My company, Booz Allen Hamilton, is actively hiring consultants who “get” social media. Let me explain – as I mentioned in one my earlier posts, I’m currently a consultant within the Strategic Communications team at Booz Allen. What does this mean? I’m part of the team that handles crisis comms, change communications, stakeholder outreach, public relations, media relations, etc. One of the other areas that we’ve branched out into social media consulting. This is the team that I lead, and I can tell you that my background in communications has heavily influenced my team’s approach to social media. For example, I can’t stand when clients ask me to “do a social media strategy.” I don’t believe in “social media strategies” – that implies that they’re created in a vacuum and that they’re separate from other strategies. My social media strategy is to integrate social media principles and applications into existing communications, collaboration, and/or knowledge management strategies.
Some of the things that I look for in potential candidates are:
- Experience in using social media applications behind the corporate firewall – both as an individual and as a community manager
- Demonstrated ability to incorporate social media into existing strategic communications, collaboration and/or knowledge management plans
- Consulting experience working with clients in the public sector
- At least a year of “traditional” communications experience where you were responsible for developing tactical products
- Knowledge of the unique challenges that face public sector clients when trying to implement social media
- Familiarity (not proficiency) with all kinds of social media applications (if you’ve never heard of MediaWiki or Twitter, no need to apply)
- A desire to be a part of a small, but growing, diverse team of professionals who are focused on helping our clients integrate social media into their strategies – not on selling a specific piece of software.
If you think you’d be a good fit, head on over to the Booz Allen website to check out the official job posting and/or submit your resume. The system will ask you to create a profile before submitting your resume – please make sure that you mention my name (Steve Radick) in your entry so that I can be alerted to your interest and follow up. Looking forward to seeing who’s out there!
October 7th, 2008 at 4:02 am
Nice site. There?s some good information on here. I?ll be checking back regularly.
Reply
October 7th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I hope this post was in direct relation to our conversation on friday, punk. I’ve got the Web 2.0 experience out the wazoo and am getting the consulting/comm experience as we speak. While I have a desire to work with BAH in the future, I have no desire to work with you. Is that a problem? haha
Reply
October 8th, 2008 at 7:24 am
wow…I just decided to search my name on google and found your site…That is crazy…I didn’t know anyone other than myself and my father were named Steven Radick…If your middle name is Junior then that is crazy…haha…just thought I’d share that…
Reply
October 8th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
@JE – you wouldn’t necessarily have to work WITH me, but you’d have to report to me, is that a problem?
Reply
October 8th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
@steven radick – that’s really weird to type! My full name is actually spelled Stephen Radick, but close enough, right? I’ve met anyone else with my name either! I just hope you don’t get involved in social media – that’d be really confusing!
Reply
October 9th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
I might have a few leads, they do not have to have clearances correct? Additionally do they have to be local? And would I get a referral fee?
Reply
October 10th, 2008 at 1:08 am
@Andrea – correct, no clearances required…nice to have, but definitely not required. Depending on who it is, they might not have to be local, but local would be preferable. Referral fee – I don’t think we typically do that, but I’d have to check into it more to say for sure.
Reply
October 11th, 2008 at 2:13 am
@JE I work with Steve, and I can vouch for him! I would also like to add that Booz Allen is a great place to work if you want to make a difference through social media. We are a huge firm with impressive clients, and this would be a great opportunity to grow as a consultant, a communicator, and a business leader.
Whether you are a recent grad who developed a marketing strategy using “new media” tools or an experienced social media strategist you could be our next rockstar!
Reply
October 12th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
@Jacque….haven’t we met?
I was only giving Steve a hard time…he certainly knows his stuff. I’m currently living in Pittsburgh and I work with libraries, archives and museum to devleop preservation strategies. I’m working to finish up my MLIS degree which I’ve tailored towards social media. I’ve studied the hell out of it, but between work and class I wish I had more time to actually use it!
Reply
October 15th, 2008 at 12:46 am
Interesting job description. Most of the people I know who do the best work with social media are ex journos. And with the print industry in decline there should be plenty available. I often address social media strategies in consultation for PR companies and I have found the most effective people operating in this area are the early adapters or those who have embraced the tools wholeheartedly as end users, rather than highly qualified graduate types which we use for more traditional campaigns. Maybe you should post your ad on some of the sites which you are targeting in your communications strategies. Good luck in the hunt.
Reply
October 16th, 2008 at 3:31 am
@peternz I wholeheartedly agree – the people who have been most successful with us are the best PR types. Not marketing – they’re look at social media as “how do I leverage this to sell X.” Good, really good, PR types understand the value in honest conversations and building relationships. If you “get” that, then learning the tools is almost secondary. Your point about early adopters is a good one, but those early adopters must also understand how to recruit and maintain other adopters – that’s the key. It’s one thing for someone to start using Twitter for their own purposes – it’s another to be able to show other people how they can use it to meet their needs.
Reply
December 5th, 2008 at 1:53 am
Hi Steve,
Saw your post on GovLoop about this. I think I get social media in government. I blogged about the challenges the Obama administration might face in implementing Web 2.0 in government on my site:
http://joeflood.com/2008/11/10/will-obama-empower-government-20/
Check it out.
Joe
Reply
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:39 pm
I love your approach and agree completely that social media is not to be created as a stand-alone strategy, but needs to be integrated into a complete communications strategy. I’m particuarly interested in how its being used behind the firewall for change communications. Would love to hear more about opportunities you may have or just get information on trends you are seeing.
Reply
sradick Reply:
April 4th, 2009 at 12:55 am
Thanks Amy! Stay tuned to this blog and my Twitter account for the latest information on trends and opportunities – looking forward to your insights!
Reply
May 18th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
What type of RSS feed do you use here, because i can’t seem to get it working with my reader…
hopefully I’ll figure it out because I like this place!
Reply
sradick Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I’m just using Feedburner for the RSS feed – what RSS reader are you using?
Reply