So, who wants to cut me a break?

When I read that seven out of ten people find their jobs thorugh networking I had to read it over, the last I heard it was nine. This whole job search can be a very intimidating process, and the beginning can be the worst part. Where do we even begin? Between classes and an internship, I have found it very frustrating to make time to start looking for connections.

Enter Linkedin.com. I joined this sight a couple of weeks ago at the request of my internship coordinator. I asked my bosses if they were on to which I was answered with raised eyebrows as if to ask, "Yeah, you're not?!?!" So now I'm on and my network has grown since I signed up. Nothing has come from the site itself but some personal networking did a lead to a phone interview. So apparentely this is the new way to go. As ABC News put it: Out with the business lunch and in with the email. I know that the networking tactic has been working for me. There doesn't seem to be a good chance of getting a job otherwise. From experience I have seen this to be true.

Last semester I was abroad and thought I would be sneeky and start sending in resumes in December for an internship in June. Guess how many emails I got back. (That would be none.) But now I have interviews set up through my contacts so wish me luck. I still don't like the idea of needing a contact to get someone to pay attention to me, altough I understand the reasoning behind it. What is yet to be discovered is if I will be able to land something that is as interesting as the jobs I applied for.

Well aren't we just one big far flung (possibly frustrated) family?

I'm so accessible I could just about lose my mind. Isn't it great? Now we can work on teams that are not only in our office but we can work with people all over the globe. Sounds great, doesn't it? Personally, not at all. Team building, from what I have experienced is a process that can be made easier by getting to know my teammates. In the article "Collaboration Tools are Ready for the Battlefield", we can learn about how technology can be helpful and super cool is helping our world become more efficient.

But then again, in the article "Working Together when Apart", we are reminded of just how frustrating technology can be. Gaining insight and knowledge from all different types of people is a great resource, but can we be over-exerting ourselves? I think it is a strong possibility, and one that we should be cautious of. Technology has made our lives easier and harder at the same time. It's a cool idea to be able to check your email from a hand held device from wherever we are provided we can get a signal, but when that starts creeping into the weekend and on family vacations the idea gets less cool with every sneaked glance we get it. It is no longer a challenge to connect to each other, technically speaking, as the article points out. But I believe that we are making ourselves so accessible that it is starting to get hard to focus. Reaching across the world to one another is great, but maybe we should see what the person sitting next to us has to offer as well. Maybe the best answers can be found in a closer proximity.

"My reputation grows with every failure" -George Bernard Shaw

Our reputations on EBay remain on EBay, it's very hard to get that reputation to benefit you elsewhere on the net. Oh, but your real reputation, right, that one can be ruined within a matter of seconds. The articles "Are Online Reputations Portable" and NPRs "Startups help clean up online reputations" point out that a reputation given to us in the online world can't help us in other aspects of our lives but the mistakes we make can haunt us forever. That doesn't seem very fair...

Well, I guess in the words of my mother, life isn't fair. It's interesting that a reputation we work hard to maintain, like for a seller on EBay, won't get us fair else where but a mindless picture posted by a buddy can hurt our chances of gaining employment. And just think, we went to college to get a job and didn't realize we were hurting our chances on the weekend.

Quite honestly I would like to meet someone who has missed out on an opportunity because of what they had posted on the web. (What was up there in the first place and how do these people let that happen? Note to self, no more keg stands...Just kidding boss!) Now there are businesses that will help you heal your wounded reputation such as Reputation Finder. Although, what if your potential firm finds out about the online PR firm you hired, wow, that will look great too. Moral of the story: I don't know what Big Brother is doing but everyone else is checking you out on the net. Our generation shouldn't be worried about our credibility on the internet, rather, they should be worried about how our credibility in the real world can be impacted without us even knowing it.

Better Together

Wow, I seriously need to get off of facebook. I had never heard of Digg or Reddit, or any other version of this little phenomenon. Am I the only one who has never heard of this stuff? And where have I been? Well, these community based websites look cool and I spent some time exploring them. I'm surprised I hadn't at least heard about them and maybe the readers of this blog will be just as equally surprised.

The article "Citizen Journalism Wants You" opened my eyes at to why this is such a good idea. Not only had I not heard of these sites, I hadn't seen any of the material on them. (Not that my life has been lacking since I made these discoveries, but they're nice to know about it.) So why have these sites in the first place? As my title suggests, maybe there is something to the collective that makes us all a bit better off. Assignment Zero was discussed in the article to bring different, unapid authors to the project to report on differet topics together. I see some potential problems such as accuracy and skewed editting, but if one were to think positively the concept is really great. The best example for me to look at this concept is Wikipedia- but I like Wikipedia. So I say continue on information sharing people! Tell me about all the new exciting things out there that I don't have a clue about you certianly seem to know more than I do. (Although if you have any questions about facebook bring 'em on...)