Topic 6 -Module Summary

Before taking UOSM2008 my professional online presence was virtually non-existent other than my Facebook account and sales website which did not have my name to it directly -though I was careful about my digital footprint, favouring nothing to be found than anything negative. This module has given me the time and a useful peer network to help develop my professional profiles, as well as convincing me of the benefits to ensuring positive online content is available for employers to find. I have developed my knowledge of online issues as well as  creating, maintaining and developing several online professional profiles in the course of this module which will continue to improve my employability and networks in the future.

Although I have chosen to keep my Facebook for personal use with high privacy settings, for my professional profiles this blog is a base to my profiles with the about.me widget linking to all my other profiles.

I have started a Twitter account which has been really useful for finding and sharing info as well as quick responses and peer opinions, both from people on the course and others -people I would not have been able to get feedback and expertise from without a Twitter account (see reflective blog & images for examples). I have amounted several followers, retweets and followed several influential, helpful tweeters as well. I was also pleased to receive a tweet response in direct response to a book review I had posted online from the author of the book himself -Antony Mayfield.

Other professional profiles I have started include LinkedIn, about.me and most recently I have just started a YouTube account to help further showcase and market my sales website with a short advert. From YouTube I quickly learnt of copyright issues and will in the near future be editing the advert so it uses copyright free music. LinkedIn I have joined several groups for career paths I am interested in learning more about and although my contributions to conversations seem to have mostly fallen on deaf ears they have at least been beneficial for finding interesting information about the roles from people currently in them.

I’ve also posted some additional blog posts as well as the set topics to showcase not only critical thinking but also versatility in different writing styles with an event review and book review. Putting more content online and receiving positive feedback and benefits (such as more sales on my site) has increased my confidence and I plan to continue to use the blog as a hub for showcasing various skills to employers.
For example, I hosted a large scale charity event with about 100 people attending recently which was very successful. I have lots of pictures and info from the day and would love to promote the organisation, marketing, communication and planning skills behind the event -this blog has given me a great place to do that! I will build it up with examples of skills and I think this will really enhance my CV online (LinkedIn) and offline (by adding a link to it which will hopefully catch the employers attention).

Second about.me Profile

 

 

From the need to update and maintain online profiles is particularly highlighted, this is also noted in one of my blogs. I think the presentation of my blog posts has improved over the course as I got to grips with a new format, I now have links, videos and pictures in across my blog posts making them much more aesthetic than my first primitive attempt -which I have since revisited and improved! I have also updated the looks of a some of my profiles based on feedback of others on the module -I remember Kim, Eldar, Yee-Ping, Lisa and Alex all giving helpful input when developing my profiles.

Lastly, as I am not looking to get a job straight after university (in favour of travel plans) I have not used this module for post-graduate employability benefits as most have. However, I have still found it beneficial because of its diverse nature. Instead I have built a professional profile for future use and promoted my online website. I have also used this module to impress in interviews as a demonstration of several skills and have used social media to get up to date and interesting information about companies. I strongly believe that this helped me not only get 2 future job leads (one of which is in marketing) but also my Easter placement position.