The Jobspring Experience
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Social Media and Job Searching: Maintaining Your Online Presence
Article by Morgan Khodayari, Recruiter at Jobspring San Francisco
When starting your job search, it is important to be in tune with how you are represented online and how you are utilizing Social Media. In this day and age, websites like LinkedIn and Twitter are a direct reflection of yourself and when used correctly can add another dimension to your resume and improve your credibility. While the immediate value of a Twitter page or an updated LinkedIn profile may be hard to see, your job search is the most important time to hone your focus on your online social presence.
Keeping Your Information Up-to-Date
One of the first things many hiring managers or recruiters will do after you apply to a job is plug your name into Google or look for your LinkedIn profile. Resumes are a great tool that allows candidates to show case their skill sets but a hiring manager can get additional details by utilizing online resources. LinkedIn gives them a good idea of who you’ve worked with, who you might know in common, or what your additional skills are but if your LinkedIn profile doesn’t match what you’ve highlighted on your resume, or is not up-to-date, it may draw a red flag. It can indicate that you were not forth coming in your resume or it can show that you are not concerned with your online presence. It’s becoming common practice for managers to request LinkedIn pages as opposed to resumes – it organized in the same way and should be immediately accessible so be proactive and include a link to your profile on your resume.
Be Active
It’s important that you check your various social media sites at least once a day. If you are receiving requests or messages, you should be able to respond within 24 hours as you would an email. If you have a Twitter it’s important to show that you are active and contributing. If you have a Twitter account and have not tweeted for months, it cannot be utilized as a tool for creating your social media brand. You should not feel compelled to tweet constantly through the day – once or twice a day suffices and shows you are reachable and engaging others in the social media community. Be aware of who is looking at your LinkedIn – they could be hiring mangers or recruiters interested in your skill set. Also pay attention to how much traction your page is getting, and work towards improving your presence.
Contribute to Your Industry’s Community
Make sure that you are engaging with your industry’s community in every way possible. Share articles you find interesting, join groups, and reply to comments and statuses of people you find interesting. Utilize hash tags to join conversations within your field, and post articles that you read or events that you attend. This will not only generate more traction to your page, but also prove your credibility. Hiring managers want to know that their employees are in tune with what is happening in the industry and that they are active contributors so ensure that your brand reflects your involvement in the community.
Social Media is an active part of our lives and will continue to become more important. Your online presence can give you a very simple way to differentiate yourself from other applicants and make you stand out through sharing original thoughts and ideas. Take small steps to stay active and informed on various social media sites every day and see the impact of your new and improved online brand!
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Jobspring Partners Helping out at the San Francisco Food Bank
Jobspring San Francisco volunteered at the San Francisco Food Bank on February 28th to help out and give back to the local community!
Their organization is responsible for providing hundreds of people in need with food to help them survive. We were so lucky to get to volunteer and had a great time working with the other people who gave their time and effort to volunteer with us!
Check out some photos of our time at the food bank below:
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Here is the Jobspring Partners group with their fashionable gloves and hair nets!
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We were in charge of re-packaging brown rice into a more manageable from for delivery.
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"High unemployment and the lingering effects of the recession have pushed record numbers of people in San Francisco and Marin to the point of hunger. While government safety net programs are stretched thin with budget cuts, people can still count on the Food Bank. Thanks to our thousands of donors and volunteers, we haven't cut back. We've scaled up, and we're getting more food to more families than ever before."
This is the impact the Food Bank will have in this year alone:
- 225,000 people will be nourished through our programs
- 45 million pounds of food will be delivered throughout San Francisco and Marin, more than half of it fresh produce direct from the farm
- 100,000 meals worth of food will be distributed each and every day
- 30,000 families will receive wholesome foods at our pantries each week
- 11,000 children will be served fresh, healthy snacks in the classroom each school day
- 450 nonprofit partners will rely on us to supply their meal and food programs
- 230 farmer's market-style pantries will provide foods people can use to prepare healthy meals in their own homes
To learn more about the San Francisco Food Bank or to get involved, please visit their site at: http://www.sffoodbank.org/
- 225,000 people will be nourished through our programs
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Jobspring Partners Interview Series: Larry Mellon and Automation in Gaming
On Wednesday, February 6th Tech in Motion was at KIXEYE for an awesome presentation by John Sasser and Larry Mellon on Load Automation and Scalability in Gaming.
We had an exclusive with Larry Mellon after his presentation and were able to get to know more about his experiences.
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With over a dozen GDC lectures, Larry Mellon is an established leader in accelerating the production of online games via automated testing and metrics-driven development. His background in the scalability of parallel simulations and distributed virtual worlds from DARPA's Advanced Distributed Simulation and Synthetic Theatre of War programs provides the basis for solutions that support rapid prototyping, visibility and stable operations.
Larry presented on how to use Automation to accelerate and scale the build/test/measure processes. He also covered the use of Analytics to iteratively improve the gameplay, system performance, monetization and the production cycle itself.
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JS: How did you get started in this industry, were you always in San Francisco?LM: I was a DARPA and NRL software architect, focusing on the scalability of parallel simulations and virtual training worlds. I saw a new, truly interactive media forming from the early MMO games, 3D accelerators and social networks, and I wanted to be part of making that vision happen. So I spent a year researching the field and published a couple of papers at the Game Developer’s Conference, which gave me some leads into the highly insular world of building video games.
My path to San Francisco started from a desire to escape the frozen tundra of Canada and to work with the best people in distributed systems, both of which are California-centric. I spent ten years in the Washington D.C. research communities, and then moved to Walnut Creek to help ship EA’s flagship MMO project, The Sims Online. A quick stint in LA convinced us that the Bay Area suited us best, and the eclectic mix of San Francisco people, beach Frisbee and Golden Gate Park lured us out of the East Bay.
JS: What are you passionate about technology wise?
LM: Highly iterative prototyping and fielding of complex distributed systems, using aspects of automated testing, test-driven development, embedded application metrics and agile processes for iteration speed, stability and visibility. Think the scientific method, started up for the unique aspects of finding and fielding fun in massively concurrent virtual worlds. I also love the technology and physics behind flying Frisbees, and relentlessly experiment with optimizations to the distance/speed/accuracy problem. Yes, that means I spend a lot of time throwing Frisbees on the beach.
JS: How did you select which topic to present on?
LM: I’ve been working on another software engineering textbook, focused on the problems of building complex online games that are stable in both development and live environments. Online games must able to be quickly shifted in direction as rapid prototypes iterate and improve internally, and then go live as soon as ‘fun’ is found, and be easily scaled as a game grows in popularity. “Iterative Innovation in Games and Gardens” has been my obsession for years now; I picked out some of the material that I thought would be of broad interest but light enough to cover in 20 to 30 minutes. Solving these hyper-agile software problems is required for our industry to jump to the next energy level in the electron cloud, writing lectures provides tremendous clarity of thought for me, lets me geek out with others interested in the same problem, and hopefully gives others a basis for looking into these problems in their own unique problem spaces.
JS: Have you attended a Tech in Motion Meetup before? What are your thoughts on it?
LM: This was my first Tech in Motion meetup. I was quite impressed at the turnout generated, especially when compared to other SF meetups I’ve attended in metrics technology.
JS: Are you active in the Meetup community? What about social media?
LM: I’ve recently started hitting SF meetups; this was my first talk. I post snippets of social media type things and software type things to Facebook and have been slowly accumulating articles for a blog on technology thoughts, subconscious versus conscious decision making and humorous short stories.
JS: What is one thing you hoped that attendees took away from today?
LM: System-level, fully automated testing and embedded application metrics can be used to radically accelerate the rapid prototyping phases of game development, as well as stronger, cheaper stability at operational scale, and as prediction guidelines in the notoriously fuzzy problem of ‘where are we, right now, against our daily tasks and quarterly projection goals?’ A timetable for finding ‘fun’ is not predictable per se, but by examining multiple trends; one can roughly project and accelerate dates.
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You are Invited to Tech in Motion SF at KIXEYE!
KIXEYE is opening up their Top Secret Lab for a fun filled night of free Happy Hour & Snacks before two speakers will delve into the challenges of developing and maintaining a Gaming platform. Join Jobspring Partners for their 5th installment of Tech in Motion San Francisco and come ready to learn some pretty cool stuff!
RSVP Now and don't miss this great Meetup-> #techinmotion
The Presentations will be the following:
Scalable Game Development By: Larry Mellon
Building “fun” can be hard and upfront planning only carries you so far. Larry will talk about how to use Automation to accelerate and scale the build/test/measure processes. He will also cover the use of Analytics to iteratively improve the game-play, system performance, monetization and the production cycle itself.
Larry Mellon is a frequent author and speaker on accelerating game production via automated testing and metrics-driven development. He joined the game industry over ten years ago, distributing systems to bear on the development challenges of EA's The Sims Online and The Sims 2.0. Larry was a lead architect in DARPA's Advanced Distributed Simulation and Synthetic Theatre of War programs.
Scaling Your Infrastructure By: John Sasser
Whether you are a developer, gamer, or just plain interested in scalable platforms, this talk will interest you! John will discuss different strategies and approaches to prepare your infrastructure for natural growth or a massive influx of users. Attendees will learn how to identify weak areas and correctly engineer solutions for common bottlenecks and reduce single points of failure. In addition, he will cover how to prepare for a launch, when to scale horizontally vs. vertically, as well as tips for capacity planning.
With 14 years of infrastructure engineering and technical operations experience, John brings a myriad of knowledge from both the public and private sectors. John has built and managed mission-critical environments for DoD, DHS, and NSA, as well as a number of large commercial clients either directly or through his company, Nimbus Solutions. In addition, John has helped a number of smaller start-ups in Silicon Valley and beyond build world-class ecosystems.
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Meet a Lead Recruiter in our Jobspring San Francisco Office!
Say hello to Ellinor Magnusson, the Lead Recruiter on our Microsoft Web Development Team. She is dedicated to filling jobs for skills sets involving Java, C#, ASP.NET, .NET, and Javascript.
Elinor has an international background with roots from Sweden and Chile. She spent a few years in California early on, and after Graduating college in Sweden, she decided to move back to the states with her Husband Mikael. She's settled down in San Francisco and has been working with Jobspring for about two and a half years now. After her first year with Jobspring she was promoted to Lead Recruiter on the same team as our Regional Director Heather Samaras. If you are looking for a Java Job - she is your go to gal!
Ellinor places skilled developers into great jobs all over the San Francisco Bay Area. Give her a call today if you are looking for a new job in the new year!
Call Ellinor: (415) 904-8000
Email: Ellinor.Magnusson@jobspringpartners.com
Follow on Twitter: @SwedishTecMafia
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The First Job Filled in the New Year at Jobspring San Francisco!
Our local San Francisco multi-tasking stud Rob Hammett just placed our first Jobspring Job Seeker of the New Year into a great job!
We are off to a great start in 2013 now that Todd has a new job with the help from Rob. Todd is a designer turned Ruby Developer who has been contracting for a while and Rob helped him find a full time role in a Ruby environment. He will be working side by side with 3 other engineers whom Rob previously placed with the same client. All 4 Job Seekers have found a great company to work at through the help of out Open Source Development Team here at Jobspring Partners San Francisco.
Reach out to Rob Hammett if you are looking for a new job in the new year as well and would like some help from Jobspring Partners San Francisco!
Call: (415) 904-8000
Email: Rob.Hammett@jobspringpartners.com
Follow: @bobEdidg
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Jobspring San Francisco Wrapped up their Holiday Toy Drive!
'Tis the Season for giving and we just wrapped up (pun intended) the Toy Drive at our Jobspring San Francisco office.
We had a bin to collect toys in our Lobby for half of December and it was almost completely full! It was picked up by 2 very nice Volunteers the other day, and we hope that all the donations can make the Holiday Season more enjoyable for some boys and girls.
Two of our Jobspring Managers are holding up the toys that they donated!
Here are the nice Volunteers who stopped by to pick up the Toy Drive Bin.
Watch the video from SF Firefighter's Toy Program HERE. Thank you to everyone who donated Toys and we hope that you have a wonderful Holiday Season.
For more information, go to the SF Firefighter's Toy Program Website or Call 415-777-0440.
"The San Francisco Firefighters Toy Program believes that no child should be without a toy during the holiday season. In time of loss due to fire, our firefighters are the ones who see first-hand, the devastation when a child is left without a favorite toy. Donations of toys are graciously accepted throughout the year at any San Francisco firehouse."
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Big Day for New Jobs at Jobspring San Francisco!
It's been a productive week so far at Jobspring San Francisco. Earlier in the week Rob Hammet, a recruiter on our Open Source team helped a really nice job seeker named Chad find a great new job!
Chad stopped by our office for a quick chat and we all wished him congratulations on his success. We also filmed a quick video testimonial about his experience using Jobspring San Francisco which should be on our Jobspring You Tube Channel shortly.
Chad is a front-end developer and was discovered by our talented sourcer Bob David in Boston. After only one interview, Chad was offered the job on-site and the team at his new office are excited to start working with him.
Great work Rob and congratulations goes to Chad from all of us at Jobspring Partners!
But it didn't stop there!
Later on in the day from the same Team, Ryan Theige helped out another job seeker named Brandon land a new role too! Brandon is a really sweet guy and was such a pleasure to work with. He wanted a job that would enhance his web development skills as well as help him to get involved with a smaller company where he can have more influence. He will be the 8th employee at a small, but awesome, start-up and is super excited to get to work!
If you are looking for a technical role in San Francisco, make Jospring Partners the first place you call! We are happy to speak with you about the job market, let you know what we have available and try to get you out on interviews even if you aren't necessarily looking.
Give us a call today at (415) 904-8000
Feel free to stop by 33 New Montgomery, Suite 400, San Francisco, CA 94105 or apply online at JobspringPartners.com