In the past few days I have found some very interesting things...
Firstly, I was invited to take part in a debate hosted by GraduatesYorkshire about the social media affecting the recruitment process. There were a few questions raised; how does social media affect recruitment, does it have positive aspects like networking and what about the negatives. When having your background check, the recruiter could research you online via Google, Facebook or Twitter and could come across some incriminating information. Other questions included which were more useful, if any for networking your future employer and how these websites actually work. I find it very interesting and it seems the discussion has gone on for a few extra days.
Page can be found here: http://www.graduatesyorkshire.co.uk/graduates/blog/73
From this discussion I met some very interesting people, unfortunately too many to name here. Some were the advisers for graduates and recruiters, some were graduates who had found work and others were graduates like myself out of work and applying. Many of them I now follow on twitter and now following the advisers. What's more, ever since being involved in the debate I have gained a few followers each day, many based in Leeds and are recent graduates. Handy as I could always ask for some inspiration.
However what I have gained from the discussion was invaluable. One of my questions was about having two profiles on Facebook. Considering I have a belly dance profile picture where I am in a high-slit skirt and bra, might not be the best picture for my prospective employers to see me in what they would constitute as my underwear. I do a lot of networking on facebook and also on my twitter account for my dancing and I should probably separate the two. However, I had already planned to do this once I had my stage name sorted. I'm really not sure whether I can be bothered with a separate twitter account, considering I have got LinkedIn dedicated to employment. The other piece of information I found invaluable is networking for my future employer. Sounds pretty obvious considering I network my dancers, but honestly it wasn't that obvious to me about networking recruiters. Yesterday I saw a job advert for Millies and hopefully through engaging with them previously and saying I would like to work for them might give me some headway over my competitors. We'll see.
In conclusion, what I have learned from GradsYorkshire is to network, network, network and I guess considering I really don't have that much else to do, why not?
Thursday 29 July 2010
Monday 26 July 2010
A Graduate in the heart of Leeds
Ciao - as an Italian friend says to me on facebook.
As I am now equipped with broadband, blogging should come more frequently. I have been extremely busy with moving, job centres, interviews, CV writing, birthdays and money. When I last wrote I was waiting for my final marks and I received my 2,2. Congrats congrats! You have passed with the mark you believed you earned. Now, what to do with it? Well, as I have been discussing with GradatesYorkshire on twitter, not much. Seems three years and £18,000 later is all pretty pointless. Considering everyone is raving on about the education system, why does it not give us the boost in job applications we deserve? A Philosophy degree is pretty vague, as employers can't seem to figure out what it's about and where it would be useful. Maybe I should have done something like marketing, business or accounting...?
So while employers are trying to figure out what skills my degree ACTUALLY gives me, I am jobless and subsequently, incomeless. Therefore I have had to acquaint myself with the job centre. Now, while the people behind the desk seem to be pleasant and concerned, do not be fooled. They seem suspicious and any false move and you could be losing what little money you can gain. Funny thing is, once I'm working I will be losing the amount of my weekly allowance, per week for the rest of my tax paying life. So in order to gain something from the government, I figured gaining money from the system which will 'take take take' from me isn't so bad, considering how much I will 'give give give' back eventually.
All seems a little dismal at the moment, but I shall pick up the mood in my next post.
H
As I am now equipped with broadband, blogging should come more frequently. I have been extremely busy with moving, job centres, interviews, CV writing, birthdays and money. When I last wrote I was waiting for my final marks and I received my 2,2. Congrats congrats! You have passed with the mark you believed you earned. Now, what to do with it? Well, as I have been discussing with GradatesYorkshire on twitter, not much. Seems three years and £18,000 later is all pretty pointless. Considering everyone is raving on about the education system, why does it not give us the boost in job applications we deserve? A Philosophy degree is pretty vague, as employers can't seem to figure out what it's about and where it would be useful. Maybe I should have done something like marketing, business or accounting...?
So while employers are trying to figure out what skills my degree ACTUALLY gives me, I am jobless and subsequently, incomeless. Therefore I have had to acquaint myself with the job centre. Now, while the people behind the desk seem to be pleasant and concerned, do not be fooled. They seem suspicious and any false move and you could be losing what little money you can gain. Funny thing is, once I'm working I will be losing the amount of my weekly allowance, per week for the rest of my tax paying life. So in order to gain something from the government, I figured gaining money from the system which will 'take take take' from me isn't so bad, considering how much I will 'give give give' back eventually.
All seems a little dismal at the moment, but I shall pick up the mood in my next post.
H
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