Are TikTok skills the new Excel?
Laura McInerney
CEO of Teacher Tapp and School Surveys. Helping put the voices of those on the ground in front of decision makers.
I was 40 on Monday. I also decided to try and make a TikTok.
Those are not things you should put in the same sentence, it turns out.
Part of me was excited at the idea. Look at the filts! This is so cool! I could probably knock out something useful and interesting here. Let me just fiddle with the music settings...
Then the gremlins kicked in. ERM. YOU ARE NOT MADE FOR THIS AND YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO EDIT A VIDEO. LET'S JUST NOT DO THIS.
So I didn't. I might, one day. But not yesterday.
HOWEVER, it got me thinking.
We probably do need someone at Teacher Tapp (the company I co-founded) who is able to do this sort of stuff. As well as blitz Insta and Facebook. In the sort of easy-breezy-this-is-how-i-use-a-phone-every-day sort of way.
After all, our whole aim is giving teachers the chance to take part in quick daily research tasks. And we already have 8,000 teachers tapping each day and enjoying their buzzing community.
But they can only do that if they hear about us. Especially newer younger teachers. You know, the kind you find on TikTok.
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One problem though: how the heck does an organisation find employees who are good at social media? If you have these skills, wouldn't you already be an influencer yourself? Or otherwise signed to an agency?
[Nb: I don't mind working with agencies a bit (for certain campaigns) but we are ALWAYS going to need to be creating content. So I'd ideally like dedicated people who really know what we do and can grow and change with us].
Unfortunately, the number of people with such social media skills is likely to be low. It reminds me of early 2000s when graduates like me did really well at work simply because we knew how to use Powerpoint, Excel and Word. We'd been using it since we were at school, so it was the easiest thing in the world. However, executives who had been in the workplace since the 70s often found them difficult. I stopped counting how many older work colleagues called me over because they HAD LOST THEIR WORK, when really they had just minimised a window.
Nowadays I'm the person who can't work out how to use a hashtag appropriately and is constantly taking screenshots instead of ... I don't know... some other way that you're supposed to use to share things?
A few years ago we had the same problem trying to find React Native coders. The code language was new at the time, so the number of people who got good at the skill was low, whereas the number of people who needed the skill was high.
So small businesses find ourselves in the classic position of needing people who are:
But SURELY the pool is tiny?
Still, I am sure there is a way to solve the equation. Any thoughts folks?
Head of Ambassadors & Community, Teach First
2 年You're one step ahead of me. Never been on it but feel I should learn.
Chartered Marketer | Education & EdTech ?? | ACIM
2 年I think there is a fear in the ed-tech industry of expanding onto new social media platforms and questions around ‘appropriateness’ which lead edtech companies to want to play it safe - especially when schools themselves are still getting to grips with using social for their organisations. That being said, the next generation of teachers and to be fair, the current ones who are early 20s - mid 30s are either digital natives or people (like me - I'm 31!) who grew up without the internet but then had it in their formative years / later teens.? Social media can often be mistakenly seen as an intern / junior position,?but you'd ideally need to find someone who is good at digital marketing, who understands your audience and has the acumen to strike the balance between good social & the right vibe for your business.? I’d definitely say think about the wider content picture and look for someone with digital marketing skills rather than just a social media skillset.?There are some amazing content & digital marketers out there - and I think you just need to position the role in that way to attract the right audience and applicants.
Commissioning Editor at TeachingTimes.com
2 年Don’t advertise on LinkedIn. You will receive hundreds if not thousands of applications from all over the world. Many will not have the skills or level of English you require. You will feel rotten for sending out mass rejections but irritated when you are still getting CVs 12 months later.
Recruiting teachers, support staff and trainee teachers across Essex and the East of England.
2 年This definitely resonates with me. We created a TikTok account this week for Mid Essex ITT (Teacher Training) in the hope to attract more hip, young candidates to train to teach. We are now trying to work out how to create content that does not look like it was created by a forty-something (who uses the word " hip").
Third sector and non-profit leader committed to driving social change and addressing systemic injustice
2 年Yikes! I had this conversation earlier in the week about how we need someone who is dynamic and reaponsive to social media - able to create engaging short video and impactful graphics. Everything I see professionally from the ‘sector’ appears a bit stale and old hat but when I see the children’s TikTok / instagram content its engaging and dynamic (OK so I am biased). But its a genuine challenege. We are about to recruit for someone - but the challenge is of course how do you recruit for someone when you have no idea on what you want! But you know where you want to get to … ????♂???