Social media manager Shari Williams crushes job search

Social media manager Shari Williams

When you live in a world where you are overwhelmed and inundated with countless job search sites and a constant deluge of advice on everything from how to get a job to how to update your resume, how do you make yourself stand out in a creative way?

If you’re like Burrell Freelance Social Media Manager and Content Creator, Shari Neal Williams, you do what you do best — create a love letter, in the form of a website and social content, to that agency.

On March 8, Neal Williams launched the website, “Shari Loves Burrell,” a culmination of her crush that started back in 2006.

“As a life-time Chicagoan with an advertising education, Burrell has always been a household name. I’ve literally read about founder Tom Burrell in books and advertising annuals,” says Neal Williams. She adds, “I know I’m a good fit here.”

While a scary notion for most, not so much for Neal Williams who has defined her career by taking bold risks. “I have seized opportunities to put my skills on display and worked my ass off to prove myself, but it still didn’t seem like enough. I felt like I needed to do something special and unforgettable.”

A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, Neal Williams started her career interning at the art departments of FCB, Chicago and JWT, Chicago. She then joined “pharma” agency Abelson-Taylor as a Lead Art Production Artist and then switched positions to Interactive Developer.

After exploring New York at Juice Pharma as a Front-End Web Developer, she returned to Chicago and had a baby. “While I was figuring out what I wanted to do with life, I got an ideal job as a work-from-home Social Media Specialist and Mom Blogger for the YMCA.”

Always wanting to get into social media, Neal Williams finally found her opportunity to join forces with her “love” when Burrell advertised online for someone to join their Social Content Department. And was hired on a temporary basis in November 2016.

Now having been at Burrell for almost 3.5 months and having created some breakthrough social content for the agency, including its stellar #BlackAdHistory Campaign, Neal Williams is determined to make it hard for them to part ways with her.

“I thought about doing a PowerPoint but who wants to sit through that? Ideas were popping into my head faster than I could write them down. I got the idea around Valentine’s Day, so I decided to go with an online dating/courting scenario. From there, it all fell into place.”

Neal Williams finally emailed the link to Chief Creative Officer, Lewis Williams, who was floored by her passion and creativity. He then forwarded it to agency CEO’s Faye Ferguson and McGhee Osse Williams. They loved it as well. The CCO even went as far as to post on Linkedin to show off the ingenuity.

Burrell has not responded with an official offer yet, but Williams has gained the attention and curiosity from other agencies in town. She even has a countdown clocking ticking away until her contract is up at Burrell. At the time of this writing they now have 18 days, 12 hours 33 minutes and 47 seconds to decide. Tick… Tick…

LA-Based Colin Costello writes for film, TV, advertising and of course, Reel Chicago. He can be reached at colin@colincostello.com.