Employability Opportunity

Please see below for a great opportunity from GoThinkBig for students wanting to become more employable, prepare for life after graduation and get a head start on their competition!

“GoThinkBig.co.uk is an online digital hub launched by o2 (o2 Think Big) and Bauer Media to bring you the inside scoop on exciting work experience opportunities, valuable career advice, amazing insider contacts and exclusive tips to set you up for your dream career”

GoThinkBig provide thousands of career-related opportunities alongside fresh editorial content produced by young people, for young people. GoThinkBig tackles youth unemployment in the UK by supporting young people aged 16-24 to develop their work skills and improve their employability.

They are holding a FREE event in Leeds on the 14th May 2014 which will be an interactive and informative event focusing on the roles within in Business run by one of O2’s franchise stores.

The event will involve hearing more about the different roles in business including marketing and management roles. There will also be a chance for students to bring their CV and cover letters to be reviewed.

Students who are interested in attending can apply here: http://www.gothinkbig.co.uk/opportunities/want-to-know-what-makes-a-business-14th-may-2014

An Analogue Living in the Digital World

From the beginning of a student’s time at university, it is drummed into their minds to be socially active online – we are encouraged to use:

• Twitter - to make contacts, follow the latest trends and news;
• Facebook - to keep in touch with the friends and post personal feelings;
• Blogging - to write about PR topics or personal interests such as lifestyle, beauty, food, etc;
• LinkedIn account, to connect with potential employers. 

We are told to be media savvy, and socially switched-on: a message I embraced whole-heartedly.

Social media mapping

The online environment is something that for our generation seems natural, but when we go offline what are we leaving behind?

Indecision, be gone! I’m taking the PR path…

I have always been rather indecisive about the path I want to take in life. I insist that this is simply a large spectrum of ambitions and aspirations, and what’s wrong with that? I have considered and dipped my toes into many different career pools, from dancing and performing arts, to interior design. I even contemplated construction management, before finally settling upon the study of Public Relations and Communications here at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Job hunting via LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one of those social networks that you have but possibly hardly use. Well, that used to be me, until this year. Tutors and lecturers are always telling us to get on LinkedIn because there are so many opportunities to network yourself on there - they’re actually right!

Image sourced from: www.britishlogodesign.co.uk 

How formal is formal? How brands should act on social

Brands walk a tightrope on social media. The last thing you want to be is boring, but that doesn't mean that you should be too corny either. Levels of formality on social media these days are hard to get right, and depend on the industry that brands are in. For example, consumer brands (particularly food) have more freedom to be light-hearted and comical, whereas I find some tech brands to be very utopian and professorial.

The Past Three Years

With less than two months left at University and our dissertation hand-in looming, I wanted to have a chance to look back on the past three years.

I remember my first class and the look on everyone’s face when we were asked ‘what is PR?’ It’s fair to say, not many of us knew. Well, after three years I still probably couldn’t give you a perfect CIPR definition, but I am definitely much more confident when faced with that question.

Our first year was also the time we met Gerard Choo, one of the few faces we would see regularly throughout our uni life – from our first PR Skills seminar to our dissertation lectures.

Crisis management and the tragedy of flight MH370

Since the disappearance of flight MH370 on the 8th March, the media has had myself and the rest of the world gripped.  With the technological society that we live in today and the vast amount of tools available to us, how exactly can a modern day flight carrying 227 passengers just vanish? It’s taken over two weeks of hard work and countless theories to finally get a logical answer to the question on everybody’s minds.

Malaysia Airlines have without a doubt faced an upwards battle with regards to PR and crisis management, with the world ready to scrutinize their every move. With huge pressure from the press as well as the hunt for the missing plane, did Malaysia Airlines handle their PR during this crisis appropriately?

Round-up of some great campaigns from March 2014

March has been and gone, so it’s a perfect time to have a look into some of the standout campaigns from the past month. The Breast Cancer no make-up selfie campaign is up there with the best, and such a great cause, but as we mentioned it last week let’s look at some others.

Twitter: The perfect place for a PR stunt

Twitter allows brands to show their personality and to create an identity online, when this is achieved it can create perfect PR stunts. All it takes is creativity, simplicity and intuitive for a brand to form a PR stunt which gets everyone talking and even better…it’s free!

Here are two brands that have caught my eye this month:

Jaffa Cakes

Chancellor George Osborne announced in his budget statement there would be a new shaped pound coin as it is believed that 3% of existing £1 coins are fake.

Jaffa Cakes were fast acting and responded to the tweet from the Royal Mint, George Osmond and the HM Treasury by recreating the new £1 coin in the form of a 12 sided Jaffa Cake and an amusing hashtag #ReduceJaffaCounterfeiting

Manifest Comms - Guest Lecture

(Photo from Manifest Comms website they have won lots of awards!!)

Last week we were lucky enough to receive a lecture from Alex Witham and Lizzie Marlow, both of whom are Leeds Met PR Alumni and are now working at Manifest Comms in Leeds.

It was a really great, informal and conversational lecture and I thought I would share 5 key pieces of advice that I jotted down during their talk: