When analyzing the predominant trends in the Information Technology sector and its further in-depth examination, CareerQuest assisted greatly in such research. It is a valuable online platform for both students and employers that presents a wide range of job and internship opportunities and events such as career fairs. However, the most critical about the CareerQuest platform is that it provides students with useful information for creating professional resumes and tools to search for positions to apply for and be successfully interviewed by the employer. Apart from Vault tools, there is a number of other useful resources that are worth noting, such as the social networking tool LinkedIn.
Networking is considered as the best approach to find the desired vacancy as most of the jobs are posted online through major networking platforms and are not published anywhere publicly. CareerQuest involves the Networking tab in the Resources category with the material about “LinkedIn, career fairs, and connecting with UMGC alumni” supported by video footage (“Networking: Overview”, n.d., par. 2).
Furthermore, the section includes research on informational interviews, professional associations, and informal networking. Besides, according to career experts, networking is also known as a “hidden job market” with the highest percentage of submitted jobs (“Networking: Overview”, n.d., par. 1). CareerQuest suggests the detailed instructions for optimizing personal LinkedIn to engage recruiters with VMock’s Aspire module, which allows adapting key LinkedIn profile elements to the targeted career (“Career networking tools”, par. 2). With that said, LinkedIn is the single largest professional social network that contributes significantly to forming a professional online presence and helps to interact with colleagues.
CareerQuest networking tools give the following instructions to maximize the benefits of LinkedIn. These include LinkedIn for students, building a LinkedIn profile, your network and degrees of connection, applying for a job on LinkedIn, finding and joining groups, account security and privacy – best practices (“LinkedIn”, par. 2).
Therefore, it is essential to examine every step for a better understanding of this fundamental profession network. LinkedIn for students presents a video for students and less experienced professionals on the beneficial impact of LinkedIn on the career and the job market beginners. Besides, CareerQuest helps to build and develop the LinkedIn profile along with the modification of its sections and the ways to adjust it to personal experience reflected in the profile, as well as its visual representation. Considering LinkedIn’s access to mutual connections’ visibility, there is an article on clarifying the LinkedIn second and even third-degree links, for further increase of personal network.
As the most crucial step on the LinkedIn platform, applying for a job and its successful outcomes requires specific instructions. This platform has a dynamic job board offering a wide variety of job or internship opportunities. This action might be completed through the LinkedIn website or the mobile application following the provided guidelines.
Furthermore, the platform involves thousands of groups to join that vary from “professionally-oriented groups”, for instance, those concerning the academic field to “affiliation groups” like UMGC’s alumni group (“LinkedIn”, n.d., par. 6). It is also worth mentioning that, when personal information is shared online, it is vital to consider the ways to stay protected against an invasion of one’s privacy. Even such a progressive professional platform as LinkedIn or any other social networking might not always be secure for uploading personal information as many users can see it. Hence, CareerQuest as well gives the information that should be learned on how to manage privacy settings on the personal LinkedIn profile.
To sum up, CareerQuest is a valuable resource for current students and interns, as well as employers. It provides a broad spectrum of information, job opportunities, and detailed steps that facilitate a successful career path of oneself. In terms of a large-scale networking area, the LinkedIn platform was analyzed as the largest professional social network in modern society. Thus, by following the CareerQuest guidelines and highly useful material, one may attain a better knowledge and advice on pursuing the target career.
References
Career networking tools. LinkedIn optimization and career networks. (n. d.). Web.
LinkedIn is the largest professional social network and a great way to build a professional online presence and connect with fellow professionals. (n. d.). Web.
Networking: Overview. Discover ways to grow your network. (n. d.). Web.