How Social Media can help you get that job!

(Content taken from SOAS Careers Service)

Are you getting the most out of social media when it comes to looking for jobs? Whether you want to find out about new companies, explore different job roles, or market yourself to future employers, see our overview of how to make the most of the following online tools:

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional networking site, with over 100 million users. It is free to join and relatively easy to set up a profile. Unlike Facebook, it is a business orientated site, where companies and individuals build connections and network.  You do not have to already be in employment to join LinkedIn, in fact, there is a dedicated area relating to students.

You can use LinkedIn to:

• Market yourself. Put together a professional online ‘CV’ that demonstrates your skills and motivations. Ask past employers or tutors to endorse your work through recommendations. Employers look for potential candidates on LinkedIn and some recruiters search out candidates on the site so it is a good way of marketing your skills and experience.
• Find vacancies and get recruited. Employers are increasingly advertising jobs on LinkedIn so use it to find vacancies. There is an easy to use job search tool whereby you can get job alerts sent to you. Add as many of your skills as possible to your profile to ensure that you come up when recruiters search for candidates.
• Build up your network. Start by connecting with friends, family, other students on your course and people you have worked with or interned with in the past. Join your school and university alumni groups as this will contact you to hundreds more people. You can also invite people to join LinkedIn and connect with them.
• Use your network. Find out information about jobs, sectors and organisations by asking relevant people in your network. Use the connections you have to open up new connections, which may in turn lead to opportunities. Use LinkedIn networks to information interview, pose questions on group discussion pages and look at other people’s profiles to get a sense of how their careers have developed in particular industries.
• Engage with companies. Find organisations you are interested in and follow them, thereby getting up to date information on what the organisation is doing, its profile and whether it is hiring at the moment. Ask organisation contacts about culture of the organisation, what it’s like to work there and how they got their job.
• Join groups that are in the field you are interested in and link up to like-minded people, post questions and demonstrate to employers that you have an active interest in the field.

Twitter

Companies and organisations use Twitter to provide information about what they are doing as well as posting job vacancies. You don’t have to tweet yourself but doing so can demonstrate to employers that you are engaged and interested in the industry.

You can use Twitter to:

• Follow companies, people, organisations of interest and brands to get industry insight and keep up to date. Tweet questions and ask for information or advice, which can contribute to your online networking activities.
• Use # (hashtags) for a quick way of searching for particular roles. For example, search for #internship to bring up each tweet that has been tagged with that term. Ensure that your tweets are positive and informed so as to give potential employers a good impression.
• Follow jobsites to get the latest vacancies and follow QM Careers to keep up to date with career events and news.

Facebook

Whilst Facebook is not a business website, you may wish to use it for the following:

• Follow organisations that use Facebook for marketing, recruitment and updating information on their activities.
• There may be people in your Facebook network that work for organisations that you are interested in.  You could send them an email through Facebook asking them quick, informal questions to get a bit more information.
• QM Careers has a facebook page where we will post information on current jobs, information on careers events and careers related articles and links.

Blogs

Large organisations often have blogs written by their graduate trainees or interns which give insight into the company. Be aware that these are likely to have been vetted by the company themselves so may not present the most balanced information. Unofficial blogs can give more insight but keep an open mind when reading them.

You may wish to show future employers your writing skills, your interest in a subject area and your engagement with an industry through writing your own blog. This is especially useful for careers which require you to demonstrate strong writing skills e.g. journalism.

YouTube

YouTube is the second largest search engine and as such, is a good way to find out more information about companies and what it is like to work for them.  Larger companies often post information and advice on interviewing and assessment centres.  You can also use YouTube to get information from careers professionals on different aspects of job hunting and find ‘how to’ videos on setting up profiles, writing CV’s etc.  We have produced some short videos interviews of QM Graduates talking about their jobs., which are posted on our YouTube channel.

Huntsy – a good way to make job hunting easier

If you find the process of applying for jobs stressful and sometimes wish you had a secretary to organise things, then Huntsy could be for you. It is a great widget that will help you organise your job search.

Start by creating a free account at huntsy.com. You basically add in any vacancies you find (they make this very easy) and the site will help you keep track of all the vacancies you are applying to, create templates for CVs and covering letters, and even set reminders to send a thank you letter, chase up a recruiter or schedule an interview.

Key social network sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter can be used to create an account if you wish and are also utilised to help with the job search. For example by flagging up any contacts you may have working for the firms that have the vacancy.

There’s even a motivational temperature guage to help you see if you are on track with your job search.  Huntsy will make you feel you have a small army of personal assistants helping you.

They are developing the site all the time with lots of improvements planned.  So sign up and let them organise you!

All this and job hunting too? Looking for work during exam time…

Revision, exams, assignments, part-time job. If you’d wanted to be a juggler you’d have joined the circus.

Do employers KNOW it’s exam time? Oh yes. But their recruitment schedule doesn’t mesh with your revision timetable and once in employment, your deadlines will be equally exacting, your workload just as heavy.  They are finding out who’s up for it (and up to it) now.

A simple mantra

Is it urgent, but not important?

Is it important, but not urgent?

Is it urgent AND important?

Your priority is getting good grades. Without this, your job hunt nosedives.

Keys to success

Arrange alerts. Buy extra time.  Get job sites to update you on opportunities.

Don’t delay.  Dithering, deferral, displacement are all time wasters.  Just start somewhere.  Otherwise you’re going nowhere.

Fix fundamentals (1) BEFORE the exam season kicks off in earnest, perfect your CV and cover letter so both can be adapted at a moment’s notice.  Because you wouldn’t waste your time and everyone else’s by submitting standard CVs and letters.  Would you?

Fix fundamentals (2) Application forms can’t be prepared in advance; skills audits, examples and evidence can.  Because you wouldn’t dream of cutting and pasting from one form to another, without actually answering the question.  Would you?

Top Tip

Divide and rule.  Tackle applications and revision in chunks, not all in one attempt.

Clock Watching

Bed Time: when do you work best?  A midsummer morning or a midsummer night? Nod off later or get up earlier. (Yes you can.)

Dead Time: gap between having a snack and the beginning of TOWIE, Jeremy (Kyle or Clarkson) or HIGNFY.  Use wisely.  See Top Tip.

Down Time: Avoid stress, panic and burnout.  Build in breaks.

No sweat.

Gill Sharp
Careers Consultant QM Careers

Working outside of London

Moving away from London?

If you are graduating this year, you might have decided to move away from London.  Or maybe when it comes to job hunting, you are flexible on location and happy to move outside of the capital.

Whatever the reason, as well as looking on our vacancy site QM JobOnline for a role you might also want to have a look at these resources

www.gradsouthwest.com
www.graduateadvantage.co.uk- West Midlands internships
www.graduatejobsouth.co.uk
www.grad-central.co.uk - West Midlands jobs
www.graduatesyorkshire.co.uk
www.hotprospects.org.uk/graduates - Originally based in the East Midlands, now broader
www.gradseast.co.uk
www.cornwall.ac.uk/ucp/
www.gradskent.com/

(found via http://careerslucy.wordpress.com)

James Weaver
Employer Liaison & Events

Thinking outside the obvious in accountancy

I was just sent a note by a contact at the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants about some trainee accountant roles at McDonalds, and my reaction was the same as yours probably….yes surprise.

With the focus of a lot of recruitment marketing on roles at the Big Four and Medium sized accountancies it is easy to forget (even for a ‘veteran’ like me) that a huge amount of businesses have in- house accountancy programmes for graduates.

If you want a magic list of all these roles then I am afraid you are out of luck today, but you could do worse than look at these resources

• QM JobOnline – http://www.careers.qmul.ac.uk/jobs
• CIMA Jobs – http://myjobs.cimaglobal.com
• ICAEW Jobs – http://www.icaewjobs.com
• ACCA Careers – https://www.accacareers.com
• Public Finance Jobs – http://www.pfjobs.co.uk

Also have a look at our online directory of businesses and resources ‘Careers Tagged’ http://www.careerstagged.co.uk

Don’t forget if you need some help with job hunting we are here to help. Book some time with a Careers Consultant, or come in and see our Information Team who will be able to point you in the right direction.

James Weaver
Employer Liaison & Events Officer
QM Careers

Employers are increasingly doing internet searches on potential candidates

When was the last time you ‘googled’ yourself? What did you find?
You might not have thought before about the importance of the results. But as it only takes a few seconds for an employer to search for your name on the internet, make sure that what they find doesn’t give a bad impression.

A recent article in The Independent on this subject had cringeworthy examples of students who could have done with reading our tips on how to manage your online presence:

• Present the right image. An internet search of your name could be the first impression an employer has of you. Check what comes up if you type your name in to a search engine and ensure that it is an image that you want to present to employers.
• Keep personal and public separate. Check your privacy settings on your personal sites to ensure that employers can’t access embarrassing photos or anything that doesn’t present you in a good light.
• Check what you are putting ‘out there’. Check your posts or tweets for spelling and grammar mistakes. Be positive and don’t write anything that may put off potential employers now or in the future.
• Be up to date. Check that your online presence is up to date with any new activities or skills that may be of interest to potential employers.
• Be active. Attract interest from others and improve your online brand by being active on social media sites. Comment on group discussions, participate in group forums, and update your profiles and interests regularly.
• Be professional. Think about how to introduce yourself to a new contact. Take time to explain who you are and what result you would like from the connection. People are less likely to respond to information requests if they don’t know who you are or if you don’t target your email to them specifically.
• Be positive. Don’t complain about your situation or make off-putting remarks.  Try to come across as personable, genuine and willing to engage so that people are more likely to become part of your network. Be mindful that once you have put something out in to cyber space it becomes accessible to everyone, employers included.
• Be willing to work on your online presence. Building a successful online presence and generating far reaching networks takes time. Be persistent and think about using more than one kind of social media.

These tips were taken from SOAS Careers.

Using social media to get a job

It’s no secret that your ‘online presence’ on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter is important in your job search and career management. Social media networks are now well established methods of recruitment.

It’s vital, then, to know how employers are using these sites so that you can manage your profiles to get maximum results. Recent research by US company Bullhorn Reach*, gives us insight into which sites recruiters are using and what the reality is.

Which networks are recruiters using?
LinkedIn leads the way, being used by over 90% of recruiters who use social media to recruit. While some use LinkedIn in combination with Facebook or Twitter, 48% are using only LinkedIn for their social media recruiting. Around 21% of recruiters use all of these top three social networking sites, but the figures for those using Twitter or Facebook alone are very small  – only 1%.

How might I be recruited via social media?
There are many ways you can find a job (or a job can find you!) via social media. The research shows that each job advertised on LinkedIn gets looked at by almost 6 times more people than jobs on Facebook. So companies looking for candidates are increasingly advertising in this way.

What’s really interesting is the major way that social media is transforming recruitment through the use of connections and networks. Companies big and small (as well as recruitment agencies) are using the power of social media to find candidates and make their recruitment more efficeient. Here’s what Sjoerd Gehring, Accenture’s global social media and employee referral lead, said, “It’s incredibly important that we get referral hiring right. LinkedIn Referral Engine is a huge piece of our strategy for increasing referrals at Accenture.”

Action priorities:
If you already have a LinkedIn profile, review it. Is it up to date? Does it contain the terms and key words that a recruiter would search for? Who’s in your contacts and network? How can you develop what you have?

Don’t have a LinkedIn profile? You know what you need to do! You’ll find good support on setting up your profile at http://www.linkedin.com/home.

Either way, come along to one of our LinkedIn Labs. The next one runs on 19^th March. Find out more at http://www.careers.qmul.ac.uk/events/index.html.

*2012 Bullhorn Reach Social Recruiting Activity Report. See the infographic at http://www.bullhornreach.com/cmsites/default/files/RecruitersSocialNetworking-Bullhorn-final.png

Further interesting reading at:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2011/02/21/5-reasons-why-your-online-presence-will-replace-your-resume-in-10-years/2/

Ten tips for career success from leaders of top graduate employers

Some interesting tips and advice from Target Jobs for you to think about over the winter holiday…

Insights from leaders to help you succeed at work

1. Believe in yourself, because if you don’t you can’t sell anything to anybody. Don’t act differently, whomever you’re talking to. Most successful people are the same in the office as they are at home. And believe what you’re doing is important. Jo Taylor, head of learning and 4Talent at Channel 4
2. Things that seem enormously important today might not be so in six months’ time. Experience has taught me the importance of keeping work and life in perspective. Jonathan Evans, director general of MI5
3. Don’t worry about what degree you’re studying – personal qualities are more important. Be clear about what you want in a career. At the interview stage, we are looking for people with a clear purpose and a firm view of what they want to do. Simon Levene, global practice group leader (intellectual property and technology group) at DLA Piper
4. You need to hear the meaning behind the words. If you don’t listen carefully you can lose the support of your team which is why I attend roadshows, read blogs and have a laugh with colleagues. When you’re a senior person, you need to work even harder at listening beyond the words. Simon Kirby, director of infrastructure investment projects at Network Rail
5. Network, network, network. Pro-actively build your personal and professional network, both online and face-to-face. Develop a ‘personal brand’ at work. Be positive, adaptable and adopt a can-do attitude. You will discover very early that people like working with positive people. Sarah Fisher, HR director at Microsoft
6. You tend to find that people in leadership roles are very active outside their day-to-day job. Nobody tells them to do it. They do it because it’s their natural inclination – whether that means organising a society, playing sport, writing their own book, it doesn’t matter. Mike Maddick, head of graduate resourcing and development at The Royal Bank of Scotland Group
7. Creativity and adaptability are important skills to have now because change is constant and relentless. Business models are evolving with more focus on developing entrepreneurial behaviour within firms, even in traditional professions like law. Victor Tettmar, managing director at Bond Pearce
8. Expect the unexpected in all sorts of guises. Be clear and honest – if you’re not, believe me you’ll be found out and it can have a destructive effect on you and the people you work with. Air chief marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, chief of the air staff, Royal Air Force
9. At a junior level you can be totally driven and influenced by what’s immediately in front of you. Life has taught me to always look beyond the deadline; to take a longer-term perspective. It’s easy to be pulled into what is urgent and immediate and lose focus of the bigger picture. Cathy Bell-Walker, finance partner and global board member at Allen & Overy LLP
10. I understand how we market the business [and how the market works] and I’m comfortable with financial analysis. Note to students reading this: to succeed in any business you need to develop these two skills. Russell Barnes, divisional director of Midway Developments at Merlin Entertainments

Tweet your way to career success this Winter

Yes, it’s possible to get a job in 140 characters! Don’t believe us? Take a look at the Guardian Jobs Blog http://careers.guardian.co.uk/careers-blog/graduate-twitter-job-seeker-employed for a real story of how it worked.

Whatever methods you are using to search for jobs, internships or work experience, one main challenge you’ll face is how to get noticed, so it’s worth considering how social media can bring a fresh approach.  Networking and thinking creatively about job hunting are useful tactics to try!

For further information and inspiration, go to the resources section of our website and see the downloadable leaflets in the job hunting advice section. Those that relate to this topic are: ”Find and apply for unadvertised jobs’, ‘Proactive job hunting’, ‘Networking’, ‘Networking online’ and ‘Networking questions’.

FAQ: What is the National Minimum Wage?

If you are looking for part time work at the moment, you might be interested to know that on the 1st October the National Minium Wage increased.

The National Minimum Wage is a minimum amount per hour that most workers in the UK are entitled to be paid by law.  Your legal entitlement to be paid  National Minimum Wage is not affected by:

• how you are paid – weekly or monthly, by cheque, in cash or in another way
• whether you work full time, part time or any other working pattern
• whether you work at your employer’s work place or elsewhere
• the size of your employer
• where you work in the UK.

Currently the National Minimum Wage is £6.08 per hour for 21 year olds and older, and £4.98 per hour for 18 -20 year olds.

The rates do change, so keep an eye on the Directgov website.

If you have any questions about a vacancy please ask QM Careers for guidance.  If you would like legal advice about employment issues contact the QM Legal Advice Centre, a free service for you.