Volunteering again

Only a few days after the election, and I'm already renewing my vow to volunteer as a way to help some groups out and to lead to a job. After successfully doing some writing for Congressman's Jerry McNerney's re-election campaing (which he won), I've committed to helping two groups out, both of which I've written about in the past week or so here.

One is RedwoodAge.com, a Web site focusing on an often overlooked group on the Internet: 40 and older. I wrote a short story for it Thursday about testing for Alzheimer's Disease, and won't get paid for it. I plan to continue writing for it every once in awhile, partly to show that I can write for the Web, but also to hopefully lead to a paying, full-time or part-time job for the site someday. It's a for-profit Internet start-up, so the payoff may not be for a long while. I also hope to start blogging there and become an expert on aging issues.

Another place I'm volunteering is at Public-Press.org, a site I've written about before. It's a nonprofit San Francisco Web site that aims to be a news source in the City and Bay Area, and I think is a strong option for the future of journalism. It won't run ads but will survive off grants and donations, much like public television. I'm already blogging there about journalism, as are other members of the group, but the main work I'll do is as an editor. It will likely be similar to the work I did as an assistant metro editor at the Contra Costa Times, and maybe more, so I won't be over my head. But one purpose of volunteering, at least for me, is to grow my skills, so I plan on learning, or trying to learn, how to manage a Web site there and see where that takes me.

That's one great thing about these two sites: Since they're online, I'm forced to learn some online skills that I didn't have in my print days of employment. Also, the Public-Press could end up being a paying, editorial job for me somewhere down the road if the project is successful. I met with the editor on Thursday, and I plan on volunteering at the San Francisco office for a half-day each week. The place is full of Spartans (San Jose State University), so it can't be too bad.

Rewriting the resume

Writing a successful resume is one of the most difficult parts of the job search. For the past few weeks I've been focusing on rewriting my resume after discovering that it was geared more toward newspapers and less toward other areas where I want to work, such as the Internet. I don't know why it took me months to figure this out, but with the help of someone during an informational interview, I learned that my old resume wasn't going to get me a job. I'm trying new things and expect the next one to do more.

There are tons of Web pages about how to write resumes, and plenty of people are willing to do it for a price, or even for free, and I could even add some power words to spice it up and attract some more looks.

One trick is to put words from the job description, such as the common "communication skills" in the resume so that when a computer scans it for keywords, those will pop out and move it up the pile. I like to take the approach of having as many people look at it as possible, getting their feedback, and using what I think is best. On Thursday, for example, I'm going to EastBay Works to have my resume reviewed by a professional for free. I've also given it to my Success Team at Job Connections for their input, which has been the most valuable so far, and changed things around. Another idea is to give it to a potential employer, probably during an informational interview, and see what they think and if it's what they're looking for in a potential employee.

Once I get it completed, probably by the end of the week, I'll post it in a blog and see what the readers think.

Writing for the Web

One of the top goals of this blog is to show that I can write for the Web. And that includes learning how to write for the Internet. During one of the many informational interviews I've done during the past few months, someone suggested I start learning how to write for the Web since it was so different than writing for newspapers.

Writing is writing, I thought. If I can write and edit concise stories for newspapers that are full of facts and analysis, I surely can do that online. It turns out to be much more than that, and I'm just starting to learn what more it entails. Along with short sentences and stories that are about half the size of a newspaper story, they should include links, video, photos, etc. Other than that, I couldn't get much of an answer out of my informational interview friend. I'm still learning.

Some job descriptions have asked for experience in Search Engine Optimization, which I'm still trying to get a handle on. It has something to do with keyword searches and how best to get search engines to find the Web page I'm writing for. One thing I was told to do was to search "How to write for the Internet," which turned up only 25 million searches, such as this. This could take years. Decades. What I'm looking for is either a class on this topic, or better, someone who does this every day and can explain it to me a lot easier and faster. I don't necessarily want to learn HTML or how to write computer coding, just some tips that could help me get a job writing for the Internet. Suggestions? Please e-mail me.