Erik Wolf and Stephanie Frost in the Business RadioX studio
Stephanie Perrett and Stephanie Lloyd just after the show
Stephanie Perrett is one of three interns I have recently asked to join the Radio Veracity team as a partnership in which I will help them with their job searches and expanding their networks, and in turn they will help me with various aspects of my business; from marketing to communications to PR to branding to…well, once you get to know these three you’ll see just how strong their capabilities are!
This morning was Stephanie’s first radio experience and after the show I conducted a brief interview with her and asked about her studio experience as well as her internships(s) and her job search as a recent graduate of the University of Georgia.
If interested you can click here to listen to the show (approximately 20 minutes) during which we talked about both recruiting and job searching in today’s highly competitive job market.
This morning I was honored to speak with Heather Huhman about the entry-level job market in Atlanta, Georgia. This was her first in a series of interviews she will be conducting and recording for her website, Come Recommended. I first wrote about the site for my Examiner column when Heather launched it in May.
“Come Recommended is an exclusive online community connecting the best internship and entry-level job candidates with the best employers. Unlike other exclusive recruiting networks, Come Recommended requires both candidates and employers to provide at least three recommendations to gain access to the community.”
I will post the audio from our interview here as soon as it is available. Below is a transcript of our discussion.
Overall, how would you describe the internship and entry-level job market in Atlanta?
Like in many cities around the country, opportunities for paid internships – and for entry-level jobs – are tighter than under normal circumstances. This is a time to really get creative and see where it may lead.
In fact, just yesterday I hired two PR interns, Stephanie Perrett and Beth Farrar, both recent University of Georgia graduates, to help me grow my business, Radiant Veracity; a talent and social media strategies firm based here in Atlanta.
Rather than paying them a salary we have worked out a trade arrangement. They are helping me with various aspects of building and promoting my business – which gives them additional experience and more accomplishments to add to their resumes – and in return I am helping them by providing them with job search coaching, help with their resumes, cover letters, and job applications, and I’m helping them to significantly build and boost their professional networks.
I have many fantastic contacts whom I will introduce them to over the next few weeks and months, and who knows? They just may land a paying job through one of them!
I am also featuring Stephanie and Beth in a series of guest posts on my blog, Radiant Veracity. In this ongoing series they will chronicle their internship experience. We’re hoping that by sharing their experience throughout a mutually beneficial internship other people will grab on to the idea and work together in creative ways to help one another in this challenging economy and job market.
How often do people move around and/or change jobs in Atlanta?
Atlanta has long been known for being a transient city. Many people relocate to Atlanta from various parts of the country for new jobs, job transfers, to be near family members, or to move to a warmer climate.
What are the flagship industries of Atlanta?
Atlanta is home to many wonderful companies, including Coca-Cola, Chick-Fil-A, CNN, Waffle House, The Weather Channel, TNT, Delta Airlines, The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), AirTran, Rubbermaid Newell, 11 Alive News, UPS, Haverty’s, and Emory University and Healthcare System.
As you can see, we have quite a diverse industry population! You’ll find manufacturing, retail, hospitality, television and other media, airlines, and professional services here, to name a few.
Many U.S. and foreign companies maintain a regional presence in Atlanta across various industries.
Which industries do you think are up-and-coming in your area?
According to The Ladders, media & advertising is up dramatically in Atlanta. Health/bio/pharma have also seen a slight increase recently.
Which industries in Atlanta do you think will rebound the most quickly from the economic downturn?
Because they’ve experienced such a dramatic downturn I think that technology as well as the service industry will be poised to rebound quickly.
How do you think the economic downturn has changed Atlanta?
The city of Atlanta, like many other cities around the country, is experiencing deep financial trouble which has many impacts. Safety is an issue with the increases in crime that arise as a result of a poor economy and fewer police officers to deal with it.
Of course, we’ve also felt the impact of the housing crunch in Atlanta, like so many other cities; though not necessarily with same severity as other East Coast areas.
From a jobs perspective, according to The Ladders, telecom and tech in Atlanta have recently plummeted, while media & advertising is up dramatically. Health/bio/pharma have also seen a slight increase recently.
Can an entry-level professional or intern live comfortably in Atlanta based on their industry’s average salary?
Like anywhere else, entry-level salaries vary greatly by industry and by firm or company in Atlanta. The good news is that Atlanta has a very reasonable cost-of-living compared to so many other places in the U.S. which makes it much easier to manage expenses…especially as graduates are entering in to the workforce for the first time.
What networking opportunities are available in Atlanta?
Atlanta has no shortage of networking opportunities, that’s for sure! If you are active on Twitter you know that there are Tweetups (which is another word for meetup, or cocktail party, or networking event) at least once a week in the metro-Atlanta area.
I just co-hosted a very successful Tweetup last week, in fact, with Stephanie Frost and Rachel Rose. This event was the first ever Atlanta Chicks Tweetup – designed to bring professional women in the Atlanta area together for a Girls’ Night Out – and to network. We had 85 women in attendance at the brand new luxury St. Regis Hotel in Buckhead!
Due to the success of the first #ATLChix Tweetup we plan to make this a quarterly event. For more information women in Atlanta can follow the hashtag #ATLChix on Twitter or visit ATLChix.com in the very near future for details.
And, on August 4 beginning at 6 pm I am co-hosting a “co-ed” Tweetup at Pizzeria Venti on Lenox Road in Buckhead with Miriam Salpeter of Keppie Careers. The owners, Brian and Jaime Lackey, have been truly fantastic sponsors and partners to work with. For more information people can follow the hashtag #ATLMix on Twitter, or visit my website, radiantveracity.com.
For information on additional Tweetups and networking opportunities around Atlanta, people can check out the website atlantabuzz.com and search under Professional/Networking.
What major changes have you seen take place since you began working in Atlanta?
I’ve been living and working in Atlanta since 1997 and I have seen the marketplace here grow dramatically in terms of flexibility and creativity.
I’ve also seen a shift in a willingness to work together and help one another, rather than viewing others as the “evil competitor.” There is very much a sense of “if we help one another we all rise together” in this community.
Where do you see the job market trends in Atlanta going in the short-term and long-term?
Unfortunately, I don’t forsee a quick turn-around in the job market whether we’re talking about Atlanta or nationwide. From an economic perspective the stock market is a leading indicator and the job market is a lagging indicator; meaning that the job market is typically the last to rebound in an economic downturn. Unemployment in the state of Georgia is now at 10.7% and predicted to go even higher. Unfortunately, I think we’re probably looking at a couple of years more of higher than average unemployment.
The good news is that I do think we’re nearing the end of the massive job cuts; it’s just going to be a while before we see jobs really open up.
Today’s guest was Jason Prance, an independent professional who co-founded VergePoint, one of the fastest growing and unique online business and marketing companies in the Southeast.
Jason Prance
Our topic today was coworking which you can learn more about here. If you are an entrepreneur or independent professional -- or someone who works from home -- you should definitely check this out.
This was my first time ever guest hosting a radio show although I have been the guest twice before and I thoroughly enjoyed it eachtime.
Today was also Jason’s first time doing a live radio show and afterwards I asked him about the experience.
Also, on Monday, July 20, 2009 I will be guest hosting The High Velocity Radio Show again (unless Stone changes his mind after today’s show), and my uber-talented friends and partners in crime Rock Star Career Coach + Resume Writer Miriam Salpeter and Executive Recruiter the fabulous Jenny DeVaughn have agreed to participate.
We will have a roundtable discussion and the very brave @LeeKantor is actually on board with this. Please wish him luck. Me + Miriam + Jenny in the studio with Lee = he might need to call for backup. @ToddSchnick please take note.
Please join us next Monday, July 20, at 10:00 a.m. EDT!
Last week I had lunch with Jason Prance and I mentioned that he had introduced a concept to me called coworking.
I promised you then that I would be learning more about it and blogging about what I learned so that I could share the information with you.
According to Wikipedia, coworking is an emerging trend for a new pattern for working. Typically work-at-home professionals or independent contractors or people who travel frequently end up working in relative isolation. Coworking is the social gathering of a group of people, who are still working independently, but who share values and who are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with talented people in the same space.
Jason and I will be live on High Velocity Radio tomorrow morning and we will be discussing coworking. In preparation Jason recently wrote a blog post on his completely awesome website jasonprance.com.
Below is an excerpt.
Attention all you lonely designers, developers, entrepreneurs, and general loners out there hiding behind the iridescent glow of your trendy laptops. Social networking online will only take you so far, it’s time to get out in the sun and go IRL.
By all means, don’t stop using Twitter and Facebook, but if you are using social media for more than just entertainment and occasional stalking there’s a whole new world out there that only humans, not silicon, can cure.
It’s called Coworking. Here’s the fun part, you have most probably done it a few times already just not in an organized environment. But what is Coworking really and why should you be interested?
First, lets go back a couple years ago to an article in Wired Magazine, that talks about the emerging trend of coworking spaces. Here we learn where the term, Jelly, comes about and why this is happening all over the world today. Simply put, coworking fills a need. The need for others to collaborate and share ideas. There is much off-time in between work and when someone is immersed in a more productive and team environment, quality of work and new-found opportunities can be substantial enough to be the catalyst to launch new businesses and real products making real money.
Look at it another way. Ever find yourself sipping that overpriced latte at the nearby coffee house and rolling the dice with a Free WiFi? Don’t tell me that it’s for the coffee. This social behavior can we viewed as a natural inclination of people wanting, even needing, that social interaction in order to be more productive. We all want to be in business for ourselves, but not by ourselves.
What’s the difference between a Jelly and Coworking?
Jellies tend to take place in quaint environments such as kitchens, living rooms, and sometimes offices where Jellygoers typically meet once or twice per week. This is a great way to get the feel for this whole thing in case you’ve never stepped foot inside a coffee shop with Free Wifi before. A dedicated Coworking space, run the correct way, is where things can get to be lots of fun. Coworking spaces across the world that have their doors open for the majority of the working week and preferably Monday through Friday are popping up around major cities first and making their way to the suburbs.
Please click here to read on and learn about coworking in a location near you, and be sure to join us live on High Velocity Radio tomorrow morning, July 13, 2009 at 10 a.m. EDT to learn more!
It’s 4:20 a.m. and for the second night in a row I’m tortured with insomnia. The one good thing about insomnia is that it gives me a chance to catch up on reading my favorite blogs.
I read Penelope Trunk’s recent blog post How to divorce new-millennium style (and I love Kate Gosselin) and it gave [...]
