Spring has sprung! Birds are chirping, pedestrians are darting out in front of my car, I narrowly avoid running into people on bikes – seriously some of you people are slightly dangerous. Ahhhhh…. Summer is on its way. And to top it off I’m seeing signs of an upswing in the market. WOO HOO!!

Recently, I was fortunate enough to take part in a few events focusing on job hunting, technology, new products, etc. at the Microsoft building in Cambridge, MA. Can we talk about how awesome the facilities are? 3 words – fully stocked fridges.

Highlights of the meetings included an evening devoted to discussing how best to use social media in an organization, 4 hours of resume review helping professionals market themselves, and yet another evening devoted to proctoring presentations for MITX (Massachusetts Information Technology Exchange) technology awards. And now I shall share what I’ve learned. I feel the need to put a “Confucius Say” here but will refrain.

Social Media:
First and foremost - BYOBM!! Be your own best marketer. Social media is what you make it. Are you Twitter savvy? Perhaps you are able to connect with millions via a group on Facebook? Or even better- you can do both and they are linked together? ROCK ON. The evening (Girls in Tech – Using Social Media in your organization) had 4 panelists answering questions regarding this very topic and I realized something when I left that night – if you are putting yourself out there – whatsoever – it will bring a response. Twittering (sending Tweets), updating your Facebook status, creating content for a website or (giggle) a blog.
BYOBM and they will come….

Resume Review:
I’m sure most of you know by now – I love helping people with their resume. Why? No clue. I get giddy knowing that I may be helping that person. And when it works – I sing the following song. The other night a gentleman who I had helped in a VERY packed resume review session came up to me at another event and said “I got an interview by using what you told me.” I had one of those moments where I had to think of what my face was looking like at that moment – because inside I was jumping up and down. Small win for him, a huge joy for me.
HOWEVER – the moral of the story is: tailor your resume. BYOBM – don’t assume that a company will “guess” that you have the skills. If they’ve taken the time to write a description – you need to take the time to acknowledge the description. Assume that the first person who sees your resume will have NO CLUE who you are or what you do – then what?

MITX Awards:
OK – I have to say helping with MITX was probably one of the COOLEST nights. Technology companies far and wide came to Microsoft to show off the newest concepts in several categories. My categories – gaming and rich media. Can we talk about how awesome the future of gaming and rich media is going to be? There’s nothing like sitting in a room with insanely smart people (MIT, Harvard, Yale, Carnegie Melon – the gang’s all here) and feeding off of their intelligence. Stay tuned IN folks – join industry groups. You will learn a lot and it will allow you to BYOBM at the events.

The moral: To succeed in this crazy world – you have to BYOBM (SERIOUSLY GIVE IT A SHOT), attempt to help others, and spend a few minutes with a nerd. Trust me. 