Social Media and Employment

Social networking becomes ever more important as the years go on when it comes to employment and careers.

Dependent upon how you use them, social networking sites can help you a great deal in your professional life.
Of course, they can also work against you if you aren't careful.

Firstly, they can help you get a job. LinkedIn in particular is a great platform for making professional connections. It acts as an online CV so if it looks polished and is kept up-to-date, you could see job offers coming in!

Potential employees' social networking sites are often looked at by companies in the recruitment process. Even though that tweet about what a twonk your old boss was got you five retweets, and you Facebook profile photo which shows you smoking a joint got 30 likes, it won't look good to a company. Clean up your profiles!

Once you've got a job of course, social media is great for it's primary purpose (who knew?!) i.e socialising. Use it to build a better relationship with collegues. But keep it professional and make sure you've said more than just "hello" to them before requesting their friendship on Facebook.

If you've got an interview, check out the company's social media pages, see what's been going on in the last six months. Since they're easy to edit, networking sites (if managed properly) are kept up-to-date. If the company doesn't have any kind of social media presence (or uses just one or two sites) it's worth considering why that might be.

Make connections for the future with LinkedIn. Connect with people in places of authority and who can potentially employ you.

LinkedIn also allows it's members to endorse, reccomend and commend each other. Good relationship with your A Level IT Teacher? Connect with them! They're likely to write on your profile just how great you were at sixthform/college which will go a long way with employers.

Twitter is dangerous- be mindful. If you use Twitter a lot, as I do, you're liable to tweet things you'll regret in the future when you're angry, upset or excited. You needn't use Twitter for your professional life if you'd prefer it for personal use, but keep it PG, PC or just P (protected so that no one can see your tweets or follow you without your permission)

If you've got any others, tweet @DoItUrWayBlog, comment below or email doityourwayblog@gmail.com

"It doesn't matter what your course is, university gives you transferable skills for the work place"

"It doesn't matter what your course is, university gives you transferable skills for the work place"

A line I've heard so much it makes me want to take my long, dark, non-student hair and shove it in to my ears just so I don't have to hear it any more.

Of course uni gives you "transferable skills" like being organised and time-keeping, not forgetting determination and of course a good work ethic.

If this is a viable statement to put on your cv or recite in an interview then in my next interview, it's ok for me to say that "I have gained good skills in the work place from owning a cat" surely?!
Owning a cat means you learn to be patient, you become compassionate, ethical and caring. You also have to be commited.
Or what about having to dress yourself everyday? That gives you transferable skills doesn't it?!

So what I am trying to get at is whilst there is some truth in that arguement, you can also replace the word "university" with pretty much anything. With this in mind, some people could be lead to think that because of this, it's in fact utter rubbish.

Of course, I am Switzerland. Well, thats not true because I am bias towards alternatives to university. 

Shall I tell you what will give "transferable skills for the work place," well in fact ACTUAL WORK PLACE SKILLS?

Well ladies and gentlemen, instead of three years "learning" at university, three years in an apprenticeship or interning will give you MUCH better skills which will benefit you in a career.

Growing up at uni? I'm not so sure. Spend 3 years anywhere and you will grow up (new concept just invented by NASA called time and the ageing process) but university? I think the rate of growing up is liable to become stangnent or slow at least.

Spend three years between being 18 and 21 in employment around actual adults and your maturity levels will soar!

Three years of drinking, avoiding lectures, student loans and living with mostly people your own age. Now compare that with three years of 9-5 work, being around 16-67 year olds all day, commuting, acting as an adult in the work place, being responsible and earning your own money (not that borrowed from tax payers and often never paid back) and you'll see who gets most work place skills and maturity.

Ri x

I've done it- YOU definitely CAN do it

Dear all,

I am living, breathing (blogging) proof that you do not need university to do well in life.
Everything has come up trumps for me, and if you work hard, stay focused and have a goal (as I keep banging on about) you can too!
I'm so happy and proud of myself that I want to scream and shout about it! But I am a writer and a digital marketeer, so I'll blog about it, and hopefully inspire and encourage other people.
So turn back six months to October when I was feeling very down and defeated having applied for an inordinate number of things which for what ever reason didn't work out. To name a few a journalism apprenticeship at The Independent, a marketing internship, 103942 admin roles, 1948421 internships, a digital journalism apprenticeship (which was to cost ME £5000)  and a digital media college course at Lambeth College (I also did a few bits for notgoingtouni.com)
I was at a loss and was applying for things I knew very well I didn't want to do.
Then, by a stroke of luck I came accross Arch Apprenticeships. (If you want a career in digital/IT/admin/business/PR check them out. Now. In fact stop reading this a check them out. Seriously. Now)
It was 12am on a Tuesday night and I sat and applied for every digital marketing apprenticeship role they had (all 32 of them)
The next day I had a phone interview and I was then invited to an assessment day. Following the assessment day I attended a week's induction to digital marketing. At the end of the course I had three interviews set up for the following week.
I only went to one of the interviews, it was for the company (their name shall remain anon) I really wanted. I got it.
If you read my next post, you'll find out what went on between then and now, and I'll give some info about Arch but fast forward to the present day, I- me- Rianna Viggiano, I now work at THE GUARDIAN. (#toopresteigeforyou) Let's have a moment of silence for how beautiful that sounds.
Digital Marketing for  Guardian Soulmates. Almost two months I've been there now and I've loved every second of it. My contract will terminate in February 2015 but I've already had two job offers for when I finish via LinkedIn (if you don't have an account, get one now)
This is why I am so elated! I want to tell everyone that looked down on me for not opting to go to uni, all my teachers, friends, everyone!
YOU DO NOT NEED TO GO TO UNIVERSITY TO GET A GREAT, FULFILLING CAREER!!!!!!
Of course, it is very early days and it's only the beginning, but I have a very good feeling that this will start off the rest of my wonderful life!

Ri x

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