Announcing: The "Hire Me, Pal!" Initiative

As many of you know, I've been in the job market for....oh, quite a while now. Although I've had some successes in interviews, I'm always looking out for new ways to connect. In fact, reaching out to my professional colleagues has provided somewhat mixed results, but I realize that I have a whole network of friends and readers that I haven't tapped into....

....until now.

Since I'm looking to work in the wonderful exciting field of social media (possibly either for a comics and/or pop culture-related business or a non-profit), I'm introducing the "Hire Me, Pal!" Initiative. If you want to participate, it's easy - all you need to do is forward this blog post (either to your friends and/or potential hiring contacts) via Twitter (with the #hiremepal hashtag), Facebook, or other social network, let me know via e-mail (I suggest using my personal site's contact page) and voila! It's my effort to create a campaign which not only allows me to build my community, but to drive conversation and awareness, hopefully expanding my professional and personal networks.

For those of you wondering "why?", quite honestly - I'm registered with several staffing/ recruiting agencies, I've been applying for jobs, and whenever I reach out to key contacts, all I get are links to job boards. I'm looking to get "inside information", and quite honestly, it's also a way for me to empower those friends who aren't "movers and shakers". If you need some backup, let me offer the following:

• As you can see by my Linked In profile, I have experience working in communications - helping non-profits, companies, and small businesses shape their messages and engage their potential advocates. In short, I help people build their communities online and offline, and I would be an asset to any company
• I am also very versatile - for example, I have been told that I should use my recent interview with Dirk Manning (as part of Zone 4) as a "demo tape"....but I need some place to send it. Hence, if you know a producer who would take me on as a host.
• Finally, if you participate (and you ask nicely), I'm more than willing to send you a copy of Read This, Pal!, an anthology of comics and stories - yes, I thought it might be cool to provide something unique and talkable as part of this campaign

My goal is simple - I want to demonstrate my social media mojo, but ultimately, get some paying work. It's my way of encouraging myself to work a little smarter - not harder - when trying to find a job.

In other words, I want to encourage employers to "Hire me, pal!". But I'll need your help.

As always, thanks!