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Jobs: Top 5 web platforms to get noticed on March 27, 2012

Posted by Andrew Falconer in : Selection Process, employability and skills , add a comment

Do you know your plaxo from your digg? Is Facebook still “where it’s at”? Non-plussed about Google +? These questions are hard enough when keeping track of your social life, but need a lot of thought before being used as a job-hunting tool.

With so many different web platforms to choose from, which are more effective for raising your profile and getting noticed by a prospective employer? The difficulty is that these platforms change, develop, grow or collapse. Putting all your eggs in one basket is probably not the best solution, but focusing your efforts on one or two and having a stand-by is more realistic.

First of all, why bother? Well I have already posted on why it’s worth bothering about LinkedIn but it’s worth looking at the issue more generally. According to Jobvite, in the USA nearly 90% of companies are planning to use social networks to find job candidates, up from 83% a year ago. This trend, I suspect, would also been seen in the UK. Social media tends to be cheap, very easy to target and fast.

When you’re thinking of social media you need to think about your target market. What do they use? Not every industry will use the same sites, and different sites are more popular in different countries. Do your research.

So our Top 5…. (more…)

LinkedIn: Why bother? September 15, 2011

Posted by Andrew Falconer in : Uncategorized, employability and skills, entrepreneurship , 1 comment so far

A graduate recently told me that she had messaged over twenty professionals on linkedin asking for a job. It had cost her financially and she only received six responses – all negative. She showed me what she had sent them. It was three lines – a link to her profile, a generic comment about her being hardworking and enthusiastic and a plea for a job. I’m surprised she even got six replies. She had completely misunderstood LinkedIn and the subtlety of using it.

I think LinkedIn is a fantastic site. When I spoke at International Futures earlier this year I think I sounded like a LinkedIn salesman or evangelist. For me the site delivers so much potential, both for experienced professionals and those starting out in their careers.  You can listen to my enthusiasm and watch the powerpoint slides online.

The graduate I met had very high and misguided expectations about LinkedIn. It is not a jobs website. It is also not Facebook. It’s a professional network that requires input. Students often expect that once their profile is published suddenly all sorts of job offers will pour into their inbox. It is rare that just by turning up to a networking event you would immediately ask for a job, so why would you on LinkedIn?

And LinkedIn is like a networking event. Professionals from all sorts of industries, from all over the world (although some countries have a difficult relationship with such networks) are on the site. My first “real” job was as a Funeral Director – and yes, even they are on there. If you want to work in anything from finance to international development or environmental consultancy, the site could help you.

So if you can’t ask for a job, what can you do? Networking is a process.  We’ll be running a series of posts on Networking at the end of October which will look at the process and how you put it into practice. Essentially the key benefit of networking is about building knowledge. The jobs come once you have the level of knowledge required to understand opportunities when they arise. If you want to work in environmental consulting, there are lots of resources online but LinkedIn has groups where current professionals discuss key issues. It is in these groups that you can learn more about the profession and ask (intelligent!) questions of its members. It can then also drive them to your lovingly-created profile.  And just to be sure, there are some good sites warning of LinkedIn faux pas.

It is of course not the only social networking site around. Indeed Facebook is being used by employers as a recruitment tool, with some sectors finding it more succesful than LinkedIn. But Facebook is not conducive to professional groups, particularly where professionals seek to seperate their private and business lives. Like all aspects of job seeking, use a variety of tools to explore opportunties.

LinkedIn has a Learning Centre with resources for students and job seekers. Whilst oriented towards an American market, the information is useful for those setting up LinkedIn profiles for the first time and taking first steps towards engaging with professionals. Some college careers services also run hands-on LinkedIn training sessions which are worth participating in. But, like with all networking, the advice is to put yourself out there, get started. It may take a while to build confidence but people on LinkedIn are there because they like to share. If in doubt remember the first rule of networking – people love talking about themselves! So just ask.

Follow Friday: Graduate recruitment on Facebook November 26, 2010

Posted by Helen Curry in : networking , add a comment

Image by columnfive (Flickr)

Active UK graduate recruitment pages and groups run by companies and organisations. In no particular order…

Know of any more?

Online social networking – Follow Friday: Entrepreneurs November 19, 2010

Posted by Helen Curry in : networking , add a comment

If you are a Twitter user, you will be familiar with Follow Friday (or #FF) – every Friday people tweet their recommendations about who to follow. I thought I’d pick up the idea, but broaden it to share the Facebook and LinkedIn accounts I’d recommend as well.

These will be useful for job-hunting, networking, sharing your questions, getting information, and tracking down events to attend.

I have been following Global Entrepreneurship Week, so in honour of that I have taken entrepreneurship as my first theme. Interesting to see how different organisations favour different networks.

For general tips on networking approaches (not just online) see our handout on Networking.

Facebook

First of all, some of the strongest and most active groups are the student societies and careers-service-led pages. They are mainly sharing events and successes within their community, so you’ll need to search for the one at your uni. At the University of London we have Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs, UCL Entrepreneurs Society, SOAS Student Enterprise, King’s College London Business Society, Queen Mary Entrepreneurs,

For general interest, I’d recommend Starting your own Business, Enterprise UK, Flying Start, Global Entrepreneurship Week, and NACUE – National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs.

LinkedIn

You will want to use LinkedIn to network with individuals you know, but I’d definitely recommend joining groups like these too. You can ask questions, join topical discussions, and build your network through finding other individuals to connect with.

Twitter

Celebrities

Individuals

Organisations

News

University societies

Anyone else you’d recommend?

New Facebook pages – Careers in the Media and SICS September 30, 2009

Posted by Helen Curry in : Media , 1 comment so far

Just like buses, none for ages then suddenly two at once:

Careers in the Media

This page is for anyone interested in a career in Television, Radio, Film, Journalism or Publishing. It will be updated regularly with jobs (for students and graduates, mostly in London), links to other opportunities and resources, and careers tips from employers.

If you post up any questions you have or feedback, one of our advisers or information officers will get back to you.

SICS: Specialist Institutions’ Careers Service

This page is for users of the SICS services, undergraduates, postgraduates and research staff from the following institutions:

Birkbeck, University of London; Heythrop College; The Institute of Cancer Research; Institute of Education; London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Marine Biological Station, Millport; Royal Veterinary College; School of Advanced Study; School of Pharmacy; St George’s, University of London; University of London Institute in Paris.

It has information about the service, careers advice sessions and upcoming events. Again, if you have any questions about SICS you can post them here.

We ♥ Facebook.

Careers in the City – mentoring and advice promoting diversity September 22, 2009

Posted by Helen Curry in : Uncategorized, city jobs, diversity , add a comment


Inquiry finds women in leading finance companies receive around 80 per cent less in bonuses – EHRC

Stories like this represent real disappointments to those of us who work with the belief that career success should come from ability and talent rather than gender, appearance or background. At least there are still public inquiries to remind us how much work remains to be done. And, fortunately these tend to encourage targeted schemes to counter this discrimination. Here are a selection of upcoming events/schemes I have found that might just be right for you:

If you have attended any of these events, let us know what you thought of it! And if you hear of any more, please share them in comments.

You may have been aware of our own diversity scheme called Reach - this is just about to be re-launched. No longer a mentoring programme, instead we will have an interactive website featuring newfeeds, blogs, forums, events, inspiring case studies, and advice from employers. We hope this means we will be able to help a much greater number of students. Keep your eyes on the Reach page for updates – you can expect the site to be available in October!

You might also like to become a fan of our page on Facebook Careers in the City, for year-round jobs, links, tips and feedback from careers advisers. It does not have a diversity focus, but the advisers running the page would always be interested to explore that issue.

Photos from The Guardian London Graduate Fair – Summer 2009 June 25, 2009

Posted by Helen Curry in : Uncategorized , 2comments

We have some photos from the fair last week which I have uploaded to Flickr and Facebook. Please feel free to leave us a comment if you spot yourself!

Graduate entry into medicine February 4, 2009

Posted by TCG Info in : graduate entry medicine , 1 comment so far

What’s that you say? Another new page on Facebook?
Why yes! It’s Graduate Entry into Medicine! For anyone with a non-medical first degree, looking to apply to do medicine.


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Environmental Careers January 27, 2009

Posted by TCG Info in : Uncategorized , add a comment

We’ve just created another new page on Facebook – Environmental Careers. Become a fan and ask us a question!


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Careers in Charities and NGOs January 22, 2009

Posted by TCG Info in : Voluntary work , add a comment

Just wanted to let you know about our new page on Facebook, Careers in Charities. It’s already looking popular, and has regular updates, so worth taking a look:

If you like that, you might also be interested in one of our most established and popular pages too:


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