Uni Of Leics: Reflection on Social Media Learning 3

What an opportune time for me to start to enhance my knowledge, understanding & skill sets around the Online World of Social Media. Work will change for me in three months time as I will be leaving my current employ & heading off to look for ventures & challenges new.

I had expected to utilise all my traditional skills around networking, my CIMA affiliations, & new job hunting via agencies specialising in accountancy combined with searching the internet via the likes of Gaapweb & Monster.com etc…..but I am now aware of the potential that Social Media offers in terms of developing my Personal Brand where an online audience can find me too! I am currently updating my CV which I will add into my LinkedIn account, and improve my visibility in the marketplace. I pride myself that my outgoing personality & varied interests has meant that building relationships & communicating with others has always been one of my strengths, a skill that I must now continue to develop in the virtual space.

Living in the heart of North Yorkshire Dales does mean that I am somewhat geographically separated from easy traditional connections with firms & seeking new job opportunities etc….but I have quickly become aware how the Leicester Award is equipping me with the tools to overcome such challenges in the virtual environment, indeed as the DL MBA has done in terms of access to study materials, library articles download access, tutors, guidance through Blackboard & submitting assignments.   

 I now have started to develop & appreciate the processes needed to enable me to target & follow firms of interest. I just did not realise before just how many firms are posting their vacancies directly in these portals! As I am due to complete my final Elective module on 31^st July I am very much looking forward to Uni Summer School (fellow Distance Learners – hope to see you there!) & I will use the couple of weeks in between without any module deadline pressure, to spend a bit more time refining these areas including any additional privacy elements now that I have just also (I think) linked my Facebook & Twitter accounts….

My ultimate aim is now to create strong Social Media skill set to compliment my traditional people skills & networking, alongside the technical maths, accounting, teaching qualifications & training experience to create a Personal Brand online  which can highlight these achievements, qualifications & experience from almost 30 years in industry, commerce, finance & education through my commitment to life-long learning. I am also grateful to the Online Award guidance from the University of Leicester for their expertise & teachings in this field, but in particular in the activity of reflection. It is so easy to get swept away by the day job & all our other commitments that we forget just how important this is….

To round off this posting, may I also thank all my fellow Group D contributors for their support, advice & excellent blogging in helping me through Unit 2 of the module…..and here’s looking forward to the joys of Unit 3!

Cheers

Weavo

Uni Of Leics: Reflection on Social Media Learning 2

Blog 2 Leicester Award For Employability…

You know I’m starting to get into this…..

Been updating LinkedIn (got that “professional” head shot on there without the camera lens breaking….phew) & Facebook profiles, learning more about how to improve the look & feel of my Blog page using pictures & captions to lighten things up a bit, & late last night actually signed up for my twitter account (OMG I have 3 followers already by 9am….2 of whom I don’t know personally….is that exciting? I think actually it is a little bit!). On reflection, I think I have perhaps been a wee bit prejudiced in the past about Twitter

Result – with Twitter account set-up, I have opted to “follow” some of my friends & family, & iconic (for me anyway) business, (Richard Branson), music (Ozzy – being a Brummie born a few miles up the road from the Black Sabbath members & loving rock music why wouldn’t I be a fan), entertainment (Stephen Fry) & sports (Rio Ferdinand) favourites of mine amongst several others!

Is it as frivolous as I expected? Surprisingly not! Having also opted to follow some companies I am interested in, I am starting to receive information from all these which is actually interesting & informative, whether it be on a social-enjoyment front or career opportunities/company updates. And again, I have learned that these sites are really well set-up for ease of use. I know this is early days for me, with plenty more still to learn & improve across all these sites so my next tasks will be to see how I can start to link all these Social Media together into a coherent Personal Brand that I wish to portray. And now I know what a #tag is & how to use it too!

Speaking of my Personal Brand & Digital Footprint, I am grateful to this course for enlightening me into how important it is to:

1) Understand what these concepts are & how we appear to the Virtual World

2) Keep these under a tight rein to ensure your PB retains its integrity across platforms & is not hijacked by others, or do anything daft yourself that you will repent at your leisure later because once it’s out there, even if you can try to cleanse it, it may be too late & been moved on elsewhere out of your control….I am now reviewing all my privacy settings accordingly.

3) Use these media to really connect with others, & on an employment front, to engage in & nurture your professional networks.

4) Compliment traditional recruitment methods with these. It was interesting on the study to discover that many employers actively search your DF & would be concerned for example that if you did not have a Facebook account, that you may have something to hide!  

5) Keep our strengths & weaknesses in the forefront of our minds so that we activity promote our good points & focus on & develop the latter.

Therefore my next area of discovery is to work on that pulling together of the media….I am now off to see how to link those dreaded “widgets” into a Blog.

Cheers All

Weavo

Uni Of Leics: Reflection on Social Media Learning 1

Blog 1 Leicester Award For Employability…New Beginnings!

What a refreshing & rewarding exercise my involvement in this award is proving to be. Being of slightly older stock than no doubt many of my undergraduate colleagues on this award, I must admit I was rather apprehensive at the outset last month in terms of whether social media is really that beneficial at all. I am however always open to new ideas & learning, & I do love my gadgets & technology….so I guess I just need (& want) to be convinced. This is why I was so pleased to be accepted onto this award.

Hence, I have never to date been a prolific user of social media, other than having set-up a Facebook account a couple of years ago predominantly to keep in touch with family members in the Midlands after I had relocated up to North Yorkshire. Even then, my other half has tended to ‘piggy back’ my Facebook login & use it much more than me!

Why my lack of general interest up to now I wonder? Well I know that my time is precious to me, & that working full-time whilst also working through the Distance Learning MBA over the last couple of years, finding time for my family, voluntary activities & fitting a little bit of exercise in so I do not totally vegetate physically, means that “messing around” on social media & trying to figure out if they are easy or useful to me has tended to be pretty much way down my list of priorities….guess I see it as somewhat frivolous in the midst of all my other commitments. Being an accountant I guess I want to see the rational payoff (cost/benefit analysis LOL) for investing my precious time resource.

Where's that Twitter Birdie!



 

In particular though, I was keen to learn much more about professional networking on LinkedIn, & perhaps to confirm (or dispel) my perception that Twitter is a total waste of effort!  

  

Friends have told me that Twitter is like a drug......and.....

SOOOO, I have put down my second Elective for a couple of days & have been immersing myself in the Blackboard tutorials, fizzing around various sites/activities & through the galvanising influences of Elizabeth & Mireya & this excellent Online learning tool, I feel I am starting to internalise how these media can & WILL deliver benefits to me. I am now more aware of the importance of maintaining a complete & up-to-date profile, understand connections & recommendations & have started to “follow” companies as recommended on LinkedIn. Very pleased to get my first few “endorsements” of skill sets….this is a very cool feature in LinkedIn as I feel it is hugely beneficial to receive such from other professionals as opposed to ‘blowing your own trumpet’ where prospective employers to others viewing your profile can obtain this greater assurance that you do actually have skills that you say you do. Having joined CIMA & the University Of Leicester groups to follow, I have now been receiving email updates of new & ongoing discussions of interest over the last couple of days.

Next actions for me then? Definitely tonight to start engaging with some of these discussions, but  I can also however see now that I have absolutely not been thorough enough in my initial set-up on LinkedIn, so I will be updating my profile as a matter of priority & ensuring more comprehensive details & a decent professional photo is uploaded as I have not got one on there at all as yet! Now I’m away to investigate the Online Award tutorial around Twitter…..watch this space….

Cheers

Weavo