Digital guidance – how to career online

Tomorrow I’m giving a webinar for the CDAA in Australia on all things internet and career. There is still time to sign up if you are interested.

As usual I’m sharing my slide from the presentation – so feel free to use and abuse them however you see fit.

digital guidance – how to career online

The presentation builds on the book that I did last year called You’re Hired! Job Hunting Online. So grab yourself a copy of that book if you haven’t got one yet.

Technology in Mental Health

An exciting new book has just been released addressing the subject of the use of technology in mental health. I previously contributed to the first edition, but this new edition has been substantially updated and rethought.

In the half-decade since publication of the first edition, there have been significant changes in society brought about by the exploding rise of technology in everyday lives that also have an impact on our mental health. The most important of these has been the shift in the way human interaction itself is conducted, especially with electronic text-based exchanges. This expanded second edition is an extensive body of work. It contains 39 chapters on different aspects of technological innovation in mental health care from 54 expert contributors from all over the globe. The book is now presented in two clear sections, the first addressing the technologies as they apply to being used within counseling and psychotherapy itself, and the second section applying to training and supervision. Each chapter offers an introduction to the technology and discussion of its application to the therapeutic intervention being discussed, in each case brought to life through vivid case material that shows its use in practice. Chapters also contain an examination of the ethical implications and cautions of the possibilities these technologies offer, now and in the future. While the question once was, should technology be used in the delivery of mental health services, the question now is how to best use technology, with whom, and when.  Whether one has been a therapist for a long time, is a student, or is simply new to the field, this text will serve as an important and integral tool for better understanding the psychological struggles of one’s clients and the impact that technology will have on one’s practice. Psychotherapists, psychiatrists, counselors, social workers, nurses, and, in fact, every professional in the field of mental health care can make use of the exciting opportunities technology presents.

I have contributed two chapters to this book.

Chapter 20. Online Research Methods for Mental Health (with Vanessa Dodd)

Chapter 37. The Role of Online Careers Work in Supporting Mental Health  (with Siobhan Neary).

Buy the book online and use code GOSS0716 to get a 15% discount.

10 tips to protect yourself from online recruitment scams

We’re all hoping that one day someone is going to contact us and recognise our brilliance! We dream that a headhunter’s email will drop into our inbox and that, like a prince on a white charger, they will take us away from our every day life, double our salary and offer us the chance to change the world. In our new book You’re Hired! Job Hunting Online: The Complete Guide we discuss how to use the internet to drive your career forward, but also advise some caution.

With social media and sites like Linkedin the possibility of unsolicited job offers has grown, but you still need to be very careful. So in this post I’m offering you 10 tips to avoid getting scammed.

1.  Be suspicious of any job that looks too good to be true. For example, if it appears that anyone can apply. Most vacancies will require particular skills, qualifications or experience. If the ad says ‘no experience necessary’, think again. This could be a sign that they want as many people as possible to respond to increase their chances of finding a victim.
2. Be suspicious of adverts that encourage you to apply immediately. Scammers often try to get you to act quickly without giving you time to think. Most reputable vacancies will have fixed recruitment deadlines unless they are in high-turnover areas such as telesales and call centres.
3. Check with the company where you will be employed. If an advert claims to be for a job with a particular company, go directly to the organisation’s website (don’t follow a link in an advert or email) and see if the vacancy is there. If in doubt, call and ask them.
4. Check links and email addresses. So-called phishing scams attempt to trick you into visiting a spoof site and entering your login details. They may use web addresses that look very similar to the real site, but there will be subtle differences.
5. Research the agency. It is easy to check who owns a web address by using the WHOIS service and to look for information about agencies in the Companies House register.
6. Beware of poor spelling and grammar. This can often be the sign of a hastily concocted scam.
7. Don’t just communicate with recruitment agents by email or text. Try to meet them in person or ask them to phone you. If they are reluctant and give excuses, then be on your guard. Don’t phone them in case it is a premium-rate phone scam.
8. Don’t download attachments or allow software to be installed on your computer. They may be a way for criminals to get malicious programmes on your computer which can steal your passwords and bank details.
9. Don’t hand over money. Legitimate recruitment agencies charge the employers not the candidates. If you are asked for administration fees or to pay for record checks, the alarm bells should start ringing. If you are asked to pay for training or police checks, tell them you will provide this yourself and bring in evidence.
10. Don’t hand over your personal details. This also applies to your CV. This would include: date of birth, full postal address, passport number, driving licence number, National Insurance number, credit card or bank account numbers, your weight, height, hair colour, eye colour, marital status, number of children or any other personal information that is not relevant to employment.

For more information on how to avoid recruitment scams and to keep yourself safe have a look at SAFERjobs, Get Safe Online or Action Fraud.

If you found this post useful you may be interested to know that there is a lot more where this came from in our new book You’re Hired! Job Hunting Online: The Complete Guide.

You’re Hired! Job Hunting Online: The Complete Guide

This morning we’ve just launched our new book. You can buy it from Amazon or ‘from all good book shop’. Just click on the link below.

You’re Hired! Job Hunting Online: The Complete Guide

I wrote the book with Jim Bright and David Winter and so you get the full benefit of our combined wisdom! Hopefully you’ll find it useful and interesting.

In the book we discuss how best to use the internet to build your career. The chapters take you through a systematic process designed to take you from an internet career novice to an expert online careerist!

It will cover:

• Who to trust online
• Getting to grips with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google+
• Effective online communication
• Making an impact
• Finding vacancies and other opportunities
• How to embrace technology in recruitment practice

I’d be really interested to hear more from people about what they think about the book.

Developing career learning online

I’m presenting to the Careers Group in London tomorrow. This is what I thought that I’d do.

Developing career learning online