Degrees2Dreams teaches students, recent graduates, and career counselors our 6-step, social-media-based job search system, enabling students to stand out from the crowd, showcase their skills, demonstrate industry knowledge, connect with key industry players, and land the career-launching job of their dreams

1. Teaching students and
career counselors a
6-step, social-media-based
job search system enabling
students to stand out from
the crowd, showcase their
skills, demonstrate industry
knowledge, connect with key
industry players, and land
the career-launching job of
their dreams

2. I developed the 6-step process after
working with 300 students over 5
years

3. The 6
steps
1. A scrubbed and robust digital footprint
2. Two resumes: 1) ATS-friendly; 2) interactive
3. A “Me” Site as a digital portfolio
4. A “Passion Blog” about a niche in their field
5. A social media marketing campaign of
themselves
6. An informational interview campaign

4. 1. A scrubbed and
robust digital footprint
Ninety percent of companies
check candidates out on the web
Seventy percent have rejected
candidates based on what they
find, but 70% have hired based
partially on what they find

5. We show students how to
scrub their digital footprint
• pipl.com (finds mentions of you in lots of place
• Facewash (now SImpleWash) (scours Facebook)
• socioclean.com (being rebuilt but best when it returns)
• Reppler (scans Facebook profile for bad stuff)
• BrandYourself (helps you make sure the results for a
search of your name are good results)
• Social Mention (searches social media for mentions)
• BackTweets (searches for mentions of you on Twitter)
• Reputation.com (searches for mentions of you
everywhere and grades them)
• Tin Eye (searches for your IMAGES everywhere!)

6. After their digital
footprint is clean,
we help them
make it robust
on LinkedIn
and other major
platforms

7. Here are
two of my
students to
illustrate
how it
works
John Otterbein Sae Cho
URI grad, 2012 BU grad, 2011
Marketing Assoc. Sr. Accnt. Exec.
Environmental nonprofit Social House, LA

8. 2. A “Me” Site
A digital portfolio, putting all
their great work (including
resume and references) in one
place, helping create a positive
digital footprint, and using a
powerful, professional photo
to fix the student in the mind
of the employer in the role
THEY want to be in.

9. Sae’s ‘Me’ Site
http://www.saeyoungcho.com/

10. John’s ‘Me’ Site:
http://www.about.me/johnotterbein

11. “Me” Site
platforms
• Re.vu
• About.me
• Flavors.me
• Snackwebsites.com
• Zerply.com
• BrandYourself.com
• Follr.com
• Visualize.me
• Wordpress
• Tumblr

12. 2. Two resumes:
1. “Anti-Black-Hole” resume
(ATS-friendly resume)
2. A multimedia resume

13. 2A. ATS Resume
1. Proper keywords in right places
2. Proper placement of skills
3. Proper order of elements
4. Absence of fancy stuff

14. 2B. Interactive Resume
1. QR Code at top linking to
intro video of student
2. QR Code at bottom linking
to video of best reference

15. John and Sae’s “Before” Resumes

16. John and Sae’s “After” Resumes

17. Introductory
videos
Introductory videos
instantly convey a
student’s energy,
passion and
personality, converting
a dull paper resume
into a dynamic,
memorable
experience and
helping answer the
“cultural fit” question

18. QR Codes
bring references to life
John’s Reference Video

19. 4. A “Passion” blog
1. Showcases students’ skills
2. Demonstrates industry knowledge
3. Raises profile in their field
4. Puts them in touch with key players
as a professional not a supplicant

20. Sae’s Passion Blog

21. John’s Passion Blog

22. 5. Social Media
Marketing Campaign
Regular activity on the primary
social media platforms puts students
on the radar screens of key players,
impressing those players with the
student’s knowledge, analytic ability,
creativity and thoughtfulness. This
contact paves the way for the
informational interviews.

23. How to find key people: Twitter Lists
Listorius, WeFollow, Twellow

24. 6. Informational
interviews
Building on the student’s list of key
players, they make appointments for
interviews that will:
•Cement the student in the minds of
people who can make a difference in
their lives
•Plug them in to “the hidden job
market,” and
•Result in new contacts after each
interview to add to their network

25. WHAT’S HAPPENED TO SAE AND JOHN?
John has gone from
sending out 76 resumes and
getting no answers to
landing his dream job as a
content creator for an
environmental advocacy
nonprofit
Sae went from sending
out 26 resumes and getting
no responses to being
hired as the web mistress
for WeekendLA and was
recruited away last month
by a social media agency
serving major media clients

26. Other success stories:
Degrees2Dreams “graduates” are:
The asst. casting director of “America’s Next Top Model”
Teacher in a STEM program in the Providence, RI schools
Web Producer at NECN; then one of first hired at bostonglobe.com
Paid Music blogger, Professional music site, Boston
The editor-in-chief of The Next Great Generation
Reporters with Patch
Editor-in-chief of weekly online/print paper
Paid intern at HubSpot (one of 200 applicants)
Producer at NPR in Washington
Writer/Photographer, Shanghai Daily News
Inbound marketing producer, NYC marketing co.
Asst. to director, Los Angeles music video company
Social media mgr. Doyles Pubs; now social media mgr. brewing
company.
Winners of two paid internships, Boston marketing co.
Paid intern, Mullen Adv. (one of 1200 applicants for 30 jobs)
Community manager, social media marketing co.
Webmistress, Weekend LA
Communications Coordinator, City Year

27. Sam Clarke, Emerson ’11,
Production Asst., “Modern Family,”
formerly Asst. Casting Director, “America’s Next Top
Model”

28. WE OFFER:
• 90-minute crash courses
• Half-day courses
• Full-day courses
• Weekend boot camps
Everyone walks away with actionable information
they can put to work THAT night

29. Thank
you!
john@degrees2dreams.com