Radio is a sound salvation, Elvis Costello sang in the pre-Web ”™70s. Now, thanks to JobRadio.fm, the sentiment has proved prescient to the point it can put a paycheck in your hand.
Trumbull-based JobRadio.fm is a new Internet radio station that allows job seekers and career-advice professionals to access career information.
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The new channel is a partnership between Chris Russell, president and founder of AllCountyJobs.com of Trumbull and Peter Clayton, founder of Total Picture Radio of Westport.
“We wanted to extend our brands and offer one channel that featured the best career advice on the planet,” said Russell. “Internet radio is a great medium and we are filling a need that does not currently exist. The time has come for a station dedicated to making people better job seekers.”
According to Russell, JobRadio.fm features news, guests and information. The station is sponsored by the job search engine SimplyHired.
“No one ever told us how to job hunt,” said Russell. “A lot of people don”™t know how to write a decent resume. Today”™s environment is about managing your career, there is no more job security anymore; that went out with the dotcom bust. It means taking a proactive approach to job hunting, your career, making yourself a brand and look at yourself like a product. ”
In 2004 Russell began experimenting with podcasting.
What is now JobRadio.fm began as a blog for Russell, which developed into an article-posting site for national career coaches.
 “I did a lot of interviews with career coaches and recruiters,” said Russell.
Russell has since built an extensive library with job hunting information and joined forces with Clayton.
Russell is also the founder of two career podcasts, “Secrets of the Job Hunt” and “Jobs in Pods.” “Podcasts are Internet radio on demand,” said Russell. “We”™re taking all the content that we have, literally hundreds of hours of content. Peter had people that hadn”™t heard me and I had people that hadn”™t heard him, so we combined forces to create a very unique channel.”
The station broadcasts 12 hours of continuously streaming content.
“There”™s nothing like this online right now,” said Russell. “Today”™s job hunt is so complex, so time consuming that you really have to educate yourself as to what it”™s like out there.”
The podcast can be subscribed to through iTunes in the career section, which according to Russell receives over 1,200 downloads every day. The station is streamed live online at http://jobradio.fm and also is available on other media players such as WinAmp.
“We think job seekers, career coaches, career counselors, HR professionals and recruiters will love JobRadio.fm,” said Clayton. “Most people realize they need to invest in their careers to get ahead in this highly competitive job market. By combining programs from the best career podcasters on the Internet, we’re offering terrific value.”
According to Russell the content is changed once a week.
“We imagine people coming and listening once a day, or once every couple of days,” said Russell. “If you”™re sitting at home, looking for jobs online, put this on in the background, educate yourself. I think it”™s really important in today”™s job market you”™ve really got to find out what the latest tips and tricks are in terms of job hunting; those things can really make or break your job search. The average listen time is a little more than five hours because people let the content stream, picking up advice when they can.”
Russell said JobRadio.fm is consistently growing a reserve of interview subjects. According to Russell he has streamlined the new interview process by allowing those professionals who would like to become an interview subject to pick a topic and five questions to discuss prior to the discussion, ensuring focused and interested content.
“I have a whole slew of career coaches I can now tap into,” said Russell. “I think this is definitely a timely service right now, especially in this job market. I”™m hearing a lot of worry out there.”