How Confident are YOU in Finding a Job After Graduation?
A College Degree Is No Longer Enough. There are no guarantees of employment for new college graduates or current students in today's brutal economy. A college diploma is now a minimum requirement. This November 2011 New York Times direct quote describes the current situation:
"A bachelor's degree on its own no longer conveys intelligence or capability."
Suggested Authors / Books to Help Undergraduate Marketing Majors Land that First Job After College
These suggested authors / books are not of the "cookie cutter" or "10 easy steps on how-to land your first job out of college / summer internship in a lousy economy" variety. They share creative ideas to show a potential employer "you're more than a resume and the grades on a college transcript". Their teachings maximize the Internet's global reach and leverage search engines to your advantage.
In my opinion, if you graduated with a marketing and/or communications degree (or are currently studying these undergraduate majors), the following authors and books are REQUIRED READING.
Note: I am not an Amazon Affiliate Program Member. I respect the following authors because of their invaluable advice on how to develop a credible and professional online presence.
David Meerman Scott
I am eternally grateful for the generosity and mentorship of David Meerman Scott. It's no exaggeration to say his blog and books ignited my passion to study and write about how The Internet continues flipping marketing and public relations strategy upside down. His influence, blog, and books forever transformed my marketing strategy thinking.
David Meerman Scott is a marketing strategist, advisor to emerging companies, bestselling author of eight books including three international bestsellers, and a professional speaker on topics including marketing, leadership, and social media.
Why The New Rules of Marketing & PR Matters
The New Rules of Marketing & PR is in its 4th Edition, has sold 300,000+ copies, and is translated in 25 languages.
Marketing and communications students will learn from this book the value of:
- Thinking Like a Publisher (e.g. managing and creating content as a valuable asset)
- Tactfully and Skillfully Informing the World About Your Expertise
- Creating Varieties of Content Demonstrating That Expertise
- Building, Understanding, and Targeting Your Audience Via Buyer Persona Profiles
- Commenting on Other Blogs to Build Online Credibility and Relationships
- Giving Away Your Expertise by Publishing and Distributing Free E-Books
Here's David discussing the latest release of The New Rules of Marketing & PR:
And, Speaking of Giving Away Your Expertise …
David published the following e-books to promote The New Rules of Marketing & PR, Real-Time Marketing & PR, and Newsjacking.
He defines an e-Book as:
"An e-book is a PDF-formatted document that identifies a market problem and supplies an answer to the problem. E-books have a bit of intrigue to them — like hip younger sibling to the nerdy white paper."
If you click on the image captions, the hyperlinks will take you to the respective, eBook PDF download pages.
BONUS: Here are my book reviews for Real-Time Marketing & PR and Newsjacking.
Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman
If I've said it once, I've said it 43 other times. Ann Handley is the best writer and storyteller in the New Media Business. Her writing and storytelling makes you:
Think …
… Laugh
Cry …
Think Some More ...
… Want Some More
Her thoughtful and respected new media, A-List, co-author is C.C. Chapman. Almost 15,000 Twitter followers can't be wrong (and I'm proud to be one). C.C. is a trusted advisor to global brands like American Eagle Outfitter, Coca-Cola, HBO, and Warner Bros.
Why Content Rules Matters
Ann and C.C. share clear, actionable advice built on two (2) governing principles:
Thinking and Acting Like a Publisher
Publishing Helpful, Remarkable Content
Content Defined. Words, images, videos comprise content and can take the form of:
- Web Pages
- Videos
- Blogs
- Photographs
- Webinars
- Whitepapers
- eBooks
- Podcasts
- Presentations
- Social Outposts (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.)
Learning Through Great Storytelling and Writing. Great writing makes reading Content Rules enjoyable. And, studying it helps you ask the right questions about content strategy execution:
- Goal Setting: Who is Your Audience? What Metrics Will Determine You're Succeeding (or Failing)?
- Defining: What Content Type(s) Should You Publish?
- Publishing: How Often to Publish (by content type)? What are the Platform Considerations (i.e., blog posts, tweets, Facebook updates, LinkedIn Group discussions, etc.)?
- Promoting: How to Share Content (without the cologne of a used car salesman).
More importantly, they share practical advice for budget-constrained marketing teams wondering:
- How Do We Start?
- What's the RIGHT Content Strategy for US?
Pages 22 to 24 to the Rescue. The Content Rules of Why & Who (or Grab Your Colleagues, Tons of Sticky Notes, Lots of Paper, and Thrash Through the Following Questions):
- Whom are you trying to reach (e.g., your audience, clients, customers)?
- Where does your audience spend their online time?
- How does your audience access the Web? This may be your team's most important discussion because of mobile-world implications. Your audience's ability to easily and quickly access mobile content (or not), makes or breaks your ability to access increasing mobile content consumption via tablets and smartphones. Mess this up, and your thoughtful answers to questions #1 and #2 may no longer be valid.
- What does your audience crave (e.g., content that informs, entertains, something else)?
- What do you want your audience to do (e.g., motivate it to do X, figure out the calls-to-action)?
- What content do you already have (e.g. take a content inventory)?
Wake Up (because this is a long post, and I can hear you snoring)! How about re-imagining those boring bullets into something differentiating and remarkable:
How About Some FREE Content Rules SWAG? Here are two (2) PDF downloads from the Content Rules Website:
- The Content Rules Blog Post Template
- The 12-Point Content Rules Checklist
Please email me at tony [dot] faustino [at] gmail [dot] com if you experience downloading problems.
Content Rules Video Update with C.C. Chapman and Ann Handley. C.C. and Ann made this September 2010 video before the book's release. It's a great example of practicing what they preach and seeing the human side of great content marketing.
Content Rules: September 1, 2010 Update from C.C. Chapman on Vimeo.
Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah
HubSpot is one of the fastest growing, innovative companies in North America. Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah founded HubSpot in 2006. These two MIT Sloan School Fellows and MBA graduates lead this 600 employee powerhouse in an honorable mission: Level the marketing, digital, and sales strategy playing field for small to medium sized businesses. HubSpot epitomizes why the Davids can flank the Goliaths (even with their higher funded marketing budgets).
Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter may be sexier, mainstream media stories, but HubSpot earns attention by passionately practicing what it preaches. And, they've cultivated and activated a loyal tribal following by publishing remarkable content, teaching analytical rigor, and "firing" their best employees.
Why Inbound Marketing Matters
Walk-the Walk and Talk-the-Talk. Inbound Marketing is the second book I studied about digital marketing strategy (The New Rules of Marketing & PR being the first). If you're a serious marketing and communications graduate (or current MAR-COMM undergraduate) and want to "rock it" in your interview, you have to study and learn Inbound Marketing's principles COLD. Published in 2010, Brian and Dharmesh's teachings preceded much of the current and future implications of marketing and digital strategy:
-
Understanding Inbound Marketing fundamentals (versus interruption marketing)
-
Remarkable content — what does that mean?
-
Foundation principles and relevance of inbound links, SEO, Google Authority, Page Rank so potential customers/clients find you (instead of you interrupting them)
- The underlying principles behind “closed loop” marketing (CLM)
Inbound Marketing provides clues to what a genuine, 21st century digital-driven organization looks for in employees. Hubspot utilizes its DARC framework when evaluating potential hires:
- D = Hire Digital Citizens
- A = Hire for Analytical Chops
- R = Hire for Web Reach
- C = Hire Content Creators
If you can't answer the following HubSpot interview questions while simultaneously providing real-time "show-them-the-money" on-screen, digital evidence, YOU'RE HOSED. Here are example interview questions from pages 170-171 and page 173 of Inbound Marketing (within the context of your interviewer verifying your answers on her/his laptop, tablet, or smartphone):
Interview Questions Evalutating Depth of Digital Citizenship:
- What RSS reader do you use? Can you show it to me?
- What blogs do you read?
- Do you rank first for your name in Google?
- Do you have a blog? Can you show to me?
- Do you use Facebook or LinkedIn? When was the last time you updated your profile?
- Do you have a channel on YouTube? Can you show it to me?
Interview Questions Evaluating Web Reach:
- How many subscribers to your blog? Do you talk about our industry on your blog or about personal stuff?
- How many Facebook followers do you have? Do you talk about our industry at all on your Facebook account?
- How many LinkedIn followers do you have?
- How many Twitter followers do you have? Do you talk about our industry on you Twitter account?
Closing Thoughts
My apologies for not finishing / publishing this post by the originally stated timeline. My "day job" is crazy/hectic especially as the 2013 4Q ticks away. That's okay (because that's the job).
Please tune in for the this series's next post: a comprehensive list of online resources (i.e., websites, blogs, blog articles, etc) to help recent college graduates and current college students land full-time jobs or internships. The HUGE list will easily comprise "20+ Resources."
Please give me a couple weeks to consolidate this list, provide context, and hit "publish."
Your Turn: What is your opinion of the books listed here? Have you read any of them? If so, how did the book(s) content create an opportunity for differentiating yourself either before, during, or after the interview? What books did I leave off? What additional books would recommend?
Please let me know. It would be great to hear from you!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Note: This is post four in a series sharing resources to help new college graduates and current students land full-time jobs or internships. If interested, here are links to other posts in this series:
Photo Credit: by Pop Culture Geek via flickr