Have a Question? Call Now.

(706) 363-0539

Schedule An Intake Meeting
An Interview with Gist’s Greg Meyer – Part 2: Knowing Your Network Using Social CRM

An Interview with Gist’s Greg Meyer – Part 2: Knowing Your Network Using Social CRM

by | Jul 27, 2011 | Job Search, job search tools, Social Networking

gistlogoGreg Meyer is the Customer Experience Manager at Gist. In part 2 of a 4-part interview with writer and career coach Sean Cook, Meyer talks about knowing more about your network, and figuring out what’s important, using Social CRM tools.

Obviously, my niche is career coaching, but I am also a small businessman, so I see the utility of Gist in both roles. How do you think Gist could be used by job seekers or small businesses to really gather information about their employers, partners or even their competition?

I think that, for a job seeker, it can really help you to see what is going on out in the marketplace, about either the individual you are dealing with in a hiring process, or to just get a better scope of what goes on in that business, how that brand communicates, and to be more knowledgeable, so you can start acting as if you work at that company already. If you can show them how you can contribute from day one, it is much more likely that they could easily imagine you in that job.

And as far as a small business owner, if you are keeping track of trends in an industry, and you want to tag all the relevant contacts you have in that industry, your competitors, suppliers and your customers, that Gist can definitely help you either to reach out or to them by amplifying them privately, or by amplifying them publicly by sending them out via Facebook and Twitter.

On the flip side of that, social media has done so much to deliver information to us quickly and affordably, but there are definitely days when I feel like I have so much information, it’s like I’m drinking from a fire hose. How do you think users can use Gist to keep from suffering from that information overload?

Well, I think the first thing they can do is go to Gist.Com and sign up for our e-mail digest. And that would allow them to get information about the people they care about once a day or once a week. We talk about sitting down for your morning coffee, that you might take 5 or 10 minutes every morning or maybe a couple of times a week, to go down a tag list or a list of all the people in your network, and try to find one or two or three that you’d like to reach out to personally. It can definitely help you do that.

I encourage my clients (both career clients and small business clients) to use social media for monitoring their presence and their reputation online. How do you see Gist or other Social CRM tools helping someone to do that?

Well, you know when people sign up for a new tool, they want to see “what does that tool know about me,” because I know most about what information is right about myself. So you can go in and actually the first contact that is built in Gist is your personal contact. You can find that at gist.com/people/me and you can go ahead and edit that contact if it is not quite right. It should mostly be right, but if it’s not quite right, you can edit that contact. You can learn more about how to edit the contacts of your friends, and understanding so far what’s out there, it’s really good at being able to scan the horizon and understand that there are mentions they are likely to see of you, and there are mentions they are not likely to see of you.

Next: Reputation Management and Social CRM

Article first published as An Interview with Gist’s Greg Meyer – Part 2: Knowing Your Network Using Social CRM on Technorati.

An Interview with Gist’s Greg Meyer: Part 1: The Power of Social CRM

An Interview with Gist’s Greg Meyer: Part 1: The Power of Social CRM

by | Jul 25, 2011 | Job Search, job search tools, Social Networking

gregm_beach

Greg Meyer (Photo provided.)

With the growing popularity of social media, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to monitor your connections and stay up-to-date with conversations. This need has ushered in a wave of tools that take Client Relationship Management to the next level, by integrating information from social media into the mix.

Gist is one such tool that can help you find out more about the people you know, and develop a more intelligent view of your network. Bought by Research In Motion in February, Gist seems to be a key part of the Blackberry maker’s efforts to include cloud-based services into new phones and tablets.

Greg Meyer is the Customer Experience Manager at Gist. In that role, he interacts with users, takes feedback and gets suggestions for new features, as well as acting as a social media ambassador for the company.

I interviewed him by phone May 25th, and he shared his thoughts on how tools like Gist can be used to find information about people, companies and industries in your network, to monitor your online presence, and to develop a better understanding of how you may be viewed by others, based on the types of information you are making available about yourself through social media.

Part 1: An Introduction to Greg Meyer, Social CRM, and Gist

So can you tell me more about yourself? Who is Greg Meyer, and how did your education, skills and experience lead to where, you are now?

Sure. Absolutely. At this point, I think I am a little bit over-educated. I started out doing undergrad in Fine Arts and History, I thought I wanted to be a a history professor. And then I went to graduate school and found out that the process to become a professor was a lot different from what I wanted to do, which was to read books and organize information.

Then I found myself in the computer field, and then went into a number of small companies. I was with a company called Allaire, which is now part of Adobe, and I was part of some big companies as well.And then I went to graduate school I worked for T-Mobile and Expedia, and as part of that, I discovered that I wasn’t as good at the technology part of the business as I was about seeing systems, and connecting people and information, so I went back to school again and got an MBA from the University of Washington. I actually used those skills to make my current job, because my job is a combination of three things. I’m a customer experience manager, and I do high-touch customer support. I also do some product planning and recommendations for products from the user base, and then I also do some technology work as well as some traditional marketing evangelism and social media.

Could you give the uninitiated a kind of “thumbnail sketch” overview of what Gist is an how it works?

Sure. Gist is a web service that helps you to take all your contacts and keep them in one place. Whether your contacts live in a web email like Gmail or whether you use Microsoft Outlook or whether you’d like to take those contacts and incorporate the contacts on your phone, say your iPhone, Android or Blackberry device, or whether you are interested in connecting to the people you know on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, what Gist does is take into account all of those contacts and we go ahead and look out over 50,000 news sources and 20 million blogs and build the complete social business profile for that person. What that means is that you would see news about them or their company, and you’d also see a history of your interactions, and we do that, and make it all available to you on all those different platforms.

So this is really taking that whole traditional idea of Client Relationship Management or Contact Relationship Management really to that next level, because of the way you aggregate that information from the public stream along with all your back and forth about a client. This may be a really stupid question, but what do you think the value is of that additional functionality to the CRM process?

Well, Sean, for starters, I don’t think there are any stupid questions. But I think that the value in understanding what makes somebody tick and how you can have a better interaction with that person is really, really key. Because if you find out on Twitter that somebody is talking about going on their vacation, that might be a signal that you might not want to talk to that person that day, because maybe they’re out of town, or if you find they are interested in a particular personal interest, like maybe they like baseball, maybe the next time you see them, you’ll want to invite them the a game, and you can use that information to make that interaction better. Now that doesn’t mean that you should use all the information you learn in every interaction, it means that it gives you better tools to make that interaction better.

Next: Knowing Your Network
Article first published as An Interview with Gist’s Greg Meyer: Part 1: The Power of Social CRM on Technorati.

Cover Letter Strategy: Get to the Point, Get Interviews

Cover Letter Strategy: Get to the Point, Get Interviews

by | Jul 21, 2011 | cover letters, Job Search

Is there a perfect format for writing a cover letter?

I was recently asked this by one of the members of my mailing list. She was wondering if a new approach to writing cover letters might help improve her chances.

First off, I would have to say that there are many different approaches to writing cover letters that might work, and it would be hard to nail down specific problem points without reading some recent letters. But, in general, my preference has always been direct and to-the-point, without a bunch of extraneous “flourish.”

As mentioned in an earlier post, what works for one recruiter might not work for another. Some recruiters love to read cover letters, others slog through them, and others don’t read them at all. I contend it’s best to write one anyway.

If you aren’t getting the responses you hope for, are you writing each toward a specific position or just toward a “type of position? Remember the cover letter has to outline the “What’s In It For Me” from the recruiter’s perspective, so you need to figure out what their needs are, and then write toward how you plan to fill it. It’s okay to outline your general arguments for each type of position, but you should always fill in specifics for each position.

While there is no perfect format, here’s one I like to use. 

Dear (Name):

Paragraph 1: I am writing to apply for the X position which I saw advertised at Y. This position is a strong match for my education, skills and experience.

Paragraph 2: Briefly summarize your education and experience. For example:

Since graduating from X program, I have… or Over the past Y years, I have…

Paragraph 3: Transition into some specific examples of your experience that match the needs of the position. This is a great place to mention accomplishments and awards.

Paragraph 4: Briefly state why you want the job, and show that you are motivated.

Paragraph 5: Ask for the interview, indicate how you may be contacted, put in any brief details about your plan to follow up with the recruiter about your candidacy, and thank the reader for reading.

Sincerely yours,

Name

Let’s go through the logic for each paragraph.

Paragraph 1: It’s simple and direct, and that shows respect for the reader’s time. It also ends with a bold premise: that the job is a strong match for your education, skills and abilities. The reader will want to know why you think that, and will read on to confirm or refute that assertion.

Paragraph 2: Gives your history in broad strokes, to pique the reader’s interest in learning more  (from the letter, and hopefully the résumé.) Again, be brief and encapsulate as much relevant information as you possibly can. If you aren’t sure what to say here, go back to your elevator speech, if you have one.

Paragraph 3: Gives a few specific examples that relate directly to the job you are applying for. This shows that you are not making a generic application, and that you have applicable skills and experience

Paragraph 4: Reinforces the idea that you are motivated toward the specific position. And motivation is a big part of the concept of “fit,” and that is the overriding concern of most hiring agents.

Paragraph 5:  Ties everything together by directly asking for an interview, clarifying how you can be reached, and laying out your plan for following up. (Which again shows you are serious about your application.

This format just lays out a simple structure for putting together an argument. You can write the letter in paragraph form, bullets, or a mixed format. Your unique education, skills, experiences and examples will be what keeps the recruiter reading. You can adjust this if you need to, but resist the temptation to go long with multiple examples or too many bullets. You don’t want your cover letter to read like a laundry list. It will get boring and repetitive and the reader may “lose steam” and move on.

Remember that the cover letter’s job is to make the recruiter’s job easier, by highlighting relevant information about your career and getting the person to read your résumé. Your résumé needs to keep this attention and leave the reader feeling that they want to know more about you, and that results in an interview. So don’t overdo the details on your cover letter. Describe the breadth and depth of your experience and give a few examples that are directly relevant to the position. Show that you are motivated, and ask for an interview. Than promise to follow up. Leave the rest for your actual interviews.

Cover Letter Strategy: Get to the Point, Get Interviews

Cover Letters: 6 Reasons You Should Write One, Even If You Feel It’s a Waste of Time

by | Jul 20, 2011 | cover letters, Job Search, job search tools, Resumes and CVs

writeadviceCover letters come in all different styles, and it’s not always easy to figure out the best way to outline your arguments for a job and keep the reader interested. So it’s not surprising to know that many job-seekers obsess over their cover letters. Others spend more time on the résumé, and barely any time at all on the cover letter. Others skip writing cover letters altogether.

The advice you’ll get on cover letters is likely to be mixed, too. You’re likely to hear any or all of the following:

  • Write a new letter for each position and try to show your potential match for a company’s current needs;
  • Write a generic letter for each type of position, but worry more about the résumé; and
  • Forget about the cover letter–nobody reads them anyway, so you’ll be wasting your time.
Given the different approaches candidates take, and the dubious assertion that you always need to write a cover letter, should you bother to write one? And if you do, what approach should you take?
It’s true that some recruiters are avid cover letter readers, others barely skim them, and some skip them until reviewing the resume. But none of these truths justify leaving a cover letter out of your application materials.

Here are 6 reasons why you should write one anyway:
  1. You are not a mind reader.* As such, you can’t be sure about the preferences of the person(s) screening the applications. (*apologies if you are indeed, a mind reader!)
  2. If a committee is handling the screening, people on the committee might have different thoughts on the value of a cover letter. Better to cover your bases.
  3. The recruiter(s) are not mind readers, either. Cover letters provide context about your education, experience, motivation, and possible fit. Your résumé should include plenty of information about education and experience, but the cover letter lets you tie all the pieces together into a coherent whole. Essentially, the job of the cover letter is to make the screener’s job easier, by helping the reader see how your motivation rounds out your education and experience, and molds you into someone who will fit their needs.
  4. Not sending in a cover letter will make you look lazy. Basically, it sends the message that the recruiter needs to do the work to figure out why you are interested in a job, and then to sell you on the value of working for their organization. And the recruiter probably has enough work to deal with already.
  5. The recruiter may interpret the lack of a cover letter as an indication that you are desperately applying for anything and everything, and that you haven’t really taken the time to determine why you are interested in the specific position.
  6. Some recruiters will consider your application incomplete and remove you from further consideration.
What do you think about cover letters? Do you write them for any of the jobs you apply for? Why or why not?  Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Support Hiring for Hope

Support Hiring for Hope

by | Jul 18, 2011 | Coaching, Job Search

Have you heard about Hiring for Hope? It’s a grassroots, nationally recognized 501(c)3 public charity, conceptualized as a Life Management Community (LMC) designed to help people manage and overcome all the obstacles associated with family building and/or career management challenges.

I heard about this group a while back from Johann Lohrmann, who wrote a guest post on mind-mapping your job search. He put me in touch with Tegan Acree, Hiring for Hope’s Founder and President.

Hiring for Hope offers assistance with:

  • Career and Family Building Management
  • Financial Assistance
  • Online Networking/Support
  • Workforce Solutions

Hiring for Hope is made up almost entirely of volunteers committed to their mission. I’m excited to be volunteering for a Career Connection Forum event on July 26th in Marietta, GA. This is my first time volunteering for the group, and I am really excited.

Unemployment is such a huge problem in Georgia these days, and I see the impacts of this almost every day. I live in a neighborhood with a mix of rental properties and single-family homes, and many of my neighbors are unemployed. I’ve offered to help a few of my neighbors with coaching and résumés but some of them have been out of work so long they have given up.

Groups like Hiring for Hope combat the very real problems of unemployment and that lost sense of hope that sometimes goes along with it. I’m glad to be doing what I can to contribute. And I’d like to challenge you to do the same.

I’ve signed up to be an online fundraiser for Hiring for Hope and have set a $1000 goal. Please donate what you can, and help give hope and practical assistance to those in need. Click on the badge below to go to my fundraising page. Thanks for helping in whatever way you can.