I got hired!

Hey folks!

I bet you missed me. :-)

Sorry for not writting about my job hunting success earlier - I was too busy strategizing my very own information war, more like a battle (p.s. I am gonna tell you all about it later on). So yeah, I got the job and now I am one of those office people wearing fancy suits and having my phone bills covered. Not really...;-) But here is what happened.

More than a month ago I have started this little job hunting experiment, to be precise I started looking for the job in the first week of February. On 19th February I had my first day of work. I now work on TV and do the stuff I love the most - manage PR and media relations.

In order to find the job I have used several techniques with most of them being fairly traditional (I did not make any viral videos, but probably should have). You can take a look at a little visual report below illustrating the progress of the experiment, although, first, I would like to make a little conclusion.

1. Your path to the dream job  almost solely depends on you. 
Knowing me, I can now say with 100% assurance that if I really-really wanted to get the job at Google I could have. I just needed to really work for it and really want it. Of course there always are circumstances you just cannot deal with. Like in my case, I can only work in the countries which do not require the working permit. And believe me this list is like super short. Thus, at this point of my career I decided to establish myself in the filed first before applying to work abroad and having amazing companies to do the paper work for me. So yeah, your success is directly proportional to the efforts behind it.

2. Your CV and your ability to make an impression is 90%, 10% is luck.
Clearly CV and your email, pitch or phone call to come with it is the first thing potential employer gets to know about you. Thus, it should speak for itself. To add something to this topic which I have already covered, you can also consider looking at this latest article on Mashable. The main rule to remember here is tailoring! You may and should have that one perfect universal resume to begin with, but you would very likely have to edit it for each particular job offering.

3. It is personal. 
Out of every channel tried, targeted emails seem to work the best. As you will see on the chart below, I have tried several ways of distributing my CV among the potential employers. If 100 is the maximum efficiency, email gets 100. Every time I have sent personal email with my resume attached to real people (not just HR department or a general email) asking them for a job, I always got the response.
References and letters of recommendations and  are also personal and extremely fruitful, it is like the word of mouth in action, like the true meaning of PR (when the person who says you are cool is actually not you, but somebody even cooler).

4. Social bookmarking works. 
Not just for blogs, but even for the job hunting. As this little technique helps increase traffic site and make your post (CV) more visible. Just imagine if the story of you looking for a job appears on Digg among the most sharable content. I bet somebody would hire you to do their social media.

5. Be creative. 
There is nothing to add here, except that every profession has place for fantasy and talent. If you can show at least 1% of you might add to the job while going through the application submission/CV writing/hiring process, it definitely increases your chances for success. 

What do you do when Google calls you?

Happy Wednesday!

I know it's been ages I last blogged here, but I hope my today's story will be worth such a long wait!

Remember, when I just started my blog I've shared with you some tips on how to make your CV stand out? Well, now I have a little proof my tips really work as I have been invited for an interview by one of my dream employers!

In case you are wondering what are the international companies I would looove to work for/with, here is my TOP-5 list: (my list is a bit different if I were to work in Ukraine)

1. Google because it's Google

2. BBC because working on TV is the best thing ever (trust me with this one as I did work on TV)

3. Apple because it's the ideal place for creativity, innovations and marketing

4. Burberry because I am as classy as their iconic products ;)

5. HBO because they made my favourite TV series

I wanted to make it very intriguing and not tell you what was the company that I had an interview with, but having considered all the pros and cons I went for a 'hooking headline' instead. So yes, it's Google!

Once upon a time I have applied for almost every potentially matching position at Google and started waiting for my lucky day. Nothing happened. :-) Couple of months or maybe even half a year later I read the news story on the new office Google is about to build in London in 2016 - 'I know where I will work in 2016' - posted I on Facebook the very same day. (I somehow believe in the idea of visualisation making dreams come true a little bit faster). Imagine how surprised I was when the following Monday I received an email with a subject line - 'Hello from Google'!?!?

'Hello, to you too', - I thought and could not really believe that their HR manger was inviting me to apply for a position of Associate Account Strategist. At first I was asked to submit a motivation letter in the language needed for the position (Ukrainian) and prepare for a little phone conversation. 

You may have already read (I did that sooo-o-o many times) that Google offers their job candidates at least 3 rounds of interviews before the hire. Depending on the location of the applicant interviews may be conducted by phone, by Google Hangouts or live (on-site interviews are usually the last phase). As I was invited for the first phone interview I checked other people's blogs to get some tips. Now I am sharing my own experience with you. :)

1. First interview is about first impressions

My first impression on the interview was very nervous as I did not receive a call on the agreed day and even though my motivation letter was not good enough or something. The situation was worsen also because I have read an article saying that in the US it's a common practice for the recruiters not to call and not to respond to the emails after. But now I think this is rather an exception, because in my case everything worked out well - I emailed HR staff and we agreed to have that call the day after.

Anyway, the aim of the first interview is to check whether candidates speak understandable English and are generally adequate. :) The HR manager are usually very friendly and nice as they talk a lot about the position, location, Google and the benefits you will get. The questions I was asked and everyone should be prepared to answer are the following (and may vary depending on vacancy):

- Tell me more about your previous experience and highlight how it is relevant to the position you are applying for.

- Have you had any clients-facing experience? Tell me more about it. 

- What is the project you have worked on that you are especially proud of?

- What's the biggest challenge you've overcome?

- If you were about to explain the benefits of Google AdWords to a client, what would you say?

- What are the current advertising trends in the region you are applying to work at?

- What salary would you expect from this position?

- How do you feel about moving to work in another country?

After that I was provided with more details on the recruitment process and the working scheme designed for that particular position, and the next interview date was set up. 

2. The second interview is about your competency and suitability for the particular position

I am a very happy person really, but I am not that lucky, so when something can go wrong - it always does. :) Therefore, when on the day of the second interview (a week after the 1st one) my phone went nuts and 'did not want to pick itself up' (basically I could see the call on my screen, but could not do anything with it until it turned off unexpectedly) leaving me with 8!!! unanswered calls from Google, I was not that much surprised. 

Yes, I was extremely upset and nervous, but luckily HR person emailed me in a minute, so that I explained what happened and asked whether it would be ok for me to call back. Turned out another call did not go through, so we decided to have that interview the next day. Again, not a good sign at all, but to get a job at Google is never easy, is it?:)

The second interview is conducted in the language(s) of the area you will be working with and by the person who works in the department you are applying in. The reason for this is that the person can better test your suitability, qualification and competency. The questions where constructed in a way so that I could provide a more detailed reflection on my previous work and gained skills.

- Tell me why are you applying for this job, what do you think you will bring to this position (your experience) and what is it you would want to learn/achieve from working at Google and at this position in particular?

- Tell me about a situation when you had an ethical dilemma at work, what the situation was, what did you do and what happened after? If the same thing happens again at your new job, what will you do?

- Tell me about a situation at your previous work when you improved a certain process? How? What results did you achieve?

- Have you ever worked with a difficult customer? What the situation was and how did you handle it?

- Did you have any leaving-abroad experience? Tell us about the challenges that you've faced and what have you learnt from them? 

- Imagine that you have a client who wants to sell smartphones in this particular city (say, Glasgow). How would you define target audience and its volume? What solutions in terms of online advertising you would offer?

- What is Display Network and what is the difference between Display Network and Search Network?

The rest of the interview you are encouraged to ask questions, what I did. :)

3. To sum up!

From what I know now - the key to success (both with CVs and interviews) is to tailor everything you write and say to the position you are applying for. 

Calm down, be relaxed and prepared - it's very unlikely you will face the same phone-call-disaster twice (because I already did and bad stuff rarely happens more often), so you will be fine!

Believe in your dreams and you will receive your lucky email. :-)

Keep trying and you will get your dream job - this is what I am going to do anyway!

Best of luck,

Maria 

Why your business should be on Google+

Good afternoon, my dear friends, readers and followers! Hi, Mom and Dad, I know you always read me! :)

Today I will share with you some up-to-date piece of knowledge regarding the use of social media channels for business purposes. So, I am sure all of you guys use Facebook and/or Twitter (Vk.com in post Soviet Union countries) as main online communication and connection tool. Obviously, businesses use these SNS for the marketing purposes. For instance, H&M Facebook page with its 16 million Likes can really be named 'encyclopedia example of the social media channels use for retail sector'. On the other hand, Instagram has also proved to be valuable network for fashion brands' online presence. I was always fond of the fashion it-girls like Mira Duma (429k Instagram followers) and how they personalise their businesses (Buro27.ru). Or, as another example, what do you think about Jobs movie promotion campaign? 15 seconds Instagram clips as an alternative to a traditional YouTube trailer looks smart and innovative! (Can you say so about the new iPhone(s)?)

A couple of years ago social media marketing was considered the biggest trend in the industry. I believe it still is important with all the efforts big brands invest into maintaining their SNS pages and even making CRM platforms out of them. One trend I have noticed while in the UK is the emphasise put on Google+ as a No.1 social network for businesses. So, have you heard of Google+?

Google+ is a relatively new SNS launched by Google (obviously) in 2011 and outnumbering Twitter users in just 2 years period! I have been using it for 3 months only, but  can already share with you some hints on why it is important to have your business 'google plused':

1. Search engine optimization  is the biggest concern. On the contrary to websites like YouTube or Facebook, whose content is quite restriced from SEO assessing, Google Plus represents the social network automatically indexed by Google Search. Just like any ther web page, content on the Google+ appears on search, can and does influence your page rank. Moreover, the high ranked information shared on this SNS stays in top search results for years. To compare, your awesomely popular Tweet will be lost in the Net within minutes. Interesting study published by MOZ suggests +1 action on Google+ (smth similar to Facebook`s Like) is 'more highly correlated with search rankings than any other factor. In fact, the correlation of Google +1s beat out other well known metrics including linking root domains, Facebook shares, and even keyword usage'.

2. The new old Authorship. I find my self producing Facebook masterpiece-posts, sharing genious 140 words on Twitter (occasionally) and writing this, hopefully interesting, blog ; clearly, I want the whole world to know who the author is. It is not like we live in the 100%-piracy-copyright infreengement-free world, you know. :) Anyway, Google Plus have introduced this new feature called Google Authorship which works in the following way. First, you should register your email as an author. Secondly, when you share your publications from other web sites (e.g. http://whatiknowishare.blogspot.com) on Google+ do not forget to mention your authorship. As the result, when somebody will google an article written by you, your profile photo from Google Plus will apear next to the search result. 

Again, it is important for search optimization, for promoting your content (as in 'more by Fabulous Author') and building personal brand. 

3. Google Timing+ my third favourite feature offered by G+. How do you know when your readers/customers/clients/fans are online? When should you send our your press release, Tweet latest rumors or post picture of the recently launched products? One way to go, is to read this study by Buddy Media naming the end of the week and weekends better time for online engagement. Thus, B2B Twitter  is more efficient on weekdays, whilst on B2C works best for Facebook on the weekends. You can find even more impressive data there, but another way to discovere the right timing is to go on Google+. Timing+ allows for automatic calculation of when your content gets the highest attention through +1 and re-posts. Therefore, you will always be smart in time managing your content. By the way, did you know that the best time for David Beckham to be active on G+ is Thursday between 20:00 and 21:00? Now, you know! 

There are so many more great features Google Plus has to offer, have fun trying out! 

Remember to send your work to cloud: useful tips on keeping your files safe

Nighty night to everyone!

Today or tonight's post will be about the cloud or in modern meaning the Internet storage softwares.

I came across the cloud storage in the beginning of my internship. I realized that the company saved all of the work online without having hundreds of files on their desktops. Unfortunately, I did not payed enough attention to this and later on this almost cost me a dissertation. Thus, after I spilled water over my laptop and could not access any data on it, I started thinking about alternative ways of keeping my work safe. Of course, you can back up your stuff and use USB storage, but it might be worth thinking of some up-to-date options.

Just to give you one reason the following info is useful, think of the situation when you are in the university, at the important meeting or with the business client and suddenly realize you forgot to bring some important documents. If you use cloud services this will never happen, because you can access your stuff from any other computer.

So, let me share with you what I know:

1. Googe Drive

This file storage and synchronization service was introduced by Google just in 2012. But I certainly think it has already found its fans and the number is 'a hell of a lot' (couldn't wait to use this expression). So if you have Gmail account, you can immediately start benefiting from the virtual storage space this virtual Drive offers you. Not only now I save my documents there, I very often work thefe creating presentations, charts and folders. Therefore, Google Drive is wonderful facilitation to companies' Intranet, because in Google Drive not only the documents can be stored, but the whole company can together work on every file. You can share your work with colleagues, edit their work and assign tasks and there is no need for 'email-attach-download-save as' routine. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

2. DropBox



Another online storage service very easy to use and very important to have. Similarly to Google Drive, it lets you save your work and share it with colleagues and friends. As far as I know, you can create the documents in DropBox and upload the existing ones from your computer. The great advantage of this service is the possibility of storing large size and amounts of data, such as photos. This is extremely handy when you want you pictures safe in one place and accessible for family members. In regards to the professional sphere, this is a necessity for designers, illustrators and guys who work with .jpg, .png and etc. To sum up, DropBox is something like 'free hard drive'.

Anyway, I would suggest using both services, because they complement each other, really.

Hope this helps.
:-)