Through the eyes of a geologist

Today I went to a session at university regarding being prepped for the Festival of Careers 2013. Having gone to a prep session last year, I was disappointed to see no Geology companies. Having listened to feedback, this year CGG will be visiting the University of Leicester on 7 th November on the Engineering, Science and IT day. Today I have learnt that there are 400,000 graduates from UK universities every year. I was quite surprised to hear that for every graduate role, a company receives on average 85 applications. Whether or not 85 had the desired qualities, this still shows the competitiveness graduates are now facing and how it is vital to now stand out in a crowd. My objectives of attending the careers festival this year will be primarily to make contacts with companies that appeal to my interests – I will primarily be researching the geological companies first, but will keep my horizons open as I never know what the future entails. I hope to gain an insight into the c...

Click for my video demonstrating my journey through the  Leicester Award for Online Networking It is something I'd recommend to all - old and new, Leicester students as my perception of social media has completely changed! I thought I was 'in the know' with regards to technology, but only now do I realise the importance of taking advantage of the internet.

I've always had an interest in world development. If I hadn't of fell in love with and chosen to study Geology at university, I would have definitely taken the option to study international development. I'm actively researching how I could possibly interlink these as a career. I follow Geology for Global Development  regularly, and find the work they do ever so interesting. I'm hopefully attending their national conference in October as I'd love to meet people of similar interests but still within the geology field of work. Their website actually took me to The Association of Geoscientists for Internation Development  which I've now become a member of. It costs merely £3 for a student in the UK which I personally think it worth paying if you have such an interest as I think it's important to be globally aware.

I've recently been introduced to Weebly - where you are able to create your own online CV. I'd been inspired from a few (links below) and thought I'd give a go at my own attempt. My inspiration: http://kristin.fm/sm/index.html http://ulrikeschulz.weebly.com/index.html Let me know what you think of mine: Jo Miles Online Résumé

C.V.I.V - what is it? It stands for curriculum vitae interactive video and is a new approach to portray yourself in the simplest of ways to potential employers. Over the past couple of days I have been researching into how effective professionals are in using their online presence to portray themselves to future employers. The video below from YouTube, has got to be my favourite so far. Not only does Graeme Anthony introduce himself and explain why he now thinks it is important for him to portray himself this way, he's made his introductory video interactive - you can choose to then watch videos that are specific to his skills or portfolio. This is something that has really excited me - because building an online presence and network online can be fun! In his introductory video alone, he has had over 200,000 views which I would deem incredibly successful for a home video. He has set an example of how technology has changed the employability world. It has inspired me in the futu...

"Having searched Google, I didn't find myself. I thought I would have a digital footprint, as being a regular Facebook and Twitter user. After searching on www.123people.com, there are obviously other Jo Miles's in the world that have a greater presence online than me as I couldn't find myself on this website either. Although what did surprise me was that two of my best friends were in the 'Related People' section. Whether Jo Miles is a common name or not, I'd like to think I have an active presence online, but from this exercise I can see that I need to take advantage of social media to heighten my digital footprint further and actually be found when searched for by employers.” I wrote this at the beginning of the course and initially I was hoping to have a digital footprint by the end of the course. I searched for myself again on www.123people.com and although I did not come up on Facebook or Twitter again, I was pleasantly surprised to see my blog...

Having only just realised the importance of a personal brand online, it was fair to say when I searched for myself on www.123people.com that I did not have an effective digital footprint. I was disappointed with this and so here is my blog – the beginning of my digital footprint. My first ever fieldwork experience in Geology was at Colchester Sixth Form College. I was 17 and visited the Isle of Arran for a week. This was not a compulsory trip, but felt it was necessary to get out in the field, and see real formations for myself. It allowed me to practice my strike and dip in the field, which I am now completely happy with calculating by myself.  This took place at Easter in 2011, where we worked in small groups during the day, getting to know what it feels like to be a geological mapper, followed by one days’ worth of independently mapping. Easter 2013, I returned to the Isle of Arran and completed another ten days of fieldwork but in a different area of the island. Not only...