Talk About Local is launching a new online training tool called Networking for Work to help unemployed people improve their online profiles and promote themselves effectively to potential employers. Funded by UK charity Nominet Trust, Networking for Work will provide training materials delivered both online and in small classroom settings to teach job seekers skills like optimizing profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs and more. The goal is to help users represent themselves professionally online and learn how employers may search for candidates on the internet. An initial pilot program saw positive results, with participants gaining awareness of their digital presence and online representation.

1. Press Release
‘Talk About Local’ Launches ‘Networking for Work’
New Online Profile Training Tool To Help Unemployed Get Back to Work
National training experts Talk About Local are launching Networking for Work, a new UK project
providing unemployed people of all ages with the skills to take control of their online profiles whilst
promoting themselves more effectively to potential employers through an online support network.
Recently funded by major UK charity Nominet Trust, Networking for Work will provide users the
skills to promote themselves to employers online in a memorable and engaging way and the
opportunity to build a highly useful online support network using simple online tools e.g. Blog,
Facebook page, LinkedIn/Twitter profile, etc.
Whether newly or long term unemployed, or for those looking to move job or are about to be made
redundant, Networking for Work will not only provide the tools to help users improve their online
‘employability’; it will also help people protect themselves from employers’ inappropriate Googling
and Facebooking for non-professional information.
A set of flexible training materials, Networking for Work will be delivered via trainers to small
groups in a classroom setting, one-on-one or self-guided on the internet when it officially launches
later this year.
Funded by major national charity Nominet Trust, resources are to be made freely available to
small and medium sized companies and individuals from September 2012.
In 2012 the internet is crucial to successful job hunting and candidates need to look good online -
not just have a nicely polished CV. Recent research indicated that 77% of employers look for
candidates in search engines with 35% admitting they eliminated a candidate because of
what they found online. Only 33% of candidates actually bothered to search for information on
themselves, to see what their prospective employer might find out. (Execunet, The Guardian 12
April 2011).
During the next 12 months Talk About Local will deliver and refine Networking for Work training
to unemployed people and trainers within organisations who work with them across the UK to build
a new product that can be adopted by larger training providers.
William Perrin, Director of Talk About Local said: “New digital tools and social networks that
have grown in popularity over recent years make it much easier for us to make those much-needed
connections and access opportunities but they also present a new set of issues for job hunters,
which Networking for Work is looking to address. Through Networking for Work we want to give the
unemployed the skills to take control of their online persona, so that they project a professional
profile to prospective employers. In 2012 if an employer wants to know about you they google you
or look for you on Facebook. If you don’t look good there you’ll never hear back”.
Case Studies
Carolyn Powell, former Enterprise and Partnerships Co-ordinator at Midland Heart Housing
Association - whose Burslem Job Club in Stoke on Trent has participated in the pilot phase of
Networking for Work training - said: “The Networking for Work training added hugely to our job
club. It's an area that many of the group members hadn't even thought about. It's almost as though
the online world is one place and they are in another one, and the two hadn't linked up. Whilst they
might use the internet for say, shopping or various different things, they hadn't really connected it
with seeking work or what it means to be seen online or even that you can be. So, it's been
incredibly important and something of an eye-opener to many of them.”

2. Sourour Trevelyan, Project Co-ordinator at Birmingham Settlement, whose Aston job club
have also participated in pilot Networking for Work training said: “Networking for Work has been a
massive asset to our job club...It’s like going for an interview. Online you project yourself to a
different public, to people that you don’t know. So it’s about putting all the best of yourself and your
skills and your experience and your life on social media without those things going against you.”
Training resources are currently being created and are available as part of the ongoing
development at www.networkingforwork.org.uk. Case studies will feature interviews with a range
of unemployed people who've been through the training and the trainers within organisations who
work with them.
Networking for Work materials are to be made available under a permissive creative commons
licence in order to maximise their reach. To find out more about Networking for Work, see some
of the resources under development and read user's experiences of them, view the project website
at www.networkingforwork.org.uk. You can also follow @talkaboutjobs on twitter.
If you'd like to learn more, or enquire about participating in the training, contact the Talk
About Local team by emailing hello@talkaboutlocal.org or telephoning 0121 288 2910.
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For more information please contact:
Nicky Getgood, Communications Manager at Talk About Local
Tel: 0121 288 2910 Email: nicky@talkaboutlocal.org
Notes to editors
Talk About Local has been helping people to find a powerful online voice since 2009, training
people and giving them simple skills to use digital tools to create an online voice for themselves
and their communities for free. For more information, please visit: http://talkaboutlocal.org
A Creative Commons license is one of several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of
copyrighted works. For more information, please visit: http://creativecommons.org/
Midland Heart is one of the top ten housing and care organisations based in the UK. For more
information, please visit: http://www.midlandheart.org.uk/
Birmingham Settlement helps people lead happy fulfilling lives, offering offering independent
guidance and support to those facing financial difficulty, isolation or social exclusion. For more
information, please visit: http://birminghamsettlement.org.uk/
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