Using Online, Interactive
and Web 2.0 Technologies
in Careers Work
Helen Pownall
10 September 2009

Workshop outline
▶ Web 2.0 - some general characteristics
▶ Some technologies and possible careers uses
▶ What you are doing and what you’d like to do
▶ Short ‘open mic’ for demoing current projects
▶ Wrapping up
 Implications for IAG?
 Addressing worries (lots!)
 Tips for successful technology projects
 A peek into the future

Characteristics of “Web 2.0”
(Incessant!!)
interaction/communication Collective intelligence
between users
Content
mashups
Decentralisation
of authority
Participation
Openness Read/write
Community
Built upon trust Information
The wisdom of
crowds sharing

Blogs
▶ How are they different from website
content?
Blog Website
Relevant now Longer shelf life
Informal/personal More formal/standardised
Specific/targeted More general
▶ General blogs, themed or audience-specific
blogs, student-led blogs

Blogs
▶ http://manchesterundergradcareers.wordpre
ss.com
▶ www.careers.salford.ac.uk/students/phd/blo
g
▶ http://elearning.lse.ac.uk/blogs/finalists

Social Networking
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Ning
MySpace
Club Penguin
(average user
age ~8!)

LinkedIn
▶ Professional networking site – no pokes or
drunken party pics
▶ Over 43 million members in 200 countries
▶ Recruiters headhunt and jobseekers network
▶ Students can connect with recruiters and alumni
and research…
▶ You could start your own alumni-careers group or
post to the general alumni group for your
institution
▶ www.linkedin.com/in/helenpownall

LinkedIn – useful links
▶ Careers Services group, link to
http://careerservices.linkedin.com
▶ LinkedIn webinars for careers professionals:
http://careerservices.linkedin.com/webinar
15th and 17th September 2009 (9-10pm!)
▶ If you don’t have time, the slides are at:
http://careerservices.linkedin.com/slides.pdf
▶ Refer students and graduates to:
http://grads.linkedin.com (guide and video)

Twitter
▶ A ‘micro-blogging site’ – communicate your
thoughts and what you’re doing in ‘tweets’ of
140 characters or less
▶ Join in a massive online conversation!
▶ Used more professionally than Facebook
▶ People form loose connections around common
interests
 Follow people who interest you
 Follow topics that interest you and join in the
conversation, e.g. #agcas09 #vitae09
▶ People find jobs and headhunt through Twitter

Twitter
▶ Use Twitter individually to:
 Keep up to date with latest developments
 Make connections across your areas of interest
 “Poll” your contacts or get advice/info
 (For students) Find out about jobs
▶ Tip:
Try using Tweetdeck to organise your
tweets

Careers services on Twitter
▶ Set up a careers service Twitter account to
communicate up-to-the-minute news,
events, jobs, top tips etc:
http://twitter.com/WarwickCareers
http://twitter.com/londongradfair
▶ List of careers services on Twitter:
http://helencurry.wordpress.com/2009/05/0
6/careers-services-on-twitter-uk-he
(18 so far)

Student online profile
Katie Brunt, 2009 graduate in Advertising &
Brand Management, MMU
 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/katiebrunt
 Website:
http://sites.google.com/site/katiebruntorg
 Blog:
http://www.democracypr.com/wp/index.php
 Twitter: http://twitter.com/brunty7

Online Discussion Forums
▶ Internal careers forums
 Tapping into the wealth of knowledge in the student body
 Accessible way to venture into ‘careers stuff’
 ‘Safe place’ to ask stupid questions?
 Doomed to failure because targeted group fragmented?
▶ 3rd party careers forums, e.g.
 www.wikijob.co.uk/forum, www.prospects.ac.uk
 www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=201
 Many are actively used
 How reliable is the information? Health warning…

Social Bookmarking
▶ Example: www.delicious.com, www.diigo.com
▶ Possible careers use: Means of organising and
sharing useful web resources across your service,
e.g. www.delicious.com/manchestercareers,
www.careerstagged.co.uk (Careers Group, London)
www.diigo.com/list/sussexcdec (Sussex)

One-to-One Live Chat – IM, video etc
Examples:
Skype for video chat (webcams
required)
LivePerson for
instant messaging (text) chat
▶ Possible careers use:
 Off campus students/grads
 Busy timetables
 Reluctant to use face-to-face services
▶ www.manchester.ac.uk/careers/liveguidance
▶ Better than e-guidance? Immediacy and opportunity to
quickly overcome misunderstandings?

Group web chats
▶ Web chats – usually refers to live group
chat with expert(s) answering questions
Examples:
 Prospects Careers Chat Live
 KPMG - www.kpmgcareers.co.uk/Graduates
 In-house web chat systems

‘Virtual fairs’
▶ ‘Virtual
fairs’ – can include online
employer profiles, scheduled group chats or
webinars, individual contact by instant
messaging or email
Examples:
 BBC careers fair
http://events.unisfair.com/index.jsp?eid=417&s
eid=29
 KPMG careers fair in Second Life recently
attracted several thousand people

Individually, think about…
▶ What your service is already doing with web
technologies – write on orange post-its
▶ What you would like to do with web
technologies – write on yellow post-its
▶ Add a large * if you are happy to help others
▶ Circle the * if you have sth you could briefly
demo

In groups of 5 or 6…
▶ Share your “doings” and “would like to dos”
▶ Pick 1 “doing” and “1 would like to do”
share with the wider group
▶ Discuss
 Challenges and how you’ve overcome
them/might overcome them
 Opportunities - “what problems does it solve?”

Will technology change IAG?
▶ Better sharing of information
▶ With so much info readily available, key role
for careers adviser is SENSE MAKING
▶ We should not ignore the “wisdom of
crowds”…
▶ …but help students to become better at
judging reliability and quality of information
▶ Encouraging students to network online and
manage their own ‘digital identities’ carefully

Worries!
▶ “I’m not a techie. I don’t understand all this
newfangled technology and social media.”
▶ “There’s so much out there – I don’t know
where to start!”
▶ “I’m worried about my privacy!”
▶ “Gen Y-ers don’t want us in ‘their space’”
▶ “If we offer online services, it’ll make
students (even more) lazy and they won’t
bother coming in to see us.”

Worries – Part 2!
▶ “I just don’t have time for this!”
▶ “We could invest a lot of time in [Twitter]
and then in a few months the world will
have moved on to something else.”
▶ “Will we be surplus to requirements in the
brave new world of the web? Why do
students need a careers advisor when they
can just get on wikijob or tweet a recruiter
direct?”

You’re more likely to be successful if…
▶ You know what you’re problem you’re trying to
solve and…
▶ …You don’t start with the technology
▶ You do it because you want to, not because you
feel like you have to
▶ An enthusiast drives the project
▶ You’re adaptable and willing to change your
approach
▶ You get the support of techie people (either in
careers or in the central IT support service)

The next thing…?
▶ Linking GPS and social networking
(geo-location social networking applications)
Times article from May 2008:
http://tinyurl.com/ls7gl4
▶ A couple of possible uses:
 Meet new people at a party who may be ‘friends of
friends’
 For headhunters at a business networking event – could
do a keyword search of CVs of people in the room
▶ Buddy Beacon, iPhone compatible, tracks your
friends’ locations
▶ Blip, for Blackberry

Reach me on…
▶ Email: helen.pownall@manchester.ac.uk
▶ Phone: 0161 275 0832
▶ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/helenpownall
▶ Twitter: @helenpownall
Helen Pownall
Careers Consultant
(with special responsibility for web and
interactive technology projects)
University of Manchester
MLP, Careers & Employability Division