Social Web Thing » Jobs

10 Reasons Why Sales Might Be For You

Ben — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:00:25 +0000

On Social Web Thing I predominately discuss issues around social business and employability, however with a break from tradition, this week I’m going to look at the importance of sales, rather than social – and why a sales job might be for you.

The reason for this shift is that over the last 12 months, I’ve observed many sales and marketing departments merge or at the very least, be required to be even more closely aligned; with marketing activity being measured against cold, hard sales, rather than other outcomes such as brand awareness, customer loyalty or the old classic, column inches.

This shift has seen many marketeers have to immerse themselves into the world of sales and vice versa – and that’s why I was delighted to catch up with Miriam George, an executive coach and Managing Director of PDC Healthcare who gave 10 reasons why sales jobs might be for you:

Excellent career prospects – Sales can be found in any industry. Most businesses rely heavily on revenue generated by sales. Given this, a successful salesperson can aim higher within a company and, more easily than other industry, change company … or even switch to another industry.
Continual personal development – There is no shortage of training workshops available for salespeople. There are also sections in bookstores dedicated to becoming a sales person. While some training programmes out there are less than great, there are many resources available to improve your sales skills.
Variety - One thing that can definitely be said about sales is that it’s not boring. It’s a career filled with excitement, often generated from opportunities you found and seized upon.
Opportunity/freedom to work on own initiative – One of the greatest skills a sales person can have is initiative. Some people have it, others don’t. But for those who do have it, it means great freedom when working because you select your own plan of action. Your company sets goals for you, but you’re the one who figures out how to achieve them.
Rewards for success – As an integral part of the main source of money for companies, it is right that you reap financial rewards. You will come across excellent salary packages that include base salaries, benefits and generous commission schemes. And unlike with most jobs, the harder you work, the more you make.
Stability – Companies are always in need of a sales department. In fact, in times of trouble, companies put a bigger push on sales.
You get to dress nice for work – As a sales person, you need to present a confident image, which means that spending a money on nice clothes is practically a business expense.
Work for companies you believe in – Because sales can be found in virtually all companies, it means you can go after companies and brands you believe in.
Great career prospects – With a strong sales career, not only can you continue up the ladder to sales manager but often you can go into business administration. Sales gives you several transferable skills, such as learning how to be an entrepreneur, manage budgets, improve time managment and speak in public.
You’re great at it – While you can learn sales techniques, certain people are natural at persuading others. Be proud of your gift and use it to create a great career for yourself.

I would like to put on record my thanks to Miriam for taking the time to talk to us about the world of sales.

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post.

2012 PR Graduate Schemes

Ben — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 11:00:01 +0000

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been researching and speaking to industry colleagues in order to create this years list of 2012 PR Graduate Schemes.

Despite growth stalling in the wider economy, it’s great to see the PR industry in rude health (judging by the number of grad schemes that is). The list is broadly the same size as previous years and as we’ve come to expect, it is predominantly made up of the larger, international agencies with London offices.

This years list makes one thing abundantly clear. Whilst final year students will be acclimatising to their most important year at university and thinking about dissertations, the race for a graduate PR job has already begun.

On a personal note, I’ve received some amazing comments over the years thanks to the grad scheme lists and it’s always fantastic to meet somebody who landed a position having read about in on Social Web Thing. I hope this years list proves just as useful for the class of 2012.

I’ve also linked to some posts at the bottom which discuss online reputation management, Personal SEO and employability that students may find useful.

One final thing, feel free to publish the list elsewhere online. But if you do, please can you link back to this page with the anchor text ‘PR Graduate Schemes’. This is for SEO purposes as people are searching for that phrase and it’ll help drive some more traffic to the blog.

2012 PR Graduate Schemes (UPDATED 3 FEBRUARY 2012)

Blue Rubicon
Closed

Burson-Marseller
Does not run a PR graduate scheme, but is open for internships all year round, many of which lead to permanent positions.

Chime Comms
Closed

Diffusion
Closed

Edelman – please note Edelman now run an apprenticeship scheme which welcomes applicants from all backgrounds; both graduates and non-graduates
Closed

EML Wildfire
Open: EML Wildfire take grads on an ongoing basis, starting with a two-month internship with a full time grad scheme position available for successful interns.

Fishburn Hedges
Closed

Fleishman-Hillard
Open
Operates a six month training scheme all year round. On completion of the Graduate Scheme the candidates performance will be reviewed and, if satisfactory, graduates will be considered for a permanent position.

Four Comms
Closed

Hill & Knowlton
Closed

Hotwire Group (encompassing Hotwire and Skywrite)
Closed

Ketchum Pleon
Open
Closes: 30 March 2012

Lexis PR
Open
Closes: 20 February 2012

Speed Comms
Closed

The following posts may also come in useful when applying for a PR Graduate Scheme:

Gradu8 Recruitment Fair

Ben — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:00:26 +0000

I often write about employability and graduate recruitment on Social Web Thing, so this week I was delighted to hear about the forthcoming Gradu8 Recruitment Fair.

The innovative event is organised by leading job noticeboard Total Jobs and takes place from 7-10 November 2011. Interestingly, the event is a virtual affair, so students can hear about jobs, training opportunities and graduate training schemes all from the comfort of their home or indeed, anywhere with a wireless connection.

There’s some blue-chip exhibitors and a packed schedule of seminars in what sounds like a fantastic event. The fair is free to register and gives graduates the chance to chat directly with employers and ask questions about graduate schemes.

For more information on this virtual recruitment event, check out the Gradu8 Recruitment fair website.

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post; however it contains my honest opinion.

10 LinkedIn Applications Every Student Should Know About

Ben — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 11:00:41 +0000

2011 has undoubtedly been a huge year for LinkedIn; growing beyond 120 million users, stock market flotation and a visit by President Obama among the many highlights. For me, the level of growth is perhaps the most significant of these achievements and the catalyst for such advancement, can in a large part be attributed to the opening up of LinkedIn’s application programming interface (API).As we’ve seen with Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and a whole host of social media success stories, by opening up your API (and business), companies can let the developer community fuel expansion.In the case of LinkedIn, an open API has seen developers create thousands of innovative tools and services that enable businesses and professionals to network, land a job and generate business.

However, it’s been such a headline-grabbing period for LinkedIn that I feel many of the aforementioned applications and tools available have been overshadowed. So I’ve decided to put together this list of apps that every student should be using to ensure they get the most from their LinkedIn presence.

1. Behance
I’ve written about Behance before, but to recap it’s essentially, a fantastice-portfolio tool that enables users to showcase examples of work, testimonials and galleries in a visual and interesting way. Behance can now synchronise directly with LinkedIn profiles, so there’s a huge opportunity for students to showcase their work on the number one professional network using the creative industries favourite e-portfolio tool. If you’re thinking of producing an e-portfolio this year, look no further than Behance.

2. Visualize.me
This app lets users quickly convert their LinkedIn profile into an attractive infographic CV. There’s a lot of debate about the value of infographic CVs, I’m of the view (providing it conveys information effectively) they are a great way to standout and engage a potential employer. The only drawback is that Visualize.me takes all the skill out of graphic design, which could work against you if a potential employer is familiar with the app. Whilst, this is an application I recommend students explore, they should also consider the more popular infographic CVs become, the less outstanding they seem.

Here’s my Visualize.me infographic CV.

3. Resume Builder
Resume Builder promises to ‘turn your LinkedIn Profile into a beautiful resume in seconds’. I see this as a great time-saving tool that can really enhance the appearance and feel of your CV in no time at all. There are several attractive and professional looking templates to choose from, and users can easily edit parts of their LinkedIn profile, before turning their resume into a PDF which can be easily shared online or emailed to potential employers.

4. Box.net Files
This app doesn’t do anything special on its own. Indeed it’s just a file management and sharing tool. It’s up to you to be creative, but I can envisage Box.net Files being a very useful way for students to record achievement, share CVs, publish a portfolio and document skills developed. In addition, Box.net Files allows seamless file sharing within LinkedIn, so students can deal directly with a potential employer without leaving LinkedIn.

5. Video (SlideShare)
We all know the value of online video, however a little known option within LinkedIn is the ability to upload a video via SlideShare to your profile. If you have the skill-set what better way for a student to standout and demonstrate supplementary skills than by having a welcome video? Simply upload your video to YouTube, create a SlideShare account and add the app on LinkedIn. Then upload a presentation to SlideShare, insert the YouTube link on the first slide of your presentation and publish it on your LinkedIn profile.

6. SlideShare
Again, this app will require some prior work, but SlideShare is fantastic for sharing presentations and documents with your LinkedIn network and potential connections. I see this app being valuable to anyone looking to publish a portfolio, resume or any kind of successful presentation or talk that highlights expertise and skills. I’ve mentioned video above, but it’s also possible to embed audio within SlideShare and make your presentations more engaging with sound and commentary.

7. WordPress
If you blog, quite simply you should be sharing this on LinkedIn. In fact I would strongly recommend to any PR student or person wanting to break into the industry to start a blog. Not only is it an effective way to document your thoughts on the industry and improve your writing, but it can be a great networking tool and will score highly on search. In my experience, being able to demonstrate a firm grasp of wider industry issues at an interview is a brilliant way to stand out.

8. Twitter
Being able to include Tweets on your LinkedIn profile is a relatively new innovation and led many people to discuss how the distinction between their personal and private online worlds are becoming even more blurred. Nonetheless, Twitter has been the darling of the PR industry for the last three years, so it is well worth adding Tweets to your LinkedIn profile. Do remember that employers will check your tweets to try and find out more about you. So it is worth considering what you write.

9. Card Munch
At the turn of the year LinkedIn snapped up CardMunch, a very useful, time-saving business card app. Essentially, users can take a photo of a business card on their Smartphone and the information is then cleverly transcribed and synchronised to contacts on their phone. I see this being useful to students as there is now the option to send the information automatically to LinkedIn and request the person to become a connection, so students need not worry about losing business cards ever again.

10. Signal
This is perhaps one of the most useful apps launched by LinkedIn. Signal allows users to search, filter and browse status updates from their LinkedIn and Twitter streams. It provides a fantastic source of rich information and you can drill down and target updates from associates, colleagues and competitors. I can see this being immensely useful prior to a job interview or when preparing a covering letter to a potential employer.

Are there any apps I’ve missed from this list? What would you like LinkedIn to introduce to improve your user experience?

2011 PR Grad Schemes

Ben — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 18:40:42 +0000

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been doing some research and speaking to industry colleagues to create a list of 2011 PR Grad Schemes.

At present, the list is about the same size as it was last November and I fully expect it to expand beyond ~~fourteen~~ fifteen opportunities. It also consists, mainly of the larger London based agencies, which is to be expected as smaller, regional agencies do not tend to run a formal graduate scheme.

The list demonstrates that whilst many final year students will be acclimatising to their final year and thinking about dissertations, the race for a graduate PR job has also begun.

I anticipate this list will grow in the new year, so I will be making amendments as new opportunities arise.

On a personal note, the feedback I received after last years list was tremendous and people seemed genuinely grateful. I hope this years proves just as useful for the class of 2011. Sarah Stimson deserves a lot of credit for very kindly sharing her list of 2011 PR Grad Schemes. Thank you, Sarah.

Note to companies: if you have a scheme please email me and I’ll add you to the list.

Updated 27 March 2011

Blue Rubicon
Closed

Burson-Marseller
Open for internships all year round

Chime Comms
Closed

Content & Motion
Open – C&M are looking for a final year student or recent graduate to join their team.

Diffusion
Closed

Edelman
Closed

Fast Track
Closed

Fishburn Hedges
Closed

Fleishman-Hillard
Open
Operates a six month training scheme all year round. On completion of the graduate training scheme performance will be reviewed and, if satisfactory, graduates will be considered for a permanent position.

Four Comms
Closed

Hill & Knowlton
Closed

Hotwire Group (encompassing Hotwire and Skywrite)
Closed

Ketchum Pleon
Open
Closes 29 April 2011

Lexis PR
Closed

Speed Comms
Closed

Vacancy at Acceleris

Ben — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:00:22 +0000

I received an email this week from industry colleague Justin McKeown , Divisional Director at Grayling. He was forwarding on a message from Acceleris, an award-winning Harrogate based consultancy who have a vacancy which may interest SWT readers.

Acceleris are looking to appoint an Account Executive or Senior Account Executive with a couple of years experience to work across a range of accounts. They are a fast growing, integrated agency who recently launched the Acceleris Academy as part of their ongoing comittment to staff development – in short they sound like a good bunch to work for.

For more information about the role, please click here.

Vacancies at Edelman

Ben — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 11:00:49 +0000

For those of you looking for a change of scenery, a new challenge or the next step in your burgeoning PR career, I thought i’d let you know about the current vacancies at Edelman.

Edelman is looking for Senior Account Executives right up to Account Directors and everything in between, including some techie and admin roles. These positions are across a range of teams and you can find out more by clicking here.

Do get in contact if you have any questions and i’ll try and point you in the right direction.

Vacancies at Finn

Ben — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 09:00:19 +0000

I received a Linked In message the other day from my industry colleague James Newman of Finn Communications. After a couple of new business wins they are on the hunt for two Account Executives to join their growing team.

One of my good mates from University, Chris Bennett is currently an SAE and only has great things to say about this multi-award winning agency – and their offices are based in the rather nice Leeds Round Foundary Media Centre. They are looking for recent graduates who are social media literate, looking to make their mark in PR, whilst a grasp of SEO would be beneficial.

For more information send a DM to @Finncooms or email James on james.newman[at]finncomms[dotcom]

Vacancies at Grayling

Ben — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:58:17 +0000

I received an email during the week from fellow Leeds Met Public Relations alumni and Divisional Director at Grayling, Justin McKeown giving me a heads up on a couple of exciting Client Executive positions available at Grayling that may well suit some SWT readers. There are also some Senior Consultant vacancies for seasoned PR professionals which they are looking to fill.

Four of the roles are available in the London Victoria office, two of which are Client Executive positions working within the Corporate team across some tech/corporate accounts. For one of the roles they are looking for someone with at least a years experience, whilst the other Executive position does not specify experience. Grayling are also on the lookout for two Senior Consultants, one working on technology and the other on financial clients.

There is a third Client Executive opening in Grayling’s Southampton office for someone with a years experience working across a range of accounts.

For more information please contact Charlotte Stubbington, HR Assistant and Graying on charlotte.stubbington[at]grayling[dotcom]

Vacancies at Edelman

Ben — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:16:21 +0000

Anecdotally, I know that there are some PR graduates who read this blog, so I thought it would be a good idea to post the current vacancies at Edelman which may appeal to anyone starting out in the industry or those that fancy a new challenge. I’ve included some more senior and techie roles too - many of which have only been announced in the last couple of weeks.

There is a range of vacancies, however there are some really interesting roles available, particularly within the digital team (I would say that. Disclaimer: that’s my department!).

The digital team are looking for a:
Senior Web Developer , Content Manager, Project Manager, Account Manager and Account Director.

In addition, Edelman is also looking for a range of people to work across the various teams including:
Account Executive, Senior Account Executive, Media Analyst, Medical Writer, Client Relationship Manager, Global Account Strategist, Research Director and Account Director. Healthcare is recruiting across all levels too.

Do let me know if you’ll be applying for any of the roles and i’ll do my best to answer any questions or point you in the right direction.

To read a full list of the vacancies please click here.