Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Ten Tips for Job Seekers in the Digital Age

1. Research, Research, Research

A likely first question any interviewer will ask is, “what does our company do?”
This seems like an obvious one, but you’d be surprised at the number of
people that have no clue. If you’re not prepared to discuss the company,
they probably don’t want you.

Take the time to know the company inside and out. Research what they
do, follow their social-media pages, and understand the industry and
the competitors. Basically, have the company’s elevator pitch down
pat. To be safe, practice it on a friend.

2. Connect Before the Interview

As you’re researching the company on their social media pages make
sure to like some of their posts, leave a comment or two, and re-tweet
what you find interesting. The reality is that you never know who might
be watching. Many recruiters prefer finding talent via Facebook and
LinkedIn rather than through a job site like Monster.

Does the company sponsor or organize any events? If so, show up
at some of them and meet the representatives from the company.
They can serve as a good “in” to the people who are hiring.
|If possible, connect with this person on LinkedIn afterwards.

3. Build Your Social Presence

Are you popular in the social sphere? Do you blog, Yelp,
and have a ton of friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter?
If so, great. You want to continue to build your social presence.
If you haven’t flexed your social muscles yet, then you better get going!
This is a critical way that recruiters assess how passionate you are about digital.

4. Be Prepared

Find out how the interview will be structured and plan accordingly.
Determine who your interviewers will be, find out as much about
them as possible, and then impress them with your knowledge.

Also, make sure you ask questions. Questions that haven’t been
thought through very well leave a bad impression. Write questions
down ahead of time and be precise, but don’t overdo it.

Another big item is the company’s dress code. Check out their Facebook
page, look for photos in the news. People want to see how you assimilate
into a culture. That said, always dress one step up from the code.

5. Arrive Early

Arrive at least fifteen minutes ahead of the scheduled start time. The
interviewers are scheduling their days around you so be ready to go.
If you are going to be late, it better be for an excellent reason.
Call and let the person who is waiting for you know.

6. Be Flexible

Don’t bring up money in the first interview. It positions you poorly.
Acknowledge that you appreciate being trained and will be a strong
asset in the future. Remember that it’s not about what you get paid
the first day. It’s what you end up getting paid the first year.

That being said, if the company really likes you then money might
come up so be prepared with a realistic number. There are some
good sites that offer salary estimates. Feel free to take those into
consideration, but not as the final word.

7. Don’t Pigeonhole Yourself

Companies want people with diverse interests. If you like to work in
different areas, let that be known and don’t pigeonhole yourself into
one department. Also, don’t feel shy about sharing your hobbies and
interests. Varying interests bring character and color to a company’s culture.

8. Think Career, Not a Job

Make it clear you’re interested in a career, and not just a job.
Ask what you can expect over the next ninety days, and communicate
what exactly you’ll be bringing to the table. But don’t communicate that
in blanket statements like, “I’m good at sales” or “I like to take initiative.”

Instead, if you’re good at sales say, “In one year I closed five new
accounts and grew three existing ones, resulting in $300,000 in new
business.” Or, if you’re a go-getter, describe a problem you helped solve
and the result. Show your real impact and potential by talking about
accomplishments in your career.

9. Keep the Details in Mind

Keep these small, but important, details in mind when interviewing:
Shut your phone off, don’t chew gum, sit up straight, don’t say
“yeah” or “like” or “you know,” don’t talk over the interviewer, maintain
eye contact, and don’t tell the interviewer about where else you’re interviewing.

At the end always go for the close and ask about next steps.

10. Follow Up and Maintain Contact

After the interview, make sure to get everyone’s business card and
send a thank-you email that day. Then check in every now and then
with your main contact to see how the process is moving along.

If you don’t get the position, that’s OK, too. Learn from the experience,
improve your talking points, and keep up positive communication with the
company. Maybe they found someone with more experience, but that
doesn’t mean another position won’t open up in a few months that you’re
perfect for, and because you remained in contact, they might call you
up for that job instead.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Media on Demand's New Website



Screenshot of new Website
  
If you haven't been to our eBook site lately, you'll be in for a surprise! The Media on Demand consortium has recently given the website a new look. With it's cool blues and shady greys, it's easy on the eyes. But that's not all - you'll notice the organization of the website is a little more clearer as well.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
The big change that everybody should note comes into how you log into Media on Demand. The previous method included choosing your library from a drop down menu, clicking a link to go to another site, and then logging in with your library card number and using your last name as your password. It has changed. The first change is that you do not have to click to go to a new site and log in. The second is that you log in with your SWAN Online Catalog pin number (instead of your last name).

If you have any problems logging in - please call us and we'll help you out!

What do you think about the new changes?

Richton Park Public Library District Introduces Travel 2.0


Have you ever needed a GPS unit when you were going on vacation or on a road
trip but didn't have one? Did you ever want to record your vacation or family
reunion but didn't have a digital camcorder?

The Richton Park Public Library District introduces Travel 2.0. GPS units, Flip
MinoHD camcorders, digital cameras, and LeapFrog LeapPad are now
available for checkout. Other items coming soon.

Important Information:
Must be a Richton Park Library Card Holder;
Must be 18 yrs. old or older;
First come, first serve---No reserves;
1 kit type per household;
$1.00 per day late fee if overdue;
1 week checkout for $5.00*
(Checkout time may be extend up to 3 weeks with additional charge.)

*No charge for the LeapFrog LeapPad.

Additional information available at the Circulation Desk

Monday, July 16, 2012

YouTube Becoming Increasingly Vital Platform for News

I was reading this article on Mashable and thought it was interesting enough to repost it on our blog.

by Lauren Indvik

For many, YouTube is a beloved repository for humorous content, how-tos and general entertainment. However, YouTube is increasingly becoming a platform for news.

For four months between January 2011 to March 2012, the most searched-for terms on YouTube were related to news events, according to a Pew Research Center report released Monday.

The most popular videos on the web’s third most-visited site concerned natural disasters or political upheaval since videos with “intense visuals” tend to perform best, says Pew. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami was the most popular news event on the video network: In the week following the disaster (March 11 to 18), the 20 most-viewed videos related to the tragedy were viewed more than 96 million times.

The elections in Russia and unrest in the Middle East were the second and third most popular news topics, respectively. If the focus on international events seems unusual, remember that 70% of YouTube’s traffic comes from outside the U.S.

The footage itself was mixed — 58% of those included in the survey were edited; the remaining 42% was raw footage. Unlike much of the rest of the YouTube, personalities did not play a large role in a video’s success; no one person was featured in more than 5% of the most popular videos in the “News & Politics” section of YouTube between January 2011 and March 2012. Length, too, varied. The median video length was 2 minutes and 1 second, far longer than the average segment on local TV news, which is 41 seconds, and shorter than the 2-minute-and-23-second average national network evening newscasts allocate to a single story.

Both citizens and professionals are playing a role in video creation and distribution. A little more than half (51%) came from news organizations — or, at least, bore the logos of news organizations. Thirty-nine percent of the most-viewed videos came from citizens. Five percent came from corporate and political groups, and the sources of the remaining five percent could not be identified.

In many cases, the videos and their distribution were collaborative. As Pew notes, “a complex, symbiotic relationship has developed between citizens and news organizations on YouTube, a relationship that comes close to the continuous journalistic ‘dialogue’ many observers predicted would become the new journalism online.” Citizens are creating and posting their own videos, and even responsible for uploading more than a third of the content from news organizations. News organizations, in turn, are including citizen-produced content in their own reporting. The interplay, Pew observes, is creating a new kind of television news.

The collaboration is promising, but issues still exist. Although YouTube has guidelines for content attribution, not everyone adheres to them, nor do they offer a solution for every scenario. News organizations sometimes post citizen-captured video without clear attribution; in turn, citizens are repurposing copyrighted material without permission. All too often, the source of a video cannot be identified altogether, creating opportunity for manufactured or even falsified information to spread.

What’s perhaps most interesting about news-watching on YouTube is the way it enables consumers to set their own “on-demand” news agenda. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami registered among the most-viewed news subjects for three consecutive weeks following the disaster, for example.

And what does that mean for news organizations? Lots of positives, says Pew. YouTube offers considerable opportunities to grow one’s audience, brand and ad revenue — a thing perhaps best exemplified by YouTube’s revenue-sharing scheme with the newswire Reuters. It’s also a rich source for raw video footage.

For a deeper dive into the findings, see Pew’s full report here.