Adam Mitcheson, BSc Business Management Studies, 2008, CEO & Founder my2be

My startup entrepreneur journey started when I went to University almost by accident! After leaving school, the job I went into required me to attend University of Salford one day a week. I soon realised that neither the job nor the course were a good fit for me, but still didn’t really know what I wanted from a career. So I decided to switch courses to a Business Degree and go full time, to keep my options open whilst I tried to work out what it was I wanted to do.

I graduated in the summer of 2008, however, that same summer the global recession hit and the graduate market collapsed. I couldn’t get near anything I wanted to do and went through a variety of soul destroying interviews with bogus companies that were springing up, as well as odd jobs. In 2010 I turned towards finance, something I’d actively tried to avoid, finding myself a job with BNY Mellon in Manchester.

Read more…..

Karl Chevalier

For me, leaving University was one of the hardest challenges I have had to face so far. Having previously studied at a small independent faith school with a population less than that of a coal miner’s convention – it was hard to embrace the fact I would be competing for a place in this crowded digital environment. With hundreds of people graduating alongside me in Greater Manchester alone, and an extra few hundred graduating each year thereafter what are the chances of me being noticed? How would I ever stand out from the crowd and land my dream job?

Thousands of pounds and several hundred caffeine induced beverages later and I found myself standing looking deep in to this digital precipice with an abundance of career options available. A fantastic new parachute-shaped degree strapped to my back – but is a degree alone enough to stand out from the crowd and help land your dream job?

Read more…..

Nim Tennakoon, MSc Digital Marketing student

Before I started my Search and Social Media Marketing module (SSMM), I did not consider optimising my digital profiles or worry about the ranking of my name in Search Engine Results Page (SERPs). Knowing what I know now this is one reason as to why I study Digital Marketing at Salford.

Most of us have social media profiles such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I actually have more than 5000 friends on Facebook! Even my Facebook page has more than 2000 likes. On Instagram I have nearly 3500 followers. For a long time I was active online posting around twice a day. But only recently I have started to understand the theoretical and financial values behind it.

Once I began to appreciate the theory of social media marketing I became fascinated. Did you know I am what you might call in digital marketing a micro-influencer?

It’s true! I have now even read some studies that suggest users like myself with smaller follower numbers actually have higher engagement rates on social media compared to some Megastars. Therefore, people like me with similar followings can be of huge benefit to online brands.

Read more…..

Alex Davies. Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

I have attended and spoken about the recent referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union (Brexit) at many business networking type events, both before and after the vote. The primary difference I have notice from the audience at these events is that before the vote the questions and answer session would always run over time, whereas since nobody has got anything to ask. But what does Brexit mean?

The Brexit implications are slowly starting to emerge and  there may be a number of people who feel they have something to Bregret. Why am I not surprised?

First of all, not a lot has happened. David Davis was appointed Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union on the 13th of July 2016, but not a single other appointment has been made in that department. We know that Article 50 – the section of the Lisbon Treaty outlining the process by which a country leaves the EU – will not be triggered at least until next year. When that happens, we can assume that we won’t actually leave for another 2 years or more as the negotiations take place.

Read more…..

Seema Dosanjh – why students should do a work placement

Are you a student eager to finish university and jump right into your amazing career? Are you excited to have a professional job title and the salary that comes along with it? Are you ready to hear to the unfortunate truth about the reality that awaits you after graduation? Read this blog post on why you should consider doing a work placement to broaden your horizons.

As a natural optimist I hate having to do this. If you’re a student waiting to start your first job after completing your studies, you may want to may want to re-evaluate this decision.

The workforce is slowly but surely shifting as employers are demanding more from their applicants. There used to be a time where an undergraduate degree would get your ‘foot in the door’. Over the recent years, more job listings require candidates to have 1-3 years of work experience to even be considered for an entry level position.

This is not to say that students who don’t have prior work experience will not be employed. Instead this blog post looks at how doing a work placement during a your academic career is helpful in accelerating your professional career.

Read more…..

Helvijs Smoteks- Rank on Google

After you have your money maker phrase at your disposal and you have implemented the on-page ranking factors that matter the most – it’s time to rank on Google.
Buckle up because this is the part that will matter a lot when you have a great foundation in place. Here is the final step in finding out how to rank on Google.

According to backlinko.com and an analyses of 1 million search results, the number one ranking factor that helps websites to rank on Google is, drum roll please, the URLs leading to one’s site from other webpages (clarification of  concept: the URLs that are redirecting a person from one website to your webpage are called backlinks).

To help you to create a backlink, WordPress saves the day once again.  You need to highlight the anchor text (1) and link it with a website (2).

Read more…..

Huzayfah Bukhat, BSc (Hons) Business Information Technology Graduate

Like many other graduates who recently graduated in the summer of 2016, I started to search for that ‘dream job‘ and in my instance – The first job. How to get a graduate job will depend on you and your personality and here is my way…

Every graduate had the same attitude and drive as me. And this meant that I needed to up my game.

As part of my final year, I learnt how to target employers using social media networks. I had already created a personal website as part of my BSc Business Information Technology program but this needed optimising to further target employers.

I would write blog posts regarding project management, web design and business analysis to build an online network and also show employers that I understand my field and what I am passionate about. It was writing these blog posts that helped me to understand what career path I wanted to take – business analysis. Here are my seven steps on how to get a graduate job:

Read more…..

Helvijs Smoteks- Rank on Google

In the previous blog post, I showed you how to do keyword research as the first step to rank on Google. If you haven’t already read it you can find it Step 1 to be #1 here. Now we move on to the second step which is on-page SEO as what would be the point of good keywords without the knowledge of where to place them?

On-page SEO is a part of your website that is perceived as important to rank on Google. It’s everything from content and URLs to the code itself. After doing some proper keyword research, this section provides you with a know-how on where to put these words.

There are a couple of things that can improve your ranking based on how great is your on-page SEO. In this section you can find 6 factors that you should know about to improve your chances to rank on Google. Read more…..

Dr Gordon Fletcher

There is no questioning the phenomenal rise of Pokémon Go app into our collective consciousness. The evidence is significant. Just two examples include, Pokémon Go app claims more players than Twitter users in the US and is the most downloaded app in its first week ever. Perhaps even greater evidence of the scale of this free game’s impact is the rapid appearance of criticism of the game’s mechanics.

Whether we are avid players or puzzled spectators the sudden collective awareness of this game certainly exceeds that of any other mobile app.

The combination of Nintendo’s well known characters with Niantic’s reality gaming engine has resulted in something that is compelling in itself, has broad appeal to a range of audiences and has already changed the day-to-day behaviour of many thousands of its most regular players. All of these factors have brought digital marketing related business opportunities for large and small businesses – as well as entrepreneurial individuals. We have entered the age of PokeBusiness.

Read more…..

Alex Mellor, Medley Academy Co-Founder

You’ve done it. You’ve finally done it. Three years at University have come and gone in a flash. You’ve spent thousands of pounds, you’ve endured thousands of hours staring at PowerPoint presentations and you’ve spent what felt like thousands of hours in the library, juiced up on Red Bull. But, it’s all amounted to something. You’ve got your degree! But what’s next… Are you looking for some careers advice?

I joined a highly successful social media start-up – Social Chain – pretty early on. During my 18 months at the company, we hired A LOT of staff. I watched the company grow from 6 to 40+, all of these staff members were under 28 years old (the average age was 21). When we hired, we never ever went off academic credentials, who had the ‘best degree’ from the ‘best university.’

We hired based on drive, determination and knowledge of the space.

Here are four tips from me on how to use the summer months to gain the advantage over fellow graduates and to land that dream job:

Read more…..