavy on User Generated Content and Brands
• Here's a more comprehensive one, again by Forrester (do you get the impression that Forrester is doing a great social media job itself?), this time by Charlene Li called Big Brands & Facebook: Demographics, Case Studies & Best Practices

There are some that give practical advice on using social media:

• Here's one from Mike Stopforth on 10 Lessons Learned from Social Media Campaigns
• This is a really comprehensive presentation from faberNovel Consulting on Social Network Websites: Best Practices from Leading Services, which was the topic of some research that faberNovel conducted in 2007

And then there are some that talk about social communities:

• Here's one by Emanuele Quintarelli on How Web 2.0 Will Change the Way Business Gets Done
• This is the one by Jeremiah Owyang (Forrester again) called Online Community Best Practices that Laurel Papworth had some issues with
• And, if you're into open source and more technical communities, here's a comprehensive one by David A. Eaves called Community Management: Open Source's Core Competency 

There are many more, of course -- just click on one of the tags to see more on that topic -- but these are the ones that I found most useful (so far).

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[1] When I sat down to think about it, I realized that I've been an active Internet community member for over 13 years! Here are some relevant milestones:

• I got very active on Usenet back in 1995 when the Internet first became affordable to the general public in Pakistan (ah, the good old days of Windows 3.11, Winsock, Netscape 2.0, and 2400 baud modems!)
• I started my first mailing list in 1996
• Also in 1996, I became very active in network gaming, IRC, as well as many other mailing lists
• My first stint as a server administrator, webmaster, and message board owner/moderator came in 1997
• By 1999, I was training people on how to use the Internet and was giving presentations to the local ACM chapter on computer network security basics [94kB PPS file]
• In 2004, I created my band's website and message board (which was a really fun community to grow, by the way)
• Also in 2004, I started evangelising content management systems and other web-related technologies to the development sector; in fact, here's a presentation I gave on open source content management systems [503kB PPS file]

The next milestone is being played out now; that is, I started my first sustained blog in 2007 (after having gotten rid of my first, let's-see-what-blogging-is-all-about blog about 3 years ago!).

Two Articles on Social Media and Marketing

Now that I'm getting more involved in the social media space (and not just from an informed user's perspective), I've found a couple of really interesting articles on this topic on the web.

Marketers Don't Have a Good Handle on Social Media

The first is one by Michael Bush in Advertising Age in which he reports on a panel discussion on "Making Social Media & Marketing Work" at the Ad Age Digital Marketing Conference.

The article's title summarizes it very nicely: Marketers Struggle to Get a Firm Grip on Social Media and it makes a good read:

If you just happen to be one of those people who think they have social media and marketing all figured out, don't tell Eric Plaskonos. He believes they're "fooling themselves."

Ad Age also has a primer on the challenges of social media for marketers.

Australian Marketers Lag Further Behind

The second one is by Jenni Beattie in Digital Ministry called Ad:Tech - Brand Marketers Still Looking for Digital Marketing Solutions [via Trevor Cook, via Lee Hopkins].

She writes:

Let's start with a few figures from the recent Ad Tech Conference in Sydney:

• 68% of delegates in the Digital PR session said they didn't have a digital pr strategy
• 59% of delegates in the Conversations session said they didn't have a dialogue with their brand customers.

It is clear from this that many brand marketers in Australia are still yet to dip their toes in the water of online engagement/social media and that they are looking to the industry for leadership.

This is both good and bad news. Bad that there's a lack of awareness for digital PR and for online engagement with customers in Australia. But also good in the sense that there's a huge opportunity here for a good social media marketer (PR person, brand manager, community manager, etc.).

In that respect, I disagree with Steve Rubel when he says that "hiring someone just to "manage" social media is a luxury that companies will integrate into broader marketing communication roles."  In Australia, at least, we don't seem to have reached that stage yet (and Jeremiah Owyang seems to think that this is true in the broader global context as well).

I suspect that Rubel is a little ahead of the curve on this one. Yes, eventually social media interaction will become a standard operating procedure for marketers and, in general, for companies -- much like e-mail has, for example -- but we still have a long way to go. And judging from Beattie's article, that's particularly true for Australia.

A Shift in Job Preferences

I've spent the last few months trying to pull together three things in order to get myself a good, fulfilling job:

• An idea of the kind the job I want to do once I complete my MBA
• A list of jobs that I can do; based on my education, experience, and abilities
• A list of jobs that are available in the market, specifically in Melbourne

And the last few days -- the Easter break here in Australia -- have helped me get a better handle on things. Here's an overview of where I am right now.

What I Want to Do

Over the last few months, as I've learnt more about myself and have acquired industry knowledge, the set of jobs I want to do has changed. Well, technically, my job preference order has changed to:

1. Marketing and communications -- either for a web-related project, product, or services company or for a company with a significant online presence (either internal or external)
2. Consulting (internal or external) --  general technology consulting but preferably focused on web portals and intranets
3. Business and project management -- focused on web-related projects, products, or services

Originally, my marketing and communications preference was at #3 -- with consulting at #1 and management at #2 -- so this is a pretty major shift.

What I Can Do

There are two reasons for this shift. First, I am in a reasonably unique position in the job market because I possess technical know-how, business know-how, and marketing know-how and, importantly, I have demonstrable experience and expertise in each. [I don't mean to blow my own horn here by talking about how great or unique I am, but the fact is that there aren't many people with this particular skill set in the market these days. My being where I am now is actually a case of carefully thought-out career moves and a bit of luck.]

Now this skill set is good because, except for the most narrowly-defined project management roles (for example), most senior-ish roles require you to be proficient in each of those three key areas. What this means is that I can quite easily aim beyond the regular business analyst (BA), project manager (PM), or consultant roles that I would have gone for had I, for example, done a MS in computer sciences instead of an MBA.

The second reason for this shift is that, basically, I realized that by looking at BA or regular PM and consulting roles, I was aiming too low. I came to this realization after looking at countless job ads and thinking to myself "sure, I can do that job quite easily...after all, I was doing the same thing two years ago." 

The only jobs that got me really excited were the ones with a bit of challenge: the ones that gave me an opportunity to learn and grow and to fully apply myself. And the thing is, with the exception of a few brilliant consulting/PM/BA roles, most of the jobs I found both fun and challenging came from the marketing and communications side.

Which actually makes a lot of sense.

Where I Want to Be

Loosely put, my medium-term career objective is to be someone in a senior management position who liaises effectively between the business, technology, and marketing sides of a company and strategically carries things forward by effectively leveraging each of those functions and departments. In plain English: I want to be the senior manager guy who speaks and understands tech, business, and marketing and can get the three departments to work together to kick some ass.

Now the thing is: I have experience in technology, business, and marketing but, increasingly, for web-related products or services the key skill for a senior manager to have is that of marketing; particularly marketing that involves social media and community-building.

See, no matter how good a project or service you have (the tech side) or how well thought out your strategy is (the business side) if you don't get your market positioning, integrated marketing communications, and community-building right (the marketing side) you don't get very far. And this is particularly true for web-related products and services. This is why forward-thinking companies are looking to hire people in two specific roles: the Social Media Strategist and the Community Manager (as explained by Forrester Reseach's Jeremiah Owyang). That, for me, is really where the challenge and opportunity lies.

It also helps that, while you can find plenty of people to work on the tech and business side (either that or you outsource development or hire a consultant), the talent pool for social media people is quite small.

But, there's a problem: the reason for that small talent pool and the reason I specifically said forward-thinking companies is because there aren't many of those jobs out there, especially ones based in Melbourne.

What Jobs are Available

A handful of social media jobs are, of course, advertised -- I mentioned the Community Liaison role at Lonely Planet early on in my job search and there was an ad for an Online Content Manager posted today -- but the good ones are few and far between and I presume a lot of them remain in the hidden job market. Also, in most companies, community management and social media strategy tasks are still not seen as separate job positions but as responsibilities assigned to a marketing manager.

Increasingly, then, I've found myself looking through the marketing and communications sections of various job sites because that's where these jobs are listed (often 'under internal communications' or 'marketing communications'). But, again, there just aren't that many out there.

The Upshot

What does all of this mean for me? Well, now that I've narrowed down what it is that I really want to do, two things come to mind: 

First, I need to be very watchful for good social media jobs -- even more so than I was for regular biz/tech jobs -- mainly because (a) they're not always advertised as social media jobs and (b) most specialist social media job sites don't cover Australia (not that any Australian companies post jobs on the ones that do). Fortunately, here we have people like Laurel Papworth who blogs about the jobs that she hears of. Let's hope she keeps doing that and that the other Aussie social media bloggers that I read follow suit!

Second, I need to start talking to Australian social media people about the kinds of jobs that are available here. They, more than anyone else, will know what is happening and where the industry is going. I guess this blog post is a first step in that direction. I also have to keep on top of all Australia-based social media events, networks, and meetings -- and there are plenty of those around.

The best part: I've finally found an area that greatly interests and excites me, and though I know it won't be easy to find and get the job I want, I suspect I'm going to have a lot of fun doing it anyway.

As ever, I'll keep posting updates on this blog.

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FYI: Connie Bensen, the Community Manager for ACDSee, maintains an excellent community / social media resource listing on her blog. If you want to know more about everything I've just talked about, take a look at that site. Also be sure to check out Jeremiah Owyang's web strategist blog.

Lead Time for Advertised Jobs is 2-4 Weeks

I followed up on the management job openings I posted yesterday by phoning Sean Smith from Michael Page. It turns out that most of these job openings have a 2-4 week lead time associated with them -- tending more towards the 2 than the 4 -- and so, obviously, I'm out of the running for these particular ones.

What I mean by "lead time" is that, if you want to be in the running for a particular job that's been advertised, it's best to either (a) apply almost immediately after the job is posted or (b) already have your information on file with the recruitment agency that posted the job. Of course, it's best if you occupy the top-of-mind position with the recruitment consultant that's handling that position. That way, you'll be one the first candidates they think of and try to match to the role.

I've heard from other people that other recruitment agencies -- and companies in general -- have the same 2-4 week lead time for the jobs they advertise. What that means for me is that I can't start applying for advertised jobs for another month or so. Bummer.

Let's just hope, then, that my job hunt, instead of being nice and predictable, turns out to be a brilliant and wildly exciting photo finish!

Two Management-Level Job Openings

So far, most of the job openings I've talked about on this blog have been for business analyst (BA) or consultant roles. Last week, thanks to Michael Page, I came across two job openings for project management roles that seem to suit me -- i.e. my interests, experience, qualifications, and career progression -- better.

The first is for a job with "one of the premier employers in the Information Technology and Internet space":

E-Commerce Manager

Working across various e-commerce solutions your role sees you managing and consulting across your designated countries online solutions portfolio.

This includes managing all portal products and online product streams.

And the second is with "one of the most successful and longest standing players in the web" and, specifically, for "one of the best ranked sites in Australia":

Product Manager - Web

Working as a Product Manager, you will be responsible for the day to day management, enhancement and innovation of leading products for the web. You will work with a talented team of creative and technical staff and have full ownership of a particular product stream with the business manager.

Your role will see you utilizing your extensive knowledge of the web and product life cycle management to provide best practice process and methodology across all new and existing products in your command.

I'm tempted to apply to both, even though I'm still eight weeks away from the end of my current study term. Of course, before I do that I'll phone Sean Smith, the recruitment consultant in charge of both of these openings, and ask him about the closing date and expected start date for these jobs. Here's hoping he says two months.

MBS' Class Profile Brochure

Now that I'm close to graduation, I've gotten myself a spot on MBS' Class Profile Brochure.

The brochure is a quick, personalized overview of the latest MBS graduating batch; i.e. not just a class profile summary of the latest incoming batch. It's an e-book with eight student profiles per page and will be available to recruiters and employers who want to learn about MBS and its students.

It will give recruiters and employers a good overview of the students who will be graduating soon (i.e. students' skills, experience levels, backgrounds, languages spoken, etc. -- more so than what recruiters can currently access) as well as a means to directly contact the students they are interested in (via e-mail).

This is particularly useful to those companies -- notably international ones -- that can't visit the campus to make a presentation or talk to students directly. It's also a great way for MBS to show off its incredibly diverse student body.

Here -- with a munged e-mail address and my Commander Khan avatar instead of my professional photograph -- is my profile:

KHAN, Ameel - Pakistani; 32 ameel.khan@edu.mbs English (MT), Urdu/Hindi (Fl), Punjabi (I) BSc (Hons) Computer Science, LUMS (Pakistan) 6 years in IT consulting & management; 4 in development, business integration & marketing of web portals & intranets

Content & Governance Consultant - Melbourne Business School - Conducted business analysis & planned governance for new school intranet Intranet Migration Coordinator - Shell Australia - Conducted project management tasks across teams in Australia, India & USA - Managed the migration of a 2,000+ page US-based intranet portal Manager Tech & Portal Services - Pakistan Development Gateway Foundation - Managed multiple national portals in the development & government sectors - Managed a popular disaster relief info portal after the 2005 earthquake General Manager; GMAT, GRE, SAT Instructor - The Princeton Review, Pakistan

FYI: In the language area, 'MT' stands for mother tongue, 'Fl' stands for fluent, and 'I' stands for intermediate user. Meanwhile 'LUMS', which is in the previous-degree area, stands for Lahore University of Management Sciences.

So, er, does anyone out there want to hire me? :)

Three Interesting Job Openings

As I cross the three-months-left-to-graduation mark (4 February to 4 May), a number of good job openings have been posted online. Among these, the following three are the most interesting.

Business Analyst Online Projects:

Business Analyst required with 1-3 years experience preferably in an online environment to work with Media Communications organisation. They are looking for a highly motivated, meticulous individual who shares the passion of producing the highest quality and innovative web solutions to clients. [via Seek and ITCom]

Portal Business Consultant:

The Portal Consultant is responsible for gathering requirements for their country customers and developing solutions to meet their business requirements, managing the projects through the development phase, and developing launch strategies and training in support of these systems. [via Seek for realestate.com.au]

Business Analyst / Project Officer Information and Intranet:

Work for a leading government organisation that is seeking a Business Analyst / Project Officer Information & Intranet to be responsible for business analysis of processes and systems whilst providing analytical knowledge and quality support to the business for the HR information system. [via IT Wire and Hudson]

Each of these job openings is for the kind of work I want to do -- i.e. more consulting and strategy work than technical work -- and, had this been early March instead of early February, I would probably have applied for them as well. One more month to go...

What a CMS Should Be

Eight Black's Simon Chen wrote a really good article today on what a Content Management System (CMS) should be. He argues that, for a company considering a CMS solution for its website, "buying into a stand alone CMS is just not logical." Instead, open source CMS' like WordPress are the way to go.

I agree. In fact, in my last job in Pakistan, I spent a couple of years trying to convince firms working in that country's development sector (both government and NGOs) of exactly that. I didn't use WordPress, but I did use, among others, applications like Mambo, Joomla, Drupal, Typo3, phpBB, Alfresco, Moodle, MediaWiki, as well as countless plug-ins, add-ons, components, and modules. Each CMS has its own strengths and weaknesses, of course, and some are designed for specific things (you can't do much else with the message board system, phpBB, for example) but all of them do their job quite well. [Good article on how to choose an open source CMS]

And, though over the last year I've worked mostly with commercial systems like Intranet DASHBOARD (iD) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS), I really do think that open source systems are a great way to go for most small companies and, increasingly, for medium-sized companies as well. It's only large firms that need much more than just a CMS solution that truly benefit from all the other features that systems like iD and MOSS bring with them. In fact, I'd almost feel silly using something like MOSS in a small company environment. That's like having a 40-seater bus as the company car for a firm that employs 15 people.

Anyway, my point is that Chen makes a good point, though it is worth it to look at much more than just WordPress.

Two Web Portal-Related Job Openings

Seek posted a couple of excellent job openings today.

The first is for a Business Analyst - Portal Projects:

This role will ideally suit an experienced hands on business analyst with solid knowledge in the area of large web portal projects. Ideally you will have had previous experience in portal projects in various corporate environments.

The second is for a Business Analyst - Web Systems Solutions:

Our client is recognised as one of the fastest growing and progressive consultancy firms in the market.  Due to multiple recent project wins, it requires the services of an experienced Business Analyst to contribute to solution design to their work environment. In this position you will be responsible for translating vision and concepts into functionality and design of web systems.

Long-term, you'll be exposed to a wide range of projects in a consulting capacity, and enjoy all the career opportunities of working for a large and growing professional firm.

Both are from the same recruitment firm (Acumen Alliance) and both sound really good since this is exactly the kind of work I want to be doing once I graduate. However, I'm not sure which of the two positions I'd apply for since the former is web portal specific while the latter is more of a general web consulting role. I'm leaning towards the latter though, technically, I have more experience for the former. I'd probably discuss it in more detail with the recruiter before going for either (or both!).

Even though I'm just over three months away from finishing my MBA, I'm very tempted to call Paul Marcon (the recruiter handling the consulting role) and talk to him anyway. I'll discuss these two roles and also ask about other, similar roles that his firm might be advertising in the future. I wonder if I should.

Should You Get an MBA?

CIO published three interesting articles today:

1. Should You Get an MBA? by Meridith Levinson
2. 10 Reasons Why You Should Get an MBA by Thomas MacKay
3. Six Reasons Not to Get an MBA by James Clark

As you can probably guess, the articles discuss the reasons why technology people -- specifically those who eventually want to be CIOs -- should or shouldn't get an MBA. Levinson writes in her introductory article:

With all the weight companies are placing on needing business-savvy IT leaders, IT professionals who don't already have the prestigious degree are considering obtaining it. [...]

[IT professionals worry] that not having an MBA will eliminate them from job opportunities and severely limit their prospects for career growth. [...] But many IT professionals remain resistant because earning the degree requires so much time and money. [...]

To help you figure out what's best for you, CIO.com invited two IT professionals to weigh in on the MBA debate — one on each side.

Since I am four months away from completing my MBA, you can also guess that I would tend to agree with MacKay. In fact, some of the posts I've written here have demonstrated what he talks about in his article:

An MBA teaches you to look at problems and opportunities holistically. It also provides analytical frameworks, such as risk assessments, cost-benefit analyses and strategic plans, that you can apply to any problem or opportunity you encounter, whether in or beyond IT. The business mindset that an MBA gives you becomes habit because you use those frameworks repeatedly in a rigorous academic environment, and you see how they can be applied in a variety of situations from one course to another.

Clark also makes some valid points. These include problems with the time, money, and effort required to complete the degree. He also talks about the difference between learning in an academic setting versus learning hands-on. "I get more out of doing than studying", he says. While that is true to an extent, I think sometimes the opposite is also correct. As I wrote in  my MBA application essays: "doing an MBA is [the smarter option for me right now] since I will be more focused, more determined, and will have prioritised my life around learning instead of earning." Of course, a prerequisite for thinking that was is to not be concerned about "earning" for the duration of your MBA.

In my opinion, the path you choose will depend on your natural business acumen, where you are in your career at that time, which company you work for, and what you preferred method of learning is. For example, you might have good natural managerial abilities, be working under a great leader or mentor, be working at a company that helps develop its employees' abilities, and be someone who learns quickly in a hands-on environment. In that case, you are not likely to need an MBA.

If your situation is different -- in some cases, even slightly -- the MBA might be exactly what you need. It's all on a case-by-case basis, I think. Recruiters know that as well, which is why not having an MBA doesn't eliminate you from the running for most managerial positions. On the other hand, having an MBA does tell your potential employer a bit about the breadth and depth of knowledge that you possess -- and that can't be a bad thing.

Job Opening: Strategy Planner

What do you know? I wrote about strategy jobs yesterday and today IT Wire published a Business Analyst / Strategy Planner job posting:

An internationally recognised organisation is seeking the talents of a Business Analyst / Strategy Planner for a high profile project.

Responsibilities: (1) Documenting and developing business process models; (2) Designing and developing comprehensive financial model that would support business analysis and decision making; (3) Leading workshops to gather data; (4) Presenting findings to senior management.

Deliverables: (1) Financial Model development; (2) Business Process Analysis; (3) Workshop planning and participation; (4) Report preparation.

Desired Experience: (1) Financial modeling (Advanced MS Excel and Visual Basic); (2) Business process design; (3) Financial analysis skills; (4) Team player; (5) Ability to think strategically; (6) Superior communication.

This is great. This job posting tells me that (a) strategy jobs of the kind suited to my skill set are available and (b) since the posting was on IT Wire, the company is probably looking for someone like me as well.

Now if only I would graduate quickly so that I can actually start applying for these jobs!

How the MBA has Changed My Life

It's funny when you catch yourself unconsciously and automatically applying the stuff you've learnt in the MBA. That happened to me a couple of days ago when I dreamt that, instead of going for a Internet- or technology-based career, I'd gone ahead and bought myself a second-hand bookshop in Carlton. (Dreams and conveniently devoid of explanations, aren't they?)

The dream itself was short and my most vivid image from it was walking in through the bookshop's front door into a place that looked like a cosy, old-style study/library/reading room and thinking, "Wow, I own this now!" I'm pretty sure that, in response, my conscious brain commented, "And how the heck did that happen?"

Soon after my dream, I stirred and, in that half-awake, half-asleep state, I realized that I had automatically started doing a full-fledged analysis of the business. I remember wondering about:

• Revenue streams -- which new ones I was going to add
• Profit margins -- trying to figure out which revenue stream would bring the business the most profit
• Inventory and inventory management -- which types of books were the most profitable, what their turnover was, whether I should move into selected first-hand books as well, etc.
• Plans for expansion -- in the first phase I was going to add wireless Internet and a small, self-service kitchenette/cafe in the corner
• Marketing plans -- customer surveys, flyers, word of mouth, sponsored events, starting a reading club, partnerships, etc.
• Industry analysis -- figure out which industry I was in (second-hand books), whether I wanted to be in any other industry or industries (coffee shop, retail bookstore, Internet cafe, community venue, etc.), who my competitors were and what were they doing, etc.

And so on. I've written all this down not to show off all that you learn in the MBA degree, but because I'd actually gone ahead -- quite automatically -- and mentally prepared this analysis and was, in my dream, getting ready to carry it out!

Fortunately, the realization that I'd done all this startled me awake more fully, at which point I rolled my eyes (thinking: "great -- now I'm doing this in my sleep!"), turned over, and went back to sleep.

I wonder, though, whether this was a divine hint telling me to ditch all my technology-related dreams and get into the nitty-gritty of running a bookshop (something I'd love to do, by the way). Whether it was or not, at the very least I got a blog entry out of it.

Career Pathways to a Strategy Role

When I think of the kind of job I want to be doing a few years from now, the word 'strategy' inevitable comes up. And since I want to work on the web (or portal) side of things, the role I'm looking for turns up in different departments in different companies.

In some companies, the IT department is in charge of the website (both its operations and strategy aspects) while in others it's the marketing department (handling mostly strategy). In companies that are all about the web, strategy is often managed by a interdisciplinary team or specialized department. Non-tech companies, on the other hand, often hire consultants that might work on web/portal strategy as part of a broader business strategy analysis.

What this means for me is that I need to keep my eyes open for all sorts of different roles because there are so many different career pathways to a 'strategy role' (whatever that might mean).

Job Opening: Web Analyst in Digital Media

I came across one such pathway today (via Seek and Xpand) which is a position on the web tracking and analysis team of a leading technology and online company:

You will be working with a range of:

    Measurement tools such as: Omniture & Nielsen

    Data sources such as: Hitwise & Roy Morgan

To be right for this role you do not have to have [necessarily] used any of these tools but at least tracked web [usage] in some way and have a strong understanding of data.

You will be delivering reports on usage of sites, forecasting usage and contribute to strategy by understanding market and user behaviour. 

To be considered you will ideally be tertiary qualified in either a marketing or business related field.  You must be able to use [Excel] to an advanced level and will possess general [familiarity] with the Internet and web-based technologies.

This is a marketing department role that involves plenty of number crunching, the results of which are then translated into a business strategy. It also has "potential for career progression", which is really good.

Of course, I can't apply for this job. Even though it doesn't have a closing date, the company is unlikely to want someone who can't start before the 2nd of May. On the positive side, at least it's good know that there are plenty of interesting jobs out there.

Summer Job at MBS

It's official: I have a summer job. I signed my contract and started work yesterday morning.

The job is at MBS, in the Information Services (IS) team of the Information and Technology Services (ITS) Department, and is a 6-8 week casual position. The best part is that it's in my exact area of interest: web portals.

MBS is in the process of upgrading its intranet offering by unifying all of its semi-independent student, staff, alumni, admissions, careers, etc. portals into one single, central, advanced portal system. I've been hired to do some advisory work in the content and content governance areas of the student portal, which is the first one being incorporated into the new system. The work that I do will probably also be replicated for the other sections as they get added.

It's funny working-working at MBS: it's all very familiar, yet completely different (particularly since I now have a dedicated work space and no longer have to look for room in the library or in a syndicate room!). Importantly, though, the work is good (and, being a student, I'll also directly benefit from it), it's more practice in my area of interest, it adds another valuable Australian work experience line to my CV, the people here are great, and I'm enjoying myself. Oh, and I get paid for doing all this. What more could I ask for?

Job Opening: Associate Online Producer

Since I've opened the floodgates, here's another job opening that sounds really interesting: the position of an Associate Online Producer at Spin:

This is a fantastic opportunity for a candidate who is in the early stages of their career in digital media and is passionate, driven and wants to work their way up through the ranks.

You will work apart of a team on one of Spins largest accounts and with this you will be exposed to different projects such as website and microsite developments, email campaigns, search, online advertising and online video optimisation.

Like the job I mentioned in my previous blog post, this position is a little below the kind of thing that I'm looking for. The ideal candidate for this job is someone "in the early stages of their career in digital media"; someone with at least one year's experience "in a digital agency or digital department within an agency". Either that, or someone who has been "working for an offline agency and [has] a good grasp on digital marketing". I, meanwhile, have seven years of overall work experience -- that too in the technology industry -- but only about two in digital marketing and four in marketing overall (though, even there, marketing was not my primary job responsibility). However, I have an MBA. But, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post, that degree doesn't really count for much in this industry unless you're specifically applying for a management position.

The thing about this job is: if I decide to go all-in into the digital marketing and advertising space -- or, overall, digital media -- this position would probably be a great place for me to start. I say "probably" because I'd have to talk to people in this industry to confirm that. My thinking on this is that, without previous digital marketing experience at the level that Spin is looking for (and probably hires at), I couldn't possible apply for a job at a position higher than this one. So yes, this position is below my overall level of experience and qualification but, when you are changing industries -- in my case, that would be going from IT to marketing -- this is something you have to expect. That is, unless you're an excellent marketer and you can prove it, you can't make a lateral entry into this industry, let alone one at a more senior position. You have to do the hard yards before you climb your way up and, so, you expect to start at a lower position.

The reward for doing it this way: you finally get to work in the industry you've been wanting to work in. Oh and, with your advanced qualification, you do expect to climb up the corporate ladder faster than those who don't have an MBA or that much work experience.

That said, even if I did apply for this position, my MBA and work experience might just count against me since Spin is probably looking for someone younger, overall less qualified, and already in the digital marketing industry who is in the process of climbing the corporate ladder himself. Indeed, I might actually come across as being overqualified for this position (at an overall level, not at the technical level).

If, however, I really wanted to go into digital marketing (which is a fascinating field, by the way, and I am seriously considering going into), then I would write a cover letter that would explain all of this to the recruiter. Actually, before that, I'd set up a meeting with Bart, the recruiter from Digital Transfer who is handling this job opening, and would explain all this to him. If I am convincing and passionate enough -- that is, I make a reasoned, logical, and yet passionate argument for him to seriously consider my application to this position -- I might just find myself in the running.

Job News Feeds, Fun Job Opening

Now that I've started to actively look for jobs, I've subscribed to keyword-based job update news feeds from Seek, MyCareer, CareerOne, and ITWire. However, since I'm still still four months away from finishing my MBA and most of these jobs have one month application deadlines, I won't be able to apply for most of them (for now, at least).

The point of subscribing to these news feeds 2-3 months in advance is, of course, to gather information about the market. That is, information about:

• Companies: which ones are doing work that I'm interested in, what industries are these companies in, which ones are hiring, where (geographically) are they located, etc.?
• Recruitment agencies: which ones hire people for the kind of jobs I want to do, which ones hire people for the companies I want to work for, etc.?
• Jobs: what kinds of jobs are out there, what are the titles of the jobs I want to do, what kind of responsibilities do these positions entail, what experience and qualifications do these jobs require, how much do they pay, etc.?

Knowing all of that is crucial to thoroughly understanding the current and near-future job market. It's also important to learn about companies and industries that hire (and are hiring) people like me.

Fun Job Opening: Online Community Liaison at Lonely Planet

As I mentioned earlier, there will be some advertised jobs that I will find interesting but will not be able to apply to. From time to time, I'll post such openings to this blog and will then discuss them. By doing that, I hope to better identify the places where my interests overlap with current market opportunities. This will tell me which of my areas of interests are relevant to the Australian market, what my job prospects are in those areas, and so on.

One such opportunity was advertised on Seek today for an Online Community Liaison position at Lonely Planet:

The Online Community Liaison is responsible for defining and implementing editorial policy on Thorn Tree and Bluelist, along with playing a key role in ensuring an effective flow of communication between the community and the business.  Additionally, this position is responsible for defining and implementing ongoing policies around moderation along with performing some day-to-day moderation duties and coordinating the moderation team which currently comprises of Content Producers (each spending 1 hour per day on moderation), selected external users and any necessary casual staff/contractors.

Instigating and nurturing community contributions, providing input into the Online Community Strategy (in close liaison with the Community Site Producer and Online Publisher) and resolving issues to do with Thorntree and Bluelist online are also key responsibilities of this role. The Online Community Liaison needs to perform the functions of the job with empathy whilst at the same time maintaining objectivity and a sense of humour.

Though, in general, I am aiming to get a higher position within an organization (a management position, more on the strategy side; sort of like the two others mentioned in the second quoted paragraph above), I can so see this as a job that I would apply for. It's something that I would find incredibly interesting, there is opportunity for considerable growth within the company (both in this department and elsewhere; especially since it's a newly created position), and -- dude! -- it's, like, Lonely Planet!

Unfortunately, applications for this position close on 22 January and so I am well and truly out of the running. That said, I have now added Lonely Planet to the list of companies to watch out for (and I can't believe I forgot about in the first place!). I guess the subscribing to news feeds well in advance is already paying off.

My Immediate Career Prospects

In my third (and final) career-related post of the day, I want to say a quick word on my immediate career prospects. In theory, my career prospects are pretty good:

• I have seven years of work experience, half of it in management, and an MBA from a highly ranked university
• I have done lots of work on many different types of web portals (in multiple sectors) over the last few years, so this is an area that I know quite a bit about
• I have worked in both technology and media companies and have worked for a lot of startups as well
• The MBA has taught me a great deal -- especially in terms of core management, problem solving and analysis, business strategy, economics, marketing, managing people, e-commerce, negotiations, etc. -- and so I am a pretty well-rounded and well-qualified candidate in both technology and business

In practice, though, things are a bit different:

• I don't have a lot of Australian work experience and this might count against me in the early, non-face-to-face stages of the job application process (till I can directly demonstrate my competence to my potential employer)
• The MBA degree isn't highly valued in Australia except in certain industries; and media isn't necessarily one of them (in fact, in that industry, it might just count against me)
• A lot of the jobs that I want to apply for are Sydney-based

Other things might initially be perceived by potential employers as being negative -- for example, they'll probably wonder about my English proficiency, my management and team-work skills, and my knowledge of business strategy -- but hopefully those will be quickly overcome once they talk to me and, to some extent, to my referees.

In short: for now, my prospects are uncertain. My challenge, then, is to somehow demonstrate my abilities to potential employers.

What Employers Look For

When employers look at potential employees, they judge them on three things:

1. Can do (competence): Evidence of skills, experience, and competencies needed to perform the job. Potentially, this is my biggest hurdle in the early stages of the application process since I have limited Australian work experience, though the little that I have is quite good. However, half of my Pakistani work experience has been with American companies so it's not all bad. Note: you don't get to the interview stage till you convince employers (or recruitment agencies) that you can do the job that you have applied for.
2. Will do (commitment, willingness): The right attitude, energy, and commitment for the job. To determine this, employers interview you. During that -- and particularly during case interviews -- they test both your can-do and will-do. That's often why there are multiple interview rounds.
3. Fit (commitment and chemistry): The right compatibility and interpersonal chemistry with the team and your fit with the organization's culture. Once you reach the final stages -- usually, the management interview or when you get invited over for informal drinks with the team -- the employer has pretty much decided that you can and will do the job to their satisfaction. Now the task is to see if you fit well in the company...and vice versa. By the way, another reason for the multiple interviews with multiple interviewers is to determine whether you like your potential colleagues and whether they like you.

Of course it's not quite as simple as I make it sound here, but those are the basics.

As a candidate, then, I have to demonstrate all three of those -- my can-do, will-do, and fit -- to my potential employer. My resume, cover letter, and (should they Google me) this blog demonstrate my can-do; the cover letter and interview demonstrate my will-do; and the interviews demonstrate my fit. And, if all goes well, I get a job offer.

Let's see how things pan out over the next few months. As every, I'll keep you posted.

Career Choices: Figuring Out My Interests

In my previous careers blog post, I talked about how, for each company that I am researching, I am listing its (a) positives, (b) negatives, (c) deal breakers, (d) deal makers, (e) verdict, and (f) rank.

The companies that get a ‘yes’ verdict will be assigned a rank based on their positives and negatives while the companies that get a ‘no’ will, obviously, not be ranked at all. To determine the weights assigned to each positive and negative aspect, I’ll be borrowing a lesson from my Negotiations course. In that course, we talked about how each party involved in a negotiation has (a) stakeholders and (b) a list of issues, positions, and interests. To prepare for a negotiation, you need to figure all of those out for both yourself and for the other party. What is crucial, though, is for the parties to share their interests with each other. If they manage to do that (and a few other things, of course), the negotiation is usually successful.

Applying for a job is, in many ways, one big negotiation. Now I’m obviously not going to discuss all of the things I listed in the previous paragraph in this blog post. What I wanted to point out, though, was that it’ll be my own stakeholders and interests that will determine the weights I assign to each of the positives and negatives. For example, things that are important to me include:

• A full-time job, preferably permanent though I will also be applying for suitable contract jobs (e.g. tech consulting jobs)
• A steady salary (think of my stakeholders: I have to pay off my loans) and a good overall compensation package
• A good job (strategy-based, good career development, etc.), working in a good team (fun, interesting people), for a good company (that has strategic value in the industry, for example) that has a great CEO (which will be the cherry on top; this this case, literally!)
• Flexible working hours and habits; with a dress code that is as casual as possible
• Melbourne-based (Nadia is starting her PhD at the University of Melbourne next month and so we’re going to be living in Melbourne for at least the next three years)

The key thing here is that these are my underlying interests (and that they are partly influenced by my stakeholders). These interests will then determine my positions (e.g. acceptable base salary range) and issues (e.g. start date, compensation package breakup). But, basically, it is my interests that will determine the weights I assign to each of the positives and negatives during my short-listing process (e.g. better career progression obviously weighs more than casual dress code).

I’ll write more on this topic over the coming weeks and months as I figure my own interests out in more detail. When, and if I can, I will compare my interests to the interests (and issues, positions, and stakeholders) of the company to which I have applied. I will then attempt to explain the process by which we determined and then shared each others’ interests. I hope to conclude each such posting with the lessons learnt (maybe by both parties) and, of course, the result of my job application.

To give you an example of what I mean, when I was applying for an internship in April last year, I got to the very end of the candidate selection process with a certain company. Let me highly original and call it Company X (they will all be equally originally named, I suspect). I reached that stage — at which the company was down to two candidates — about a month before my study term ended. What happened then was that Company X adjusted its priorities (it was in its early growth stages when this was most liable to happen) and realized that it needed its intern to start work immediately and not, as it had originally intended, by mid-May. Needless to say, I didn’t get the job while the other candidate, who could start next week, did. My point: all but one of our interests matched and, in the end, that became the deal-breaker. (Next time I’ll write about the internship that I did get…this one with Company Y!)

By the way, I’m not sure how feasible it will be for me to blog about all of this during my job application process. I suspect I’ll have to wait till the process is complete and the results are in either way...but let’s see how things go. I might be able to squeeze in a cryptic mention here and there.

Career Choices: Categorizing, Analysing, Short-Listing

Now that I’ve started blogging about my career — I graduate in four months so it’s kind of about time — I find that I have lots of say. Here goes.

Categorizing & Visualising Career Options

In my previous blog post on my career, I mentioned a whole list of companies that I’d like to work for and jobs that I’d like to be doing. I’ve since found a way to categorize those better. That, in turn, has helped me present my options visually as follows:

Of course, the real benefit of categorization is that it helps me organize my thoughts and job application strategies better. My only problem now is that this list of companies is very long…and it will only get longer as I continue my research.

The Process of Short-Listing

To make that list smaller, I intend to follow the standard rational decision-making process of listing pros and cons and, through that, eliminating companies that don’t fit the bill. This short-listing will start immediately but will continue throughout my research and job application process as I’ll be constantly gathering data on, and from, all of these companies.

Of course, the elimination process itself will take into account a little more than just simply pros and cons. In fact, for each company I am listing:

• Positives: for example, it has a good training and development programme; it is doing work that I find interesting; work hours and habits are pretty flexible; and so on.
• Negatives: for example, the work is good but not exciting enough (to me, at least); the work environment is far too formal or hierarchical for my liking; the company is great but I don’t think I’ll get along with the person who’s going to be my immediate manager; and so on.
• Deal breakers: for example, it’s Sydney-based (while I want to stay in Melbourne); its web portal is run by an external vendor while it is managed internally by the VP Marketing (i.e. there’s no job for me there); the job being offered is below my expertise and there are minimal growth prospects; and so on.
• Deal makers: for example, my immediate manager is leaving in three months and is looking to train a replacement (who happens to be me); I love the people and the job is exactly what I’m looking for; the dress code is jeans and a t-shirt; and so on.
• Verdict: this will be my conclusion on my current prospects with that company and will, in most cases, be a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. And, even though it might be a ‘no’, depending on why that ‘no’ came about, I might still keep the company in mind for networking and/or future hiring purposes. For example, I might find the perfect job in a perfect company that has just finished its round of hiring and won’t be hiring for another six months or a year. The verdict for here will be ‘no’, but I will want to keep an eye on this company in the coming years.
• Rank: based on the positives and negatives listed — each of which is weighted differently (more on this in my next blog post) — this will be my ranking of the companies that get a ‘yes’ verdict. Eventually, I hope to come up with a short list of 5-10 top-ranking companies that I seriously want to pursue.

I’ll keep you posted on how things go.