Twitterbug

First and foremost- Merry Christmas one and all! Now, back to the meaty stuff…

I have been advised recently that one of the shrewdest moves I can make in order to further my career prospects is to join this mystifying website known as “Twitter”. I wasn’t sure if this was some kind a multi-player game, a website for the “twits” of the world to congregate, or just another Facebook-esque social networking site. Apparently it is a “free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time” (Whatever that means?)

Despite all my doubts, I went ahead and created my profile. I only knew one other person who had Twitter so I clicked on his face and decided to “follow” him. A matter of moments later I was informed that he was following me too. Great. Now what?

Unlike Facebook, apparently Twitter is not just for keeping up to date with gossip about your friends, acquaintances, and people you went to primary school with and never spoke to. Twitter allows you to create a network of like-minded people who continually update their answer that ever insightful question- “what are you doing?” Or they may link you to their blogs which you can then comment on, thus adding your voice to a potentially global conversation. (And I’m pretty sure I’m yet to discover all the other wonderful things it can do.)

If you decide to jump on the Twitter bandwagon, you may find that you are suddenly bombarded with jargon that makes absolutely no sense, such as “tweet” and “re-tweet” and “tinyurl”. And although I still don’t really understand what any of these terms mean, even I can still just about navigate my way round the major functions.

So maybe you’re thinking this sounds like a total and utter waste of time, and I must admit that thought has crossed my mind too. The other thought that crosses my mind however is the enormous potential of the beast that is Twitter to help me be involved in a global network of movers and shakers. Even Stephen Fry is getting in on the action (I should know as I am one of his many thousands of followers.)Please feel free to follow me and my insightful updates, and join in the conversation!

http://twitter.com/JHardacre1

Qualification or vocation?

I bet I’m not the only one who has asked themselves the question; why the hell am I actually at University? Now that I have a specific career goal in mind (PR,) I do sometimes wonder if my degree is really equipping me with skills for the big wide world. Or could I have just started at the bottom and worked my way up in the industry? I mean, last semester for example, I had 6 hours worth of lectures a week. That works out as something ridiculous like £50 a lecture. Is it really worth it?

Some argue that to be successful in industries like PR it’s all about personality. So the chances are, you could just have the qualification, just the personality, or both. Does one really mean better chance of success than the other? In my opinion, my degree alone may not be my key to my dream job, but going to University has opened so many doors for me and has given me access to opportunities that I never would have had otherwise.

I think PR seems like a pretty perfect job for me, but before I came to Uni I didn’t even know what it was! My degree is equipping me with the obvious skills, like time management, communication, team-work etc, but there are other ways that you can really get your money’s worth out of University! You can be involved in sports and societies, student newspapers, get free careers and business guidance, network, you can get help finding a part-time job, you get involved in events and the list goes on.

As for that ideal personality, when I think of my former just turned 18 self beginning uni, and look at myself just a year and a half on there is a huge difference. I kind of felt like I was being thrown in at the deep end, moving away from home, making new friends, getting used to a new way of learning and all the rest- but it’s definitely done wonders for my confidence.

Uni has made me realise that stuff doesn’t just happen; you have to make it happen. So okay, maybe not everyone who is studying for a degree will make use of it in future, or will need it to get into their prospective sector, but I know I would be at a complete loss without mine!

Shopoholic gets a job

Now I’m approaching the end of my 1st semester as a 2nd year, I can’t help but notice all the encouraging and increasingly persuasive messages about being prepared for this time next year; the time when the reality of venturing into the big wide world will be starting to hit home, and I will be applying for a graduate job (deep breaths everyone.)

I think these days, with the pressure of all the fine competition out there, the temptation to fire out as many CV’s and application forms as possible is all too apparent. I suppose it does make some kind of logical sense… the more jobs I apply for the more chance I’ll have of getting offered one right? True; but if using these tactics there is also a pretty high chance you’ll end up in a dead end job where you’re unhappy and where you’re doing something that is irrelevant in terms of your long term careers plans.

This got me thinking about a bit of advice passed on to us by the IBM recruitment lady who been has been knocking around campus this week hoping to snare herself a hot new graduate workforce.Before you go ahead all guns blazing and send your generic CV’s every which way, why not try writing a shopping list- and I don’t mean for a new confidence boosting wardrobe. I mean a job shopping list. What do you actually want out of your graduate job???

1. To have variety?
2. Flexibility?
3. To work in a certain city/ part of the world?
4. Creative freedom?
5. Your own office?
6. etc…

Everyone knows how satisfying it can be to cross things off a list. So why not challenge yourself?

False Advertising

Okay, so we’ve all heard about job applicants embellishing their CV’s, and the big trouble this can get you in later on. (Alternatively it could land you a job with Alan Sugar.) But have you ever thought that employers may be guilty of this too?

I have just arrived home from yet another interview. This time for a Marketing Assistant job at my university union. Because of my interest in marketing and PR, the title caught my attention, so I read on…

Duties include a full range of marketing, promotions and research opportunities within the Union Society. Previously, Marketing Assistants have carried out surveys, performed promotional distribution, sourced advertising for "The Courier", undertaken "mystery Shopper" exercises and have even been sent to rival venues for sneaky intelligence gathering!An ideal opportunity to gain knowledge and practical experience in sales and marketing and to have a direct impact on the development of the Union. You must have exemplary verbal communication skills and an outgoing personality, be willing to approach anybody about anything! You must also have a definite "can-do" attitude.

Getting paid for some work experience, sounds good.
Okay, so I was a tad suspicious that some of my duties, should I get the job, may not be terribly exciting, but I thought it was worth a shot… so I applied.

Obviously, I made sure to big-up my appropriate experience and skills (and general keenness.) Communication, team-work, and organisation- they were all in there (with excellent examples of course.)

3 weeks later: I get a phone call offering me an interview, and so for the rest of the day I have an extra spring in my step.

Interview day comes around: First impressions are key; so I wear my smart togs (including heels, tall people get all the jobs apparently,) I do my research, reread the job description, go on their website, have some clever sounding answers prepared in my head. I feel good.
Along comes Mr Interviewer man, I smile, shake his hand, do all the right things. I’m poised in position waiting to impress him with all my great knowledge and experience. After the usual formalities Mr Interviewer man begins with: “We realise that the job description seems pretty varied, but your main duty will be flyering.”

I quickly realise that I must have a “you what” kind of look on my face and change it back to the obligatory smile.

So, this fantastic opportunity to gain “knowledge and practical experience in sales and marketing”, actually involves standing in the pouring rain for 4 hours whist everyone pretends you’re invisible. Being a Marketing Assistant doesn’t sound quite so appealing anymore.
I’d been hooked in by their cunning advert, and I had wasted a little bit of my life. (But, on the bright side I did get some more interview experience.)And in case you’re wondering, I did get the job.

My first post...

Wow. So this is what it’s like to be part of the “blogosphere”. About me: I am currently in my second year of university studying a BA in Media, Communication and Cultural studies. (A bit of a mouthful I know.)

When I tell people what I’m studying, the usual reaction is a not so convincing “Oh, that sounds interesting.” The phrase that may spring to mind for many though is “Mickey Mouse subject”, that lovely term coined by former education minister Margaret Hodge, to describe degrees “where the content is perhaps not as rigorous as one would expect and where the degree itself may not have huge relevance in the labour market".

So apparently I am already hindered in the employment world by my choice of degree. A bit of Wiki research also reveals a pretty scary statistic: “there are 43 times as many Media Studies students in higher education as there are jobs available in the media annually.” And even though we’re told not to believe anything on Wikipedia, that is scary.Back in my first ever term at University, we had a talk from the lovely lady from the University careers service, basically trying to scare the crap out of us that “time flies” and “soon you will applying for your graduate job”. This is the type of advice most Freshers choose to ignore as “we don’t have to think about all that for ages”.However, I believed every word. And while many of my course mates probably left the room thinking “what shall I have for lunch?”, I left thinking “Oh my God, How can I make my CV stand out?”Over the past year and a half I have done my best to answer that question.

I’ve written for the student newspaper, I’ve completed a 3 month placement at a PR agency, I’m in the Student Communications Team, I’m in the choir and now I’ve broken into the world of blogging. Okay, so maybe I am known in certain circles as a “keeno”, but now I’ve had my fair share of interview experience, written my fair share of covering letters and researched my fair share of companies. So, I’m harnessing my keenness to share some of my experiences of trying to achieve my Great Expectations. It feels like only a matter of weeks ago that I was unloading the contents of my bedroom into the prison cell that would be my home for the next 9 months, but I find myself sitting here approaching the half way mark of my whole time at university…and there’s no need to panic.