Friday, February 8, 2013

Online Networking and Employability

Leicester Awards are an excellent way to define our key skills and strengths while allowing us to recognize their weaknesses and turn them to advantages.


But why have I chosen Leicester Award for Online Networking and Employability specially?

It is my firm belief that social media, IT and the internet in general can be used to strengthen our digital footprint and make us more easily approachable by future employers. What is more, by utilizing the web and social media will allow an individual to:

  • Chat with employers directly
  • Share the experiences of people who have been through the recruitment process
  • Gain commercial awareness
  • Job-hunt creatively
  • Develop an effective personal brand to promote yourself
According to the Guardian:

"Exposure and knowledge of technology and the internet is second nature to the current generation of graduates. Growing up with social media is a strong asset, compared to other generations who had to learn as it boomed. Use this point to your advantage in your CV and interview pitch. Increase your online presence: start a blog, get LinkedIn and keep up-to-date with the latest movements in your industry. Comment and interact to give yourself an online presence and a name to be remembered." (Guardian Careers - How the job market has changed over 2012 )

Going through Unit 1 I have managed to discover skills of mine and past experiences that I would have never thought that can be actually used in my CV.





I have identified my strengths and set targets to achieve in certain deadlines using the STAR technique:
  • Situation - what was the situation and when did it take place?
  • Task - what task was it, and what was the objective?
  • Action - what action did you take to achieve this?
  • Results - what happened as a result of your action?
which allowed me to link my skills with past experiences, something that will come handy in future job interviews.


While going  through Unit 2 I was able to understand that each social media has a different usage and how all them can be linked together to brand myself as a whole. I have learned about the seven key concepts to digital literacy that are vital to my good use of the internet and social media.  By using these concepts I will learn to use social media to it's full potential since there is more to it than just connecting with friends and family.
  • Changing - understand and adapt to new technologies for the purpose of career building.
  • Collecting - the ability to source, manage and retrieve career information and resources.
  • Critiquing - understand the nature of online career information and resources, and analysing usefulness for your career.
  • Connecting - build relationships and networks online that can support your career development.
  • Communicating interact effectively across a range of different platforms, to understand the genre and netiquette associated with different types of interaction and to use them appropriately within the context of career.
  • Creating - create online content that effectively represents you and your career online.
  • Curating – store and retrieve online information and mange your digital footprint and online networks to support your career.

    What is more, I created this specific blog in order to use it as a career development tool to reflect on my experiences and keep a log of my activities. Furthermore  I will be including direct links to my other social media profiles in order to expand my presence and create a complete profile of myself.


    Moreover, we will have the chance meet Graduate recruiter, Lee Clarke, from Gradplus.com as he will be giving a webinar on how employers use social media to screen and select candidates. He will also be giving you tips on how to use social media to search for jobs. 

    All in all, by the end of this course, I be able to:
    • Recognize the importance of social media for self-promotion.
    • Have knowledge of the different networking tools available and how to use them.
    • Achieve career development and networking objectives through the use of social media.
    • Demonstrate the ability to reflect critically on skills acquired/developed and how these relate specifically to employability.
    • Be able to present ideas and information to a specified brief and audience



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