For my last blog post I want to talk about how we can take all the concepts we have been discussing thus far in class and how we can use them to set us apart from other media studies majors as we enter the job market. I myself, as a media studies major, am very interested in a job field which requires work in the area of new media. I think gaining perspective from taking both new media classes at Catholic University will aid myself as well as others in entering this field of work. In class on Thursday we threw out some ideas of how we can market ourselves to the career market and set us apart from other candidates. For anyone in the process of applying for jobs or internships, I'd like to point out some ideas for aspects to add to your cover letter or points to talk about in interviews. When employers ask the infamous questions: "What makes you right for this job?" or "What sets you apart from other candidates applying for this position?", I hope my ideas can help you gain an advantage and land the job you are hoping to get. First off, this may seem obvious, but we all have exceptional knowledge and insight on social networking sites. You may think that anyone can say that they are experts on sites such as Facebook and Myspace, but to employers we have actually taken an academic course on the topic, which makes it much more official. I'm not such how to convey this idea without confusing anyone, but basically, we have a fundamental understanding of how these sites work, how they market users, and can fluently speak about the issues and concerns of them; which is much more important than merely knowing how to use all the features and know the road maps of such sites. Next, we have gained a lot of knowledge on the core issues of the internet, which a lot of people have awareness of, but we have deep insight and a lot of perspective on each side of the arguments. As well, we also have an understanding for the future of the internet, the dangers as well as hopes, for the direction we are going in the age of increasing technological advances. Everyone this day in age uses the internet, and gaining an employee who is well rounded in the nuts and bolts of the online world would be a beneficial gain to any company. While all media studies majors in the job market can say that they have a deep understanding of internet, we have this notion in writing, we have taken a specific course in this field and have the evidence to prove such. Remember, these are just a few ideas that I have highlighted for you to use, there are many other factors you can talk about. In closing, when you sit down to write your next cover letter, think about this course and all the insight we have gain and USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE! The economy may be tough, and the opportunity for landing a successful job may look slim at this point in time, but the internet isn't going anywhere, which means people who specialize in this field field are valuable to companies and businesses. We can take pleasure in knowing that we can put ourselves on a platform above others when in comes to conveying to employers that we have the skills and knowledge that set us apart from others in the topic of new media.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
New Media and the Job Market
For my last blog post I want to talk about how we can take all the concepts we have been discussing thus far in class and how we can use them to set us apart from other media studies majors as we enter the job market. I myself, as a media studies major, am very interested in a job field which requires work in the area of new media. I think gaining perspective from taking both new media classes at Catholic University will aid myself as well as others in entering this field of work. In class on Thursday we threw out some ideas of how we can market ourselves to the career market and set us apart from other candidates. For anyone in the process of applying for jobs or internships, I'd like to point out some ideas for aspects to add to your cover letter or points to talk about in interviews. When employers ask the infamous questions: "What makes you right for this job?" or "What sets you apart from other candidates applying for this position?", I hope my ideas can help you gain an advantage and land the job you are hoping to get. First off, this may seem obvious, but we all have exceptional knowledge and insight on social networking sites. You may think that anyone can say that they are experts on sites such as Facebook and Myspace, but to employers we have actually taken an academic course on the topic, which makes it much more official. I'm not such how to convey this idea without confusing anyone, but basically, we have a fundamental understanding of how these sites work, how they market users, and can fluently speak about the issues and concerns of them; which is much more important than merely knowing how to use all the features and know the road maps of such sites. Next, we have gained a lot of knowledge on the core issues of the internet, which a lot of people have awareness of, but we have deep insight and a lot of perspective on each side of the arguments. As well, we also have an understanding for the future of the internet, the dangers as well as hopes, for the direction we are going in the age of increasing technological advances. Everyone this day in age uses the internet, and gaining an employee who is well rounded in the nuts and bolts of the online world would be a beneficial gain to any company. While all media studies majors in the job market can say that they have a deep understanding of internet, we have this notion in writing, we have taken a specific course in this field and have the evidence to prove such. Remember, these are just a few ideas that I have highlighted for you to use, there are many other factors you can talk about. In closing, when you sit down to write your next cover letter, think about this course and all the insight we have gain and USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE! The economy may be tough, and the opportunity for landing a successful job may look slim at this point in time, but the internet isn't going anywhere, which means people who specialize in this field field are valuable to companies and businesses. We can take pleasure in knowing that we can put ourselves on a platform above others when in comes to conveying to employers that we have the skills and knowledge that set us apart from others in the topic of new media.
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I agree with you that the use of new media is great for the job market. Almost every interview I have been on has asked me about new media, for example, facebook and twitter because they want someone who knows how to work those sites. I am glad I took this class because I have been able to use this class in my cover letter and explain what I know about social networking sites.
ReplyDeleteWe should not underestimate the value of New Media prowess in today's job market. Even though the skills seem common place to us, many who are currently in the job world do not have the same level of familiarity or comfort using the sites. On a cover letter or resume it would be useful to list this in a "skills" section possibly.
ReplyDeleteUsing new media tools like Facebook and Twitter can be useful when its done EFFECTIVELY. For every one account tweeting for a business done right, I can point to 10 that are doing it wrong. How about that fan group you joined on Facebook that sends you a message everyday? Yeah, they're doing it wrong. I'm certain that everyone in our class will avoid using new media for evil (like the spammers on FB), and use it for good.
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