This is a hard question when put into perspective. I'd have to say that with my previous positions, I never really kept up with these trends. I know that it is a growing trend and that social media plays a big role in todays generations. I have never really been a fan of social networking...it comes and goes. As far as trends go, I am only aware of what I hear on news, read in articles, or on the Internet. This course has given me a new perspective on the social media and the impacts it can have on an organization.
Leticia,
I encourage you to ask as many questions as you need. The best way to maximize your learning experience isn't to just read through the content, but to engage and personalize your learning by asking as many questions as you need. I'm hear to help and look forward to our interactions.
Robert Starks Jr.
I am not to familiar on how to use social media effectively. I am eager to learn more about it.
Kristine ,
One of the things you'll notice about this course is that it focuses on understanding social media as a new tool to incorporate into your existing goals. Thus, it focuses on strategy and overall ways in which social tools can be used to achieve career center objectives. Just as career services uses the internet, phones, fax machines, etc., social media is simply a tool but because it is so different and platforms are vast, people can be overwhelmed with where to start...and where they should start is first thinking about how it plays a role as a tool to achieve existing goals. Often, people jump in without intent and purpose so I think it is great that you are exploring LinkedIn before jumping in so that you can be more strategic in understanding how you will use it to advance your goals. You may find the following resource helpful: http://university.linkedin.com/career-services/. LinkedIn is great about educating its users on how to best use their platform. The link I have provided will prove helpful if you want to learn more about how to use the platform. Of course, if you have any questions, I am here to help as your facilitator and I encourage questions as this is truly the way you will customize your learning experience and get what you personally want out of this course experience. I look forward to our continued dialogue!
Robert Starks Jr.
Our Career Services Department uses facebook to stay in touch with students and graduates, since often it's a way to stay in contact when phone calls and emails don't work. We also use Facebook to announce career services events and continuing education classes. I'm also just beginning to explore using Linkedin. Often graduates use Linkin as a professional network.
kriss grove
Susan,
This is a great example to share a few things. One, you'll notice in the course, that it is recommended to monitor what is published on social media by creating listening posts. It isn't full proof but if you create listening posts, you can be notified of when you (or your school) is mentioned on the internet so that you can appropriately respond. This is one instance in which a listening post may have helped to keep you informed. A listening post is simply a means to monitor what is published on the internet and there are various tools to do so. One example might be to establish Twitter alerts using a tool such as Tweet Beep (there are many others) to monitor any mentions of you or your school.
Second, the best way to respond to slander or any other negative comments or complaints is to demonstrate professionalism and readiness to help - do not respond emotionally or defensively and ignore any rude comments while focusing on the core complaint and resolving it. If someone is simply being slanderous with no legitimate complaint, feeding into it by responding only encourages them in most cases since their motivation to share their comments typically is to get some sort of reaction from you. If someone makes a legitimate complaint or posts a grievance, take it offline by simply responding on the platform (such as Twitter) saying, you'd be happy to help and how they can contact you. Example: "Hi @name, I would love to help you, please call me at..." Or, you can choose to respond on the open forum and then private message the individual. Basically, don't engage in problem solving or trying to clarify the issue on the social platform - take it off the platform and avoid a public back-and-forth. Unfortunately, you can't prevent people from publishing their opinions, even if they are negative. But, you can always demonstrate professionalism and a willingness to promptly help which shows others that the person leaving negative comments is likely being unreasonable and that you are prompt, responsive, courteous and helpful.
This raises another good point. When a department (like Career Services) decides to use social platforms, they must realize that they must be active and have a strategy in place on how they will monitor and respond to social media communications. Whereas individuals may expect a response in 24 hours from a voice message, research shows that individuals expect a response from social media posts as quickly as within one hour! Social is a different "monster" so promptness is key as well knowing the expectations of social media users.
As far as the relationship with the employer, of course, depending on the many other variables, sometimes not working with an employer is the best decision, particularly if they have demonstrated a lack of professionalism. It may be an indicator that they are not someone to whom you'd want to refer students and our goal is to find a match that keeps in mind that we are not just trying to "place" student in jobs but that we are advocating on their behalf and want to find mutually beneficial career opportunities. It sounds like you made a good decision.
I hope this helps. Please, if you have other questions regarding this particular issue or any others, don't hesitate to ask.
Robert Starks Jr.
I try to stay current by using a career services Facebook page to share industry information, announce events taking place at the school, post job opportunities and stay in touch with graduates. I do have a Linked In profile and connect with other industry professionals and participate in a number of online communities relevant to our profession. I have not entered the world of twitter yet.
I had an interesting experience with an employer who was apparently trying to reach me through twitter. When they received no response from me they began to slander my name and that of the school. I found out about it through one of our corporate directors, so I immediately contacted the employer to explain that I wasn't on twitter and asked why they hadn't tried alternate methods to reach me. The employer was pushy and unapologetic - Long story short, I didn't work with the employer.
Do you have suggestions on how to deal with a situation like that? It made me feel uneasy and vulnerable - and I would not have even known it was happening had I not learned about it from a colleague. I still have so much to learn about all of this!
Mary ,
It sounds like you have a very clear purpose to facilitate discussion based on two key statements in your forum post - "It's best to engage in a way that will ramp up discussion with everyone involved..." and "I can use feedback from them all to continue asking discussion based questions."
Can you elaborate for us all on what greater purpose you have in facilitating discussion? What is this a means to accomplishing for you? How do you measure its effectiveness in accomplishing your intended outcome?
I think this is a discussion that could help all who read the forum. Thank you.
Robert Starks Jr.
I have developed a plan to stay consistent with what my graduates are using most. These are social networks, the key being social. It's best to engage in a way that will ramp up discussion with everyone involved, across all of the networks. From there, I've found that this is a great way to integrate multiple platforms so that I can use feedback from them all to continue asking discussion based questions.
Our school already had a Facebook page when I joined the team. Initially, this page was simply where fellow students could connect. Now I use it to post career hints & information, take polls (related to career issues) and get feedback from the students and graduates. To stay current, I read Facebook updates and other related news articles to see what is new that could enhance communication.
John,
Your approach is great. Asking your target audience for feedback is the best way to deliver what they need/want and to understand their expectations for using the Facebook platform. You are off to a great start!
Robert Starks Jr.
I am in the process of creating a Facebook Career Services page for my students to share ideas and also receive job opportunities. I have been asking several current students if they would find value in this and they have given me a lot of positive reinforcement.
Kelley,
I noticed you said you are unsure of whether or not Twitter will work. I would challenge you not to think of what works in terms of what tools are used but rather what strategies are used. Imagine someone saying, I'm not sure if telephones would work at a vocational school - the question isn't whether a tool will work, it's for what do you want to use the tool and how will it be used to accomplish that purpose? It may or may not make sense to use for your particular needs, goals, or population but that's why research is necessary before using the variety of tools that exist. You must see what makes sense for your particular needs, goals, and population.
Robert Starks Jr.
We also utilize facebook to stay connected to our students, post information about upcoming events and to celebrate our students accomplishments. I am interested in learning other social media, like maybe twitter. Unsure if it would work or not for a vocational school.
So far the goal has been simply reaching our students. The majority of our graduates are over the road truck operators so reaching them via traditional means can be difficult at best.
The postings with the best response have been related to our "Hot Job" postings (where local/regional employers have contacted us with specific licensure or criteria in mind). While providing placement assistance to our graduates we are trying to grow our brand among employers so that when they need training for existing staff or are looking for well qualified candidates that we are the first school they call.
We have been tracking data but not decided, outside of simple spreadsheets that I keep, a way to measure our success yet.
Jessica,
Can you share the connection between your social media activities and what specific career center goals you'll be trying to improve through your social efforts? What metrics will you be correlating to social media activities to determine success and how do your post types fit into your strategy?
Robert Starks Jr.
Since coming on board with the school earlier this year. I have made social media somewhat of a priority. Our focus has been on Facebook due to my own familiarity and is updated regularly with graduate photos, job development material i.e. hot jobs and weekly newsletter posting. I have also created a LinkedIn presence and have plans for creating a twitter account.
Growth has been slow but steady as many of our graduates are not computer savy.
I stay current in several ways.
1. Building relationships with the students, graduates and with the Allied Health Industry.
2. Engagement with the Industry. Attending networking groups, and connecting with online communities.
Connecting is the key to a positive community engagement.
We check Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to see where our graduate are and what they are saying. this assist us with Skip Tracing - finding the MIA or those workign and not responding to our request for updates.
The best way to stay current with anything is to regularly use it yourself. You can also look around at what other companies/job placement services are doing with social media.
Jennifer ,
Thanks for sharing how you handle this.
Robert Starks Jr.
