Ask Britt: 5 Tips for Job Seekers

In a recent interview for a magazine I was asked,

"What tips do you have for the unemployed who are seeking full time employment?"

I thought I'd share my answer with you:

1. Get support either from a professional career counselor or coach, or a friend or group of friends.

If you work with a friend, or group of friends, agree to meet once a month (or more often if you have the time). In person is best, but if the people you want to work with are across the country, you can talk on the phone, or set up a Skype conference call. Each person gets a chance to talk about what they would like to work on until your next meeting, and ask for advice about challenges they are facing. It’s helpful to have a designated note-taker to write down what each person says they are going to do so that at the next meeting they are held accountable.

2. Break everything down into small steps.

Part of the fear people experience when looking for new work comes from being overwhelmed. For example, if, “Update my resume,” has been on your to-do list forever, break it down into small steps you can take each day so it feels easier to achieve, like this:

a. Find and read my old resume.
b. Do research for 30-60 minutes about the best way to format my resume for the kind of job I'm looking for.
c. Add new experience to my resume (don’t worry about the format or language yet).
d. Spend 30-60 minutes on the format and language.
e. Show the resume to my friend or coach.
f. Incorporate my friend or coach’s comments.
g. Put it away for a couple days.
f. Give it a final edit.
g. Start sending it out!

3. Make a schedule. When you don’t have to be anywhere at a particular time, it’s easy for the day to fly by. Decide how much time you are going to spend each day looking for work, and stick to it. If you have a laptop, it may be less distracting to have your job search time at a café, or the library so that when you come home you don’t feel guilty relaxing.

4. Network, network, network. The best way to get your resume to the top of the pile is to know someone at the place you want to work. Make a quick bullet list of the qualities of your ideal job. Email it out to your friends. Memorize it to tell people at parties who ask, “What do you do?” Create LinkedIn and Facebook profiles, and add friends colleagues as connections. Search the web, and on sites like meetup.com, and upcoming.com for networking events in the fields you are interested in. If you want to work at a nonprofit, check out their volunteer opportunities, or search on VolunteerMatch.

5. Make a fun to-do list. It may feel like you’ll never get another job, but you will, and when you do, you’ll be kicking yourself for not taking full advantage of the free time you had. Make a list of all of the things you’ve wanted to do, but haven’t had the time. Once you’ve completed your scheduled job search time for the day, make time to have fun!

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I've been helping people find work they love for 10+ years. You can learn more about my work at brittbravo.com. Email me your questions (please keep it to 50 words) about the do-good, or artistic work you are doing, or want to do, to britt@brittbravo.com. Title your email, "Ask Britt: your question topic." I won't post your name, but I will post your question with my answer, so keep that in mind as you write if you don't want details in your question to identify you.

Photo Credit: Photo of me answering your questions (: taken by my hubs.

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umemployment

Ask Britt: How can I combine the creative arts with social impact?

This week's Ask Britt question, sent in by a reader, is,

"How can I combine the creative arts with social impact? What are some great examples of creative work that is very effective in social impact?"

Great question! The arts are a wonderful way to make a difference in the world because they are fun, engaging, and oftentimes help you to tell stories, all key elements to attracting and keeping people involved in a cause.

Here are some examples of ways people have used the arts to create social impact:

50 Crows Social Change Photography
"Images inspire people to act. Examples of socially rousing photography permeate our history: Vietnam, Rwanda, 9-11’s Ground Zero. Unfortunately, mainstream media narratives often work to envelop public perspective on these seminal issues by presenting limited viewpoints and images. Due to the fact that the focus of these media corporations is on creating profits rather than social justice, the many answers that we demand as conscious global citizens become conditional.

FiftyCrows Foundation eschews these media politics and prioritizes social awareness by using arrestingly real, timely photographic images as a catalyst for education, cultural understanding and social action."

Aid to Artisans
"Aid to Artisans (ATA), an international nonprofit organization, is a recognized leader of economic development for the craft industry. By linking artisans to new markets and buyers to culturally meaningful and innovative products, ATA provides needed economic opportunities to artisans while preserving the beauty of global handmade crafts."

Arts and Healing Network
"Arts and Healing Network is an on-line resource celebrating the connection between art and healing. Our web site serves as an international resource for anyone interested in the healing potential of art, especially environmentalists, social activists, artists, art professionals, health care practitioners, and those challenged by illness. Our hope is that the information presented here will educate and inspire."

Art in Action Youth Leadership Training
"Art in Action Youth Leadership Program uplifts and transforms the lives of young artists impacted by violence and poverty. Our annual summer camps and year-round programs create hope and opportunity through socially relevant popular education, community-building, and creative expression geared toward developing solutions. Art in Action provides a supportive, positive place for young leaders to cultivate leadership through dance, theater, music, spoken word/poetry, painting, storytelling, and media arts."

Artivist Film Festival
"'ARTIVIST' is the first international film festival and awards dedicated to addressing Human Rights, Children's Advocacy, Environmental Preservation, and Animal Rights. Our mission is to strengthen the voice of activist artists - 'Artivists' - while raising public awareness for social global causes."

EMANCIPATE
"EMANCIPATE is an initiative led by women musicians who are activists in their communities with the goal of solidarity, amplification of social justice issues and collaboration towards solutions. We use song as a tool for organizing in communities around the country."

Free Range Studio
"We're a team of passionate, wildly creative people who spend our days strategizing, branding and designing so the most important social messages get through loud and clear.

Free Range is known for being the most successful cause-based viral movie makers ever. Sure, we created The Meatrix and Grocery Store Wars. But those projects are just the most public face of our portfolio that includes print, web and strategy materials for the planet's most influential non-profits, political campaigns and socially responsible businesses."

Participant Media
"Participant believes that a good story well told can truly make a difference in how one sees the world. Whether it is a feature film, documentary or other form of media, Participant exists to tell compelling, entertaining stories that also create awareness of the real issues that shape our lives."

Power to the Peaceful Festival (founded by musician, Michael Franti)
"Power to the Peaceful is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the promotion of cultural co-existence, non-violence and environmental sustainability through the arts and music.

By bringing people together through music and art it is our goal to highlight the similarities and celebrate the diversity of all of the world’s inhabitants."

Shalini Kantayya's 7th Empire Media
"The mission of 7th Empire Media is to bring a professional voice to the unheard through media. 7th Empire is a full-scale production company committed to creating original high-quality film, video, and interactive media that raise social awareness, stimulate critical dialogue, and celebrate the diverse voices of an ever-changing world."

Streetside Stories
"Through the power of storytelling, Streetside values and cultivates young people’s voices, fostering educational equity and building community, literacy and arts skills."

Photojournalist Paola Gianturco's book, Women Who Light the Dark.
"Around the world, local women are helping one another tackle the problems that darken their lives—domestic violence, sex trafficking, war, poverty, illiteracy, discrimination, inequality, malnutrition, disease.

These women may lack material resources, but they possess a wealth of an even more precious resource: imagination. And their imaginations light the dark."

Santa Fe International Folk Art Market
"The Santa Fe International Folk Art Market is the largest international folk art market in the world, and our success led to Santa Fe’s designation as a UNESCO City of Folk Art, the first U.S. city named to UNESCO’s prestigious Creative Cities Network. . . . Sales at the Market directly benefit artists and their families and help sustain communities worldwide."

I'd love to hear your examples in the comments!

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You can email your question (please keep it to 50 words) about the do-good, or artistic work you are doing, or want to do, to britt@brittbravo.com. Title your email, "Ask Britt: your question topic." I won't post your name, but I will post your question with my answer, so keep that in mind as you write, if you don't want details in your question to identify you.

Full disclosure: The number of ways these examples are biased is too many to list. Just an fyi (:
Photo taken by me at March 2003 Iraq War protest in Oakland, CA

creativity
activism
art
film
craft
photography
music

Ask Britt: How Do You Increase Blog Traffic?

Between the internet strategy teleseminar for the San Francisco Writing Conference I did on Monday, the blogging presentation I did for the Oakland branch of Ladies Who Launch on Tuesday, and the consults I had with individual bloggers on Wednesday and Thursday, I've been asked several times this week:

"How do I increase my blog traffic?"

Based on my own experience, and after reading posts about blog traffic by folks like Seth Godin, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger, and others, here is a list of tips I've compiled:

• Post regularly.
• Link to other bloggers in your posts.
• Comment on other blogs.
• Have a blogroll.
• Make it easy to comment. It's ok to have comment moderation, but don't make people register.
• Allow readers to email posts to other people.
• Enable subscription to your rss feed with Feedburner.
• Enable subscription by email with Feedblitz.
• Include images or graphics with every post to catch the reader's eye. Blogs are a visual medium.
  
• Add your blog URL to your email signature.
• Tell Google you have a blog.
• Tell Technorati you have a blog.
• Write titles with phrases that people are searching for (i.e. How to Bake a Cake).
• Write about current events.
• Ask a question in your title.
• Post a list (i.e. Ten Ways to Frost a Cake).
• Provide a way for people to easily share and bookmark your posts by using something like AddThis or Add to Any.
  
• Twitter.
• Bookmark your posts in del.icio.us, and other social bookmarking services.
• Try writing shorter posts (200-300 words). That's about how many words the average person can read in a minute.
  
• Leave more space between paragraphs. Use bold subtitles. Catch the reader's eye.
  
• Participate in memes, blog carnivals and challenges.
• Tags your post with Technorati tags.
• Let ping servers know when you have a new post.
• Interview people who have blogs or email lists, and will post a link to the interview.
• Have guest bloggers post on your blog
• Include videos in your posts.
• Install web analytics tools like SiteMeter, StatCounter and Google Analytics. Look at what kinds of posts get the most traffic. Write more of those!
• Highlight your most popular posts in your sidebar.
• Create a MyBlogLog community.
• Participate in social networks like Facebook and MySpace, as well as niche social networks related to the theme of your blog.
  
• Participate in online forums and communities.
• List your blog in blog directories.
• Run a contest.

Finally, write posts that people want to read!

What are your tips for increasing blog traffic?

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You can email your question (please keep it to 50 words) about the do-good, or artistic work you are doing, or want to do, to britt@brittbravo.com. Title your email, "Ask Britt: your question topic." I won't post your name, but I will post your question with my answer, so keep that in mind as you write, if you don't want details in your question to identify you.


Flickr photo credit: Daily Traffic uploaded by Nam Nguyen.

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blogging
traffic

Ask Britt: Using Twitter to Answer, "What Tools Can I Use to Teach Classes Online?"

This week's question comes from a writing teacher, and client, who wants to know:

"What Tools Can I Use to Teach Classes Online?"

I actually didn't know, so I asked my Twitter network. Twitter is a micro-blogging and social networking tool. You "tweet" 140 character posts which your "followers" can read. You can also be a follower of other people's tweets. It's a super useful tool for tapping the collective wisdom of your network.

Within minutes of posting the question, I received five ideas:

1. @NancyWhite of Full Circle Associates suggested using a Google Group, a blog, or Moodle, a free, open source course management system. She also said I should check out the work of @leighBlackall at Otago Polytechnic.

2. @wakot of everyday sustainable suggested I contact Karen Henke of Nimble Press for ideas.

3. @jchou suggested screen sharing with iChat.

4. @santhonys of AShowalter.com suggested using the haiku Learning Management System, which on first glance looks pretty easy to use and ranges in price from free-$30/month.

5. @amoration of AMO: The Root of Love also suggested Moodle, and Sloodle which integrates Moodle and the virtual world of Second Life. She also said that she uses wikis.

Pretty cool, huh? Thanks Twitter pals!

**More Twitter suggestions since I published this post

@helenrf of Reach Further teaches writing online with Moodle, but also suggests WordPress blogs and forums.

@PinkHeels of Pink Heels uses Moodle with her university students.

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You can email your question (please keep it to 50 words) about the do-good, or artistic work you are doing, or want to do, to britt@brittbravo.com. Title your email, "Ask Britt: your question topic." I won't post your name, but I will post your question with my answer, so keep that in mind as you write if you don't want details in your question to identify you.


askbritt
online
classroom
learning
education
career
advice

Ask Britt: How Do I Promote My Do-Good Book Online?

This week's Ask Britt question comes from a friend who is helping a changemaker launch a new book. She asks (I'm paraphrasing):

"How Do I Promote My Do-Good Book Online?"

Here are a handful of ideas:

1. Ask bloggers to review/write about your book

You can find a list of the Top 100 Blogs on Technorati as a place to start, but all of their audiences may not be appropriate for your topic. You might have better luck approaching bloggers listed on:

Changeblogger wiki
Good.alltop.com
Green.alltop.com
Nonprofit.alltop.com
BlogHer's lists of Social Change/Nonprofit and Green BlogHers
Best Green Blogs
Social Change Websites' blog section

You can also search for bloggers writing about your specific topic on Google Blog Search, Technorati and Ask.com's Blog Search.

Before you draft your blogger outreach email, check out my 10 Tips for Asking Bloggers to Write About Your Cause.

2. Set up a virtual book tour

I first heard about virtual book tours through Kevin Smokler. Basically, a couple months before your book's release you contact bloggers, podcasters and vloggers whose audiences are a good fit for your book and ask them if they would like to interview you, review your book, have you guest post, or host an interactive event with you using a service like Gabbly.

3. List your readings on BookTour.com

Isn't it frustrating when your favorite author comes to town and you don't hear about it till 3 hours before? BookTour.com is a free directory created by Kevin Smokler, Chris Anderson and Adam Goldstein that makes it easy for book lovers to find out what authors will be coming to their town. Add your events so that can find you too.

4. Create video trailers

After watching the Michael Franti video for his new song, Say Hey, I can't wait for his new album to come out next month. Some authors are also creating video trailers to generate excitement around their book launch.

You can see some fancy examples on BookVideos.tv and the BookVideos.tv YouTube channel.

Here are a couple examples of videos individual authors created on their own:
• Gayle Brandeis' video for her novel, Self Storage
• Michael Belfiore's video for his book, Rocketeers

5. Connect with readers on social networks

There are a lot of social networks out there where you can meet with present and potential readers. Facebook and MySpace are of course the biggies, but you might want to consider creating a presence on a do-good social network like Change.org, Care2, Just Cause, Razoo, WiserEarth or World of Good too.

Here is an example of author Kim Keltner's page on Gather.com, a social network oriented for folks over 30.

You may also want to start Twittering. Twitter is a social networking and microblogging tool where news travels fast. You can find other Twitterers who are interested in your book's topic on the TwitterPack wiki.

6. Have a Contest

Everybody loves to win, and contests move quickly over the web.

Here are a few ideas:
• A video book trailer, or video book review contest. The winner gets a Flip Video camera.
• Flickr photo contest. The author of Social Software in Libraries hosted an Alternative Book Cover contest. The winners got signed copies of her book and were announced at the Computers in Libraries Conference.
• Send bloggers copies of your book to give away as prizes for their own contests.

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You can email me your question (please keep it to 50 words) about the do-good, or artistic work you are doing, or want to do, to britt@brittbravo.com. Title your email, "Ask Britt: your question topic." I won't post your name, but I will post your question with my answer, so keep that in mind as you write if you don't want details in your question to identify you.

Photo Credit: Photo of me answering your questions (: taken by my hubs.

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online
promotion

Ask Britt: Work for Idealistic, Introverted Writer?

Last week I answered the first question in my Ask Britt series, How do you make a second hand bookstore a force for good?

This week's question sent in by a reader is:

I'm extremely introverted. I want a job that involves working with information about people. My strongest skills are writing and counseling.

Full-time work as a counselor doesn't give me enough quiet time during the day. Freelance writing? I'm not good at creating a structured work day for myself. Any ideas? Copywriting? Creating website content for universities, non-profits, or artists?

First of all, it's great that you know so much about what kinds of work will make you happy:

• working with information about people
• writing
• counseling
• a varied schedule that involves working with others, and working alone
• not working for yourself

And you have a couple of ideas for new work:

• copy writing
• website content creation

To generate a longer list, I would recommend trying an exercise that I learned from Carol Lloyd when I taught her Creating a Life Worth Living workshops. You'll find a version of it in her book Creating a Life Worth Living: A practical course in career design for artists, innovators, and others aspiring to a creative life.

1. Make a list of all of the skills you like to use professionally and personally (i.e. writing, research, counseling, baking.).
2. Make a list of all of the fields that interest you (i.e. literary arts, politics, architecture).
3. Make a list of the qualities of your ideal work environment (i.e. working with others and myself, not stressful, quiet, can walk to work)

Once you've completed your list, ask a friend, or a group of friends, to read your lists and brainstorm job ideas that combine elements from 2 or 3 of your lists. The only rule is that you can't say "no" to any of their ideas. Just let them brainstorm away. When they're done, add some more of your own.

Now read through your entire idea list, circle 2-3 ideas that sound exciting to you. Think of one small step you could take to research what doing that kind of work would be like (i.e. read something about it, talk to a friend of a friend who does that kind of job, volunteer at the place you'd like to work).

By taking small actions toward researching ideas that interest you, you'll end up eliminating some, and following others.

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You can email me your question (please keep it to 50 words) about the do-good, or artistic work you are doing, or want to do, to britt@brittbravo.com. Title your email, "Ask Britt: your question topic." I won't post your name, but I will post your question with my answer, so keep that in mind as you write if you don't want details in your question to identify you.


career
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introverted

Photo Credit: Photo of me answering your questions (: taken by my hubs.

Ask Britt: How to make a second hand bookstore a positive force for good

Last week I announced a new weekly feature that I'm trying out on Have Fun * Do Good, Ask Britt, where you send in questions related to career design for artists and activists, and I'll do my best to answer them. I encourage you to add on to my answers in the comments.

This week's question is:

My husband has recently linked up with a friend to buy a second hand bookstore. Do you have any ideas on how to make this small business venture a positive force for good?

How fun! Just owning an independent bookstore is creating a positive force for good, in my book (no pun intended). Here are a few ideas for your husband's new business venture:

• Be green. Natural Resource Defense Council has an article, Greening Your Business, which lists tips for making your business green like recycling, using copier and printer paper that is post-consumer and recycled, using Energy Star office equipment, and getting an energy audit. He may even be able to get his business certified as "green" like the Bay Area Green Business Program does, which could be a selling point for potential customers.

• Be a community gathering space. If the space allows, be a low-cost gathering space for your community to have meetings, readings, exhibit art, post events, etc. For example, we have a small store in Oakland called Issues that sells international newspapers and magazines. They are having an art opening this week for Creativity Explored, an organization that helps adults with developmental disabilities create, exhibit and sell art.

• Organize other local businesses. Create a "Buy Local" holiday shopping weekend with fellow vendors like the San Francisco Small Business Commission's Shop Local First campaign.

• Donate to your community. Hold an annual fundraising event with readings and signings by local writers to benefit a literacy program at a school, nonprofit or library, or to give a grant to an aspiring local writer.

• Help your community donate. Make it easy for people to give away the used books you don't want to purchase from them. Provide them with a list of places to donate to, or a collection bin that an organization picks up once a week.

• Take care of yourself and your employees. Do whatever it is you need to do to enjoy running your new businesses so that you're happy at your work. Pay your employees the best wages and benefits you can. Happy sales people create happy return customers .

You can email me your question (please keep it to 50 words) about the do-good, or artistic work you are doing, or want to do, to britt@brittbravo.com. Title your email, "Ask Britt: your question topic." I won't post your name, but I will post your question with my answer, so keep that in mind as you write if you don't want details in your question to identify you.

Flickr photo credit: Strand Bookstore uploaded by Kathleen Conklin

career
advice
bookstore
entrepreneurship

Ask Britt: Q & A on Career Design for Artists and Activists

Hello Have Fun * Do Gooders!

I'm back from vacay in NYC feeling refreshed and renewed. I don't know about you, but I always get lots of ideas while I'm on vacation.

One idea that I'd like to try out here is a new weekly feature on Have Fun * Do Good called, Ask Britt: Q & A on Career Design for Artists and Activists. You can email me your career questions, I'll do my best to answer them, and I hope other Have Fun * Do Good readers will chime in with their tips and advice in the post's comments as well.

As some of you know, I've been doing career consulting workshops and one-on-one sessions since 1998 when I trained with Carol Lloyd to teach her Life Worth Living workshops. Now I work with people on-one-one, and facilitate workshops, like the one I did for Stanford's Social Entrepreneurship in the Bay Area Spring Break.

You can email me your question (please keep it to 50 words) about the do-good, or artistic work you are doing, or want to do, to britt@brittbravo.com. Title your email, "Ask Britt: your question topic." I won't post your name, but I will post your question with my answer, so keep that in mind as you write if you don't want details in your question to identify you.


career
advice
counseling
artist
creativity
nonprofit
social entrepreneurship
activist