Active PR pros disclose their use of social media to get a job

   On the last day of the social media week in London, three PR pros and one recruitment consultant talked about the way to catch the eyes of recruiters by using social media. Some people may think that students should hit the text books instead of putting digital cosmetics on your CV, but not at all. It's worth promoting yourself in the virtual world. You may realise how many people are looking for the talented students on the other side of the real world.

Every speaker has got a different approach

   Friday Afternoon Social Media Mashup for Business Students took place at London Metropolitan University on Friday. Ms Katerina Hejralova from Citigate Dewe Rogerson advised to google my name to check what other say about me in the first place. What she had done to get a job is to upload her portfolio with some essays, place CV on LinkedIn, publish your thoughts on blog and Twitter. She did not register for any agents, but a recruiter found her. There are lots of ways to show your skill such as sending URLs of YouTube like these guys; Rachael Lewis, Graeme Anthony.

   Ms Gugs Sembi also from Citigate Dewe Rogerson introduced a lot of tools to monitor social media. Facebook: Insights, Twitter: TweetDeck, Hootsuite, Splitweet, Twitter counter, Tweet stats and many others. There are also Social Mention, Brand Watch and Topsy. Honestly I am overwhelmed by new names, but soon I will catch up.
   On the other hand, we have to be careful not to over promote ourselves. Social media is double edge sword and it's impossible to stop people telling something bad about you instead. This is the point that Mr Anton Davidenko from Moonlight Media made. A student sent the worst cover letter ever to J. P. Morgan and soon the copy was spread around Wall Street.
   Ms Samantha Glazer, a recruiter specialising in PR/communications, also warned that social media profile can affect job prospects. However, in terms of employability, it is useful to check "PR Job Watch" on Facebook and put hash tags #prjob #prgradjobs on your tweets, she added.
   The implication of this session is that if you can't PR yourself using social media, you can't PR somebody else. Social media is a vital tool both before and after you get a job.

Make the whole country feel part of London 2012

One mum from a local judo club in London told me that she does not care about the London 2012 Olympics. She even went on to criticise it of causing traffic jams and as an inconvenience of her everyday life. She moans even though she, as a qualified teacher with a black belt, should be enthusiastic about sports.

The problem she has is not with the Olympians, but rather with the national association and local authorities that do not see grassroots communities like her judo club as an important partner. While Olympic families, ticketholders and sports fans are already supporting the Olympic, it is vital to reach those who have not benefited from the games.

I suggest that all the city councils should enter into partnership with one athlete; “One Council One athlete Movement”. Ideally the partner councils are where the athletes are born, have lived or trained. The councils spread the news about the athletes through the newsletter, website, blog, Twitter and Facebook and invite the athletes to schools and nursing homes. The councils also could host a competition for the tickets of the sports the athletes are competing.

The similar scheme was tested during the World Exposition in Aichi, Japan in 2005. All the 121 countries signed on the friendship with local governments in the region where the Expo took place. The project gave a great impact on the citizens and one small city evolved it into Memorandum of Friendship with Qatar two year later.

Usually people become enthusiastic about this kind of international events just before they start because there are lots of sports to watch such as football and tennis. However, the councils should launch the partnership project immediately with the help of the government, communities and consultants.