Finding A Job You'll Love

“Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‘em, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.” –Theodore Roosevelt

Generation Volunteer

I recently wrote a guest blog for The I am Group called "Generation Volunteer". It focused on the fact that for many people of my generation, volunteering is the only way to gain worthwhile work experience. I genuinely believe that volunteering can reveal your talents, explore your employment opportunities and help you grow as a person. People who have made volunteering part of their lives make excellent employees and often possess an unrivaled passion for the work they do. 

Graduate of 2012

I graduated in 2012 with a BA in History and Politics. I loved the subjects but I missed out on a 2:1. This was a huge blow for me, I was a high achiever at school but struggled with the unsupported teaching that university offered. I thought my "career" was over before it began, because I couldn't apply for the majority of the "Graduate" positions that demanded a 2:1 from all applicants. I soon came to the conclusion that if that company believes that my 2:2 means that I am not capable of doing the job then they aren't worth my time anyway. 

Opportunities Everywhere

One day I was reviewing my CV and was struggling to find things to put under "Employment History". I had a few paid jobs but most of my professional life had been dedicated to volunteering. When I took a good look at the work I had done as a volunteer with Livity and a local mental health charity, it was clear that I had experience in event organisation, communications, journalism and fundraising, to name a few. It was at that point that I knew I was searching for the wrong jobs in the wrong place. 

I live in Northern Ireland but had previously studied and worked in England, the difference in availability of jobs is staggering. Adding insult to injury is the appalling public transport system consisting of one railway line and huge areas of countryside and small towns that no Translink bus dare breach. Many people happily make a living and a life in NI but unfortunately I will not be one of them. The type of job I want in the businesses I wish to work for do not thrive as well in NI. 

Where to find the job you'll love

I am an experienced job hunter, not because I can't hold down a job but because I like to take a good opportunity when I see it. My positions with International and National Citizen Service were temporary and I quit my job at Regenersis so I could go to Sierra Leone (a little disclaimer if any potential employers are reading!). Therefore, I have learned of a few job websites that cater for people like me. 

Charity Job

A wonderful website that claims to be the "number one website for charity jobs", and rightly so. I have used this website for several years and I even obtained an 3 month internship with Brake as a result. My favourite feature of this website is the "Voluntary" section; as there are fantastic opportunities to volunteer professionally across the UK and internationally. 

Even if you do not wish to pursue a career in the third sector (charity sector) there are a wide range of jobs available; from fundraising to administrative roles. They are often less stringent when it comes to degree classification than jobs you would find on the likes of Graduate Talent Pool. They are still competitive though and you need to show that you have at least an interest in the Charity's goals and focus. 

Work In Startups

A friend of mine was telling me about startup businesses and organisations and how they are always looking for talented new people to help get the work done. He introduced me to this fantastic website that posts available jobs and internships with startups. Most are based in London, a location with a particular proclivity for churning out new and innovative businesses. 

The website is in a beta testing stage but is nonetheless a gold mine for opportunities. Especially jobs involving social media marketing and PR, which is exactly the type of job I am working towards. 

Inspiring Interns

This website is a particular favourite of mine for 2 reasons. Firstly, they are not just a job website but a recruitment agency as well. A friend of mine manages a big marketing company in England and said that they are fantastic to work with and have provided them with an excellent entry level work force. 

Secondly, Inspiring Interns are moving with the times. CV's will soon be a thing of the past. Online profiles like Linkedin and Google+ will take it's place. This company asks that you submit a short video of yourself, summarizing your key qualities and what you could bring to a job. They then use this video as another way of selling you to potential employers. I am in the process of creating my own video and will be sending it to them this week.

Some Advice...

I am reading an e book written by Smit Patel called Learn to Hustle, in it he says that to really stand out as the perfect person for the job, show that you can do the job already. For example, I wish to work in social media marketing and PR and I am currently the voluntary social media manager for Radio Coalisland. In order to increase  Radio Coalisland's listeners and their engagement with social media I  am  researching and compiling a report about the best social media platform to use (Hoot Suit, Parllay etc.). 

Monitoring and evaluating your businesses social media strategies is a vital part of it's success. This demonstrates that it may not be a paid job or full time but I am still doing the same work as an intern or assistant at a startup business. 


Helpful?

I hope this has been of some help for those of you struggling to find a job that you want to get up for in the morning. I am in the same boat, however it means I can share really cool websites and resources like the ones above. 

Come and find me!

Twitter
Google+
Linkedin

Exploit and Go: How the North steals from the South

A Scotsman, a Welshman and an Irishman walk into the Clubhouse in Sierra Leone...

This may sound like the beginning of a bad joke but it could not be further from the truth. The following account was made by my collegue Ellen Paton after a conversation with 3 miners in a popular European restaurant in Makeni city, Sierra Leone.

The three men were apparently on holiday "in this hellohole for two days. If you thought this was a s*&%hole you should see Tonkoli."  So I asked "bet you can't wait to go home?,"  they said "yep, exploit and go". When I said I was a volunteer their response was patronising to say the least, "aww that's nice. I mean, you have to live in this s*&%hole and pretend you are doing stuff. We are the ones giving the money back though. I spend so much at Apex! (Another name for Wusum Hotel)"   

They were two engineers and a supervisor working for London Mining. They seemed really racist. They told me that they were sinking 3 mountains in the north. They also said that the miners do not get adequate health and safety training. My friend Sheka (a national) said that in Makali, Bombali District there are frequent cholera outbreaks as miners work in gold mines where they are exposed to contaminated water, they are not provided with water purification tablets. It became obvious to me that there needs to be more transparency  in what these mining companies are doing. Everyone seems to be oblivious to the exploitation that is happening in their country. They like that there is foreign investment in the country whilst being unaware of the scale , the pollution and lack of remittances that it brings.

This account never fails to make my skin crawl. The lack of morality in this one conversation is disturbing but no longer surprises me after coming in contact with several western companies that were "investing" in Sierra Leone. We met the employees of two companies in particular, London Mining and African Minerals, in two locations in Makeni; Wusum Hotel and The Clubhouse restaurant. 

Wusum Hotel is a newly developed hotel in Sierra Leone, it has an internet cafe, swimming pool, gym and european style rooms. Manson & Knight's travel guide to Sierra Leone describes Wusum Hotel as the haunt of "miners, ministers & paramount chiefs" at night it can turn into a bit of a "hooker-fest" and the service is "less than friendly" (Manson & Knight, p.286). I can confirm this from personal experience, myself and Ellen spent several hours there during our search for reliable wifi. When the miners came out of their rooms the prostitutes would emerge, seemingly from nowhere. They would throw themselves at the often middle aged, overweight european miners who did little to deter their advances. These miners certainly do put a lot of money back into the local economy, but from my experience, not in the right way.

In 2014 there will be a West African Mining Consortium held in London, this will be attended by any self respecting mining company based in Africa, including African Minerals and London Mining. Why hold a massive consortium about the future of West African mining in London? Why not hold it in West Africa? Surely that makes more sense, considering the fact that you are mining very valuable natural resources from there and supposedly "investing" in the national economy. There are a lot of things that keep people in Africa poor, and this kind of foreign "investment" is one of them. 

I was part of a livelihoods programme in Sierra Leone and thid included career guidance lessons in schools. I saw a lot of young people benefit from these classes, however, it is my sincerest belief that career guidance is pointless unless the population is politically aware. If they cannot engage politically on a local and national level then how are they supposed to defend their rights as citizens and ultimately how their natural resources are mined and where they go? If London was rich in natural resources you can be sure that no foreign mining company would set one greedy foot near the capital!

Most of us international volunteers were educated to university level, we were all politically aware and had a critical mindset. We could not have been more different from most of the young people we met out there, we questioned some of our nationals about where their taxes go and what benefit did they see from it. They said that they didn't know where their taxes went and they politely shrugged off the quetsion with a smile, they said that to question the government in any way would be seen as revolutionary and after a decade of brutal war, revolution is the last thing on anyone's mind. To be honest I really couldn't blame them for feeling this way, they are peaceful to the point of being totally passive and who am I to judge, I wasn't the one who had to survive one of the most brutal civil wars of the modern age. Sierra Leone was recently revealed to have the most corrupt government in the world, this doesn't surprise me, however exploitation from companies like London Mining, Dawnus and African Minerals does not help this situation.

When a country and it's people are being exploited by their own government and external bodies, internal change is needed. However, we cannot forget the responsibility that our own government has to help stop this kind of exploitation. When it comes to the British government I would go as far as to say that they are not only responsible but contribute to the exploitation of Sierra Leone. During our first few days there we visited the Britsih High Commission in Freetown, of course it was at the very top of the mountain in a walled, green and almost suburban area. We met two sections of the British government, the Foreign Office and DFID. After chatting to several of them over expensive food and alcohol served by two local Sierra Leoneans, we soon discovered that each department were there for different reasons. DFID was there to promote Sierra Leonean interests and the Foreign Office was there to promote British interests. There was a beautiful pool, flushing toilets and air conditioning; after coming from a place where we washed ourselves with a a bucket of water none of us felt comfortable there. It just did not feel right, eveything was so lavish, expensive and so at odds with what we had experienced in the two days that we were there.

Most of the people of Sierra Leone are very poor, uneducated and politically unaware. How can Sierra Leone develop if there are so many internal and external bodies that jump at every chance to exploit this country and it's people? I do not know the answers to many of the questions I have posed in this blog, what I do know is that choosing to remain blind to the corruption of companies like London Mining and our own government will not help. Yes it would be easier to bury your head in the sand and trust me I have wanted to do it many times upon returning home, but one day it won't be a distant African country being exploited it will be our own.

The photographs below show a career forum that we organised in one of the local schools and all of us at the Britsih High Commission. Photos courtsey of the fabulous Kristine Vaivode :) 

  

The Power of Social Media

"Social media sparks a revelation that we, the people, have a voice, and through the democratization of content and ideas we can once again unite round common passions, inspire movements, and ignite change."
Brian Solis

Social media is a huge force in our world today, it can be good or bad depending on how it is used. For the first time ever we as humans have the ability to communicate thoughts, ideas and news instantly with the rest of our species, this is most evident when we think of the videos, pictures and blogs coming out of Syria during this time of conflict for them. Social media transfers information in it's raw form, unfiltered, unbiased and brutally honest at times. However, the communication of information is not the only thing it is used for; through the transference of information we make connections with others. These connections allow us to communicate with individuals, businesses and organisations in a way that we previously would not have been able to do.

Most of you already know, but for those that don't I had to raise a minimum of £800 before I travel to Sierra Leone. As soon as I found out that I was going to Sierra Leone I set up a FaceBook page called "Denise Goes to Sierra Leone" which people could like and share with others. This was subsequently linked with a new Twitter account, both of which I used to promote my Just Giving page. If I posted something to my FaceBook page this would appear on my Twitter page, I would then retweet this post onto my personal Twitter. I have found that consistency and engagement are key to using social media successfully. I identified my goal which was to raise my target of £800, I then set out a plan of action which was to maintain activity on the page and to engage with as many people as possible on FaceBook and Twitter. For example whenever my Just Giving page was donated to I would thank the person personally on FaceBook and Twitter and provide a brief update on my progress and how much more I needed for my target.

Therefore, the 3 most important steps to remember are below:

1. Idenify your goal
2. Set up a plan of action (Engagement and consistency)
3. Follow through with your plan of action

Upon reaching my target I had to change my goal. A huge part of the ICS programme is Action at Home, which means working withing your community promoting the message of Restless Development and sharing the experiences you have had (In a nut shell of course). As soon as you reach your fundraising target start laying the foundations for your Action at Home. Before I reached my target I promoted my Just Giving page, now I promote this blog, I do this because social media is one of my strengths and I want to build up a decent readership in order to share my experience with as many people as possible. A blog is a great tool for any glocal citizen! Not only has my goal changed but so has my plan of action, I try to limit my posts to two a day. One post will be a daily fact about Sierra Leone, the other will be an update on my ICS journey. My aim is to keep people interested but not overload them with too much information either, if you post too much or too little people will loose interest and may even withdraw their support altogether.

At this stage you should be very active on Twitter, your FaceBook posts will still be posted to your Twitter but you should also be engaging with organisations, businesses, media and individuals on Twitter. Follow as many people as possible, interact with as many people as possible and most importantly thank everyone who retweets, favourites or follows you.  Hashtags are also very important for connecting with others, whenever I post something to Twitter 99% of the time I will hashtag Sierra Leone and Restless Development so whenever anyone searched for either of these key words my tweets will come up. I have found many like minded people this way and it is not something to underestimated. On the other hand keep your hashtags to a minimum, do not tweet like this - #Hi #My #Name #Is #Denise - otherwise people will probably want to "kill you in the face" as my friend would say!

The most important thing to do when conducting a campaign using social media is to be yourself. Having access to real people and real personalisties is what attracts organisations and individuals to social media. I am in no way an expert in social media marketing but thought my experiences may be of some help to others.

If you need any help with using social media as a marketing tool I would be more than happy to share what I know and point you in the right direction when I don't know something.

Thank you for reading and my blog and I will see you in a weeks time!