Category / Guidance

BRIAN – External Profile

BU research, Guidance

BU External Staff Web Pages

The BU external staff web pages can be found here: http://staffprofiles.bournemouth.ac.uk   Clicking on this link will take you to the home page. 

You do not need to log in and so please ignore the ‘log in’ at the top of the screen.

Input a surname in full into the ‘Search’ box and click on ‘Search’.  You will then be presented with matches for that surname and you should select the one you want.

The profile for the selected person will appear.  All information presented has been imported from BRIAN (Bournemouth Research Information and Networking) and so you cannot amend information here.  If you wish to make changes to the information within your profile then the majority of this will be done through BRIAN.  Any changes that are made on BRIAN will be uploaded overnight.

If you wish to amend your name then this must be done through HR.  You can request a change through ‘Update your contact details’ on the staff intranet home page.

There are a number of graphs and charts automatically populated within the external staff web pages.  The publications chart is based solely on your publications entered into BRIAN.  The ‘co-author network’ and ‘Map of Science’ are currently being reviewed to see how useful these may be.

Your previous staff profile can be found either through your academic school pages or by typing in the following address and writing your username at the end.  These will be available to you for the next three weeks only.  All external queries on the BU web site will be directed to your new profile page.

http://onlineservices.bournemouth.ac.uk/academicstaff/Profile.aspx?staff=username

More information will follow on how best to present your publications.

BRIAN is here

BU research, Guidance

BRIAN has worked hard all weekend and has now imported all data that we hold, as well as information for external data sources.  We will switch on the email alerts at 10.15am today and so the majority of you will receive an alert to tell you that you have publications pending.  There are a few things to note and so please read the rest of this Blog.

Can I ask that you all take the time to read through the user guides available on BRIAN?  These can be found in BRIAN and by clicking the ‘help’ button at the top right-hand side of the screen.  Ideally, you should read the full guide before using BRIAN but there is a ‘Quick start guide’ for those with limited time.  Whilst it might seem easier to just send me a quick email, when 300 of you do it, I won’t be able to send you a quick answer.  The user guides are straightforward and should answer all of your questions.

The Grants are still being imported from RED and should be completed this week.  Therefore, you do not need to manually add any BU grants.  However, if you wish to input grants received at previous institutions then you can do this.  Instructions are available in the full user guide.

You can input your keywords into BRIAN.  These aren’t yet linked to the external profile pages but will be resolved shortly.

RDU circulated an email last week to all those who did not have a photo on their academic profile page, and asked these staff to submit a photo if they wanted one to appear on their new profile page.  If you would like to change your existing photo, please ensure that it is between 250 x 250 and 350 x 350 pixels in size and be saved as username.thumbnail.jpg  For consistency these need to be a head and shoulders shot please.  Photos should be sent to BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk

The external profile pages can be found here: http://staffprofiles.bournemouth.ac.uk/  Please note that you do not have to log in.  Just enter your surname (this must be spelt out in full) in the ‘search’ box and press ‘search’.  All graduate students will have a profile on here and so should follow the same instructions as above.  You do not need to click on the ‘graduate student’ link as we have not connected this up yet.

There will be more useful information coming out about BRIAN this week and so keep reading the Blog for the latest news.

Fusion Investment Fund – It is almost time to submit applications – 1st July Deadline!

Funding opportunities, Fusion, Guidance, Uncategorized

Criteria for the Fusion Investment Fund have now been compiled

Good Morning! The last few weeks have been a flurry of activity; Friday saw the last Fusion Investment Fund Telephone surgery, with the opportunity for applicants to review their drafts with Matthew before they submit proposals.

I also published the FAQs for the Fusion Investment Fund on Tuesday and do hope you have had the opportunity to review these.  The Criteria by which committee groups will judge the applications is included so it is an essential read if you plan to apply to the fund.  Click the link to see the FAQs FIF V3.

The final thing for me to say is I really look forward to receiving your applications and want to remind you that the deadline is the 1st July (This Sunday) we will not be extending the deadline.

Best of Luck!

Sam

To apply to the fund please your application forms to FusionFund@bournemouth.ac.uk.

The EU Pod is launched!

BU research, EU, Guidance, Post-award

In response to feedback from across schools, the R & KE Operations team has been restructured to include a dedicated EU Pod headed up by Paul Lynch.

The pod will assume the post-award management of all current EU projects together with the pre-award management of  future EU applications across all schools and professional services.

 

So, if you’re interested in EU funding but don’t know how to get started with your application contact a member of the EU Pod:

Paul Lynch – Senior R & KE Officer (EU)

Alexandra Peirce – R & KE Officer (EU)

 

 

BRIAN – One day to go

BU research, Guidance

BRIAN is almost here.

You will have seen from previous Blog articles the benefits of BRIAN, how to refine your searches, how easy it is to use, and how you can control the content of your staff profile page.  I now wanted to tell you of the benefits to PhD students, as well as the ability to delegate within BRIAN.

BRIAN will be available to PhD students, which will enable them to have their own profile page on the BU web site.  In addition to this, PhD students will be able to search BRIAN to see who within BU is carrying out the research that they are interested in and could potentially be a supervisor.  Supervisors will be able to link UG and PG students to their profiles.  There will be more information available on this once BRIAN goes live.

If you are too busy, you can delegate editing rights to another member of staff, in order for them to help you.  Set a delegate by clicking on ‘home’ and then choosing ‘delegate’ from the sub-menu.  Your delegate(s) will receive copies of your email alerts and will be able to log in (using their own credentials) and ‘impersonate’ you to edit your records.  Anyone to whom you have delegaed rights to help with your records will appear at the bottom of your BRIAN home page.  Further details can be found in the user guides available on BRIAN.

Please can I ask that you do not log into the BRIAN until confirmation is given that the system is live.  Many thanks.

BRIAN – Almost there

BU research, Guidance

The clock is ticking and we’re almost there with launching BRIAN.  You can watch the latest video on the benefits of uploading full-text outputs to BURO:

Approving or declining publications on BRIAN couldn’t be simpler.  You will receive an email to let you know that you have publications waiting for you in BRIAN.  When you log on to BRIAN it will tell you how many pending publications you have waiting:

 

By clicking the number shown in red, you will be taken through to your list of pending publications.  You’ll be presented with a list of pending publications, which will show a summary of the publication.  You can view full details from here, including the data source. On the right hand side of the publication is a red ‘X’  to decline and a green ‘Tick’ to approve.  If you have several publications to approve/decline then you can tick a check box in the left-hand corner of each publication and then click the larger approve/decline button above to approve/decline in bulk.  That’s it!

The best thing about BRIAN is that it allows you to have control over your external profile.  Whatever you choose to add to BRIAN will be displayed in your external profiles.  This includes a number of activities, such as your biography, academic group, memberships, website and social media links, plus many more options.

As said before, full user guides will be available when the system goes live.

Please can I ask that you do not log into the BRIAN until confirmation is given that the system is live.  Many thanks.

Fusion Investment Fund Update – FAQ’s released

Funding opportunities, Fusion, Guidance

Just a quick update on the Fusion Investment Fund.  The application deadline is fast approaching and I am aware of lots of activity.  Last week the selection committee for each of the three funding strands met for the first time and discussed the selection criteria they would use in making their assessments. 

There was a range of different views but all three committees decided to adopt a very similar approach based on five criteria which would be scored one to four and supplemented with textural comments. 

These assessment criteria are included within a series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs FIF V3), based on questions that I have been asked in the last couple of weeks.  I would encourage you to read these carefully since there are some key hints in fine tuning your applications.

The budget allowances for each funding stream have changed too following the committee’s first meetings; The committee for ‘Staff Mobility and Networking’ confirmed awards from £1,000 and up to £10,000 will now be made.  The committee for the Co-Creation and Co-Production strand confirmed awards from £5,000 and up to £75,000 will now be made. 

The SL Committee recognises that in some cases it may need to make grants larger than £15k in order to support some periods of study leave.  Applicants requesting larger sums should make this clear on the application form and in the case of support.

During the last few weeks we have run a series of surgeries and workshops to help staff in preparing their applications. There is still opportunity to gain further support:

  1. On Friday the 22 June I will be running a bid surgery between 11.00 and 13.00 in P403, details and the booking form are available on the Staff Portal.  Just bring your draft proposal or idea along and I will see what we can do to help.
  2. On Monday 25 June I will be running a telephone workshop between 10.00 and 11.30 simply drop an email to staffdevelopment@bournemouth.ac.uk with your extension number or the number you will be on during that period and I will give you an individual call at some point during the session.  It is your chance to ask an individual or specific question.

 If you have any other queries don’t hesitate to get in touch with me directly and I wish you all good luck with your applications.

 

Matthew Bennett

BRIAN – 3, 2, 1, LIVE

BU research, Guidance

 

Well it’s only three days to go before BRIAN goes live and it’s a hive of activity at this end.  You can see the latest video on the benefits of building an online profile:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz9o9eDQRKA

One of the many benefits of BRIAN is that you can refine your ‘search’ settings to find new publications for you to approve.  You should only need to do this once but you can tweek your ‘search’ settings at any time.  Here are some basic instructions on how to refine your search once BRIAN goes live:

Click on ‘search settings’ in the ‘my elements’ menu.

Under ‘Name Variants’ add all combinations of your name and initials under which you publish.

Under ‘Addresses’ you can add previous institutions or those which you collaborate with.

If your name is popular, e.g. John Smith, you may wish to add a ‘Start Date’ or ‘Keywords’ to restrict the search.  This will be most beneficial to new academics who go by the name ‘Albert Einstein’.

 BRIAN is linked to several data sources from which it imports publications.  If you have an ID with a data source, e.g. Web of Science, you will be able to enter this so that the data source specifically sends your publications through against that ID only.  More details will be available on this in the ‘Quick Start Guide’ when BRIAN goes live.

Stay tuned for more news tomorrow.

BRIAN – coming to a computer near you!

BU research, Guidance

The new publications management system, BRIAN, will go live on 22 June.  Here’s what it can do for you:

  • BRIAN will provide a facility for academics to quickly and easily update their research activity via a single point of data entry which will enable research information to be used in multiple places, including BURO and the BU Staff Profile web pages, without the need to duplicate or enter additional data.
  • BRIAN will allow academics to have ownership of their staff profile web pages so these are easily kept up to date, allowing academics to promote themselves for potential research collaborations, research grants and enterprise opportunities, research assessment exercises, etc. It will also provide a search function for staff to find out about potential collaborative opportunities with colleagues from across the institution.
  • BRIAN will enable BU to meet research assessment requirements (particularly the UK Research Excellence Framework) by improving the administrative efficiency and data accuracy – in terms of staff preparation, mock exercises, data collation, analysis, scenario planning and meeting future requirements.
  • BURO will in future only contain records for outputs supported with a full-text copy of the output. Academic staff will no longer add records direct to BURO, but via BRIAN.

Watch this short video to find out the benefits of having one system in which to enter data, which is then used multiple times:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH–vuEZlDw

There will be further guidance and helpful hints on using BRIAN throughout this week and so watch this space!

Fusion Investment Fund Applications – Three weeks to go!

Funding opportunities, Fusion, Guidance, Training, Uncategorized

I would like to remind you of the deadline for applications to the Fusion Investment Fund, which is the 1st July. 

Last Fusion Investment Fund Workshops – Places are still available!

Many of your colleagues have attended these workshop sessions in the last two weeks, bringing along draft proposals to show Matthew Bennett and his team of academics.  I attended the surgery session on Thursday 7th June, meeting colleagues taking the opportunity to attend and ask for specific advice and pointers from Matthew on how to make their applications stand out from the crowd. 

Please be aware we re-scheduled the Study Leave Workshop – This is now taking place on Wednesday 13th June

Study Leave Workshop:

Wednesday 13th June 2012, 09:00-10:00 – PG146, Thomas Hardy Suite (TC).

This workshop will provide academics preparing proposals for study leave funding with the opportunity to discuss issues around study leave, the contractual/HR side of the arrangements, and the benefits of undertaking study leave. The workshop will be lead by Matthew Bennett with support from HR and a couple of BU academics with experience of taking study leave as part of their careers. Max of 30 attendees.

The Last Fusion Investment Fund surgery:

Friday 22th June 2012, 12:00-14:00 – P403, Poole House (TC)

These surgeries will provide academics preparing proposals for one of the FIF strands with the opportunity to bring their ideas and drafts to discuss with Matthew Bennett and a team of Professors and to test out what makes a good, fundable proposal with a competitive edge. Max of 30 attendees per session.

  • Booking onto a session is easy, simply click the link to be taken to Staff Development bookings page.

 

Applying to the fund.

 To apply to the fund please see the information here on our intranet pages.

 If you have any queries about the fund please email FusionFund@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Best of luck!

Sam

Increasing publication impact – publishing in journals covered by the main external publication databases

Guidance, Publishing

Publishing in journals covered by the main external publication databases, such as Scopus and the Web of Science, will give your research greater visibility and will ensure that citations received are counted in your citation metrics (for example, in your Scopus H-index). The journals that tend to be covered by these external databases are the ones produced by the big publishing houses – Wiley-Blackwell, Elsevier, Springer, etc. These journals are likely to have larger readerships and greater institutional subscriptions than journals published by smaller publishers, which will increase the potential visibility of your research and therefore the potential citations/downloads.

Fusion Investment Fund Applications – Five Weeks to go!

Funding opportunities, Fusion, Guidance

Hi – I am Sam, I started working last week in the RDU as Resources Administrator with specific responsibility for the Fusion Investment Fund.  I would like to remind you of the deadline for applications to the Fusion Investment Fund, which is the 1st July.

Workshop and Surgery places are available to book now!

 Should you need help writing the perfect proposal, we can help you!  I am pleased to announce the dates of our first Fusion Investment Fund surgeries and workshops over the coming weeks.  Here are the details:

 

Fusion Investment Fund surgeries:

Thursday 7th June 2012, 12:00-14:00 – PG146, Thomas Hardy Suite (TC)

Friday 22th June 2012, 12:00-14:00 – P403, Poole House (TC)

These surgeries will provide academics preparing proposals for one of the FIF strands with the opportunity to bring their ideas and drafts to discuss with Matthew Bennett and a team of experienced academics and to test out what makes a good, fundable proposal with a competitive edge. Lunch is included.

Study Leave Workshop:

Wednesday 6th June 2012, 13:00-15:00 – PG146, Thomas Hardy Suite (TC).

This workshop will provide academics preparing proposals for study leave funding with the opportunity to discuss issues around study leave, the contractual/HR side of the arrangements, and the benefits of undertaking study leave. The workshop will be lead by Matthew Bennett with support from HR and a couple of BU academics with experience of taking study leave as part of their careers.  Lunch is included.

 

The Perfect FIF Proposal:

Wednesday 6th June 2012, 10:00-12:30 – PG146, Thomas Hardy Suite (TC)

Friday 8th  June 2012 13:30-16:00 – MG01, Melbury House (LC)

This session will be led by Matthew Bennett and will focus on writing the perfect proposal for the Fusion Investment Fund strands.

 

Strengthening your FIF Proposal:

Thursday 7th June 2012, 09:30-13:30 – EB202, EBC (LC)

Thursday 7th June 2012, 13:30-16:30 – EB202, EBC (LC)

This session will be lead by John Wakeford from the Missenden Centre and will provide academics who have drafted their FIF proposals with the opportunity to have their proposals reviewed by John Wakeford and to identify areas that could be strengthened.  Attendees will need to provide a copy of their draft FIF proposal to me no later than Wednesday 6th June at midday; this is to ensure John has enough time to read these prior to the session. Max of 12 attendees per session. Lunch is included.

 

How to book onto one of these sessions:

Booking onto a session is easy, simply click here to be taken to the bookings page.

To apply to the fund please see the information here on our intranet pages.

Good Luck!

Sam

BURO and Academic Staff Pages to become read-only

Guidance

The new publications management system, BRIAN, will be available from 22 June.  In order to migrate current data into BRIAN (Bournemouth Research, Information & Networking), the BURO and Academic Staff Pages will only be available in read-only mode from Monday, 28th May 2012.  Staff will be able to modify their profile using BRIAN from the 22 June.

I would advise you to stop inputting any further information into BURO from today, which will enable the BURO team within the Library to complete any outstanding actions.  From the 22 June staff will be able to use BRIAN to manage their BURO records.

You can update your Academic Staff Pages up until Sunday, 27th May 2012.  This information will migrate across to BRIAN and so any amendments made this week will be imported into the new system.

For those who have never heard of BRIAN – watch this space for a series of articles on the BU Research Blog and staff portal over the coming weeks.  We recently published details  link on a series of demonstrations for staff about the new system.  If you have any concerns or queries then please contact Jo Garrad in the Research Development Unit who is coordinating the BRIAN launch.  

I appreciate your cooperation over the next few weeks while we make the necessary transition.

Best wishes

Matthew

Increasing publication impact – Using social media, e.g. Twitter, blogs, YouTube, social networking, etc.

Guidance

Twitter – Twitter is a micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as ‘tweets’. Academics are increasingly promoting their research papers via Twitter, which are then picked up by other researchers and practitioners. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Twitter allows you to set up search terms to enable you to monitor what is being talked about in your areas of interest. You can then comment on the relevant conversations. The more you engage, the more people will follow you to listen to your comments and recommendations. As followers come to you, rather than you approaching them, Twitter is an ideal way to reach new audiences.

Research indicates that highly tweeted articles were 11 times more likely to be highly cited than less-tweeted articles. Top-cited articles can be predicted from top-tweeted articles, with 93% specificity and 75% sensitivity (Eysenbach, 2011).

There are some excellent guides available on how to use Twitter for research projects, such as:

SAGE’s guidelines for how to use Twitter are available here: http://www.sagepub.com/repository/binaries/pdfs/twitterguidelines.pdf

BU guidelines on how to use Twitter are available here: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2012/01/19/get-tweeting-using-twitter-for-research-projects/

LSE Impact of Social Sciences guidelines on using Twitter are available here: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2011/09/29/twitter-guide/

Paul Hughes from our M&C department is currently offering workshops to BU academics on how to get started with Twitter – read more here: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2012/05/16/twitter-for-research-academics/

 

Blogs – Academics who blog about their research regularly report positive outcomes, such as networking and collaboration, finding new audiences and opportunities, disseminating research more widely, increasing citations and downloads, and building reputation. Bloggers argue that far from diluting scholarly success (as has been suggested by some academics), online writing can be a serious tool for academic practice. Blogging should be seen as part of a programme of dissemination and collaboration, and is best used alongside traditional academic outlets (such as journals) as a means of amplifying the reach, and potentially the significance and future direction, of the research. Research indicates that blogging about a research paper causes a large increase in the number of abstract views and downloads in the same month (McKenzie and Ozler, 2011).

Rather than setting up a personal blog, BU academics can add posts about their research to the BU Research Blog. The BU Research Blog is visible to a global audience and is searchable by search engines, such as Google. Good post topics could include:

  • Your area of research and papers that you have published – and/or other related papers in your field of research. Link to the full-text article/DOI for maximum impact.
  • Conferences and training events that you’re due to speak at.
  • Your last conference – were there any interesting questions that came up?
  • Your opinions about any recent press coverage of your subject area.
  • You can also ask your colleagues and co-researchers to add posts to the Blog and comment on your own posts to stimulate debate.

 All staff at BU can have access to add their own posts to the Research Blog. Just email me and I will set you up with access.

 

YouTube – Visual content accessed on sites such as YouTube is increasingly popular, particularly with students. The publisher Sage reports seeing an increasing amount of traffic to their journal sites via YouTube as students use video as an initial way of researching a topic. Many publishers are now embracing YouTube, for example the Sage YouTube channel is a collection of videos, primarily by academics, about Sage journal articles. BU has a YouTube channel and M&C are able to film short videos of academics discussing their research. These videos can then be used in multiple places to maximise impact. Watch Alan Fyall’s video below as an example:

httpv://youtu.be/RvR3fFDrTLQ

 

Join academic social networking sites – Academics are increasingly using social networking sites to meet and converse with people who share similar research interests. Examples include: MyNetResearch, Academia and Academici. On these sites you can see what other people are discussing and what issues are pertinent in your field of research. If you have undertaken research in these areas then you can contribute and share your research findings, which in turn should increase the citations/downloads of your work.

Register now for BRIAN Demonstrations – the new Publication Management System

BU research, Guidance

The new publication management system BRIAN (Bournemouth Research, Information and Networking) will go live on 22 June 2012.  BRIAN will provide a facility for academics to quickly and easily update their research activity via a single point of data entry which will enable research information to be used in multiple places, including BURO and the BU Staff Profile web pages, without the need to duplicate or enter additional data.  Academic staff will no longer add records direct to BURO, but via BRIAN.

BRIAN will allow you to have ownership of your staff profile web pages so these are easily kept up to date, allowing you to promote yourself for potential research collaborations, research grants and enterprise opportunities, research assessment exercises, etc.  It will also provide a search function for staff to find out about potential collaborative opportunities with colleagues from across BU.  BRIAN will enable BU to meet research assessment requirements by improving the administrative efficiency and data accuracy.

Demonstrations of the new system have been arranged and each will run for one hour and will also allow time for you to interact with the new system.  These are being held on the following dates:

24th May – 1pm – to be held in CG21, Christchurch House

29th May – 10am – to be held in CG21, Christchurch House

29th May – 2pm – to be held in CG21, Christchurch House

6th June – 10am – to be held in P231-5, Poole House

6th June – 2pm – to be held in P231-5, Poole House

It is highly recommended that all academics attend a demonstration of BRIAN as the system will be extremely important to your research profile.

To register for a session, please select your preferred date and a second choice (as demand will be high) and email this to Joan Bonnici at: ovctemp@bournemouth.ac.uk by 22nd May 2012.

New user friendly ESRC Research Funding Guide

Guidance, Research news

A new version of the ESRC Research Funding Guide is now available to download on their web site.

It has been thoroughly reviewed and substantial changes made to the layout and content.  The contents page now includes hyperlinks so that you do not need to scroll through the document to find what you need; relevant links to current Funding Opportunities and assessment information are included; as are guidance in chronological order from beginning to end of the grants process; annexes have been removed and where appropriate the information is now included within the document; and a revision to the OJEU threshold has also been included.

The new streamlined version is much more user friendly and easier to keep up to date. This document will now only be updated on a bi-annual basis – in April and October – where changes are required (unless exceptional circumstances require immediate revision). Where possible amendments will be implemented at the point at which the guide is updated. Any changes which occur during the interim period will be captured as amendments on the web page so that they are easy to find and will be communicated as appropriate (this may be via RCUK or the normal ESRC channels).

Changes to the AHRC’s Fellowships Scheme

Guidance, Research news

The AHRCs Fellowships scheme has recently been refreshed with an enhanced focus on the development of research leadership across the arts and humanities.

The scheme now provides time for researchers to undertake focused individual research projects alongside collaborative activities which have the potential to generate new ways of thinking and engagement within their subject area and beyond. In addition to demonstrating plans for high quality, world leading research and associated outputs, proposals must include collaborative activities to support the development of the Fellows capacity for research leadership in the arts and humanities.

The AHRC consider the new Fellowships to be a partnership between the AHRC and Research Organisations to support the development and maintenance of the UKs research leadership capability in the arts and humanities. Institutions are expected to be selective in the applications they put forward and provide evidence that the institution has supported and will support the Fellows career and leadership development before, during and after the proposed Fellowship funding period. This could come in a variety of forms depending on the career stage and the nature of the Fellows research.

Research excellence remains the core requirement of the scheme, and Fellowships will continue to support concentrated time for individual research. Reviewers are asked, however, to ensure that all aspects of the scheme are considered and commented upon in their reviews. We ask that you reflect the aims of the scheme and assess each of the following:

* the quality of the research

* the proposed leadership activities

* the plans for collaboration

* the support given by the institution

A compelling case needs to be made across both the research and research leadership elements of the proposal given the prestigious, competitive and high profile nature of these awards.

Full details of the changes to the scheme can be found in the recent PRC Newsletter and in the AHRC Funding Guide.

Leveraging LinkedIn for the benefit of current students and graduates from the B.A. Honours Retail Management degree programme

Guidance

David Kilburn, Associate Professor in the School of Tourism, discusses the benefits to current students and graduates of establishing a networking using LinkedIn…

I have been using LinkedIn for the past 6 years in a proactive way to leverage the benefits of interaction between present and former graduates of the B.A. Honours Retail Management degree programme.

I have been helping undergraduates to find placements and graduate jobs in the retail industry for the past 20 years and LinkedIn has certainly helped in the past few years.

I have almost 700 contacts on LinkedIn and a third of them are retail graduates from BU. In the current climate which is tough for both placements and graduate employment a network like this becomes invaluable.

So how does it work in practice?

Firstly, undergraduates have different wants and needs. I am currently helping several First year retail students to find a short summer placement in the retail industry so they can build their CV and acquire experience in a leading retail company. Placement search is becoming increasingly difficult so in the past few years I have been assisting undergraduates who have struggled to find placements. I have successfully placed them using the LinkedIn network. I also help Finalists to find employment with retail companies by using the Network so in a way it is leveraging the benefits of the unadvertised job market. Retail companies are canny and prefer to use their links with me to find really good graduates without having to pay agency fees and waste time interviewing unsuitable candidates.

Former Retail graduates have performed extremely well in corporate life and my network comprises 10 Chief Executives and 48 Directors as well as numerous senior managers. I helped all of these retail graduates to find suitable employment at the start of their careers and so they are happy to help current retail graduates if they have suitable vacancies available.

Any member of academic staff at BU could start to leverage the benefits of LinkedIn. You have to start somewhere. This academic year for the first time I invited all of the current Retail management finalists to join me on Linked In at the start of the Autumn term. The majority have done so and have already reaped the benefits of being able to connect with senior retail managers who are ex retail graduates from BU. I decided to do this because I want to keep in touch with all the graduates from the course not just the enlightened ones!

It would be great if even one member of academic staff reading this blog decides to engage in the use of Linked In to assist our graduates to find a summer placement, one year placement or graduate employment with a leading company.

 

David Kilburn, Associate Professor, School of Tourism