{"id":10769,"date":"2020-11-06T10:52:46","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T10:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/?p=10769"},"modified":"2020-11-06T10:52:46","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T10:52:46","slug":"tips-from-employers-on-digital-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/tips-from-employers-on-digital-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips from employers on Digital Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Through our partnership with <a href=\"https:\/\/engage.westminster.ac.uk\/students\/organisations\/detail\/659524\/westminster-business-council\">Westminster Business Council<\/a> \u2013 representing 57,000 businesses in just 8 square miles &#8211; some of our students were able to question representatives from SMEs to get their top tips on what they look for in candidates. A hot topic for discussion was what digital skills would they expect graduates to have.<\/p>\n<p>Many SMEs have had to rapidly adapt their businesses for the current times, whether that\u2019s facilitating remote working, or changing the way they do business and interact with customers. They have had to embrace a range of diverse technologies to function, picking up new skills along the way. Here are some of their suggestions on the platforms they are using.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to become experts in all of them, but if you get the opportunity to use them it will show your willingness to learn. Many of them are free with basic functionality, and some of them are useful for all (e.g. LinkedIn).<\/p>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udca1 Social Media <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/\">LinkedIn<\/a> \u2013 it\u2019s a very good idea to create a profile, start connecting and share your successes<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/\">Twitter<\/a> \u2013 use this for looking at how companies use social media platforms (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/\">Facebook too<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.co.uk\/\">Pinterest<\/a> \u2013 depending on what the organisation does, they may use this platform to promote their services and activities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udca1 CRM \u2013 Customer Relationship Management systems<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CRMs are used to enable businesses and other organisations to manage their data and interaction with clients. (For example, Engage is the CRM that the Careers and Employability Service uses to interact with employers and students.) There are lots of platforms out there \u2013 sign up for free trials and play around with the functionality.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hubspot.com\/\">Hubspot<\/a> &#8211; offering a variety of services including web site creation<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.maximizer.com\/\">Maximizer<\/a> \u2013 sales and customer management<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/uk\/\">Salesforce<\/a> \u2013 used by more than 150,000 companies for supporting customer relationships<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udca1 Creative Platforms <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.canva.com\/\">Canva<\/a> \u2013 use to create all sorts of publication, design and even videos (there is a free option)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/filmora.wondershare.com\/\">Filmora<\/a> \u2013 video editing software<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veed.io\/\">Veed<\/a> &#8211; online video editing tool<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udca1 Team Management, Workflow Management <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/trello.com\/en\">Trello<\/a> \u2013 create boards to manage projects and share with others (there is a free version)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/slack.com\/intl\/en-gb\/\">Slack<\/a> &#8211; a way for teams to stay in touch rather than email<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/calendly.com\/\">Calendly<\/a> \u2013 used for calendar management<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asana.com\/?utm_expid=.fVAHSgvXTTqlbeZhKBu2uw.0&amp;utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F\">Asana<\/a> \u2013 work management tool<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/clickup.com\/\">ClickUp<\/a> \u2013 many organisational features in one tool<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udca1 Video Conferencing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are diverse platforms used by individuals and organisations. They look pretty similar once you\u2019ve tried a few, but you might want to familiarise yourself with the key features, especially if you have an interview using any of them. Being able to present online \/ interact online is a key skill that you will have the opportunity to practise during your time at University.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/zoom.us\/\">Zoom<\/a> \u2013 we expect many of you have tried this with family and friends!<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gotomeeting.com\/en-gb\">GoToMeeting<\/a> \u2013 online meeting tool you may have used in webinars<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gotomeeting.com\/en-gb\/webinar\">GoToWebinar<\/a> \u2013 online meeting tool<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/microsoft-365\/microsoft-teams\/group-chat-software\">Microsoft Teams<\/a> \u2013 used in many organisations including the University. Can be used for 1:1 meetings, group meetings or chat<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>New software is likely to evolve and existing systems change. A good way to learn is to try things for yourself using the free versions, or watch some of the demonstration videos. Make sure you only download software from genuine sources, and also be aware of your online security in any interactions.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10762 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2020\/10\/footer_bg-8.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"357\" height=\"87\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2020\/10\/footer_bg-8.png 902w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2020\/10\/footer_bg-8-248x60.png 248w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2020\/10\/footer_bg-8-496x121.png 496w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2020\/10\/footer_bg-8-124x30.png 124w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2020\/10\/footer_bg-8-768x187.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 357px) 100vw, 357px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u261e\u00a0Big thanks to Tracey Wells, our Careers and Employability Service manager, for writing this blog post. We hope you find it useful.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Please be reminded that if you need careers support, your Careers Team is only an email \/ a message away!<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>E:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:careers@westminster.ac.uk\">careers@westminster.ac.uk<\/a>|\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\">Website<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/University-of-Westminster-Career-Development-Centre\/144926765535925\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/uw_careers\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/universityofwestminstercareers\/\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/category\/westminster-business-school\/\">Careers Blog<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Through our partnership with Westminster Business Council \u2013 representing 57,000 businesses in just 8 square miles &#8211; some of our students were able to question representatives from SMEs to get their top tips on what they look for in candidates&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":287,"featured_media":10772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/287"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}