Looking ahead to #MyDigitalCareer
SOME OF OUR best creative minds will jump directly from an Ordinary Degree into the workplace. As someone who needed six years from high school to a professional career, I’m passionate about how graduates enter today's digitally-enhanced space. I personally believe most graduates need more than a college degree to do well.
My particular interest rests with the creative multimedia and digital animation production degree students who want to walk from our campus hallways and into digital agencies. The marketing, social media, web development, public relations modules they have mastered will help smooth out their career paths. But the more challenging statistics and motion design remain Honours Degree territory. Their competitors probably have degrees in Journalism and English, unlike the short semesterised treatment we give these topics where I work.
The focus in the most capable digital media agencies is on developing high quality content that enjoys prominent positioning in the social media newsfeeds of millennials. It is difficult to create this kind of content and also difficult to break into an social media business in the first place. You have to have good portfolio pieces that help you stand out.
I've stumbled across an initiative called #MyDigitalCareer that promises to give young graduates and "enlightenment, insights, advice and examples of successful graduate stories" from "20 of the most influential and interesting leaders in the social media and digital industries". [1]
Steve Ward plans to bring Jeremy Waite from Salesforce, James Poulter from Edelman, Molly Flatt from 1000 Heads and Matt Buckland from Forward Partners together and offer their insights to graduates in a setting where they can "consume, quiz, and mix with, is unrivalled and exciting as they hope to glean as many tools in their armoury as they say adiós to university and break into their chosen career".
The idea of #MyDigitalCareer spans five evenings in London during the month of July. Each evening will focus on different angles into the industry and also with case studies from graduates whose careers have flown, following entering the industry with great credibility, a terrific approach and outstanding potential.
Applications are open for new graduates (or non-graduate entry level people) who would like to pitch to be one of the lucky 50 people who get on the free course. The 50 chosen by CloudNine will be top notch. Not necessarily because of the University they went to or the degree they earned but because of the promise they possess.
You can find details at mydigitalcareer.co.uk. If you have a friend who might benefit from this opportunity, please spread the word.
1. Steve Ward -- "How Do Graduates Break into Digital?" on LinkedIn, May 6, 2015.
[Bernie Goldbach, lecturer at the Limerick School of Art & Design, began teaching creative multimedia in Ireland in 1996.]
