Letting The Kat Out Of The Bag

On April 23, I offered a job posting here on the blog. Doe-Anderson‘s social media activity has grown to the point that we need more hands on deck. We’ve come quite a ways from last summer when one client said they wanted some additional thinking for their online efforts. Now we have a small staple of clients asking for that same thinking and we’re bringing social media strategies to the table where it makes sense for clients, current and potential.

If you look back at that job posting, you’ll see I was looking for someone with a strong social media marketing background, even though the field is still in its infancy. The offering produced 25-30 legitimate inquiries, about 20 of which officially applied for the job, in as much as saying, “I’d like to be considered,” to me made it official. Of those, I had idyllic notions of picking three candidates to interview then selecting one. We had such a strong array of candidates, I could only narrow it down to seven. Eventually, and after phone conversations, discussions and many days of me pacing around the office with a scowl on my face, we picked three and interviewed them. Ultimately, however, one young lady stood out as the person we were looking for.

Next week, Kat French will begin the unenviable task of working for me. I actually think of more as us working together. Kat brings a diverse background in social media to the table. Her background includes a heavy dose of blogging, copywriting and other content production, including podcasting, a fair amount of community management, a good degree of search marketing and SEO experience. (I’m questioning her ability to take self-portraits in focus, but am obviously not hung up on it.) What impressed us the most is her brand experience and focus on the client’s audience and objectives first.

She’s spent the last two years at LeapFrog Interactive here in Louisville, a shop all of us here at Doe have a great deal of respect for. I’m thrilled she’s joining us and can’t wait to hit the ground running with someone to tackle the world with. I’m especially excited about the part where someone says, “Calm down, Jason. Don’t post that or Tweet that. You’ll kick yourself later if you do.” No, “Voice of Reason,” wasn’t on the listing of job requirements. It should have been understood.

Kat’s off-hours efforts include a personal blog, That Darn Kat. Her other blog (the gal can kick the content) is on hiatus but is called Internet Bard. She also did a pretty kick-ass interview with SEO ROI not too long ago you can read here. She’s @coffeecupkat on Twitter. I recommend following her. You might get a more honest assessment of me in doing so. And yes, you’ll see Kat on this blog as well. One of the responsibilities of her new job will be to offer occasional wisdom here on Social Media Explorer. Look for her first post soon.

Thank you to all the fantastic people who expressed interest in the job. Hiring is fun, but also daunting. Ultimately, you have to tell a lot of very good candidates, “No.” I hate that part, but tried to do it personally. I’ve connected with some very talented people as part of this process. I know I’ll stay connected to most of them as well. After all, if I do my job well, this won’t be the last time I hire someone.