No, It's Not The ''Economy, Stupid''

Telling a recent grad that the economy is the reason they can't find a job is like this mom defending her daughter for wearing a Confederate flag shirt in school:  it's supporting a really stupid idea. 

Once upon a time, it was okay for recent grads to use the whole economy excuse, just like once upon a time it was okay for people to hang the Confederate flag outside of their homes. 

I know a few of you probably felt their heads fume a bit.  But if you don't believe me, let the International Business Times tell you that 95% of college graduates are employed.

But maybe it's not where they'd like to be employed.  And maybe it's ridiculously competitive for those trying to find a relevant, entry level position. 

In one entry-level marketing position, for instance, a total of 768 applicants submitted resumes, the majority of which with bachelor's degrees and two years of experience. 

I told you, ridiculously competitive.

So what sets you apart from the other 767 recent marketing grads?  Well, you tell me.

Say you're in my position, a marketing grad with only collegiate experience.  How am I going to convince someone that I can sell something else?

By selling myself. (No, not like that.)

You're essentially a brand.  Kim Kardashian is the epitome of this.  Homegirl has done absolutely nothing to gain her fame, but she's kept it by creating a brand of her name.

From stores to dieting pills to clothing lines, her name brings value to whatever she's selling.  This is how a human being works. 

We bring value to our name by what we represent; if we can convince the person on the other side of the laptop reading our resumes that we're the best thing since slice bread, then we've put value to an otherwise faceless, mundane, generic application.

This personal brand is something that carries with you.  My personal brand as an eccentric marketing apprentice is relevant to everything from the absurdity of my blog to the incredibly awesome marketing campaigns I've come up with.

So if you still want to blame the economy, use this as an opportunity to boost it by putting yourself out on the market and seeing how many people buy a colorful personality.

http://beerbatteredramen.blogspot.com/

"Stay Classy, San Diego"

So if you're friends with me on LinkedIn, you'll find that I usually terrorize my connections on a daily basis with social media news.  I fell in love with social media marketing because of two reasons:  policing, and an awesome professor.

The policing part stems from my glory days as an executive board member on my beloved sorority.

Because of all the bad press associated with being a greek, we had to make sure that the ladies always kept a clean, classy, Disney-rated image - especially on social media sites.  I was always researching ways not just to improve our image, but promote our organization as well.

It wasn't until I got a big girl job and starting taking a social media class (again, thanks awesome professor) that I started realizing the scope of how important your online image is.

Sometimes, the Facebook hawk in me wants to just wring some girls' necks when I see them proudly boasting their beer bottles in provocative poses, or when their statuses consist of how ridiculously, black-out, I-want-to-hook-up-with-anything-that-moves, wah-why-isn't-the-world-paying-attention-to-me, I-just-puked-in-my-best-friend's-car drunk they got last weekend.

Especially with the new Facebook Timeline, it's so much easier to have this record digitally imprinted for the rest of your life, for the entire world to see...

Including future employers.

So ladies (and gents that find the need to discuss about their unrealistic dating "life" and how they spend 2093808402834 hours at the gym), make it a resolution this year to keep your private life private and clean up your act - at least on Facebook.

You can thank me with your first full-time paycheck.

http://beerbatteredramen.blogspot.com/