Unemployment and job-seeking are still the number one issue in Sacramento and that’s the impetus behind The Sacramento Social Media Club’s panel discussion, “Putting Social Media to Work: Leveraging social networking tools to find and fill jobs” at the Urban Hive on Tuesday, May 18. The speakers represent a number of perspectives on exploring the tools that job seekers and recruiters alike are using to connect with each other via social media.

• Curt Cetraro is the CEO of ConnectPoint Search Group, a Sacramento region recruiting firm that provides Direct Placement, Contract Staffing, and Recruitment Process Outsourcing, enabling companies to use social media to increase recruitment efficiency and reduce costs. Curt has offered seminars to job seekers in the region on ways to increase their job search effectiveness.
• Christina Rogers, MS NCC, is the owner of Angeles Career Consulting, LLC, a business that guides clients in their career development plans, including the challenges of transitions and advancement and the use of social media.
• Helen Scully, MS NCC, president of Scully Career Associates, Inc. established in 1990, is a Nationally Certified Career Counselor, career coach and corporate trainer.  Helen is the author of Elevations®, an online career assessment at www.ElevateYourCareer.com. She tweets from @careertests sharing knowledge and tips regarding jobs, career changes and the workplace.
• Natalie Paulsen is the Director of Business Development at Sacramento marketing firm, 3fold Communications. While experimenting with the popular social networking tool, Twitter, Natalie realized it could be used to identify a local business that was not only using social media, but using it well.

The focus of the event will be from both the employer’s and the job-seekers perspective. Personal branding and online reputation management tips for job seekers will be presented as well as real stories from real people who landed their dream job using social media. In addition, strategies of identifying and recruiting top talent using social media will be covered.

Since in-person networking is a crucial aspect of the job search, the Sacramento Media Club provides light refreshments from 6:30-7:00 for socializing in the Registration period prior to the panel. There is no cost to participate in the event; however, attendees are asked to register at Eventbrite in advance, so that there will be an accurate head count for refreshments. Following the event, which will wrap-up at 8:30 pm, all attendess are invited to attend a No-host Social Media Club Tweetup at the Lounge on 20.

Social Media Club brings together journalists, publishers, communications professionals, artists, amateur media creators, citizen journalists, teachers, students, tool makers, and other interested collaborators. The Sacramento chapter was founded in March of 2009 by local users of social media. They can be found on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.