Podcasting your way to a new job -- Career Center Blog

January 9, 2011

Podcasting your way to a new job

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By Randy Woods
NWjobs

As any good networking expert will tell you, job seekers who are discussed among their peers will have a leg up in terms of finding employment. In the last decade, the advent of blogging has been the easiest and cheapest way to do this. But in 2011, now that the Internet has nearly reached the blog saturation point, how can your message be heard amidst the white noise? Michael Surkan, manager of the Linked:Seattle group on LinkedIn, says the answer may be podcasting.

Podcasts can give job seekers a huge advantage over other applicants by providing instant credibility, Surkan says. While most job seekers try to gain the attention of hiring managers by promoting themselves and asking for their time, the podcast format turns this relationship on its ear.

"If you set up an informal meeting over coffee with a hiring manager, you're asking them for their time; you're asking for a favor," Surkan explains. "By making that person the subject of your show, suddenly you're the one doing a favor. You're acknowledging their status and helping to promote them."

Some might react to the idea of hosting a podcast the way most of us feel about public speaking -- in other words, sheer terror. In truth, however, a podcast is really nothing more than a recorded digital conversation that is made available to people on the web. "If you can talk on the phone, you can do a podcast," says Surkan, who is a program and product manager for a local software company but also administers several popular podcasts on entrepreneurs, recruiters, software and economics.

Most podcasts can be up and running in as little as a day, Surkan says. All you need is a computer with a working sound card, a hands-free USB headset for good sound quality and a Skype account that allows you to record web-based phone conversations. He does some sound editing for his podcasts to add introductions and closing remarks, but he says that with the wide array of online podcast services available, no formal training is required. (He recommends Audacity or RecordForAll for editing and Levelator to adjust the audio levels).

Surkan, who worked at Microsoft for about nine years and had some editing experience at the technology website eWeek, had long considered podcasts just a fun hobby. That changed in July 2009, when he was laid off. "I discovered that my network had atrophied and my list of professional contacts was too small," he recalls. Soon after, he started the Entrepreneurs Northwest podcast about local startup firms and later expanded to his Tales From the Job Search Trenches podcast, in which he discusses employment trends with area recruiters and career coaches.

As his archive of podcasts has grown into the hundreds, Surkan has come up with a list of do's and don'ts for those who want to use podcasting to broaden their job-search contacts:

DO's

1) Decide what your "show" will be about. Ask yourself, What do I want to talk about? Who do I want to meet? "I often think 'What magazine would these managers have on their desk?'" Surkan says. "Then, once I decided that, I would build my topics around what that magazine covers." Be sure to write a paragraph or two on your host site about what your podcast will be about.

2) Create a website. This may seem daunting to the technologically challenged, but a home page is essential to build an effective podcasting presence. Two of the easiest and most popular sites to help set up a host site are WordPress and Podbean. At a cost of just $5 to $25 a year for a subscription, depending on how advanced you want your podcasts to be, these professional services are well worth the expense, Surkan says.

3) Start small. Look first at you current list of contacts. There may already be many people you have worked with who would be great potential subjects. "Once you get two or three friends under your belt and start building an archive, then you can try reaching out to other people at companies where you want to work," Surkan says. "You may not get the CEO of Procter & Gamble right away, but you can find plenty of hiring managers who would be happy to be part of a podcast."

DON'Ts

1) Don't use the podcast to promote yourself. This may be the cardinal sin of the podcasting world. "You are doing this mainly to build relationships," Surkan says. "At no point should you ever ask for a job during the interview." Your true intention may be to increase your career connections, but never let the focus of your podcast stray from your subject. It's also a good idea to write a recommendation on LinkedIn for your interviewees as soon as the podcast goes live.

2) Don't "wing it." Most podcasts are informal conversations, but that doesn't mean you can just sit back and let the subject do all the work. "Curious people make good interviewers," Surkan says. "You have to show that you are interested in the topic, so read up on the person and come up with a few good questions."

3) Don't be scared. Unlike radio or TV broadcasts, these interviews are not going live to thousands of listeners. If the conversation goes in a wrong direction, you can always choose to not post it.

So will podcasting get you a new job? Surkan certainly won't promise it -- in fact, he says he hasn't heard of anyone who has landed a position as a direct consequence of making a podcast. However, he practically guarantees that if you follow the above tips and put some effort into podcasting, your network will grow exponentially and the quality of your contacts will vastly improve, which can only help your chances.

For more information, click here to see a video Surkan made about using podcasts in your job search.

Randy Woods writes about job-search tools, networking techniques and other tips to help you land your dream job.

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Michael Surkan | January 10, 2011 1:16 PM | Reply

I wouldn't go so far as to say that having a podcast show will grow your contacts "exponentially", but I DO guarantee that podcasting WILL help you significantly expand the list of people with whom you have great professional/business relationships. It's all about having QUALITY connections, not quantity.

Elliott Prechter | January 10, 2011 4:20 PM | Reply

Not only is it a good way to get contacts, it's fun too! But the main point is that it allows you to follow up with people without them feeling like they're doing you a favor.