Alex Coleman’s last blog post..How To Boost Your Wordpress Blog Performance

I can understand Roberta’s point of view reading the WSJ article. When it published, I was a surprised and sincerely worried about the author’s “spin”. Tommy and I are fellow Circuit City casualties, and he had reached out to me offering to help promote Interview Angel in between jobs.

Tommy was not “trying out” for a position with my company. If I had the financial resources to hire him right now, I would in a heart beat. Someday, I will certainly try.

He was looking to build up his marketing portfolio for his resume and potential consulting service. The volunteer work he did for my company did make a positive impression on full time employers and he was offered a full time job the same week the article ran.

I have done the same thing in between jobs in my career because it established valuable business contacts and it added experience to my resume.

My advice for volunteering depends on the context. Should a job seeker volunteer to work for free to beat out the competition for a posted paid position? Absolutely not.

Should a job seeker considering volunteering for a finite period to potentially create a new opportunity? I say yes. In fact, I started my career at Circuit City Headquarters by working for free for 80 hours. There was not a job opening so I set out to prove myself. It worked.

Should a job seeker volunteer his services within the community? Absolutely. I once managed a project for the YMCA while out of work. Did I ask or expect to get paid? Of course not. But I did gain a valuable reference from the Executive Director.

Again, it is unfortunate the WSJ article did not tell “the rest of the story”. I know people who are volunteering to help small businesses everyday. I guess the difference for me is that the WSJ happened to reference my company.

Thankfully, Tommy received recognition on a national level.

Please let me know if there is any other information I can share with you in response to your concerns.

Brent Peterson

The first and most important one being from the beginning that I agreed to help Brent out as he was a fellow Circuit City colleague.

He had just started his own company and I offered my services & assistance for free as I needed to keep myself busy as the job/free-lance market during that time period was horrible.

Looking for a job and interviewing for close to 5 months was driving me crazy. The sweepstakes I devised and the hours of project management I put in helped me to keep my sanity.

In addition to working with Brent, I was also in the midst of planning my June wedding, working on my house, creating & maintaining a non-profit website, helping out other folks who were laid off…all while trying to find a job myself.

By nature, I’m a workaholic and I enjoy working long hours. It keeps my skills fresh and the wheels turning in my head for new ideas.

Plus, during my job interviews instead of saying I was behind a computer all day looking for work…I would discuss all of the various projects I mentioned above which shocked a lot of recruiters. One hiring manager in particular was so impressed that she wanted to hire me right after a phone screen.

Fortunately for me, by then there were several other offers on the table and I had the option of being selective.

Looking back, I have no regrets as the project itself was rewarding & challenging and the contacts and overall personal branding exposure I gained was great.

The real kicker is I found a job that I truly love and I’m doing what I do best which is creating online marketing campaigns.

95% of businesses are in it for themselves and frankly don’t care about others. You can give them all they want but if someone swoops in with a better deal, they will vanish without remorse.

As a copywriter, I’ve wrote some free sample copy for potential clients. A few have turned into sales, a few haven’t, but I’ve never went out of my way spending many hours on something like this.

Scott Chapman – Copywriter’s last blog post..8 quick and easy ways to improve your website sales

Amusingly, several of the pikers got kinda huffy when I said I don’t work for free.

TC/The Copywriter Underground’s last blog post..An Underground Replay: “Pay The Damned Writer”