Are you interested in helping out SDN?

[SDNFeedback]

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Applications are now being accepted for those who are interested in being a part of SDN’s volunteer marketing staff.

We are looking for users from all disciplines to help spread the word about SDN!

JOB DESCRIPTION

• Assist the marketing director in conceptualization and implementation of commercial ventures to enhance sponsor recruitment and new member recruitment which would include some of the following but this is not all inclusive:

• Work with Marketing Director on various special projects such as Test Prep Week or newsletters
• Expand partner sites as well as advertising revenues
• Help SDN implement a marketing plan

WORK EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS
• Ideal candidates will possess interpersonal skills, organizational skills, and have creative vision.

EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
• Graduate or professional school education desirable.
• Some training and/or experience in marketing preferred but not a requirement.


If interested, please send a PM to SDNFeedback:
• listing education experiences
• any business/work experience you might have
• answering 1) why you are interested in the position and 2) what ideas do you have for expanding marketing/advertising SDN? (Creativity is encouraged!)

 

[SDNFeedback]

We aren't asking you to walk around and hand out fliers so PLEASE don't think that is what this is all about.

We just would like creative minds to sit back and maybe help us figure out the best way to reach new users. You might be asked to help us research stuff on the internet or design information for our newsletter. Maybe even work on finding ways to help expand your profession's forums by getting new users.

Time commitment is maybe 1+ hrs a week and really flexible. Obvious the more time you can put in, the more you'll get to do. But this is a fun environment and we need input from our members in order to make this work.

As a non-profit organization, SDN has a mission to help pre-professional and professional students utilizing their volunteer staff. I wish I was getting paid for this but hey, I believe in the greater good!

SO...

• If you are interested in helping out a non-profit organization which has a firm belief to bring user the best resources on the 'net, please apply.
  
• If you want to get some experience in how an organization marketing strategy works, please apply.
  
• If you have some free time on your hands and want to help out, please apply.
  
• If you like to play on the internet and procrastinate, please apply.
  
• If you don't have alot of time but really like SDN, please apply.
  
• If you want to stand outside in the bitter cold and hand out fliers that will be trashed within 10 seconds of receipt, please apply, but note that you probably will be disappointed in this regard. We have better ideas in store 😉

 

[Caverject]

This has, "SDN- Soon to be a membership only website" written all over it 🙁

 

[All4MyDaughter]

This has, "SDN- Soon to be a membership only website" written all over it 🙁

Nope. 🙂

 

[KellyBean]

That seems like a lot of requirements for just a volunteer position. I don't want to be rude, so I'm not going to say anything anymore.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

That seems like a lot of requirements for just a volunteer position. I don't want to be rude, so I'm not going to say anything anymore.

I'd have to clarify with the person in charge, but I'm pretty sure that people with all levels of experience are encouraged to apply. 🙂

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I'm creative....unfortunately I'm also lazy and use said creativity in spurts of caffeine fueled anger and hyperactivity.....

 

[All4MyDaughter]

 

[sdn1977]

This has, "SDN- Soon to be a membership only website" written all over it 🙁

hmmm - newsletters, marketing plans & expanding partner sites & revenues - perhaps not membership only.....but does add some suspicion as to the "indepence" of the input....particularly from the mentor perspective.

Perhaps there needs to be disclosure as there is on drug studies & authors????

When it is more than just voluntary input - how does one know the ulterior motives of the "authentic" advice???

Just being a devil's advocate in the era of significant criticism of drug disclosure, which could also translate into educational disclosure (which CME/CPE is criticized for).

 

[All4MyDaughter]

I'll try to address your questions but may need to defer to our marketing coordinator.

The newsletter is intended to be a "what's happening on SDN" informational tool.

We have a number of partner sites already: APMSA, PsychCentral, American Physician-Scientist, etc. We are looking to expand those partnerships to give our members access to even more content and resources.

Increased revenue = more ad revenue from google ads = more funding for server space, IT stuff and all of the expensive stuff it takes to run a website of this size (and growing!). SDN is still run by volunteers.

All of the mentors are volunteers.

What type of disclosure would we need, should that be something the Admins want to pursue? I'm open to all suggestions and will pass them along. 🙂

 

[mshheaddoc]

That seems like a lot of requirements for just a volunteer position. I don't want to be rude, so I'm not going to say anything anymore.

😕 What requirements? The fact that you are in school, preferably pharmacy school in this case (hence graduate school) its not required, neither is experience. Those are the only two requirements. If someone has worked in organizations before that be an asset (but as stated experience is not required). Its a standard job description that you'd see if you were applying for a job out of college but we were required to make formal job descriptions.

I'm creative....unfortunately I'm also lazy and use said creativity in spurts of caffeine fueled anger and hyperactivity.....

Well if you get hyper, look us up!!!!

hmmm - newsletters, marketing plans & expanding partner sites & revenues - perhaps not membership only.....but does add some suspicion as to the "indepence" of the input....particularly from the mentor perspective.

Perhaps there needs to be disclosure as there is on drug studies & authors????

When it is more than just voluntary input - how does one know the ulterior motives of the "authentic" advice???

Just being a devil's advocate in the era of significant criticism of drug disclosure, which could also translate into educational disclosure (which CME/CPE is criticized for).

Voluntary input? I think All4MyDaughter explained everything very well. We're looking to expand SDN more in the sense of getting organizations involved or having other partner sites like some of the ones we currently have (painrounds.org) to expand resources for our users. SDN was created and is run by volunteers. We're looking for more volunteers to help us as SDN is growing VERY fast and we need fresh blood around to keep things fresh. That is why we're reaching out to members to join our team.

 

[sdn1977]

I'll try to address your questions but may need to defer to our marketing coordinator.

The newsletter is intended to be a "what's happening on SDN" informational tool.

We have a number of partner sites already: APMSA, PsychCentral, American Physician-Scientist, etc. We are looking to expand those partnerships to give our members access to even more content and resources.

Increased revenue = more ad revenue from google ads = more funding for server space, IT stuff and all of the expensive stuff it takes to run a website of this size (and growing!). SDN is still run by volunteers.

All of the mentors are volunteers.

What type of disclosure would we need, should that be something the Admins want to pursue? I'm open to all suggestions and will pass them along. 🙂

Anytime there are ads which appear on a site - particularly a "voluntary" site.....there is an expectation those ads have been approved for use by the site itself & those who use the site will read them or not. The advertisers hope they will & click on them which is how they evaluate their funding dollars spent here.

Now Google ads are obvious - google will sell itself to anyone & individuals & companies will buy "hits" to gain a higher "place" on google. We have no idea if "hits" are bought from this site...that might be a disclosure. My own company purchased "hits" for a particular service so it would be listed higher on a google search, so this practice goes on all the time & most people are unsuspecting.

But, ads on this site range from come-ons for sleep aids (7 day free sample of Ambien CR - sign on here!) to a medical school in the Carribean which requires no MCAT (it also doesn't disclose the difficulties of the Carribean), a specific dentist on his gentle dentistry (I don't even have to comment here...) & many student loan ads (which have gotten oh soo many graduate programs in trouble with the federal government).

I can appreciate the dilemma of funding - its all expensive. The traditional print publications of healthcare journals have the same situation & have chosen to limit the kinds of types of ads for just this reason - the appearance of a subtle, yet consistent message which colors everything that is said within the publication itself. Since this is a voluntary site - this "coloring" of information might not be significant, unless you start to publish documents which are pseudo-authoritarian (ie - the Plan B one which had significant personal opinion & some inaccuracies). The only place you'll get significant peer-reviewed authoritative information is from the accepted professional publications & those are subsidized by memberships - hence, Caverjects comments. Everything on here is opinion unless it is referenced to a peer-reviewed publication.

Now as for the mentor forum - it is advertised by sdn as "career & academic advice from administrators, faculty, students & doctors" - which I've always felt - you believe as much as you know of those folks. We know nothing of any of these folks, so belief is suspended & you take it for what you spent on it. I know many folks in different fields I'd never take advice on when to cross the street & I believe each one of us takes whatever is given with a certain grain of salt given it is anynomous to the public. Unfortunately, you have questions coming from young, very young people - 15, 16 & 16 yr olds who do not have the knowledge & experience to sort out the "advice" - the good thing is it has been stated as "opinion" which is just that - an opinion & not a fact. However, these ads still appear - it becomes a narrow leap from that 7 day supply of ambien to the 7 day trial of levitra to a link to an online pharmacy - and that is just our business. Some of the other professions might find advertising offensive as well (I can tell you my husband finds the dental ads particularly offensive).

However, advertising for products, particularly on that forum can do nothing but give it a "taint". Thats just the way it is & those who are acting in the mentoring mode probably don't know their advice is coming right below a come-on for a 7 day sample of Ambien CR, which frankly is offensive to those of us who feel drug ads should have no place in any type of advertising to the public.

I certainly don't have a solution for you - but advertising is a dangerous route, particularly when you don't have the sophisticated individuals who have the ability to evaluate what is legal & not legal in all 50 states (I'm expecting online pharmacies to appear soon...)

But - this is just my opinion & it is worth this bandwidth only!

 

[mshheaddoc]

I'm a little confused, you think that our advertisers are part of the mentor forum? Or you just don't like the idea of anonymous mentors because you don't know if they have valid credentials?

Mentors have nothing to do with our advertising as they are verified members of the SDN community (as per .edu addresses and other checks). We don't have pharm reps on here or dental reps or anything else of the sort. All4MyDaughter can comment more along those lines of how the mentor forum is structure but every mentor is verified witih email addresses and various other features.

We do not deal with advertising at all. Its all filtered through Google Ad Words so whomever wants to advertise on our site is able to. We obviously have no control over that which you are aware. As for content filtering, that would require advertising to go through our organization which is something that I'm not sure we have the staff to handle. If you are a donor you don't see the ads and actually compared to other sites, the amoung of ads on our pages are extremely MINIMAL, restricted to the bottom and top of the screen. We haven't had any complaints about the type of ads but please visit the site suggestion forum if you have any input you'd like to add. SDN is a constantly evolving site and we need constructive feedback to make the site bigger and better. You bring up some good points which we can mull over.

As for article content, our goal to provide information and insight to our users. If you would like to contribute articles to that we'd love to have more viewpoints on various subjects. There was a call for SDN writers just last week.

 

[sdn1977]

I'm a little confused, you think that our advertisers are part of the mentor forum? Or you just don't like the idea of anonymous mentors because you don't know if they have valid credentials?

Mentors have nothing to do with our advertising as they are verified members of the SDN community (as per .edu addresses and other checks). We don't have pharm reps on here or dental reps or anything else of the sort. All4MyDaughter can comment more along those lines of how the mentor forum is structure but every mentor is verified witih email addresses and various other features.

We do not deal with advertising at all. Its all filtered through Google Ad Words so whomever wants to advertise on our site is able to. We obviously have no control over that which you are aware. As for content filtering, that would require advertising to go through our organization which is something that I'm not sure we have the staff to handle. If you are a donor you don't see the ads and actually compared to other sites, the amoung of ads on our pages are extremely MINIMAL, restricted to the bottom and top of the screen. We haven't had any complaints about the type of ads but please visit the site suggestion forum if you have any input you'd like to add. SDN is a constantly evolving site and we need constructive feedback to make the site bigger and better. You bring up some good points which we can mull over.

As for article content, our goal to provide information and insight to our users. If you would like to contribute articles to that we'd love to have more viewpoints on various subjects. There was a call for SDN writers just last week.

Advertising is the umbrella over the whole site - it cannot be helped because it exists. By accepting it, there is a subtle acceptance of the use & or participation of that product. Would sdn accept advertising for Grey Goose or Marlborough cigarettes? Just curious - are there no filters for that?

The mentors are fine - they are who they are & have been deemed valid by you - as much as you can document. However, in many circumstances, some credentials have been deemed valid by others larger than you & were "burned" (hmmm the old Hawaii College of Pharmacy) so its good it stays as opinion only. The fact that someone has a .edu address is meaningless. My daughter has a .edu address & she could not be a mentor at all since she has nothing but her own circumstance & opinions which are no more valid than any other medical students.

You must be joking if you don't think you don't have any pharmacy reps on here. I know of 2 of my classmates who are - they don't identify themselves as such, but they are here. I never mentioned reps at all - I was referring to the dentist who was advertising his practice - a poor professional move in that business actually.

I don't actually care about your ads - I ignore them. But, you, yourselves are soliciting for greater marketing expansion. I just point out the negatives which go with greater ad volume, particularly for those of us who spend significant amounts of time with the accepted medical/pharmaceutical journals & the discussions they have with regard to advertising & conflict of interest. Drug ads are a particularly sore subject in many realms of medicine -why open yourselves up to that criticisim?

Again - just my 2 cents & worth no more than anyone's opinion - you just asked.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

Advertising is the umbrella over the whole site - it cannot be helped because it exists. By accepting it, there is a subtle acceptance of the use & or participation of that product. Would sdn accept advertising for Grey Goose or Marlborough cigarettes? Just curious - are there no filters for that?

All of our ads are handled through google. I'm sure we have some basic guidelines in place but I don't have specifics. Handling them through google is a lot simpler for our volunteer staff. You might try posing that question in the site support and suggestions forum as Mushy suggested.

The mentors are fine - they are who they are & have been deemed valid by you - as much as you can document. However, in many circumstances, some credentials have been deemed valid by others larger than you & were "burned" (hmmm the old Hawaii College of Pharmacy) so its good it stays as opinion only. The fact that someone has a .edu address is meaningless. My daughter has a .edu address & she could not be a mentor at all since she has nothing but her own circumstance & opinions which are no more valid than any other medical students.

All advice is caveat emptor. See the standard disclaimer on the mentor forum. And our verification process for professional mentors is a little more involved. But to participate in the Med Student Lifestyle Q & A (a new feature) we just verify enrollment. Any med student, including sdn1977jr would be welcome. 🙂

You must be joking if you don't think you don't have any pharmacy reps on here. I know of 2 of my classmates who are - they don't identify themselves as such, but they are here. I never mentioned reps at all - I was referring to the dentist who was advertising his practice - a poor professional move in that business actually.

I think mushy just meant that drugs reps are not serving as mentors. I am in the process of recruiting a new mentor who is a pharmacist working in the pharmaceutical industry.

Thanks for the feedback!