Jon Barnhart may appear to be your typical college senior. He’s 21 years old, charismatic and like more than 80% of college seniors, is currently looking for full-time employment. During the next two weeks, hundreds of thousands of college students will flock to balmy locales for their respective spring breaks. Many will be partying during the day and well…partying at night. Not Jon. Jon is pounding the pavement in Washington DC during his spring break. Jon has a goal and he is executing this goal, one step at a time.
The Beginnings
His job search did not begin this way. Jon began applying for jobs in November. He was applying to mostly government jobs and each position would ask for a cover letter and resume. Something just didn’t feel right to him, “After I finished each application, I had this weird feeling that I wasn’t putting my best foot forward, “I’m a very personable person and a paper resume is very impersonal.” He asked himself this question, “how can I make things a little more personal and how can I be more engaging to prospective employers?”
His Solution – A Multichannel Approach
In January, Jon received $100 for free advertising on LinkedIn. He decided to use it and this small step into the online space served as his impetus to launch his own multi-channel online campaign, “Hire Jon Barnhart.” Jon explained, “By launching this campaign, I am able to demonstrate a vested interest in strategic planning and management of a campaign while at the same time showing employers my talents.” Jon’s campaign includes a Facebook page, a Twitter handle, LinkedIn page and a YouTube channel with several videos that have garnered nearly 500 hits in less than two months. His Facebook page serves as a central hub for this information, around which his other feeds pump updates into this page.
His Strategies – Putting his Campaign into Action
Jon enjoys putting crazy ideas together, creating a vision and seeing this vision through to a successful end. He is currently applying to political consulting firms, as well as a number of social media and marketing agencies in the Washington DC area. Each of these audiences receives a different video resume tailored to that specific industry. He has created videos using the YouTube Search Stories tool for jobs specifically aimed towards social media jobs and created business cards, complete with his contact information and details surrounding his campaign.
Each video resume Jon sends out to employers is embedded in a private link. This enables Jon to know when and for how long employers view his videos. To Jon, the job hunt is not throwing darts at a bulls-eye. The job hunt is a relationship forged in finding the right fit to meet the needs of both parties.
Results
As a result of his cross-channel online marketing efforts, social media companies are approaching him about jobs. That’s right; employers are coming to him, not the other way around. Upon arriving at an office in DC, one prospective employer commented that she had read his blog and intended to watch his video. She then added, “this is very creative…I have never seen anything like this.”
When you search Hire Jon Barnhart, Jon owns every position on the first page of Google. Enter the query, Jon Barnhart, and you will find that he owns five of the top eight positions above the fold. How many job applicants today own the first page of Google? My guess would be not many.
What’s Your Dream Job?
Jon’s response is quick and to the point, “I want to run my own higher education consulting firm.” Plenty of students have made these sorts of proclamations, only to fall up short. With Jon, this statement feels different. Maybe it’s his unparalleled vision. It could be his cross-channel promotions. Or, it could be a combination of both. “Making our school better makes other schools better. Other schools adjust to our changes and in the long run this yields more competitive colleges.” These are not words from our trusted politicians but are words from a 21-year old college senior with a goal and a vision.
Jon’s ability to learn fast and learn well is rooted in his diverse experiences in college. As President of Student Association and Liaison to the Syracuse University Board of Trustees, Jon is no stranger to challenges. This should come as no surprise that Jon has turned one of the most daunting and intimidating tasks anyone can endeavor into his own campaign. Hire Jon Barnhart…I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t.
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