Can Twitter further your career?

Although this blog is primarily about my life outside of work, you may have noticed I'm currently studying to become a solicitor. Last September I started the Legal Practice Course at the College of Law in York. For those not familiar with the legal profession this is the course which takes you from law graduate to potential solicitor. In order to qualify as a solicitor, LPC students are then required to complete a training contract in a law firm.

Unsurprisingly, finding a training contract has become significantly harder in the current economic climate, with many firms simply not taking on trainees.

Today I attended the Law Society's Junior Lawyers Division LPC Forum which was an event for LPC students looking at how to secure a training contract. Even though I'm a law student I have to say, before today I had no clue about the JLD or what they do. The day included a series of talks looking at things like CVs, assessment centres and competency based assessments as well as a networking event. I was slightly apprehensive at the start of the day but it was actually pretty fantastic. I came away feeling really motivated with some very useful information (if you'd like to know more about the day there is a post about the previous event on the JLD Blog).

The talk that really struck a chord with me was on social media. Even though I use numerous social media forums (surprisingly I was the only delegate that used Pinterest) I've never really considered how social media might help me progress my career (except in so far as trying to avoid 'career limiting' actions).

Without sounding too much like Stuart Baggs, this talk really got me thinking about 'Brand Me'.

Everything we put out into the ether on Twitter, Facebook etc is available to billions of people across the world. Whilst most people won't particularly pay attention, there's a fair chance that future employers will be interested in what you are putting out there. We were told about a person who was presented with a print out of their tweets at an interview.  I think it's safe to say I wasn't the only person in the room shocked by this prospect. I try to be careful about my tweets but even the most careful tweeter will never be able to avoid posting a comment that could be interpreted in the wrong way by someone. It's easy to forget that Twitter is such a public forum.

It's so easy to automatically think about these types of horror stories when it comes to social media but actually some sites such as Twitter and of course, Linked In (described by the speaker as "Facebook for work") can actually be an incredibly powerful tool to assist rather than hinder career progression. Twitter is particularly useful for networking and I am certainly going to try to use it more for this in the future.

Similarly blogging can be a really useful tool in creating an online 'brand'. Today's talk emphasised the need to have a purpose to a blog. Finding a niche, and having an opinion were also highlighted as vital factors. A blog can be a really good way for people to get to know more about you, as well as getting noticed in the first place. Starting this blog was inspired by a wide range of bloggers, many of whom have created successful careers out of their blogs.

In terms of my own blogging I've not really considered this. I've always considered it important to have a niche but while I'm getting started actually writing (and improving my writing) is what matters. My natural inclination had been to keep my blog more mainstream but in doing that I can't help thinking I'm missing a trick. A major part of my life is studying and practising law and it wouldn't be fair to neglect this in my writing, I'd not really considered this blog as a outlet for expressing my opinions on anything particularly meaty but I'd like to explore this. It really feels like now is the time to up my game and focus on what I'm putting out into the world.

I want the content of my blog as well as my wider use of social media to be interesting. To do that I need to post about the things I'm passionate about. A lot of this will still be subjects such as food, fashion and fitness, but there might occassionally be a post on other subjects (like this one!)


Interestingly when I told the speaker the name of this blog, he asked me whether it was a political statement - this had never even crossed my mind (for the avoidance of doubt, it's not). It worries me that people might think it is - I might have to think of a new name.