via E-consultancy - Internet Marketing News and Blogs on 18 November
Kudos to Bigmouthmedia for its campaign to raise awareness of digital marketing among students and graduates, who are apparently unaware that it is a career option.
The Internet industry at large is very much a career option, and it's a shame that universities and colleges aren't doing more to promote “digital” as a serious alternative for marketing and business-orientated students, as well as the tech-minded (who are better catered for).
Read more…
Hazel's comment:
E-consultancy is a regular read – but it is rare that I read something that I think is interesting in terms of careers information. Good for business, good for my own learning about all things digital but careers information? Nah, would have been my answer before reading this post.
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Graduate recruitment and selection in the UK: A study of the recent changes in methods and expectations
an article by Mohamed Branine in Career Development International Volume 13 Issue 6 (2008)
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to examine the changes in the methods of graduate recruitment and selection that have been used by UK-based organisations and to establish the reasons for the main changes and developments in the process of attracting and recruiting graduates.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through the use of a structured questionnaire. Questionnaires were sent to 700 UK-based employers selected from the Prospects Directory, the Graduate Employment and Training (GET) Directory and the Times Top 100 Graduate Recruiters. The response rate was just over 50 per cent and the data were analysed by using the statistical analysis software SPSS. The variables used were organisation size, recruitment methods, selection methods, cost, skills and reasons for the use of methods.
Findings
The analysis has shown that all employers, regardless of organisation size or activity type, tend to use more sophisticated, objective and cost-effective methods of recruitment and selection than before. The process of graduate recruitment and selection in the UK has become more person-related than job-oriented because many employers are more interested in the attitudes, personality and transferable skills of applicants than the type or level of qualification acquired. Although some of the usual methods such as interviewing remain popular, there is a greater variety of ways by which graduates are attracted to and selected for their first jobs.
Originality/value
The findings of this study are expected to be useful for employers considering the introduction of new graduate recruitment programmes and for those wishing to improve their existing ones as well as for institutions of higher education to reconsider the type of knowledge and skills they provide in order to prepare their students for the real world of work.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to examine the changes in the methods of graduate recruitment and selection that have been used by UK-based organisations and to establish the reasons for the main changes and developments in the process of attracting and recruiting graduates.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through the use of a structured questionnaire. Questionnaires were sent to 700 UK-based employers selected from the Prospects Directory, the Graduate Employment and Training (GET) Directory and the Times Top 100 Graduate Recruiters. The response rate was just over 50 per cent and the data were analysed by using the statistical analysis software SPSS. The variables used were organisation size, recruitment methods, selection methods, cost, skills and reasons for the use of methods.
Findings
The analysis has shown that all employers, regardless of organisation size or activity type, tend to use more sophisticated, objective and cost-effective methods of recruitment and selection than before. The process of graduate recruitment and selection in the UK has become more person-related than job-oriented because many employers are more interested in the attitudes, personality and transferable skills of applicants than the type or level of qualification acquired. Although some of the usual methods such as interviewing remain popular, there is a greater variety of ways by which graduates are attracted to and selected for their first jobs.
Originality/value
The findings of this study are expected to be useful for employers considering the introduction of new graduate recruitment programmes and for those wishing to improve their existing ones as well as for institutions of higher education to reconsider the type of knowledge and skills they provide in order to prepare their students for the real world of work.
Incremental Validity of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator in Predicting Academic Major Selection of Undecided University Students
an article by Chad A Pulver (St. Joseph's College) and Kevin R Kelly (Purdue University) in Journal of Career Assessment Volume 16 Number 4 (2008)
Abstract
This study examined the incremental validity of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) as a predictor of academic major choice. Undecided university students were administered the MBTI and Strong Interest Inventory (SII). Their academic major choice was recorded at the end of their fourth semester and categorized as realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional. The authors conducted sequential discriminant analyses based on the (a) SII alone and (b) combined use of the SII and MBTI. The SII general occupational theme scales correctly predicted 45.4% of cases, which was significantly better than chance. The hit rate based on the combined use of the SII and MBTI was 48.3%, which was not a significantly higher predictive increment. Implications of these findings for career counselors are discussed.
Abstract
This study examined the incremental validity of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) as a predictor of academic major choice. Undecided university students were administered the MBTI and Strong Interest Inventory (SII). Their academic major choice was recorded at the end of their fourth semester and categorized as realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional. The authors conducted sequential discriminant analyses based on the (a) SII alone and (b) combined use of the SII and MBTI. The SII general occupational theme scales correctly predicted 45.4% of cases, which was significantly better than chance. The hit rate based on the combined use of the SII and MBTI was 48.3%, which was not a significantly higher predictive increment. Implications of these findings for career counselors are discussed.
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Emotional and Personality-Related Aspects of Career-Decision-Making Difficulties
an article by Noa Saka and Itamar Gati (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and Kevin R Kelly (Purdue University) in Journal of Career Assessment Volume 16 Number 4
Abstract
This research focuses on developing a theoretical framework for analyzing the emotional and personality-related aspects of career-decision-making difficulties. The proposed model is comprised of three major clusters: pessimistic views, anxiety, and self-concept and identity. In Study 1, the Emotional and Personality Career Difficulties Scale (EPCD) was developed, refined, and used to empirically test the model with an Israeli Internet sample (N = 728). Study 2 (N = 276) provided evidence for the cross-cultural validity of the proposed model, using an American college student sample. The relations between the cognitive and emotional components of career-decision-making difficulties are discussed, and theoretical, research, and counseling implications are explored.
Abstract
This research focuses on developing a theoretical framework for analyzing the emotional and personality-related aspects of career-decision-making difficulties. The proposed model is comprised of three major clusters: pessimistic views, anxiety, and self-concept and identity. In Study 1, the Emotional and Personality Career Difficulties Scale (EPCD) was developed, refined, and used to empirically test the model with an Israeli Internet sample (N = 728). Study 2 (N = 276) provided evidence for the cross-cultural validity of the proposed model, using an American college student sample. The relations between the cognitive and emotional components of career-decision-making difficulties are discussed, and theoretical, research, and counseling implications are explored.
Monday, 1 December 2008
No such thing as security
via Government Computing's email newsletter 6 November
Gordon Brown's comment that ministers cannot guarantee the security of sensitive data is, in one respect, a welcome recognition of reality.
The Prime Minister's problem is that his government has acted as if it can collect increasing amounts of personal data, join it up, offer it to many thousands of civil servants, and still promise it is safe.
Hazel's comment:
The PM admitting that maybe, just maybe, national government is not a safe place to have your data stored is one thing, the next is persuade the PM to stop collecting so much information about each and everyone of us so that there's less to lose and not so much impact if the security measures don't work.
Gordon Brown's comment that ministers cannot guarantee the security of sensitive data is, in one respect, a welcome recognition of reality.
The Prime Minister's problem is that his government has acted as if it can collect increasing amounts of personal data, join it up, offer it to many thousands of civil servants, and still promise it is safe.
Hazel's comment:
The PM admitting that maybe, just maybe, national government is not a safe place to have your data stored is one thing, the next is persuade the PM to stop collecting so much information about each and everyone of us so that there's less to lose and not so much impact if the security measures don't work.
Facebook as a Social Search Engine and the Implications for Libraries in the 21st Century
an article by Mr Mark-Shane Everett Scale in Library Hi Tech Volume 26 Issue 4 (2008)
Abstract
Purpose
The primary objectives of this research paper are to:
1. explore the concept of social search,
2. evaluate the performance of Facebook as a social search engine and
3. to understand the relationship between Social Networking Sites (SNS) and social search.
The author's intention is to examine the possibility that Facebook presents as the future of on-line search and the implications for libraries. The findings are relevant for library and information science academics and professional practitioners.
Design/methodology/approach
This study reviews the literature on SNSs, Facebook studies, and the concept of social search. It then explores Facebook as a social search engine through participant observation, personal experience and experiment. The experiment is based on two identified search queries. Both queries are performed, wherein the results retrieved are displayed using tables and evaluated.
Findings
Facebook as a people search engine, yields irrelevant results in response to search queries for unknown persons or groups. Facebook may also fail to provide timely and relevant results when attempting to get information from persons with whom the user has a weak relationship. Findings also indicate the limitations of users functioning as quasi-librarians as it relates to the quality of information retrieval.
Originality/value
The author provides an approach for evaluating the quality of information retrieval in social search using traditional information retrieval evaluation methods developed by library and information scientists. He also revisits old arguments on the importance of the profession to Web information in light of new trends and data.
10 off-topic items that may interest you
Hey, I'm catching up! This is only 26 days late (but it's only 25 days till Christmas)
Friday fun via Science, Engineering & Technology Blog by Anne on 24 October
The BBC offers this selection of space games. There are a Solar system jigsaw, a quiz on voyages to the Moon, a space doctor game, and a space invaders game.
How to build lethal weapons from office supplies via TechRepublic Blogs by Jay Garmon on 29 October
Why spend your money on common Nerf weapons when you can hack together a truly dangerous device by raiding the office manager's supply closet? It's almost worth the inevitable lawsuits.
Oldest toy in Britain via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz on 23 October
The carved animal figure [above in the original posting] may be the oldest child's toy in Britain. Archaeologists from the University of Bristol found it last month near Stonhehnge and think it's at least 2,000 years old. They dug it out of a young child's grave. There is some debate about whether the toy is a pig or hedgehog.
Friday fun
via Science, Engineering & Technology Blog by Anne on 11/14/08
Check out these alternatives to the standard periodic table of elements.
The periodic table of comic books
The wooden periodic table
An animated version of Tom Lehrer's The elements
Weblog: Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century
via Phil Bradley's weblog by 6 November
No, I am NOT making this up. It is there, complete with pictures.
Bananas, euromyths and ridiculous regulations
via Nosemonkey's EUtopia by nosemonkey on 12 Novembe
And so yet more silly EU regulations bite the dust, as a bunch of rules on the physical appearance of fruit and vegetables are set to go the way of the Dodo. The most famous of these, of course, being the infamous "straight banana" euromyth that has been doing the rounds of the UK tabloids for years - "Brussels bureaucrats ban bananas!" and suchlike.
Whoever Nosemonkey is s/he is upset that the scrapping of some of the more ridiculous regulations removes a means of making fun of the EU.
Fan powered flying car
via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder on 11 November
Charles Platt pointed me to this Times Online article about a fan-poweerd flying car. The British inventor is going to fly it from London to Timbuktu.
The worst excuses for missing work via TechRepublic Blogs by Toni Bowers on 28 October
A CareerBuilder survey reveals some of the weirdest reasons employees have given to explain a day off.
Friday fun via Science, Engineering & Technology Blog by Anne on 17 October
The BBC compiled this mathematical quiz to accompany Radio 4's More or Less programme in 2005.
See how many you can answer! Remember the quiz was written in 2005 so some of the questions refer to that year.
Arts & Letters Daily 11 November
So when did public intellectuals start dying out? With the invention of the Web, or was it in the days of John Stuart Mill – or ancient Athens?... more
Friday fun via Science, Engineering & Technology Blog by Anne on 24 October
The BBC offers this selection of space games. There are a Solar system jigsaw, a quiz on voyages to the Moon, a space doctor game, and a space invaders game.
How to build lethal weapons from office supplies via TechRepublic Blogs by Jay Garmon on 29 October
Why spend your money on common Nerf weapons when you can hack together a truly dangerous device by raiding the office manager's supply closet? It's almost worth the inevitable lawsuits.
Oldest toy in Britain via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz on 23 October
The carved animal figure [above in the original posting] may be the oldest child's toy in Britain. Archaeologists from the University of Bristol found it last month near Stonhehnge and think it's at least 2,000 years old. They dug it out of a young child's grave. There is some debate about whether the toy is a pig or hedgehog.
Friday fun
via Science, Engineering & Technology Blog by Anne on 11/14/08
Check out these alternatives to the standard periodic table of elements.
The periodic table of comic books
The wooden periodic table
An animated version of Tom Lehrer's The elements
Weblog: Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century
via Phil Bradley's weblog by 6 November
No, I am NOT making this up. It is there, complete with pictures.
Bananas, euromyths and ridiculous regulations
via Nosemonkey's EUtopia by nosemonkey on 12 Novembe
And so yet more silly EU regulations bite the dust, as a bunch of rules on the physical appearance of fruit and vegetables are set to go the way of the Dodo. The most famous of these, of course, being the infamous "straight banana" euromyth that has been doing the rounds of the UK tabloids for years - "Brussels bureaucrats ban bananas!" and suchlike.
Whoever Nosemonkey is s/he is upset that the scrapping of some of the more ridiculous regulations removes a means of making fun of the EU.
Fan powered flying car
via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder on 11 November
Charles Platt pointed me to this Times Online article about a fan-poweerd flying car. The British inventor is going to fly it from London to Timbuktu.
The worst excuses for missing work via TechRepublic Blogs by Toni Bowers on 28 October
A CareerBuilder survey reveals some of the weirdest reasons employees have given to explain a day off.
Friday fun via Science, Engineering & Technology Blog by Anne on 17 October
The BBC compiled this mathematical quiz to accompany Radio 4's More or Less programme in 2005.
See how many you can answer! Remember the quiz was written in 2005 so some of the questions refer to that year.
Arts & Letters Daily 11 November
So when did public intellectuals start dying out? With the invention of the Web, or was it in the days of John Stuart Mill – or ancient Athens?... more
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