I don’t post Miley Cyrus videos (!) but will make an exception just this once.

Why?

Well, the young lady I know as “that eighth-grade middle schooler”, our daughter, will become a high school student from this September. And some of her school choir classmates sang along to an uplifting acoustic guitar version of Miley’s song, “The Climb”.

It’s hard to believe that the years have flown by so fast.
Yet they have.

At her graduation celebration (the school prefers that word over “ceremony”) there were encouraging and moving speeches from both students and teachers about change and growth.

Of course, as a parent and a teacher, I was proud of all their achievements and the basic goodness of these young people. But at the same time I was also a little saddened at some of the problems (global, national, local and personal) they may confront in the years to come.

However, if they can approach these mountains with even a fraction of the power revealed in Ms Cyrus’s lyrics, “it’ll be beast”

- Mark ‘Billy Ray’ McClure

Her journey’s not yet done but there’s a great story building around 16 years old Jessica Watson’s goal of sailing round the world. In her own words:

“Jessica Watson is setting out to become the youngest person to sail solo non-stop and unassisted around the World.”

Jessica’s age and a sailing accident at the start of the voyage have both generated some controversy.

Such is the way with big goals – things are likely to go wrong and you will definitely attract attention (not all of it positive) from friends and strangers.

What impresses me most is her determination to succeed while enjoying the ride – a great attitude for getting through this trip we call ‘real life’.

- Mark McClure

Just how far would you (legally) go to get your ideal job?
What impressed me most about Eric Romer’s pursuit of an online marketing role with HeadBlade was how he got their attention by using the very skills they were searching for.

Here’s just some of what he did:

• Created a very compelling wordpress blog: HireMeHeadBlade.com
• Got involved via Twitter with HeadBlade and others who could help.
• Created a FaceBook page.
• Made an engaging YouTube Video under the targeted name ‘hiremeheadblade‘ that showed him using their products, and demonstrating a good understanding of what makes them so attractive.

In effect, Eric was ‘walking the online walk’ and not merely ‘talking the talk.’ It was therefore no surprise to learn that HeadBlade’s people got in touch with him within hours of his online marketing launch. (I suspect Eric was targeting keywords that HeadBlade were probably tracking using tools like ‘Google Alerts’.)

So what was Eric’s primary goal for all this online branding activity?

Well, I think the strategic goal was, of course, to get hired by HeadBlade. Big time win!

But the tactical goal was something many jobseekers can learn from – and that was (imho) to get an interview. Eric’s use of online tools and personal branding are a great example of the potential offered by social media for savvy people looking to show potential employers what they can offer.

And in an increasingly interconnected world where the educated labor pool continues to grow by the millions each year, smart and ambitious people will need to use all the tools at their disposal to stand out and compete.

To finish this post, take a look at this screenshot from his YouTube page:

Notice how he has his online contact info in the profile box, as well as ‘tags’ for searches within YouTube.

Very smart!

Two other nice touches in his ‘hire me’ campaign were:

• - A ‘thank you’ YouTube video.

- A followup blog called, appropriately enough:
HeadBladeHiredMe.com !!

These are really clever moves because in years to come such ‘digital footprints’ will remain on the Internet and may come to replace the purpose behind having paper-based resumes and CVs.

Sounds a wee bit outlandish?

Well, in the words of one of the leading online content marketers I’m following, Joe Pulizzi:

“I never look at resumes anymore”.

That may be ahead of the curve for most HR departments out there in cubicle land – but give it time, give it time

More importantly, do you have an online social media presence and strategy?

If not, why not?

- Mark McClure