I got the Internet Marketing Specialist position that I talked about back on June 6th (Read about that here) and I’m more excited than I can express.  

I interviewed on a Friday and was offered the position on Monday.  Once they offered the position, I had two give two weeks notice to my current Job so I completely stopped blogging on here because I didn’t want to jinx myself before I got the chance to walk through the front door :lol:

This one of those Dream Jobs that everyone talks about having but very few actually ever get to have.   So I feel Very luck to even be talking about it and the only problem I have is I don’t know what I can write about here and what I can’t as far as SEM and SEO is concerned. 

One of the first things I did on my first day is sign a non-compete agreement which basically stated I wouldn’t give away any trade secrets and with this type of position isn’t just about anything you think about at work a trade secret?

Hopefully I can get some clarity and begin re-blogging but I think it’s more than likely my SEO Thoughts will have to move over to the corporate blog for the time being.

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I won’t say to much because their still interviewing and I don’t want anyone else to apply for the position.

But, WOW, I hope they understood what I was trying to say and I didn’t look like a complete idiot. For someone who gets paid to talk for a living I had a hard time talking. I forgot words I use everyday like “cache” and even what I was doing on my site. After 7 years doing this as a hobby to be sitting across the table from people who did it for a living was strange.

First thing when I went into the office, which is very nice by the way, the receptionist gave me an application. Ok fine I new that was coming but I was so excited my hand shook with every word I wrote making my hand writing even more atrocious than it is. To top that off I thought I would be smart and leave my cell phone in the car which has all my references in it so I had to email the office manager back with those as soon as I got home. So off to a rough start there.

The office manager then brings me into an office asks a couple of basic questions then pulls up Car Dealer Check so that the two interviewers can go over it with me. Once she brings up the site she leaves and grabs the guys who will be interviewing me, while she’s gone I’m pacing like a caged animal.

The two interviewers come in and their both very nice and friendly but I fell a combination of nervousness and excitement and start to sweat a little. The feeling would be like combining your first date with a very hot girl and meeting Joe Montana or Steve Young into one tangle of complete melt down.

I think I was able to answer most of their questions but with the nervousness I was stumbling over my words and probably sounded like I didn’t know what I was talking about. They went through asking me very basic SEO Questions like “What are the 3 first things you would focus on for SEO with a new site?” Gesh, ask me that 100 times and I’ll give you 99 right answers, I use to be able to say I’d give you the right answer 100 out of 100 times but I completed flubbed over my words on that one. They then looked at Car Dealer Check and went over a couple of things and moved on.

I had brought some screen shots in of my current rankings and a quick break of some of the websites they did just to show I know how to breakdown a site and they glanced at those.
Asked me if I had any questions I asked a couple but most of them were already answered during the interview. One question that sticks in my mind because I think it may have came out wrong I asked to the one interviewer who said before he joined the company he focused mostly on onpage SEO so I asked him “What he did for onpage SEO?” I think my tone may have been off and it come more like a harsh question than just a question, question. I could of talked to them for hours since I never get to bounce ideas off anyone in real life but it’s an interview and I had to try and keep some excitement in.

After about 30 minutes of questions and answers they brought the office manager back in and she said they had more interviews next week and I should here something within two weeks.

So here’s to hoping!

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Over at SEOmoz there is a private Question and Answer area where you can ask a question and only select people with the SEO /SEM industry can answer.

Thankfully, Jane Copland was nice enough to take her time answer my question on “How do you Break into the SEO Field without Proof of Knowledge?”

This Q&A is reprinted with permission from Jane and Rand Fishkin (Rand) CEO of SEOmoz.

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DeluxeEdition Wrote: (That’s me but from here it will be Dennis Dornon Wrote)

I’ll try to make this question with an explanation as un-convoluted as I can.

I want to be able to take a full time job as an SEO Professional but I don’t really have a way of proving my knowledge or skill level.

I work full time now in car sales which takes up on average 10-12 hours of my day 6 Days a week and doesn’t leave much more than 1 hour a day for any actual SEO work, after family time. But with a salary approaching 80K a year I’ve been reluctant to get out up until now. I realize I will need to take a pay cut to get my foot in the door. However, I believe once I’m in and doing a job I truly enjoy that my skill level will accelerate along with any salary.

In a Nutshell the example work I do have, I’m a little embarrassed to add to my resume.

For example: www.cardealercheck.com - It’s a mess I’ve been in the middle of a redesign for about 4 weeks now. I may have got more involved with this site than I expected. But ranks okay for the little amount of time I do have for it.

as of 6/2/08 #4 for Car Dealer, #2 for Car Dealer Reviews, Car Dealer Review, Car Dealer Ratings, #7 for Chevy Dealers in Google

and www.DennisDornon.com - It’s there as a way to try and snag a couple of easy car sales a month. The fun thing about this site is for a brief time I tried using it as a Job Board for myself and right now ranks #4 for Orlando SEO in Google.

My resume is www.DennisDornon.com/resume.html if it helps you help me.

Any guidance or suggestions are very appreciate!!

Dennis Dornon

P.S. My apologies if I rambled just wanted to be sure all the information was present.

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  Jane Copland Wrote:
I think your achievements are more impressive than you think, especially given the amount of time you have (or don’t have) to dedicate to SEO. That said, you’re probably right that a move into professional SEO would come with a pay cut from your previous employment… however, that might not last too long.

You have a range of online experience: more than I thought you had when I read your question.

Given that SEO is still a very young industry, getting into the field is probably less difficult than you’d imagine. Job-wise, your hunt for a full-time SEO position is as easy or difficult as most industries (although do check our our SEO Marketplace); however, getting involved in the SEO community is often very beneficial and quite easy. Take advantage of forums like our comment system, Sphinn, Webmaster World forums, Cre8pc forums, etc. Not only to does this let the community know who you are, it exposes you to a range of information and improves your knowledge. I’d personally suggest using your real name for the purpose of having people recognise you in the future, whether it be in writing or in person.

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Dennis Dornon Wrote:
Thanks Jane, Would you suggest I actively promote the Car Dealer Check site in any Job interviews or Applications? I’m afraid that with the state the site is in now it would turn alot of employers off and to be honest I’m not sure how quick I could clean the code up?
Also, I appreciate the kind words and for the tip on the name I go by DeluxeEdition on about 4 different forums, some of them for many years (more of a lurker) so that is a great first step.

Dennis Dornon

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  Jane Copland Wrote:

Some of your rankings for www.cardealercheck.com are very good, especially considering the amount of time you’ve been able to devote to it. As someone breaking into the SEO sphere, I would not be ashamed to use it and its rankings as an example!

Before I really dove into the SEO forums and community, I’d consider creating a user name that was more similar to your own - people often go for abbreviations, combinations, etc. It just makes it a lot easier to connect with people when you have to use your real name for conferences, blog posts, etc.

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Dennis Dornon Wrote:

I’m not sure if your suppose to post a Thank You in the Q&A Portion but either way Thank You for your help Jane.

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I applied for a position as Internet Marketing Specialist for a company here in Orlando on Tuesday and got an email response yesterday requesting me to call back at my earliest convenience.

I worked until 9:30 last night and assumed that they would not be available at that time so I called first thing at 9:00am. The receptionist said that the contact person was out for the afternoon. I left her a voicemail and emailed her back explaining I attempted to call and I appreciated her emailing me.

I have all the qualifications for this position so I’m very excited to get in touch with her. I plan on calling back tomorrow morning and I’ll keep you updated on how things go.

UPDATE: She called me back right after I posted this and we talked for a few minutes about different things ranging from why I want to leave my current job to some quick simple questions on SEO and my knowledge level.  I must have made her a little happy or said the right things because we set up an interview for tomorrow, Let’s hope all goes well.