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We’ve all read the headlines about the negative impact social media can have on your career, how HR departments are trawling employee profiles on sites like Facebook and MySpace, and how some people have been disciplined or even dismissed because of things they’ve posted to their personal social media accounts.

What we see less of in the mainstream media (although you’ll see plenty of examples online) is the many ways that having a prominent online profile across a variety of social media sites can actually help your career.

But if you sit down and think about it for a minute, the fact that online social media can help give your career a boost should come as no surprise. Yes, they can allow employers and prospective employers to find out lots about you… but if you’re looking for a new job, or want to progress in the one you already have, then letting people find you, and letting them see what makes you tick is a good thing! Networking on a professional and personal level has always played a key role in career progression — hence the age-old adage "it’s not what you know, but who you know". That’s just as true today as it was twenty, thirty, even fifty years ago. The difference now is that we all have access to a wide range of free and powerful tools that help us to build a broader, more distributed and infinitely more productive network than was ever possible before.

Whether it’s connecting with people on LinkedIn, staying in touch via Facebook, or keeping abreast of your network and your industry via Twitter…. online social media tools give you the ability to find, learn from and engage with all sorts of people who can help you, directly or indirectly, with your career.

• Showcase your talents and achievements: your social media profiles give you a great platform to showcase what you’re good at, highlight your strengths and let people know what you’re goals are. Think of them as a dynamic, constantly evolving CV that can help to promote your personal brand not just to your peers, but to prospective employers too. Career progression is all about marketing yourself, and social media can help you do that much more effectively.

• Find and be found: your social media profiles help to highlight your unique characteristics — and as increasing numbers of recruiters turn to social media to search for and pre-screen potential candidates your online profiles give you more opportunities to be found by recruiters for jobs that suit your skills, experience and personality. And don’t forget that employers and recruiters are also posting vacancies to their own social media pages / profiles, so don’t forget to search your social networks for relevant vacancies.

• Demonstrate your expertise: social media websites are interactive, and at the very least allow members to post comments to other people’s posts. By replying to questions and helping other people out you can demonstrate your expertise and start to position yourself as an expert in your particular field. Some networks, like the professional social network LinkedIn, for example, dedicate entire sections of their site to these sorts of questions and answers. It can be a great way of gaining exposure and respect among your professional peers, and a wonderful way to learn from others in your field.

• Keep your finger on the pulse: what’s happening in your industry right now? What are the trends that are likely to shape it’s future? Do you think that information could be important for your career? Social media sites — and particularly quick-fire, real-time short-messaging sites like Twitter — can help you to keep abreast of what’s happening in your field now, and what thought-leaders in your industry are thinking, reading or working on.

• Connect, engage and learn: through social media you potentially have access to a much wider network of people with expertise in a diverse array of industries: experts in recruitment, for example, who can offer advice on your next career move, or writers who can offer tips on more effective business communication, and so on. What starts with asking and answering questions, or engaging in debate on the topic of the moment, can evolve into enduring, mutually beneficial relationships that can prove invaluable when it comes to your career.

• Don’t forget to ask: last, but not least, don’t let your network sit idle: use it! Engage with people, respond to people; above all ask people for their opinions and listen to their answers. If you’re looking for a job, tell people… if you’re looking for advice, ask.

  These are just a few of the ways social media can help you in your career. It’s certainly pays to be careful what you post online — but as long as you’re aware of the risks, the benefits of engaging far outweigh them. Over the coming weeks we’ll take a closer look at a few of the more prominent social media tools, and how you can use them to help move your career in the right direction.

What’s the most important part of a typical job application? Is it your CV / Resume? Is it the  years of experience you’ve built up? Is it your unique blend of skills and expertise? The correct answer is none of the above! While all of those things are crucial components of the perfect job application, a really successful application is about getting you invited for interview. The For that, the single most effective weapon in your job-seekers arsenal is your covering letter. Why you need a great cover letter for your job application The term “covering letter” implies that this is perhaps a less important document than the material it accompanies. Not so! You see, when you’re applying for a job, your covering letter is much more than just a note to accompany the enclosed documentation. It is what the recruiter is going to read FIRST. It’s not so much a covering letter, it’s more of a sales letter.

Sell yourself with your covering letter

Your cover letter is the first opportunity you have to really shine… and to impress upon your employer just how perfect you are for the job. It’s worth spending a bit of time getting this right:

• Be professional, be personable, be you: don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through in your covering letter. Stay professional, focused and on-topic, but remember that your personal flair, affability and enthusiasm are just as important when it comes to hiring you.
• Play to your Strengths: your CV contains a a record of your employment history and experience, but on it’s own it rarely provides sufficient context. Your covering letter gives you the chance to show how the qualities on show in your CV can benefit his or her business.
• Be concise: use relatively short, carefully crafted sentences that are punchy and to the point. Unless you’re an expert wordsmith, keeping things short and sweet will give your letter more impact.
• Do your homework: address the recipient by their correct name and title. If you don’t know it a simple phone call is often enough. Show that you’ll go the extra mile, even before they hire you.
• Make a list: it pays to plan ahead… and your cover letter is no different. Make a short list of points you want to get across in the letter, and refer to the list as you are writing to make sure you leave nothing out.
• Check, then double check!: once you’ve written your covering letter, proof read it yourself for any grammar, punctuation and spelling errors. Then put it aside overnight and proof read it again! You’ll often find that coming back to it fresh after a break will reveal things you didn’t spot first time around. Now give the letter to someone else to read. Remember, first impressions count!

Happy job hunting!

Related articles

• Six Myths About Writing Excellent Cover Letters (distance-education.org)
• Triple Your Job Offers With Amazing Cover Letters (amazing-cover-letters.com)
• How to Make an Interesting Resume Cover Letter (socyberty.com)
• Great Cover Letters Only One Click Away (oneclickcoverletters.com)
• Career Search: Adjust Your Resume and Cover Letter to Reflect Your New Career Path (halliecrawford.com)

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Are you struggling to balance the demands of a busy career with a hectic personal life? Does it feel like you’re constantly juggling your commitments in a desperate attempt to squeeze everything into an impossibly short day?

If the answer is yes, you’re not alone. Trying to find the perfect work-life balance is something that countless employees around the world wrestle with every day… but for many it simply isn’t working.

The concept of work-life balance first entered the recruitment lexicon in the 1970s in an attempt to describe the issues faced by employees looking to divide their attention between their work commitments and their personal life. It’s since gained popularity among industry commentators, recruitment and careers experts, employees, and most recently with employers, who have started to view the panacea of work-life balance as a magic-bullet solution to employee dissatisfaction, absenteeism, and boosting productivity in the workplace.

One of the main reasons that work-life-balance has become such a buzzword is that it resonates with so many people. Almost all of us know that overwhelming feeling of desperately trying to divide our finite attention between all of the things that matter to us. But although the work-life-balance concept has been around for nearly four decades, many of us are still struggling to manage our disparate commitments effectively; we fail in our quest for "balance", and ultimately everything suffers.

According to business and lifestyle coach Ali Davies (www.alidavies.com) the main reason so many of us haven’t nailed the work-life balance conundrum is that the whole concept is fundamentally flawed.

"The problem is what we are focussing on – balancing work with life," said Ali. "The two aren’t separate things. There is only one thing: your life. Everything else is a label for an activity you are doing within your life."

Ali argues that instead of seeing work and life as two separate entities, and struggling to achieve balance between them, it makes much more sense to view everything in our lives as one. By focussing on what we really want, and treating everything as part of a coherent whole, we can manage our attention much more effectively.

"Stop focussing on work life balance. Instead, make a decision right now that you are going to build the life you really want for yourself and your family," she advises.

Here are Ali’s top tips for doing just that:

• Make sure you have a crystal clear picture of what your ideal life would look like. Define what constitutes a successful life for you including all aspects of your life as one.

• Is that worth fighting for? If so, start thinking "designing life" NOT balancing life.

• What would need to happen for your ideal to become a reality?

• Don’t wait, start now – even if you don’t know how you will make it all happen. Think baby steps.

Here is a fantastic example of how Alec Brownstein an advertising creative in New York did just that – by targeting creative directors in the agencies he wanted to work with in Google AdWords…

He created five ads, got four interviews and ended up with a job at one of the agencies. Total outlay: US$6.

The old stalwarts of recruitment are still important – so don’t throw that CV away just yet, but with up to 80% of employers looking online to source talent you’d be mad to ignore the potential. Go on, get creative… and let us know how you get on in the comments .

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UK study finds that going to work when sick could cost your employer more than if you stayed at home!

Absenteeism is a common and much reported problem for employers around the world, costs companies millions of Euro every year and has a negative impact on everyone in an organisation. If your colleagues don’t turn up for work, that puts pressure on you, because somebody has to pick up the slack.

What we rarely hear anything about though is the flip side of the same coin: the potential impact of people who attend work when they’re genuinely too sick to do the job.

Perhaps partly because of the rising profile of absenteeism in the workplace, increasing numbers of employees struggle in to work when they would be both physically and psychologically better off taking the day off to recover. According to a pioneering report from UK based employment think tank The Work Foundation, the cost of this sickness presence — or "presenteeism" as they call it — could match or potentially exceed the UK£13bn bill for sickness absence that UK businesses have to foot.

While sickness absence is widely measured and monitored across the public and private sectors, and many businesses are focussed on reducing absenteeism, this report suggests there’s a lack of understanding surrounding "presenteeism", and organisations are generally oblivious to its hidden costs. The authors point out that businesses who don’t address presenteeism in the workplace could be missing out on opportunities to boost productivity and improve employee health and wellbeing.

Commissioned by health insurance employer AXA PPP, the in-depth research study found that employers may be at risk of underestimating employee ill health and may be missing warning signals by focusing purely on absence statistics.

According to the study sickness presence was more prevalent than absence, with 45% of respondents saying they’d turned up for work when sick for one or more days over a four week period, while only 18% reported one or more days’ absence over the same period, and those who did take time of sick were also more likely to work when ill.

"In the current economic climate, with high job insecurity making employees more wary of taking time off, understanding the causes and effects of sickness presence is crucial," warned the report’s lead author, Katherine Ashby. "In addition to sickness absence, measuring sickness presence may provide a more reliable picture of an organisation’s health-related productivity losses."

The researchers found that higher levels of sickness presence were associated with:

• lower levels of manager assessed performance;

• lower levels of self-reported psychological wellbeing;

• higher levels of sickness absence;

• higher levels of work related stress;

• experiencing personal financial difficulties;

• higher levels of perceived pressure from managers and colleagues to work when unwell.

"It is vital to explore the reasons behind sickness presence especially any work related triggers that are adversely affecting the wellbeing of employees which could be addressed in the workplace. Evidence shows that ‘good work’ – or well designed jobs – helps to improve motivation, job satisfaction and productivity," added Ashby.

"We also know that the opposite can lead to reduced psychological wellbeing and ill health. In the same way that sickness absence can be a symptom of underlying issues, levels of sickness presence can also be an important indicator of employee health and wellbeing. Organisations need to be aware that low levels of sickness absence may not tell the whole story. Successfully tackling the underlying causes of sickness presenteeism could improve employee wellbeing and so reduce both sickness presence and sickness absence."

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Whether you’re a job-seeker looking for the perfect position, an employer seeking the best talent, or a recruitment professional who’s job it is to bring the two together, keeping yourself abreast of current and future trends in the Irish labour market is an important element of the recruitment process.

In March the Irish employment and training agency FÁS and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) published their 13th annual joint report in the manpower forecasting series: "Occupational Employment Forecasts 2015", including full medium-term forecasts of the sectoral and occupational structure of the Irish labour market.

Here’s a summary of the key changes they predict in Ireland’s labour market between now and 2015:

• Changes are likely in the sectoral and skills mix of employment. While employment in most occupations is expected to recover from the lows of 2010, the rate and extent of recovery will vary considerably by occupation, with some emerging from the recession to show relatively strong employment growth, while others fail to attain their pre-recession levels before 2015.

• The occupations expected to exceed pre-recession peak levels are concentrated at the higher end of the skill scale, and include professionals and associate professionals (technicians) in science, engineering, business services and IT. Some of the occupations that, while they will they will grow after 2010, are not expected to hit their peak pre-recession levels include skilled building workers, production operatives, unskilled manual workers, sales assistants and clerks.

• Combined managers/proprietors, professionals and associate professionals are expected to account for 38% of the total workforce in 2015 compared to 34% in 2008 (and 31% in 1996). When these groups are combined with clerical workers, the forecasts suggest that, in 2015, 50% of workers will be in what are traditionally considsered "white collar" roles (up from 44% in 1996).

• Overall employment level is based on the ESRI’s latest forecasts for recovery, which projects that employment in 2015 will be some 80,000 below the peak level reached in 2008. However, given an estimated loss of 330,000 jobs between the 2008 peak and 2010, the projection suggests that the economic recovery, which is expected to begin towards the end of 2010, will generate 250,000 additional jobs between now and 2015.

• The number of females in employment is expected to exceed its pre-recession level by 2015, while male employment, although growing beyond 2010, is not expected to recover to the pre-recession level by 2015. Females are gaining share in many occupations, especially high skilled ones. By 2015, females are expected to account for more than a half of business services professionals and almost a half of all managers.

• Improvements in the educational profile are likely to continue during the forecasting period, with the share of third level graduates increasing in all occupations. By 2015, over 90% of all professionals are expected to hold a third level qualification.

While the report, and the underlying the projections on which its forecasts are based, has been produced, has been produced during a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty, and by necessity is underpinned by a number of assumptions concerning things like the rate of international economic recovery, overall Irish competitiveness, restoration of the financial sector, nominal wage rates and migratory flows, the authors are nonetheless confident that the direction of the skills/occupational changes projected is likely to reflect the reality that unfolds.

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Finding a job in today’s employment market is hard work. To increase your chances of success, it pays to have a clear idea of what you’re looking for, and a well-thought out plan of how you’re going to go about getting it before you dive in.

1. Know what you want

If you want to find the right job, the first thing you need is a clear idea of the area you want to work in. This could be a broad career discipline… like marketing, accounts or computer programming; or maybe you want to work in a particular industry, like pharmaceuticals, food or manufacturing. If you don’t really know what you want to do, try making a list highlighting the things you like doing, or that you feel are particular strengths. Now look at your list, and consider what sort of career might dovetail with your list of preferences and strengths.

Once you have a high level idea of the area you’d like to work in, refine it a step further by researching various job titles in your area of interest to see which roles are a good fit with your skill set, your temperament and your personal development goals… you want something fulfilling that will stretch and challenge you, and that will allow you to grow and progress.

2. Know where you want it

Are you looking for work in a defined area, or are you prepared to relocate to find the right job? If you have a specific location in mind, your next step is researching suitable companies that operate in the geographical area you want to target. Try contacting local business organisations like local chambers of commerce or other business directories to identify potential employers.

Again, do your research… determine what type of company fits your needs, values, style, and personality. Make a list of things that are important to you in an employer — things like company size, corporate culture, management style employee empowerment and the like — and use it as a guide to shortlisting suitable employees in your target area(s).

3. Know how you’ll find it:

There are lots of ways to find out about suitable job vacancies once you know what you’re looking for… here are just a few suggestions:

• On-campus Recruiting: if you’re a student, your college or university will almost certainly hold careers or recruitment fairs during the academic year which employers attend to recruit new graduates. Find out what companies are going to be attending, and arrange an interview with one or more of them. If nothing else it will be great interview experience.

• Other Career Events: as well as on-campus events, there are also local, regional and national careers fairs and recruitment related events, and some industries even have their own events. Find out what recruitment events are happening in you areas of interest and plan to attend the ones you feel are right for your job search.

• Networking: the vast majority of vacancies out there are still filled through personal referrals and networking — use your professional network. Now you know what sort of job you’re looking for, let other people know. You might be surprised by what comes up.

• Direct Mail Campaign: this is a traditional method that can still be devastatingly effective when executed with skill and panache. Identify a number of suitable companies in the area you’re searching in, and write to the human resources manager / hiring manager with a vibrant covering letter and outstanding CV. Response rates are typically low, but land your letter on the right desk at the right time and you might just bag yourself an interview.

• Internet Job Sites: another string to your job seekers bow… but use these sites in conjunction with, rather than as a replacement for your other job-seeking efforts.

• Company Websites: many employers will post external vacancies and invite applications through their company website. If you have specific companies in mind, check out their sites for information.

When it comes to job hunting it’s easy to get beguiled by the shiny-new allure of the Internet.

Online jobs boards list a whole host of vacancies in easy to navigate, searchable categories. They make short-listing suitable jobs a breeze, and will even notify you by e-mail when new jobs are posted that match your chosen keywords.

Professional web-based social networks like LinkedIn, and even less formal networks like Facebook and Twitter let you highlight your range of skills and expertise, and can act as a sort of living, breathing CV, helping you to connect with potential employers and giving you the inside track on upcoming vacancies.

There’s no doubt that the internet is an invaluable resource when it comes to your quest for a new job… but it’s important to remember that it’s not the only show in town.

The internet doesn’t replace traditional job-seeking tools and techniques, it serves to augment and enhance them. It ads several strings to the proverbial bow, but if you’re focussing all of your job seeking efforts online, you could be missing out on some of the best job opportunities out there.

Newspapers and periodicals

Newspapers… local, regional and national… can be excellent sources of new vacancies, and not all of the companies listing their jobs in newspapers will necessarily be advertising online. It’s always worth checking both regular newspaper listings and you’ll find specialist job newspapers available in most areas. Magazines focussed on your particular area of interest may also dedicate a section to ads for job vacancies.

Trade publications

Trade publications, journals and specialist magazines specific to your industry are also a great place to look for suitable vacancies. If you’re already in a particular industry you’ll probably find that subscription to many relevant publications is free, or involves only a nominal fee. Large newsagents and libraries may also stock these titles… and if you can’t find the publication you’re looking for, put in a request — they may be able to get it for you.

As well as job listings trade publications can also offer news on which companies are expanding, or have recently won new contracts in your industry. Even if they’re not actually advertising vacancies, there’s a good chance these firms will be hiring in the near future… a well timed speculative application can help you to get in ahead of the crowd.

Real world networking

Online networking can be a really powerful way of expanding the reach of your professional network and getting "brand you" out in front of some really influential people in your industry… but there’s no replacement for actual face-time if you’re looking to make a real impression. Check the newspapers, magazines and trade publications mentioned above, and / or tap into your online network, to find out about real-world networking opportunities in your area. Attend a few of them, talk to people, and don’t forget to mention that you’re open to new opportunities in your area of expertise.

Exchange contact details (if you don’t already have some, get a few business cards printed up) and follow up with the relevant people by telephone or e-mail a day or two later.

Use the internet — it’s a great tool for helping you with your job search — just stay open to other opportunities to maximise your chances of finding the best job for you.

Joe Lennon, a Cork software developer who graduated with flying colours from UCC’s flagship Business Information Systems degree programme in 2007, was approached by New York based publisher Apress to write the book after they read a technical article he’d posted to an online portal run by IBM. The article examined a database system called CouchDB that makes it easier for developers to create web based applications.

"I started writing ‘Beginning CouchDB’ in June 2009 the first draft was finished in September 2009, and the book was published in December" said Joe going on to explain how CouchDB is a new database management system that is steadily growing in popularity and is being used by many large organisations including Apple, IBM, BBC, MySpace, eBay, Meebo and Mozilla.

"As a new technology documentation on the subject is still quite scarce," said Joe. "As a result, it can be daunting for a newcomer to get to grips with CouchDB. ‘Beginning CouchDB’ aims to plug that gap by guiding the reader step by step through installing, configuring and working with CouchDB."

Having an internationally published book under your belt at the age of just 24 is quite an achievement, but Joe is no stranger to doing well. He achieved First Class Honours in each of the four years on the Business Information Systems (BIS) course at UCC, and was awarded a UCC University Scholarship in his third year for his performance in the summer examinations. During the third year Joe also spent 6 months with Fidelity Investments in Boston as part of the BIS Placement Programme, gaining his first real experience of working in IT.

"I learnt about all aspects of software projects working for Fidelity Investments and gained invaluable communication skills from the experience. I also learnt a lot about exactly what it was I wanted to do for a career. I enjoyed being an analyst, but I always felt the urge to go ahead and actually develop the software I was documenting," Joe said.

"BIS has provided me with a wide range of skills and characteristics that have been extremely helpful in all aspects of my work. Of course, the practical nature of the software side of things has helped me to become a good coder, but what probably helps the most is the way that BIS shows you not only how to develop software, but how to implement it, how to demo it, document it, debug it, package it and sell it to a customer," said Joe. "There is a strong focus on the professional side of things, and much of this is led by the experience gained during the Third Year placement programme. It’s easy to teach someone how to code – but you can’t teach experience."

Joes latest career move as a technical author is off to a flying start with ‘Beginning CouchDB’, and here again the skills and experience gained at BIS proved invaluable.

"It is important to have an appreciation for the basics of any aspect of software that you are writing about – and BIS lecturers always taught based on this principle," he said. "Also, the process of writing a book involves a lot of work other than writing itself. You need good communication skills, presentation skills, technical skills and the ability to craft good examples – again, all capabilities that I have gained in no small part thanks to BIS. Finally, the BIS department is a very youthful and energetic department. The lecturers are very approachable, and everyone who works in the department will do everything in their power to help you should you ask. Many of the BIS staff were very supportive of me when I announced I was writing a book, and of course, Prof. Ciaran Murphy and Patricia Lynch kindly arranged to host the recent launch of the book, which was hugely generous of them.

"The decision to study BIS was one of the best decisions I have ever made, and I hope to return to the department in the not too distant future to discuss the possibility of doing a Ph.D."

To find out more about Joe, check out his blog on www.joelennon.ie… for more on BIS take a look at bis.ucc.ie… and if you want to get the book, you’ll find Begining CouchDB on Amazon.

As the ranks of Ireland’s unemployed continue to swell, those people still in work are forced to work longer hours, or even take on a second job to meet the challenging economic realities of life in post-celtic-tiger Ireland. The survey of 837 workers on the island of Ireland took place in January and February of this year, with 39% of respondents admitting to holding down a second job, up 16% on a similar survey the firm conducted last year.

"In theory [a second job] is a good idea," said Mr Alan Price, managing director with Peninsula Ireland. "A second job means higher income, but it can pose problems for both the boss and the employee. HR laws need to be looked at to ensure that no one is breaking the law by working too many hours in one week," he said.

"Another problem you face is employee fatigue and this may well become a health and safety concern, so it’s something that both the employee and the employer need to address."

Spending more time at work means less time at home, and that brings other pressures to bear on families already struggling to cope.

“Working longer hours may not necessarily be good for your health, and people can get easily overwhelmed when they take on a second job,” commented Mr Price. "Before considering a second job look at all the risks and weigh up the benefits. It may well be that you will be in a worse-off situation, especially after taking into account travel, taxes, any other expenses,

“Think about the lack of quality time at home and any implications on your health; there really is a lot to take into account.”

If money is the primary motivator for the second Job, workers may be better served looking at opportunities to increase their earning potential in their primary role, advised Mr Price.

“There may be better ways to improve marketability, training and education,” he said. "Look to see if there are extra skills required for jobs that pay more money, such as supervisory roles. Have you expressed an interest to your employer that you would like to be considered for these better-paid roles?”

Anyone considering taking on an additional job would do well to heed the advice and consider the long term consequences rather than just the short term gain of a boosted income. Long hours, frayed nerves and exhaustion can have serious legal and safety implications, could adversely impact your performance in your primary job and potentially exact a heavy personal toll on you and your family. If you’re considering another job to plug a shortfall in your finances make sure you explore all of the options available to you, and are aware of the potential pitfalls before you make the decision.