The Octopuses are following me it seems, perhaps this is a good omen…

Today's task, should I choose to accept, (I already accepted the task, that was just supposed to be humorous), is to write this blog about the careers talk, “Marketing Yourself in the Digital Age”, presented by Graduate Advantage - the people that we students can go to, once we have graduated to find work experience or internships (West Midlands only). To set the scene of my review of this careers talk, let me just check my thesaurus for alternatives to “Amazing.” Astounding, incredible and awesome, yeah, I think I’d refer to this talk as all three of those.

This interactive, brilliantly structured and amusing session left me extremely impressed, Sandra Roberts led the session, whilst her colleague Ruth Clarke was on hand to offer a friendly welcome as we entered the seminar (and to answer any questions at the end). As soon I stepped into the room, I was intrigued by the change in layout: tables pushed together to form four group work desks, giant pieces of paper in the centre, and colourful pens. Sat down in our small groups, we were asked to introduce ourselves, despite seeming a bit of a scary task to some, it completely broke down any barriers and the room quickly became very relaxed. Sandra took care to ask us what we wanted to get out of our hour long session and referred to our suggestions repeatedly, keeping the entire session relevant to our needs.

Wrenching me from the chance to sit passively, we were all asked questions, or to define a particular phrase, which really engaged the group. This active participation was by no means scary or intimidating, instead it really got us thinking. As a stroke of genius, Sandra and Ruth brought prizes for correct answers and upon sight of this “stress-octopus” it became completely essential to win one. So I answered some of the questions like the rest of the group and low and behold I won a blue squishy octopus!

In terms of benefits to us as a group, some really relevant statistics were divulged, including that 1/5th of employers, use social media to check on prospective employees (must start untagging photos). We were told about some forms of social media that are essential to be part of (I just signed up!) In addition, we heard all about the benefits of networking.

This careers advice was extremely impressive, but most importantly, it was completely practical. I genuinely have signed up to the suggested websites!

I would strongly recommend this session and Graduate Advantage, to anybody. I went along because I study marketing, but with today’s digital culture, it really is important to be able to market yourself no matter what discipline you're perusing.

Jared

Ed's note - This is the second of our guest posts on the workshops brought to you by the Careers and Employability Team.  If you missed the presentation the slides are available on Blackboard, just follow the simple instructions

1. Go to the Co-Curriculum tab.
2. Search for Careers in the search box on the left, or via the Browse Organisation Catalogue link.
3. Use the drop-down menu to the left of the correct result, click 'Enrol' - and you're in!
4. Use the left menu to choose Information and you will see the slides