Today we welcome to the show Mark Babbitt the founder of You Tern.
At YouTern, Mark and his team enable young talent to become highly employable by connecting them to high-impact internships, mentors, and contemporary career advice through their blog, The Savvy Intern.
Mark is also a co-founder of ForwardHeroes.org. A non-profit organization whose mission is to help U.S. veterans transition into the civilian workforce. In His role at Forwardheroes.org Mark is focused on developing our veterans’ employability skills and connecting them with opportunities.
Mark is the president of Switch and Shift. A company Focused on the Human side of a business. At Switch and Shift, there is no gray area, they believe you’re either actively making the world better, or you’re passively helping keep the status quo.
In addition to all of this, Mark is also an author, a highly sought after mentor, keynote speaker, and blogger.
Mark has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Mashable, Forbes and Bloomberg News regarding social media’s impact on business, leadership in the Social Age, and career development.
Mark is the co-author of the book A World Gone Social; How companies must adapt to survive. A book designed to help companies and it’s leaders transition from the industrial age into the social age.
And last but certainly not least, Mark is a husband, father of five, a grandfather and a recovering engineer.
Mark, Welcome to the show.
YOUTERN.COM
YouTern.com is an online community that recognizes the importance of relationship building in the job search process. It is designed to help talent of all ages become highly employable by connecting talent with high-impact internships and mentors.
In the summer of 2014, YouTern developed a 60 day career challenge designed to help job seekers get ready for their next position. Jobs just don’t land in your lap and so much has changed in the job search arena in the last few years that you need a guide to help you along the way.
You can find the 60 day challenge on their website and soon you’ll be able to download a app that will walk you through the challenge as well.
Mark and I discuss and explains twitter chats; How to hold them, why to hold and who benefits from them. Mark refers to them as peer-to-peer mentoring sessions. If you want to grow your network and industry knowledge Twitter chats are where it’s at.
If you ever want to give them a try, tune every Monday night at 9:00 EST and search for #InternPro. Not only will you get to learn what a Twitter chat is all about, you’ll meet a great group of people.
A WORLD GONE SOCIAL – BOOK Co-authored with Ted Coine
A World Gone Social gives you the tools and information you need to survive—and thrive—in a business climate in which customers hold all the cards… jobseekers have the power to easily find out what working at your company is really like… and expertise has become more democratic than ever as employees collaborate with each other, as well as with vendors, customers, and even competitors.
The key to surviving in our social world is to become a relentless giver. What is a relentless giver? We discuss this in detail and how you can become one. We also spend time talking about the flip side of the relentless giver is the Ask-Hole. Trust me on this one, you don’t want to be an Ask-Hole. Listen in to find out which one you might be so you can either change or amplify what you are doing today.
Mark makes a key point during this discussion. It’s so key that I’m going to leave a spot here for you to complete this sentence:
Waiting for permission to _____ is one of the biggest mistakes we can make in life or career.
Social today is so important in the job search process. It can help the job seekers find open positions, it can enable job seekers to find and develop a relationship with hiring managers and it can help them understand the underlying culture with a company. Businesses like Yelp and Glassdoor can give outsiders a look behind the curtains at any business.
84% of hires now are a direct result of a referral from someone in your network. Mark and I discuss how you can get a referral at a company you do not work. Our ultimate goal should be to build referral worthy relationships. This takes time. It doesn't happen overnight but it can happen.
Can Ordinary People have Extraordinary Networks (OPEN)? Absolutely. This is how you get your foot in the door. This is how you become top of mind to others.
Can someone establish their authority on social? Yes. We discuss in depth how to use the web to establish your authority within an industry. You can become known as the expert. But you have to be confident enough to stick our necks out there. Speaking with sticking your neck out there, I tell my story of accidentally doing just that.
FORWARDHEROES.ORG
Forwardheroes.org is a non-profit focused on catalyzing improvement in the lives of veterans, their families and their employers. They envision veterans as substantial contributors to the enhancement of American society and the economy. This collaborative effort will help our veterans help themselves by developing a pathway to success.
Mark served our country and has a son who is serving now. He is a humble guy but his passion for helping veterans shines through and through and is very apparent during our discussion. He and his team at forwardheroes.org are determined to help our military veterans become employed by making the transition from the military to civilian workforce as smooth as possible.
To learn more about Forwardheroes.org visit the website. You can even provide a donation if you feel so inclined.
WRAP
The best way to get in touch with Mark.
Twitter: @marksbabbitt
Website: http://youtern.com
Website: http://forwardheroes.org
Website: http://switchandshift.com
email: mark@youtern.com
Mark left the listeners with this final thought when it comes to your career.
“Be Bold. Be bold enough to be different.”
Thank you, Mark, for being on the show.
