Why create a Digital You?

“This is the new age of career building. Social media platforms are the new resumes, and you need to be able to “sell” yourself” [mywebcareer.com, 2013]. In the modern, image saturated, digitally orientated, Western culture; companies are now realizing the business potential of online tools such as social media. Over the years, the evolution of social media and the internet has driven employers to utilize these tools for operations such as recruitment or marketing, transforming their mindset and strategy away from the stigma of solely the use of social media as a recreational pass time. With the job market becoming more and more difficult to penetrate, and the competition becoming as ravenous as it has ever been, how can the creation of a strategic, professional, and accessible online presence help you?

Primarily, your online presence helps you’re positioning within a job market, creating a sense of transparency and accessibility that others may not have. CareerBuilder.com found that “One in five employers use social networking sites to research job candidates, and close to 59% of them are influenced by your online presence” [mywebcareer.com,2013] Your online presence should be seen as your own brand, maintaining consistency throughout, and a level of professionalism and rapport that you can be proud of. Doing this can be extremely easy and cheap - social media can be your voice and image, a blog your mind, and a website your body. There are numerous free website builders that are simple to use and give tremendous results for an online portfolio; this can be as basic or advanced as you like, giving access to your CV, examples of work, and contact information. Maintaining your online presence can also be convenient and manageable with a variety of dedicated apps such as Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. As more and more applications are being produced for our convenience, there is no excuse that you ‘don’t have time’ or that it’s ‘too much work’. Attitudes like this are not what companies are looking for, and this may become more evident to them if you don’t present yourself online.

In a recent study by ‘OfficeTeam’, they found “that more than one-third of company’s feel that resumes will be replaced by profiles on social media networks” [forbes.com, 2011]. Dan Schawbel, a contributor to Forbes online and entrepreneur, sets out five reasons why an online presence will replace a resume which urge you, if you want a successful job application process, to really push your professional self online before someone else does. Two interesting points made by Schawbel are that the way we find jobs not has moved from the traditional ‘respond to advertisements’ to a more creative and interdependent exercise; and that the way people are managing their careers has now taken a more entrepreneurial route, meaning that applicants have become more savvy, building their own business to supplement their income, and build their brand, shifting the balance in favor of the applicant as the companies want their skills.

When it comes down to it, having an online presence does not take a lot of worked if managed correctly, it can help show off you and your skill set, place you ahead of the competition, and help level out the playing field between you and your potential employer during the interview process. So what’s holding you back? In the fast paced, constantly transforming business world, you need to put in the effort to make sure you aren’t left behind.

Thanks for reading,

Andy Staite

Let Your Online Presence Do the Talking

Let your online presence do the talking

The year is 2013, over 50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old, Facebook has more than 1 billion members worldwide and every second LinkedIn adds 2 new members to their database.[1] The world we live in has gone digital. We have the ability to communicate with anyone we’d like at any point in time and receive almost instant feedback. Most of us carry all of this, in our pockets, on our smartphones – with more than 50% off all mobile users in the US being smartphone users, we literally carry the world in our hands.[2]

While most of us will relate to this digital shift as a new way to interact with friends and family, it will have a significant impact on your professional life as well. LinkedIn, the biggest ‘professional social network’ out there, currently has more than 225 Million members. This new online landscape is changing how companies hire new talent as they realize it is cheaper, faster and it allows them to reach a larger audience. The online world also allows recruiters to attract ‘passive’ candidates – candidates that are not actively looking but might be interested in the right opportunity.[3]  This goes to show that even while you might not be looking for a new opportunity actively, they can still be handed to you on a silver platter if you have an online presence.

Even though LinkedIn might be the go-to place for professionals, your presence on other websites can have an equally important influence to your professional career. While it might not be vital to have a Tumblr account or an Instagram feed when you’re applying for a position in private banking, not showing up on any social websites when a recruiter searches your name can be a cause for suspicion – ‘what is this applicant trying to hide?’ – and a lost opportunity to impress whoever was out there trying to find out more about you.

While we’re not trying to encourage you to go and subscribe to every forum/social network/dating site you can think of, we do recommend you to go out on the web and explore which sites might be beneficial for you to be on, and give them a try. You’ll probably enjoy it a lot more than you would think, and who knows, it might land you your next job.

Thanks for reading,

Damien de Bruijn

Board Member

Centre for Entrepreneurship 

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[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUCfFcchw1w

[2] http://adage.com/article/digital/a-majority-u-s-mobile-users-smartphone-users/241717/

[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/business/smallbusiness/online-recruiting-efforts-gain-ground.html

Being Geographically Aware: Consider location before starting your company?

Before starting your company an initial consideration may be the place or state that your business can thrive in. For example, if you are planning on starting an innovative company in the United States you may head for the traditional base of Silicon Valley. However, according to Fast Company magazine, they proposed ten alternatives for which you could start your new company;

1. Florida

2. Texas

3. Maryland

4. Arizona

5. Alaska

6. California

7. Colorado

8. New York

9. New Jersey

10. Washington, D.C.

As well as submerging your business within a familiar external environment, you may also want to consider other factors, such as tax rates and household income.

Tax Rates 

I think one very important factor to be considered is tax level. For example, Florida, Texas and Alaska all have low tax rates compared to States such as New York, California and Maryland who tip the upper echelon of tax rates.

Household Income 

According to Fast Company Magazine, household income does not determine startup success because; “There is a reasonable hypothesis that areas that are fertile for startups are fertile at a point in time, such as Detroit in the 1890s, “says Ed Glaeser, Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard. “Startups come, they succeed and then it becomes progressively less friendly as the area becomes wealthier. A few dominant firms emerge and they eventually end up pushing out startups. Areas then have to find a way to reinvent themselves” (Fast Company, 2013).

Through an analysis of the graph above, Florida is the number one place to set up your business in the United States because;

1. Locally Focused Ambitions

2. Collaborative Calendar is Full

3. Money is being spent on local requirements.

Thank you very much for reading my article on startups in America, if you would like to discuss my topic with me further then please do not hesitate to contact me at all.

Sona Stefkova

Board Member

Centre for Entrepreneurship

Networking 2.0

It's all about who know you, especially when it comes to Networking 2.0!

At our next meeting, we are set to discuss networking and its importance in today's world of business. In the United States, networking is particularly considered a key asset for success and according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70% of all jobs are found through networking.

Whilst delving further into this topic, I came across a well known statement;

"It's not what you know, but who you know".

I am sure that you have undoubtedly heard this phrase before and considered your own experiences regarding it, whether they are negative or positive. However, it is apparent that there is a revised version of the common phrase;

"It's not who you know, but it's who knows you".

This made me reconsider my perspective about networking. The traditional version of the statement provides all the credit for your achievements to your connections. In contrast, the renewed version brings you back to the centre of the stage, strongly affirming that the key for success stands in your capability to let the right people know about your strongest assets, ideas and skills.

As we are living in an era of social media, where everyone can easily access your information online, it becomes crucial to understand how your virtual presence can impact your personal brand. If you don't want to be unprepared for networking, then you should consider your brand image on various social media outlets that you choose to use. Through blogs, personal profiles, posts and tweets, you are defining yourself to the world. So make sure that they are relevant, consistent and always up to date.

The greatest opportunities come from meeting new people and your current network. In order to sustain the brilliant impression that you have portrayed of yourself, your social media outlets need to be a continuation of your personality. Poor social media management, wastes the representation that you have aimed to leave the people within your new, developed or developing networks. However, developing your connections could be much easier if your network is able to access your relevant information online.

If you want to understand more about Networking 2.0, take a few moments to to read this interesting article that will guide you on how to prepare for networking in the social media era:

http://www.boston.com/business/blogs/global-business-hub/2013/01/networking_succ.html

Speak to you all again soon,

Claudio Lisco

Co-Chair

Centre for Entrepreneurship

Welcome to the CfE NYC!

On March 2013, myself and three other interns from the August intake were voted as the next board members of the Centre for Entrepreneurship at the Mountbatten Institute (CfE). A few weeks later, after the new intake had arrived in New York City, a March intern was voted in as co-chair. Our names and positions are as follows;

Alex Lee – Chair
Andrew Staite – President
Claudio Lisco – Co-Chair
Sona Stefkova – Vice-President
Damien de Brujin – Program Chair

Under the expert advice and stewardship of Dr. Dennis Garritan; the Academic Dean of the Mountbatten Institute, a professor at Harvard and Managing Director of Palmer Hill Capital, we set out on a plan of rejuvenation. Scrapping the old model of using the ‘Entrepreneurs Club’ as a non-exclusive network session, we renamed, remodeled and rebranded ourselves.

Through the guiding of the vision statement, the CfE aims, ‘to provide the skills, opportunities and inspiration to grow your ideas’. Our members, will have the platform to be inspired and develop themselves and their ideas.

We have already seen major developments. Having had two group meetings already, we have discussed our business ideas and the basics of a business proposal. The next meeting, set for the 3rd June, will discuss how a relevant network can be created, maintained and leveraged. I am delighted to announce that we will be joined by Rebecca Jackson; a ‘Professional Spaghetti Thrower’, business start up consultant and contributor to Forbes magazine.

Following this blog post, our board and its members will post weekly on hot topics, trends and discussions that we deem relevant to our potential business ideas and futures.
Please do feel free to contact the Centre for Entrepreneurship if you feel you would be able to contribute to a group meeting or advice our members. Alternatively, you can check out all of our members at our website, where we have created individual mini-bio’s for everyone.

We are a fairly social bunch; posting links, building trends and tweeting regularly of Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter;

facebook.com/nyccfe

pinterest.com/nyccfe

twitter.com/nyccfe

Until next time!
Alex Lee
Chair

“Think long. Write short. Capture in a second”