June 29, 2009
Social networking opens new doors for baby boomers
Online interactions can net job leads
By charles davis
cedavis@greenbaypressgazette.com
When Mick Gleason asked his 16-year-old son for tips on uploading video to YouTube, he knew times had evolved.
Gleason, 54, of Green Bay, is working on posting his resume video on IntroduceMe360, a multimedia Web site that features brief video introductions eventually forwarded to other professionals for possible job leads.
The old way of doing business involved “the phone, the meetings, door-to-door,” said Gleason, who was laid off from a consulting firm in June 2008. “Now here’s this whole universe unfolding.”
Baby boomers increasingly are facing career changes and unstable employment. Many are looking at social networking as a new way to do business and secure leads.
Mark and Staci Hackl of Green Bay started Link Greater Green Bay in February, a group on the professional networking Web site LinkedIn. The group meets once a month and has almost 1,000 members, at least 30 percent of whom are boomers. The events are for everyone, from job seekers to small-business owners.
A month ago the group launched IntroduceMe360 at a group meeting.
The clips are designed to build relationships — the subjects tell the viewers how they can help, not what they need, said Mark Hackl, vice president of sales for John Veriha Trucking Inc. in Marinette. After watching a clip, professionals can plan to meet in person at the next networking event if they’re interested.
Boomers are results-driven and don’t like to waste time if it won’t lead to measurable sales, he said.
“They get it, but they’re not as quick to jump in.”
The Hackls offer training sessions for those who need help setting up the videos.
“They think, ‘I’ve made it through 50 years of my life without (social networking), do I really need it?’” said Staci Hackl, owner of Advantage Insurance Services in Green Bay. Boomers are searching for new options because of increased competition and advertising delivering fewer sales, she added.
“We have to change with the times if we want to survive,” said Sheryl Murray, a 48-year-old former hairstylist.
Murray, a mother of four, now works part time at N.E.W. Curative Rehabilitation in Green Bay but is looking for a change. She bought a computer to start her own business helping young people but doesn’t know where to find professional contacts in the world of social networking. She’s not on LinkedIn but has a Facebook account and plans to find a way to network her way into a new life.
“I’m a little scared, but nothing beats a fail but a try,” she said.
Gleason was out of work for 10 months before landing an account executive position at Select Solutions Inc. in April. “Probably the longest time I went without work in my life,” he said.
A married father of three, Gleason never thought to use LinkedIn as a source to get jobs.
“If I’m an employer and I’m thinking of hiring people, is LinkedIn the first place I go looking? I don’t know,” he said.
A former mainframe programmer, Gleason considers himself technologically savvy. He recalled the days when phone numbers started with two letters and postal zones were only two digits. It has been harder for him to adjust to the changing concept of doing business. He stayed away from social networking in the past because of application overload.
The jury is still out on whether social networking can impact business, Gleason said, but he plans to upload his video.
“I am going to do it — if I have the time.”
At first, Bill Kinnard, 45 and a business consultant for Grandy & Associates, struggled with social networking sites.
“But when you go through it, the benefits are tremendous,” he added, listing examples of building relationships where he is seen as an expert and also nabbing a few new clients.
“If you have questions, go home and ask your kids or grandkids — they’ll show you how to do it.”
