High Tech Connect

FINALLY. We are seeing a steady stream of consulting projects and perm positions coming in the door again. But there are also thousands of unemployed and under-employed pros vying for jobs as layoffs continue on both coasts and everywhere in between.

Suddenly, everyone wants to be a consultant. The battle for work heats up again and only the strongest and smartest will survive.

High Tech Connect has a unique vantage point with nationwide clients large and small, agencies and non-profits, new college graduates as well as seasoned industry experts, freelance contractors and newly unemployed perm candidates. We know what it takes to be successful in this challenging market.

Here are a few tips to help you stand out at the top of the candidate pool:

VERSATILE & PROACTIVE: Regardless of your background, the more versatile you are the more valuable you are to clients. You need to be equally strategic and tactical. Clients and employers are still extremely stressed and understaffed. There is little time for formal training or even project direction, so you must be proactive and assertive. Everything you do from the résumé, interview and follow-up needs to assure the client, “I’ll do whatever it takes to make you look great.”

SOCIAL SAVVY: Eighty percent of hiring managers are using LinkedIn to find candidates so if you haven’t yet posted your qualifications and recommendations on LinkedIn, you’re missing opportunities. And every project, from writing to exec comm, now requires some element of social media marketing. If you are still in denial about social media, you will no longer be relevant to today’s employers. High Tech Connect uses a proprietary database, LinkedIn and Facebook to find the right connections for clients because “perfect” candidates are moving targets more than ever before.

RUN A “REAL” BUSINESS: Being an independent consultant requires more than just printed business cards. You are a business owner and the IRS is increasingly auditing people who don’t correctly operate their sole proprietorship. They are also scrutinizing corporate clients for misclassified contractors and leveraging million-dollar penalties. Because of the risks involved with hiring consultants, more clients are requiring sole proprietors to incorporate and carry business liability insurance, or using placement agencies like High Tech Connect who will payroll you.

Finally, while you may be great at marketing a product or service for your employer or clients, you may not feel as comfortable marketing yourself. Take inventory of the tools and techniques in your marketing arsenal and don’t be shy to use them for your personal brand. Call a friend who can give you honest feedback or trade services with another communications colleague whose expertise augments yours.

There’s no time to waste. Projects and jobs are popping up everywhere and you need to be poised for success. Go get ‘em!

Have some of your own tips to share? Leave a comment here and share this post with your colleagues.

Freelance Switch posts another great How To article for those marketers who do a better job for their clients than for their own business. Opportunities abound at the grocery store, playground, post office and countless everyday social situations. And you don’t need to shrink-wrap your car with your business card info to do it!

Author Seth Simonds says, “Generating leads for your freelance business isn’t easy but it doesn’t need to be like pulling teeth. Get out there, have confidence in your ability to provide good things to the world, and meet some people. The rest will become easier with practice.”

Take a look at his post 7 Tips for Marketing Your Freelance Business Offline for some simple ways you CAN build your own business with real people in everyday situations.

Think you know all about being an independent contractor? Did you know the US government is cracking down on misclassified workers to help fill its coffers with millions of dollars in fines?

The San Jose Mercury News sheds light on the growing numbers of independent contractors at work in Silicon Valley, complex compliance issues for independent contractors, increased fines for corporations and tougher audits for contractors.

“Tech companies are nervously eyeing proposals in Washington to beef up enforcement and increase fines for violations of a complicated set of rules covering the use of independent contractors. The issue has special resonance in Silicon Valley, where thousands of engineers and programmers work as independent contractors for companies ranging from startups to some of the area’s tech giants.”

But the same issues apply to marketing and communications consultants, like those High Tech Connect represents. Anyone who wants to be a sole proprietor and start their own business providing services needs to understand the IRS has explicit rules about how you can work with your clients. Check out that IRS definition of Independent (Self-Employed) or Employee? here.

Intel said it uses “very few” independent contractors, preferring to hire employees. Cisco said it has “processes” in place to make sure its workers are “properly classified and managed in compliance with the policies set forth by the state and federal governments and their regulatory agencies.”

That’s one of the reasons companies like Cisco work with High Tech Connect to safely and legally employ independent contractors.

Ultimately, independent contractors are just as responsible for managing their business as a BUSINESS, and knowing how to operate within the laws and definitions is key to your success. Read the Merc’s article here.

We KNOW this. For the past 13 years, we’ve known marketing clients didn’t have time to sift through job board applicants, or determine who was qualified and who just lied.

Needle in the haystack

In today’s San Jose Mercury News, the former president of Monster.com, one of the leading internet job search sites, admits employment websites are too expensive for clients and isn’t fruitful for applicants. Bill Warren is now listening to his clients and starting from scratch on a new job search concept. The problem: it’s still an automated web-based system that relies on exceedingly busy clients to narrow the search using technology.

People work with people, not web-based search results. And there is no software yet that can detect real human chemistry… or b.s. Until then, clients will gladly pay high-touch firms like High Tech Connect to find exactly the right professional for the job.

On Friday, February 19, Rene Siegel and Michelle Stewart joined more than 1,775 members of the public relations community gathered on Twitter to “Help A PR Pro Out.” The intent of the online event was to use social media to leverage relationships and help those seeking jobs in the public relations industry. The High Tech Connect ladies are proud to have been the Silicon Valley market Champions, representing the geographic area. While anticipation of the event was high, how did the reality measure up? Though stories of new connections, bona fide job opportunities and even new jobs will take time to develop, here are a few great stats:

• Between the announcement on Feb 5 and Feb 20th HAPPO had more than 10,000 mentions in social media!
• More than 250 mentions of HAPPO in blogs
• More than 9,693 #HAPPO tweets
• 4,334 Tweets the day of the event

HAPPO Facebook Site

• 1,218 Fans (61 active fans)
• 84 interactions this week 43 likes, 12 comments, 51 wall posts

HAPPO Twitter handle

• 1,038 followers, 73 lists, 315 tweets, 672 link clicks

We are all looking forward to the next HAPPO event, prepared with even more open jobs and information for the PR crowd.

With nearly two decades of promoting technology products and services, Lisa Ballard has experience in an array of industries. For the last decade she has focused on public relations for a range of hi-tech clients including enterprise, database and application development software; Internet-based SaaS and other services; telecommunications; and consumer electronics. Her agency experience includes serving as senior vice president and technology practice leader for Manning Selvage & Lee, Atlanta, in addition to working with Fleishman-Hillard, Burson-Marsteller, and boutique firms specializing in hi-tech.

Prior to concentrating on public relations, Lisa was marketing director for various business-to-business software and hardware vendors where she created and implemented marketing strategies that quickly and positively impacted revenues. Lisa’s educational background of the Wharton School combined with a degree in systems engineering gives her a unique perspective from which to solve business communications challenges. She is able to quickly translate product features into competitive advantages that offer customers business benefits.

Lisa Ballard can be contacted via Twitter.

Help a PR Pro Out (HAPPO) Day is a community-based initiative to help friends and colleagues struggling to find jobs in the current economic climate. We are proudly posting bios from talented pros available for hire.

Arthur C. Clarke said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” For more than twenty-five years, Brian Johnson has been filling the seats in the theaters where some of the most prestigious technology companies in the world unveil their next new thing. He introduced IBM to the consumer and education markets. And he has also helped the Digital Equipment Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Novell and was the director of corporate media relations for 3Com.

And there’s another side to this coin: For three years Brian was the CBS News correspondent assigned to cover cyberspace. He was responsible for showing people the what was happening as well as he potential and possibilities of online media. He constantly looks for new online communications media with an eye towards how these new communication tools might move prospective customers to buy, motivate industry and financial analysts to recommend, cause competitors to be concerned and make employees proud.

Brian D. Johnson, +1.925.337.8911

LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter

Help a PR Pro Out (HAPPO) Day is a community-based initiative to help friends and colleagues struggling to find jobs in the current economic climate. We are proudly posting bios from talented pros available for hire.

As the mediums and landscape change, I continue to deliver results. Adapting over the years as media outlets grow and change: print, to e-zine, to blogs, to social media

I’m a Tech PR pro with 12+ years experience. Here are some quick highlights:

• Tech areas: broadband, consumer electronics, HDTV, home networking, home theater, mobile, semiconductors, telecom, wireless
• Tech standards & industry forum experience: Broadband Forum, WHDI, HDMI, TVnet, OFDM Alliance
  • Creating PR and communications strategies, campaigns and plans
  • Worldwide account lead: managing & directing multiple international teams simultaneously – leading and executing PR and communication plans
  • Serving as a spokesperson for press interviews and at tradeshows
  • Strong understanding of Web 2.0, social media, SEO and other new media initiatives

Joe Kilmer

Online resume at LinkedIn

Help a PR Pro Out (HAPPO) Day is a community-based initiative to help friends and colleagues struggling to find jobs in the current economic climate. We are proudly posting bios from talented pros available for hire.

I am a hybrid offering, with combined experience as a copywriter, researcher, teacher and journalist. I have more than a decade of experience as a marketing communications professional, on staff at Wunderman headquarters for 8 years as a writer/editor, with experience at other agencies like Ogilvy, Draft/FCB, MRM, and Rapp Collins, as well as for smaller agencies. Time Warner, Microsoft, HP, Citibank, Genworth, American Express, Pfizer, Roche, and Johnson and Johnson are among past clients.

I teach for MediaBistro and have an MFA in creative writing, and have had clips in Publishers Weekly, Newsday, and a number of business magazines/site. Based in NYC, I am very experienced at remote work, and short-term travel and even relocating possible for the right position.

Derek Scheips: Madison Avenue Copwriting. Anywhere. (TM)

Twitter

Portfolio URL

MediaBistro Instructor

Help a PR Pro Out (HAPPO) Day is a community-based initiative to help friends and colleagues struggling to find jobs in the current economic climate. We are proudly posting bios from talented pros available for hire.

A corporate communications expert with over 20 years of progressively responsible experience; a proven track record of successfully translating company strategy and objectives into high-impact communications programs that directly impact company brand, credibility and the bottom line results.

* Outstanding staff management, interpersonal, team building and communication skills used to successfully manage and lead change for five mergers/joint ventures – MillerCoors Brewing, Molson Coors Brewing Company, HP-Compaq, Compaq-Digital and Compaq-Tandem

* Creates strategic communication and marketing programs that build and enhance corporate brand and reputation

* Concrete approach to driving worldwide communication and marketing programs that span functional and group lines and organizational levels

* Ability to inform and influence press, industry analysts, financial analysts, customers, and prospects while motivating employees

* Exceptional ability to turn complex content into simple, highly charged and effective external and internal communications

* Recognized as a high-performance leader, motivating and collaborating with key stakeholders to build consensus

My specialties: Corporation communications including internal branding; internal communications; executive communications, visibility and brand; analyst, public and investor relations; customer communications; corporate brand and reputation; high-performance and collaborative leader; led change for five mergers or joint ventures

Melanie Rice, meerice@yahoo.com

Twitter, LinkedIn

Help a PR Pro Out (HAPPO) Day is a community-based initiative to help friends and colleagues struggling to find jobs in the current economic climate. We are proudly posting bios from talented pros available for hire.