If you are looking for a job, it’s time to start thinking outside the box. Over the past few years, the job market has evolved. Businesses are increasingly mobile. You can transact and consume while on the move. Employees are dispersed and virtual as they move away from the confines of brick and mortar. Where you live, is less relevant than what you can do.
By leveraging visual communication technologies, enterprises are able to interact with clients and co-workers irrespective of geographical boundaries. Throw social media into the mix, and the picture is complete.
The winds of change come with a host of new opportunities for the adventurous. New industries, jobs, and titles are becoming mainstream as the workforce adapts to the dynamics of the job market. Here are some industries that you may not have considered for employment in the past.
Marketer of Business Ratings and Reviews
Making a living getting people to write unbiased reviews and comments about a business or a service may not be top of mind for a lot of you job seekers out there. If you are to go by the success of companies like Yelp, Angie’s List, and Glassdoor, this is a mushrooming industry and an opportunity to be looked at seriously. When was the last time you picked a restaurant for a date night without looking up some reviews about it? The jobs in this industry can vary from advertisement selling to analytics of reviews to determine consumer reactions, preferences, and dislikes. If you are already in a business – like running a restaurant – that relies heavily on customer reviews, you may want to give this new industry some consideration.
Reputation Manager
If you think that this is something that Lindsay Lohan could use, you would not be off base! The widespread adoption of social media and the reckless abandon with which users have portrayed their personal and professional personas publicly have often come back to haunt them. The reputation business is about fixing all your missteps. Truth is a relative sentiment when you have the right agency working for you! The world of reputation management is complex and involved. A corporate “fixer” may be what you could become if you set your mind to do it.
Social Media Community Manager
If you are passionate about social media and already spend a lot of time engaged with your friends, followers, and connections this one may be for you. In this role, you can leverage everything that you have done for fun and turn it into a career. Along the way, you will need to fine-tune some of your skill sets like content development, customer engagement, social listening, and brand image building while ensuring that you avoid embarrassing social media gaffes. You may also have to provide some analytics to senior management to demonstrate that your efforts in social media community management are paying off and that you are an employee worth retaining.
Social Influence Analyst
The influence industry is becoming big business! Attention is scarce. With businesses vying for customers’ attention, getting the influencers onside with your brand is essential. With companies like Kred, Klout, and Peer Index setting scoring systems to benchmark a person’s influence, service levels can be directly tied to a person’s influence. Despite a few large corporations incorporating influence into their marketing metrics, mainstream businesses remain skeptical of its ability to drive online engagement and revenue. If you are connected and maintain credibility in social media circles, you may want to look at a career selling or marketing influence analytics.
Social Recruiter
With almost every working person creating a profile on LinkedIn, this may sound like an obvious one. With social media networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter competing for the recruitment dollar, established online recruiting resources like Monster.com and Workopolis.com have to be more agile and creative in sourcing and screening potential talent. If you are already in an area like Human Resources or Customer Service, this may be an avenue for you to expand your employability in the future.
While some of the jobs and industries listed above may appear to be a stretch for some of you, the intent of this post is to provide a sense of the opportunities out there. So, while continuing to explore avenues within your comfort zone, do not ignore what may be just beyond that!
If you liked this post, please comment and share using the options below.
More good stuff, Dax! You are absolutely right that individuals, and perhaps even more importantly, corporations, need to be aware of these trends and start incorporating more “social media strategies” into the mix. Not just for external marketing and profiling for the company, but for recruitment and existing employee satisfaction. The simple fact, however, is that the established companies, with time-served executive management, may lag the social media curve when compared to their younger and more energised employees. What seems obvious and valuable to the latter, may not be so obvious to the former, and a lot of internal sales & marketing needs to be done to get the wheels moving!
Thanks Andy! To your point, I believe that corporations have to implement social media strategies to benefit from it. Just how much and how soon will vary from one to another. I also believe that this opens up opportunities for folks like you and me in Sales & Marketing…