How to Use
What’s in it for my company?
First, check out the brochure on greencareersPSU.com for companies.
In the current economic state there are many people on the job market that are jumping onto the green career bandwagon.
GreencareersPSU.com allows companies to weed through the crowd and find sustainably minded students and recent graduates that will fill their green careers best. Penn State has provided these students with a quality education in sustainability as well as tools and organizations for them to get involved in. Sustainable Action Icons make it easy for companies to find students and recent graduates that are involved and educated in the sustainable matters most important to the job they’re filling.
Companies on greencareersPSU.com are also privy to further privileges that separate them from other companies. Signs on their tables at career fairs set them apart and let students they are participating. They are also privy to special greencareersPSU.com events and recognized at others. The web site periodically recognizes companies for outstanding participation. GreencareersPSU.com’s social media tools LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook will also feature companies as they participate in the initiative or make the news. Please see “What is Social Media and How Do I Use it?” for more information on how these tools will be used to your advantage.
How do I make the best use of this service?
- First things first, make a company profile and keep it up to date. Your profile has a place to tell students what good you do for the environment and why you are on greencareersPSU.com. Take that opportunity to tell students what kinds of opportunities are available at your company and why it’s the place they want to be.
- Don’t just look at the number of Sustainable Action Icons students have, but how they received them. You can find this information by clicking on the icons next to a student’s name. You will soon find that students are involved in organizations, courses, conference, etc. that align very well with the mission of your company.
- Read “What role does social media play?” Then make a social media page and follow our advice to social media success! Social media can give you more insight into potential student hires and also connect you with other companies and organizations in your field.
- Keep this green careers service green by doing an interview via Skype. Skype is a free video chat service that allows an interview to stay personal while removing the costs of travel.
What role does social media play?
Social media is a tool that connects people in an informal and personal way. Notice that it is people that connect on social media sites. This, for example, means that a tweet comes from a person that represents a company, not from the company itself.
In our case, this is best explained by thinking of how a career fair is run. As a student walks around the fair they talk to Human Resource professionals that represent companies. A Human Resource professional does not approach students with stiff, corporate language. Instead they attempt to engage students with give-a-ways and conversations about what is important to them. Social media is simply a large career fair where people, and people from companies, get to know and help each other.
Social media is best understood by trying it. If you’re interested in one of the following social media sites, I recommend creating your own account and trying it for yourself. In the case of social media it is easier done than said.
Twitter is a constantly updated news feed. After you create an account, search for GreenCareersPSU and “follow” me. You will then be updated on greencareersPSU.com news. This includes new companies that have joined the initiative, new career postings and updates on events, classes and conferences. It will also update you on green career current events across the country.
Once you get comfortable with following the GreenCareersPSU news feed, you can begin to follow others. By looking through the list of people I follow, you can find solar and other green companies. You can also find career search and placement professionals, green news sources, Penn State students and more! To talk to anyone on Twitter simply put @Username before what you have to say. (Example: to talk to GreenCareersPSU you write @GreenCareersPSU and then start typing.)
Friday has been deemed “Follow Friday” in the Twitter world. This means that Tweeters send a list of their favorite people to follow in a tweet for others to learn about. Every Friday I will send a #FollowFriday message that tells you who I am following in a given category that you should follow too.
To help connect companies with a broader range of students that you are trying to reach, students will also be recommended through these #FollowFridays.
Every tweet is also searchable. For example, if a student is only interested in finding solar jobs they can simply put “GreenCareersPSU solar” in their search bar and only the tweets about solar careers will come up! The same is true for wind, engineering, marketing, IST, etc. If you want to find it, search for it!
For more help on how to use Twitter, read Twitter’s forum page!
Become a Fan of Green Careers at Penn State
Facebook is largely a social media site used by college students to connect them with each other and their social world. Therefore this medium will be used mainly to update students about the initiative. They can type Green Careers at Penn State into the search bar on Facebook and become a fan of it! Fan pages update students on what’s going on at greencareersPSU.com at a place they always check anyway. Through the fan page students will be invited to events, updated on new features of greencareersPSU.com and able to see pictures of themselves and their friends getting involved in sustainability!
Join the Green Careers at Penn State group
Both students and companies can benefit from joining the Green Careers at Penn State group on Linked In. A simple search for “Green Careers at Penn State” will bring you to the page and allow you to join the group.
Joining the group will allow students searching for careers to know that you belong to greencareersPSU.com. When they see that you belong, they can then find your company on greencareersPSU.com to get information that is relevant to them. This includes why you are part of the initiative and what positions you have available.
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