Review of “From Student to Salary with Social Media” by Victoria Tomlinson, Northern Lights PR & Marketing

9 August, 2012

I’ve worked with Northern Lights PR on various occasions before, delivering a bespoke SEO workshop and guest blogging for them on how PR agencies could potentially land themselves and their clients a Google Penalty.

So when I heard that Northern Lights CEO, Victoria Tomlinson, had published an e-book with advice for students and graduates on how to use social media to get a job, I just had to get a copy and have a read.

While there are many advice books on the market for students about writing a CV or covering letter or presenting themselves well at interview, I know of no others on the market that focus purely on how students can use social media to move their careers forward.

In a time of record graduate unemployment, and an increasingly tough job market, it more important than ever for jobseekers to work strategically and actively to get a job.

Using social media to get a job can – if used correctly and energy spent in the right areas – vastly cut down the amount of time spent on jobhunting. Using your time wisely and efficiently means you cut down on wasted time spent on the blanket CV approach. There are many other benefits too. Responses can be instant, and there is no printing, nor buying envelopes and stamps involved.

From Student to Salary with Social Media is a concise and easy to follow guide to using social media to make meaningful contact with employers and vastly increase your chances of success.

Apart from being unique in its subject matter, Victoria Tomlinson’s new eBook is also unique in bringing together advice and viewpoints from employers, HR professionals, academics and students themselves. The result is a collection of practical tips and advice that actually work in the real world and are very easy to apply.

The book covers LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, and is packed full of easy-to implement tips and advice, which readers can pick and choose how best to apply to their needs.

The multiple examples and screenshots make following the tips and advice very easy, and even those unfamiliar with social media will be made to feel confident about dipping their toes in the digital pond. That’s not to say the book is basic, however. Quite the opposite. Even as a social media and digital marketing professional, I found some useful “lightbulb” ideas in there. They say the best ideas are the most simple, and that is certainly the case here. The tips and ideas in this book actually work – and Victoria knows this because she works with these education professionals every day, so knows how students already use social media and what graduate employers are looking for. This is the thing that really elevates this ebook above other similar publications on the market for is its genuine focus on graduates and jobhunters, rather than broadly on the professional market or on how organisations can use social media to get ahead. This one has some fantastic practical tips that students can use right away to get ahead.

It talks not only of how to use social media to make contact with employers, but how graduates can review their own social media presence to ensure that employers will view them favourably from a Google search.

As well as advising on the practical aspects of using social media (the “how-to”), this book also presents clearly the less easy to define “softer side” of an approach – how to make contact in a positive way without being intrusive, how to appear keen but not desperate, how to flatter but with sincerity, and finally how to get results!

I would strongly advise not just students and graduate job hunters, but anyone returning to the job market, to take a look at this eBook.

At 31 pages, this downloadable eBook is the perfect size for anyone to set aside one evening or an afternoon to read it cover to cover, then get straight online and make a start. Have a pen and paper next to you whilst reading to scribble down a to-do list, then make a start. As I’ve said time and time again, when it comes to setting up and utilising a social media account to get the best results, it takes time, so the sooner you get started, the quicker you’ll get results.

At only £1.01 to download, you really have nothing to lose and probably a lot to gain!

Contents

Contents
Introduction
1 Can an employer find you? And what will they find?
1.1 The employer search process
1.2 Your personal digital footprint
1.3 The view of an employer
1.4 The view of a headhunter

Action tips
2 Targeting employers
2.1 Engage with employers on Twitter
2.1.1 Blacks law firm
2.1.2 Incisive Media
2.1.3 Donna Baeza
2.1.4 Northern Lights PR
2.1.5 The view of a student
2.2 Engage with employers’ blogs
2.2.1 bere:architects
2.2.2 HR180
2.3 Points to note on employer engagement

Action tips
3 Demonstrate your skills to an employer
3.1 Write a blog
3.2 Start tweeting
3.3 Create a LinkedIn profile
3.3.1 100% complete profile
3.3.2 How you can benefit an employer
3.3.3 Look for jobs on LinkedIn
3.3.4 Build relationships when connecting
3.3.5 Target employers through LinkedIn
3.4 Create a professional Facebook profile

Action tips
4 Look out for employers online
Action tips

5 Professional conduct
Action tips

6 Clean up your act
Action tips
Further reading
About Northern Lights
What others say

Victoria you have done it again, your first social media eBook was great and this one is fantastic!

I recently gave a talk to more than 150 delegates at the annual AMDIS (Association for Marketing and Development in Independent Schools) Conference. During question time, I was amazed at the general lack of basic knowledge when I was asked “Do you have to pay to set up a YouTube account?” It’s clear that in schools, education in this field is vital. Simple tips like researching people who are going to interview are priceless.

I would recommend that if you are connected to the education system or are involved in job searching, you should take note of the reports and clear advice given in this newest addition to the Northern Lights PR eBook series.

Click here to download the eBook from Amazon

More information and advice on Social Media and Education:

• 2012 AMDIS Annual Conference: Social Media in Schools
• How to Use Social Media in Schools: Six Steps to Getting Started
• How to Use Social Media in Schools: 20 Ideas for Social Media Activities
• Using Social Media in Schools: Risks, Opportunities & Benefits
• 20 Social Media Marketing Tips for Schools: Part 1 – Social Media Planning & Using LinkedIn