ResearchGoddess

The Pay It Forward Project is the continuation of a series of articles I started here in 2010 spotlighting some individuals who were recommended to me for the article I wrote on Mashable, 4 Essential Traits for Social Media Success in Your Career. The purpose of my project, detailed here, was to profile some social media professionals to keep an eye on in the coming year.

The 2011 Pay It Forward profiles will consist of the 2nd generation of spotlights — individuals recommended by those who were featured in the 2010 series.

Spotlight: Jenny Blake
Title: Career Development Program Manager
Employer: Google
Who paid it forward: Jun Loayza

Jenny Blake is a Career Development Program Manager at Google, where she works on coaching programs and scalable development tools and solutions to help Googlers focus on their career development. Jenny also helps manage the Authors@Google program. Before taking on this role, she was a trainer and team lead at Google on the Training & Development Team in the Online Sales and Operations Department for almost four years, where she trained over 1,000 people in AdWords and web development.

Jenny also blogs at LifeAfterCollege.org, where she shares practical tips for life, work, money, happiness, personal growth, productivity, and more. Her goal is to help young professionals gain confidence and lead happy, well-rounded lives through simple, practical tools & tips. Additionally, Jenny has a book coming out tomorrow called Life After College: The Complete Guide To Getting What You Want (visit the book website here).

Continue reading “#PayItForward 2011 Profile: Jenny Blake” »

The Pay It Forward Project is the continuation of a series of articles I started here in 2010 spotlighting some individuals who were recommended to me for the article I wrote on Mashable, 4 Essential Traits for Social Media Success in Your Career. The purpose of my project, detailed here, was to profile some social media professionals to keep an eye on in the coming year.

The 2011 Pay It Forward profiles will consist of the 2nd generation of spotlights — individuals recommended by those who were featured in the 2010 series.

Spotlight: Jason Peck
Title: Social Media Manager
Employer: eWayDirect
Who paid it forward: DJ Waldow

Jason Peck is a Social Media Manager for eWayDirect, a full-service emarketing service provider. He is also the founder of Highway 24 Media, LLC, a social media consultancy. He attended UNC Chapel Hill where he studied Journalism with a focus on Advertising. His love for creative writing helped him land an internship for a media agency. But his first love was sports, and he was always interested in the marketing side of athletics.

Continue reading “#PayItForward 2011 Profile: Jason Peck” »

Happy New Year! I’m happy to say that I was able to squeeze in a few moments to share some professional and personal goals with you for myself for 2011. While I don’t think that resolutions need to be made only on January 1, for me personally it seemed like an opportune time to draw a line in the sand and to start over with some things.

First and foremost, stay tuned here for the next round of Pay It Forward spotlights. I’ve been conducting interviews with the folks who were recommended by the 2010 PIF candidates over the last several months and there are some really outstanding people who will be featured in 2011. I absolutely cannot wait to introduce you to them! Continue reading “Resolve Toward Excellence” »

I got really, really fired up by a post I read last Friday that went completely off on social media, ‘snake oil salesmen’, training and certifications, and so forth. I won’t do it the honor of linking to it here, nor will I tell you where I saw it because I do not want to attract attention to it. So don’t ask. Just strap yourself in – I’m sharing my uncensored thoughts on several different issues here. Because, after all, everyone is entitled to my opinion

Poo-Pooing Social Media For Recruiting. #Tired. #Lame. I feel there is a point that is being missed here. Social media: yes everyone gripes about recruiters’ approach to it as another job board, or how much of a waste of time it is. But you know, lots of people also approach the telephone with the same mentality – smile-and-dial and robotically go through candidate calls. And I know lots of recruiters whose phone time is tracked who call friends, family, and each other around the office to boost their phone time – talk about a time-waste! I don’t see how any of these are different, because they’re all still a misuse of communication tools. The focus of this, and any, discussion when it comes to recruiting tools should be your voice. Because your voice is where everything begins. These tools – the telephone, email, social media, and whatever is next (think augmented reality and hologram-type stuff… cool!!) – are merely channels to amplify your own voice. I know some people who have a GREAT voice on social media, and others who suck at it. On the same note, I know some people who have a GREAT voice on the telephone, and others who suck at that too. And I’m not referring to the sound of their voice – I’m referring to the overall message they convey and the passion behind it.

Think of it this way; art comes in many different forms – paintings, writing, music, acting, etc. Often, someone who is a poetic writer may suck at playing an instrument. Or an actor might be an awful screenwriter. As well, some people don’t like music, or hate to read, or detest going to plays. Do these personal preferences make the artists any less of an artist, or diminish the importance or value of the artform itself? Not in my book – artists choose to amplify their voice through a method that they feel is best suited for them. As well, not everyone is going to like or appreciate an artist’s chosen mode of voice amplification, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still art. Diff’rent strokes for diff’rent folks.

Continue reading “One Big Rant (Yep, It’s Big!)” »

the most relaxing porch ever!

I recently took a week off to vacation in New Hampshire at my aunt and uncle’s home. They live in a little town called Newbury in the western part of the state, and I had no cell phone reception where they are located. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I was able to (almost completely) disconnect for the majority of my week and enjoy spending time with my family going kayaking, hiking, visiting some special places with great childhood memories, and hanging out on the most incredible back porch I’ve ever seen. It was a breath of fresh air, literally, for me – I haven’t taken a real vacation in so long, I can’t remember the last time I left work at home and just relaxed.

When I came home after my week off, I was thoroughly exhausted. I napped for four hours the afternoon I returned, and two evenings last week I took long naps after work, only to get up for a couple of hours and go back to sleep for an additional 6-8 hours. Those of you who know me know that I never sleep that much – ever. I got concerned after the second four-hour evening nap, thinking there might be something wrong with me. And then it dawned on me.

My body was so starved for relaxation that it was revolting against my return to my normal routine. Continue reading “Hi. My name is Amybeth. I am a workaholic.” »