#PlaceNet13 Day 3 & Reflection

The morning after the night before! Following the festivities of Thursday evening, #PlaceNet13 rounded off with a few weary eyes and dare I say it, a sore head or two. That said, the AGM was well attended and all of the night owls who could be found drinking in the hotel lobby in the wee small hours made it on time.

Libby Beck received flowers as a small token of appreciation for her work as a PlaceNet trustee. With her standing down from the role the conference elected Mike Grey as the replacement, while Graham Kaye-Taylor was co-opted onto the executive committee. (Writing about me in the third person is a bit weird, but for the sake of reporting I thought a distinction should be made between me and 'The Placement Officer')

Emily Timson had the uneviable task of delivering a presentation on a Friday morning but gave a very interesting talk about her professional journey within placements, highlighting challenges experienced at different universities.

A discussion took place to decide upon areas of interest for PlaceNet to focus on in the coming year. Thanks were given to Jan and Virginia for their work in arranging the Social and booking the restaurant. Matthias Feist summarised his thoughts on the last three days before drawing the conference to a close.

Afterwards the Trustees met briefly to reflect on the week and get the ball rolling for #PlaceNet14.

On a personal level I found this conference to be extremely rewarding. Any fears I may have had about presenting my work in social media proved unfounded, as it was both well received and started a dialogue between me and other delegates who want to find out more about bringing technology into their provision. I even received an offer to go and talk to students at another university about using Twitter and LinkedIn as part of their placement search and for engaging with employers.

I had a lot of very positive feedback about the blog and there seemed a genuine interest in #PlacementChat from people who had not previously encountered it before. Receiving peer approval for my extra-curricular activities re-affirmed my passion for doing this and I may have convinced some guest bloggers to come forward and get involved.

My professional network expanded and there will be a fair amount of LinkedIn connecting going on over the next few days. The PlaceNet LinkedIn group is already a great resource for sharing good practice and if you are not already a member get yourself signed up and join the conversation.

I'd like to extend my thanks to the PlaceNet trustees for inviting me to the conference and giving me a platform share my passion for engaging through social media. I'm very much looking forward to working with you in the coming months.

#PlaceNet13 has been and gone. Roll on #PlaceNet14.

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Blogging: A Tool for Engagement #PlaceNet13

I have given a presentation at the #PlaceNet13 Conference this afternoon about blogging, and how I see it as a tool for engagement. I offered this blog as an example of building relationships with students, placement officers and employers, and then having established an audience utilising social media to allow the parties to interact with one another. RateMyPlacement joined me to talked about #PlacementChat which has proven an effective platform to achieve the latter.

You can view the Prezi below. I'm hoping to add commentary to the presentation in due course.

(Warning - if reading this article from a mobile device, you may have to download Flash to view the Prezi)

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So much for the ten year plan, I just want to get drunk and headbang

I was asked recently if I wanted to write a guest blog article for the University of Kent Employability blog - little did they know that I am Kent alumnus! Here is the article in which I consider what I would tell the teenage me who rolled up in Canterbury many moons ago

You’ve probably heard lots about Employability. It has been a buzzword around universities for the last few years, used in the context of helping students to be both ready for work and desirable to graduate employers. There’s a huge range of ways in which your careers service can support your employability these days, and if it is anything like where I work, there will be dedicated workshops, focussed employability weeks, the chance to participate in an employability award and various other activities. In other words, it’s in your face and the opportunity is readily available for you to engage, should you wish to do so.

When I started out at UKC some 15 years ago, I was not very career-minded. As a placement professional, I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that the Twitter dialogue which led to this article being written was the first meaningful exchange I’ve had with the University of Kent Careers team. I didn’t seek out their help when looking for part-time jobs or graduate roles. Back then I didn’t know that placements existed. I spent most of my days keeping the Rutherford bar staff employed rather than participate in the sort of opportunities attending university offers to students. If there was a stereotypical undergraduate who could have done with careers advice, I was that person.

So if I could rewind the clock to talk with the 18 year old me, what would I be saying?

Well firstly I’d be telling me to wise up. University is serious business and not to be taken lightly. With tuition fees now so much higher than they were in my day, there is little point in applying if you aren’t going to take your studies seriously. Even if your first year doesn’t count towards your final degree, discount it at your peril as it will count with graduate and placement employers. That 40 per cent pass mark achieved through minimal effort will not look good if you have aspirations for securing graduate jobs. Start as you mean to carry on, knuckle down and have some good grades to be moving on with.

Next, be strategic when picking your clubs and societies.

With all due respect to the UKC Rock Soc who I enjoyed both membership and committee involvement with in my time, in hindsight there are other things I could have done with my time that would have enhanced my CV and experiences beyond bar crawls and the occasional trip to rock clubs in London. Involvement with RAG, CSR (Radio Station) and taking up the offer to play Offensive Lineman for the American Football team I would have both enjoyed and provided plenty of material for writing future applications. (Before I get an influx of messages from Kent metallers, I’d have still joined the Rock Soc!)

Without doubt if I knew then what I know now, a placement would have been high up on my agenda.

I make a living now out of promoting placements and work experience to my students, but it really isn’t a very difficult sell. Paid industry experience, increased graduate prospects, higher starting salary. Never mind the fact that most graduate employers will expect you to hold a certain amount of work experience. Placements are invaluable. I wish I had done one when I was a student and I can’t encourage UKC students enough to pursue internships or placements. If you haven’t already spoken to the Careers team, don’t delay in doing so!

Use social media to get ahead

While the class of 2013 undoubtedly face a more competitive graduate market than the one my peers and I had over a decade ago, one area that you do have in your favour compared to the old school is the emergence of social media. Through effective use of LinkedIn you have the opportunity to network with recruiters in a way that my class could only have dreamed of. Savvy students can engage in meaningful dialogue with companies through #PlacementChat or keep up to date with the placement schemes of individual organisations by following their Facebook page.

So in a nutshell, take advantage of the opportunities that university presents to you, speak regularly to the Careers team throughout your time at UKC and prioritise securing a placement. You will not regret it.

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Your future at your fingertips

When I think back to the careers resources that were available to me when I was a student, I look around at the class of 2012 and feel rather green with envy. Yes we had a dedicated Careers service, graduate fairs and employer presentations, but fast forward to the present day and this looks like chicken feed in comparison.

With the dawn of social media, students have never had it so good. Access to employers and recruiters has never been so easy, with all of the big companies having a presence on Facebook and LinkedIn. YouTube is packed with useful video clips offering advice on how to make applications, or prepare for interviews. Online communities such as The Student Room and Wikijob empower students to share experiences of assessment centres. The fantastic CareerPlayer offers a huge range of videos for students to browse different industries and career options. And of course, anybody who is anybody can be contacted directly on Twitter.

This blog provides a very small snapshot of what is achievable in this age of technology. Within 24 hours of setting up this page and the associated Twitter account, I have had the fine people of GradWeb link to two of my posts, the fabulous boys and girls at RateMyPlacement retweet my message to their near 2000 followers and had journalist, internship campaigner and founder of GraduateFog Tanya de Grunwald reply to one of my tweets. Throw into the mix a direct message from GradPlus to see how my graduate job search is going, and you can see just how much can be achieved, even in a very short space of time.

The days of paper application forms are long gone but fortunately for me there is still a big role to play for the Placement or Careers services at universities. My colleagues and I are there to provide support, advice and guidance to help students take those first steps into what he hope are successful careers. Don't be afraid to make use of the services we offer, whether that be CV checking, bouncing ideas around or taking advantage of our information resources.

Ultimately, it is down to the individual student to decide upon the path they take in pursuing their career aspirations. As Tom Watson's Intern discovered last week, there are risks involved when using social media, but if students embrace technology and take the opportunity to network with recruitment professionals, they may find that their future is at their fingertips.