Project Overview
Project Title: Grow Your Career: Using Social Media to Build Your Brand
Materials Developed: PowerPoint Presentation, Participant Guide, Facilitator Guide
Tools Used: Originally created using Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, and Adobe Acrobat Pro. For the purposes of this portfolio, the presentation and participant guide were redesigned using Canva and the facilitator guide was redesigned using Microsoft Word.
Target Audience: individual contributors (non-managerial employees)
Delivery Method: 60-minute ILT
Time in Development: 4 months
My Role: Learning Needs Analysis, Visual Design, Instructional Design, In-person Delivery
Year: 2018
Project Background
Grow Your Career was one of a four-part professional development series. Other courses in the series included Resume Writing, Interviewing, and Business Etiquette. The courses could be taken in any order.
During a company-wide needs analysis, it was determined that many employees expressed a desire for job mobility (promotions, lateral movement, job shadowing, etc.). However, many employees felt insecure about achieving their career goals due to a number of factors: ESL challenges, an older population unfamiliar with technology as it pertains to career advancement (i.e., how to use writing software to build a resume), and tenured employees who hadn't, for example, participated in an interview in a number of years. The professional development series was created to help build employees confidence, reduce employee disengagement by encouraging them to explore new roles within the company, and also to invite hiring managers to place a higher value on internal candidates.
The team received much success from the other courses in professional development series, however I observed that it lacked information about how social media can aid in one's career development. From personal experience, I knew the importance of building a positive online presence for networking and career growth and hypothesized that this information could be of value to our employees. I pitched my idea to my supervisor and was given the greenlight to begin research and analysis.
Analysis
To begin my needs analysis, I spoke with the company's senior-level recruiters and hiring managers to learn what tools they used to identify viable candidates. I learned that even for internal candidates, having a LinkedIn profile, was a crucial part of job consideration and so the course was centered around that platform. Although, I felt it important to introduce other platforms as well.
Challenges & Solutions
The company president felt concerned that I was encouraging employees to seek job opportunities outside the company. To alleviate his worry, I made sure to focus on how social media can help with the goal of internal job mobility. Another challenge was company security. I worked with the cyber security team to create a list of social media boundaries that employees could follow in order to protect sensitive information. Finally, I consulted with human resources managers to understanding the company policy regarding social media use in the workplace.
Results
The course remained a crucial part of the professional development series. Attendance was high and general feedback from employees was positive. Three employees in particular, reached out to me to receive specific career coaching as they were applying for internal positions and two were successful in obtaining a new role within the company. Although, I cannot argue that this course directly affected their success, I can conclude from anecdotal evidence that it was helpful.
