A recent Forbes article suggests that social media is the hottest job in the journalism industry this year.  This trend is something that I’ve seen popping up a lot – a Google job search for “Social Media Jobs” comes up with 10 different sites in the top 10 advertising SM jobs. Mashable, number nine for the keyword search, boasts nearly 40 jobs for the industry.

New jobs are always a good thing and I hope that all of the companies looking for folks get someone good for these positions. My main question is who is vetting the candidates?

Social media is new water to many companies. They are looking for someone to bring them into the space because they read that it’s important, their competition is doing it, or it is something that they do not know too much about – or a combination of those factors.  Companies that don’t know enough about the space are at risk of being taken for a ride by a candidate that is just as clueless in the space as the company is.

While there are a ton of great people who could fill the positions, there are an equal number of snake oil salesmen out there. So how can a recruiter or hiring manager tell the difference? Here are some tips to consider.

If social media is a skill set on a candidate’s resume look for the following things

Twitter handle

• If it’s not there ask what accounts he has managed and ask for links
• If it is, look at the content. Is it original and relevant or does it simply rehash Mashable and luminaries like Chris Brogan?

Personal blog

• What does the candidate blog about?
• Is he chiming in with original content, or just repurposing high-profile blog posts?

ROI boost

• Ask how he has tracked ROI and how he plans on making it work for your business
• If he says it’s subjective, pry for more as that is an easy cop out. You can always track SM, just determine the metrics.

Tracking

• What is the candidate’s idea of finding the conversations?
• Is it a Google search or is it more?
• If it is a monitoring service ask him if he has used it before.

While these are a few options available, it pays to do your homework. Look at what the candidates are saying before they come in to make an opinion before the interview process. You want someone in this position that can help you company grow – not just their ego. If you are in doubt about someone – ask an outside person that you hold trust in who is active in the space, as they can help spot the poop shovelers.

Image – stochastic geometry

Image courtesy of Careerhub.typepad.com

As you ponder that, I’ll break into my story. While at college, I fell into the world of sports. Not as an athlete, but rather an intern with the NJ Devils. After a semester working there, I landed a gig as a media relations intern with the NY Knicks. After these two experience, I figured that sports was for me. It was fun, exciting and made people interested in what I did, however after graduation, I couldn’t land a job and went to work for my stepdad’s construction company trying to figure out what to do.

Then in mid-July, I got a call from the Baltimore Ravens, asking me if I would be interested in an internship for training camp. It was slated to last six weeks, but they selected two people to stay on.  To make a long story short, I wound up with the Ravens for two years and had a lot of fun and met a ton of cool folks.

I know you are probably asking yourself what part of this is the bad nightmarish part. You’ll see

After missing the playoffs, my fellow intern Hilary was told that her last day was the following Monday. Without hearing anything, and having some bugs dropped in my ear that I would be around for a while, I thought that I was safe. I was wrong – and the following week, I said my goodbye’s to the folks that I had spent two long years with.

From there I hung around Charm City a few weeks with no job and when money was short, I returned to Jersey and the family business. While looking for jobs, I wound up landing one with Jaguar and Range Rover. This job lasted all of six hours as I got a call from a minor league baseball team in Long Island that wanted me to be the media relations manager. So without much thought, I quit and was on my way to making less than I had as an intern.

The base salary was $25K and I could make more in commission checks from sales. I was told that sales comes naturally to PR people, as we are inclined to be full of sh%t. I figured it wouldn’t be that bad, and I could do it, however the red flags should have went up soon  after when I was told that they would not pay to relocate me, not even putting me up in a hotel room.

At first the job was great, working in a new sport and running my own department. I had a great intern named Presto and we got along well, then there were the official scorers Red and Joe that truly entertained me.

Red was an old tymer who generally had disdain for the owner of the team and always told people to f-off, when he wasn’t napping. Then there was Joe a male Yenta who smelled from caddying and always had a bad attitude. They did teach me how to be an official scorer, it came in handy during a 25-1 game with all kinds of kooky plays including a Buckner.

During the first year, I realized how hands on the life of a minor league employee was in the independent leagues – cleaning up the park, pulling tarp in the rain, working outside events and attending parades and other promo events. Not only did I show up daily before eight, but routinely worked until after midnight for weeks straight. Since there was no travel money, I also was writing away game recaps from the friendly confines of my desk. Work weeks often hovered around 70-80 hours a week.

The PR work also became a drag as the local media outlet did not send out a quality reporter and most times it was a burden for them to be there. So all of the releases and game notes that I crafted turned out to be recycling. I also produced magazines and a media guide, that I am not sure if 10 all season were purchased. So it began to wear on me and I also got tapped to do PR for the league as well which took away much of the free time that I had. The crowning moment was getting us on CNBC.

Note: In the two years I lived on the Island, I was 10 min. from the beach and saw it twice.

Image courtesy of NYT

As long as my coffee pot was full and I had some energy drinks I was fine. It was in my first offseason that I realized that the job might not be for me as I entered the sales season. There was the need to constantly fill out call sheets and a pressure to sell-sell-sell. Going into meetings with small business owners, I would feel guilty of bilking them out of hard earned cash – and also thier entire marketing budget – for advertising.

Believe it or not, I lost money that offseason as accounts decided against renewing and I only brought in two new contracts. So I had to learn to live on a shoestring budget and make Ramen the meal of choice. The season did not turn out much better.

The team was going through a management shift and I became the favorite target for anger and spite. The exiting manager promised the sky and I fell for it thinking I was going to be getting a raise. On his way out, I was assured that I would be taken care of. Funny how that term means different things to different people.

During my review, I brought up salary and the new GM informed me that I made enough money. After hearing that I laughed, since when is $25,000 a lot of money for someone living in Suffolk County New York? Informed him that he would need to find another PR person.

Unemployment or working at Burger King would have paid more than I was making. In turn, I wound up job hunting and landing a job in Massachusetts to be closer to my girlfriend. Leaving behind the job was not as hard as leaving the people I was friends with and wondering how they could stay working there. After I left I was also made to be the villain as many people opened their eyes and realized how bad it was and left as well.

I began thinking of this experience dwelling on the economy and noticing how many people are doing things that don’t make them happy. I also wondered how many of them were in the so called dream job? Hopefully they don’t wind up in a situation like mine.

Let me know what you think, I’d be happy to share similar stories as well…