The other day Cristina Cost and I ran a workshop for University of Southampton MBA students on the topic of personal branding.

You can read Cris’s slides here:

Maria Jose Serres provided a great example of best practice:

You can read Maria’s slides here:

Some great questions were raised by the group on how to deal with information overload, and how to (or indeed should you) separate business and personal uses of social media.

My slides are here:

You can read the twitterstream from the workshop by searching #sotonmba

I’m about to head off to sunny Guernsey to run a Personal Branding Workshop for the Guernsey Training Agency. My slides are here:

Later on I’ll update the post with feedback and reflections…but now it’s time to dash to the airport

My final session with the undergraduates today (they will shortly be overgraduates) so we will be discussing how to apply the principles of online marketing to personal branding and career progression. Slides below, comments and feedback welcome as always.

On Wednesday, Lorraine Warren and I will be running a School Forum at the University of Southampton on the topic of building digital presence and its increasing importance as an academic profile. The slides are here:

I suspect that some of the audience will be sceptical, so I thought I’d use this blogpost to supplement our discussions and present some support for our case

In an interesting presentation last year, Martin Weller of the Open University claimed that the time will come when our online identity is indistinguishable from our academic identity – that is simply how academics will be defined. The various tools that we now use to build and manage our digital presence can be mixed and matched to suit the particular needs of the individual, so online identity is distributed across a range of platforms which can then be shared and integrated in a variety of ways – in my case I mainly use Twitter, Slideshare and Delicious, all co-ordinated through this blog. Everyone’s online identity is therefore unique and their work can be widely distributed to a range of different audiences, and then informed and enhanced by feedback from these networks.

Martin goes on to discuss the growing IMPACT of online activity, where the reach of every individual blogpost can be calculated in terms of the number of its readers and the quality of feedback received in the form of comments and links to related work. Similarly, a Slideshare profile will showcase not just the content of the presentations that individual has posted, but also how many readers each presentation has had, and how many people have commented on that work or marked it as a favourite. It is not difficult to accumulate impact in this way that far exceeds the readership of my published academic articles, which I usually have to apologise for as out of date before they even see the light of day…

I plan to this post with feedback from the session on Wednesday (assuming I escape in one piece…)

According to the Guardian today, the recession will lead to a ‘lost generation’ of young people who will find it hard to obtain jobs and happiness in the future. This claim is based on the results of a recent YouGov survey for the Prince’s Trust:

"Sadly, I expect we shall see an increasingly depressed and debilitated generation who, as a result, become decreasingly likely to find work and hang on to it …young people bore the brunt of the recession last year, with one in five 16-to-24-year-olds out of work today. The result is a generation of undiscovered skills and talents.”

Contrast all this doom and gloom with an upbeat article in last week’s Wall Street Journal:

“Landing a job of the future takes a two-track mind. Career experts say positions in growing fields will require an in-demand degree coupled with skills in emerging trends.”

Job seekers will need to branch out and pick up secondary skills or combine hard science study with softer skills, career experts say.  For example, techies will need to keep up with the latest in web marketing, user-experience design and other web-related skills. More than two million new technology-related jobs are expected to be created in the US by 2018, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. Jobs that are expected to grow faster than average include computer-network administrators, data-communications analysts and Web developers. Recruiters anticipate that data-loss prevention, information technology, online security and risk management will also show strong growth.

The article goes on to note the role of social media in career planning. As companies turn to sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to promote their brands, capture new customers and post job vacancies, they will need to hire people skilled in harnessing these tools. Large companies such as Coca-Cola are creating entire teams devoted exclusively to social media. As a great example of how to use social media effectively (and at the same time, showcase the very skills that employers are seeking!) check out this video by Jay Foreman and read the viewers’ comments (sourced courtesy of Martin Tod, prospective MP for Winchester). The content is fascinating, Jay’s presentation and production even more so:

The message? Don’t wait around for old job structures to return, because they won’t. Make your own luck. Think ahead, update your digital skills and start impressing possible employers by developing your online presence, ideally focused within a business community where demand for employees is likely to increase.  

Next week I am running a guest session with the MSc Strategic Entrepreneurship students at the University of Southampton on the subjects of entrepreneurial marketing and personal branding. Here are the slides:

The key theme of this session is the growing importance of entrepreneurial skills in developing the profile of an individual or a small business in order to ‘stand out from the crowd’. Increasingly, these skills can be showcased online through blogging and social networking.

One of our objectives for 2010 is to integrate the development of online communication and networking skills more effectively into our programmes, through the vehicle of personal development portfolios (PDP) which we are trialling this year. We will be reporting on our progress at the Association for Learning Technology’s Conference (ALT-C) in September.

Tomorrow Lorraine Warren and myself are running a short workshop for PhD students of the University of Southampton’s Law, Arts and Social Science Faculty. The topic is Building your Digital Presence…

There are a number of resources available to help you maximise the value from your course at the University of Southampton. Here are a few examples to get you started:

Prepare for Success is an interactive learning resource to help UK institutions prepare international students for university study. It has been developed in the Centre for Language Study at the University of Southampton. These interactive multimedia learning resources help you to discover what British academic culture is like, and what kind of academic skills you will need for effective study in the UK. The resource also provides considerable scope for you to improve your English language skills.

Also check out the resources available on www.elanguages.ac.uk which cover Study Skills, Academic Writing and Living and Studying in the UK

Academic Skills is a new resource which is all about helping you learn how to be a more effective learner and develop the research skills that will help you now and in the future. For example, included within the site are:

Podcasts - these audio podcasts will help you develop your academic skills. Each one lasts around 10 minutes and includes lots of advice and tips. A transcript of the audio recording is also available.

Study Skills Toolkit -this course comprises a set of short self-contained interactive ‘learning objects’ on specific topics – with the emphasis on learning by doing, so expect lots of activities, exercises and quizzes.

• Learning Skills
• Academic Writing Skills
• Reading & Critical Thinking Skills
• Aspects of Academic Language
• Academic Speaking and Note Taking

Getting Started with Academic Skills – start with these quick-reference guides to gain a overview and lots of practical tips.

Developing Your Academic Skills – use this series of printable activity-based study guides to improve your skills.

Advice from the Students’ Union Advice and Information Centre -publications on Academic Integrity and How to Study Successfully.

English for Academic Purposes – enrol yourself on this Blackboard course which is packed with interactive learning materials for international students.

A Guide to Academic Integrity – this is a set of interactive guides that aim to help you gain a better understanding of academic integrity and develop your skills so that your assessed work does not accidentally plagiarise the work of others.

A Guide to Research methods - a useful set of self-study modules introducing postgraduate research. Some programmes offer these modules as an accredited course, and you really DO need to complete the written exercises to gain benefit from the process.

A later post this week will introduce you to some basic social media skills that will help you to manage information, build your network and develop your personal brand.

Employers are increasingly using social networks to screen prospective employees. In a recent CareerBuilder survey of 2,600 employers, 45% admitted to the practice, up from 22% last year. Of those employers conducting online searches of job candidates, 29% use Facebook, 26% use LinkedIn and 21% use MySpace. 11% search blogs and 7% follow candidates on Twitter.

The obvious message to job seekers is to be mindful of the information you post online – make sure it is likely to impress employers rather than put them off. 35% of employers reported they have found content on social networking sites that caused them not to hire the candidate. The top examples cited include:

• Posting of provocative or inappropriate photographs or information (53%)
• Reference to excessive drinking or use of drugs (44%)
• Criticism of a previous employer, colleague or client (35%)
• Poor communication skills (29%)
• Discriminatory comments (26%)
• Lies about qualifications (24%)
• Sharing of confidential information from a previous employer (20%)

On a more positive note, 18% of employers reported they have found content on social networking sites that caused them to hire the candidate. The top examples include:

• Profile provided a good feel for the candidate’s personality and fit within the organisation (50%)
• Profile supported candidate’s professional qualifications (39%)
• Evidence of creativity (38%)
• Evidence of good communication skills (35%)
• Candidate was well-rounded (33%)
• Other people posted good references about the candidate (19%)
• Candidate received awards and accolades (15%)

CareerBuilder recommends the following DOs and DON’Ts to develop a positive image online:

• DO clean up digital dirt BEFORE you begin your job search. Remove any photos, content and links that can work against you in an employer’s eyes.
• DO consider creating your own professional group on sites like Facebook or BrightFuse.com to establish relationships with thought leaders, recruiters and potential referrals.
• DO keep gripes offline. Keep the content focused on the positive, whether that relates to professional or personal information. Make sure to highlight specific accomplishments inside and outside of work.
• DON’T forget others can see your friends, so be selective about who you accept as friends. Monitor comments made by others. Consider using the "block comments" feature or setting your profile to "private" so only designated friends can view it.
• DON’T mention your job search if you’re still employed.

Obvious when you think about it…

The CBI and Universities UK have recently published a report on graduate employability called ‘Future Fit’.

The survey of 581 employers identified entrepreneurship and enterprise as being particularly important attributes that they looked for in their prospective employees. The report defines these skills as:

“An ability to demonstrate an innovative approach, creativity, collaboration and risk taking. An individual with these attributes can make a huge difference to any business.”

The benefits of successful employer-university partnerships are also highlighted in ‘Future Fit’ as the route to jointly improving employability in graduates. Many employers value work placements, while universities are keen to encourage more input from companies on campus. But ultimately, of course, the responsibility for driving your career rests with one key person – yourself.

78% of employers responding to the Future Fit survey cited an entrepreneurial mindset as important, and 72% said a “positive attitude” mattered. The University attended was given consideration by just 8% of employers, and a graduate’s degree results by just 28%. For those of you who are shortly to graduate, there is a clear message here that simply acquiring the qualification is only the start of the journey. What else have you done in order to stand out from the crowd? What does your online footprint look like to a potential employer? See my earlier posts on the use of LinkedIn here and managing your online brand here.