When Briana Kane speaks about the type of person who would fit in at Meltwater, ambitious is a word that seems to best sum it up. With the support given to her by the company, Briana has been able to realise some of her own ambitions, including being offered the opportunity to help launch Meltwater News in Canada as part of her career progression. As of May 1st, she took on a new opportunity, this time as a Senior Product Specialist in London.

Name: Briana Kane

Birthplace: New York

Joined Meltwater: August 2007, Boston

Current job title: Senior Product Specialist

Who inspires you: Samantha Monk, Managing Director of Buenos Aires

My three words to describe Meltwater: Ambitious, Challenging, and Fun

Yesterday

Prior to joining Meltwater, Briana had a clear idea of what she hoped to achieve from her career. Meltwater was able to offer Briana top-notch training in sales, the opportunity to work in and help to launch international offices and the chance to build and manage teams.

“I found Meltwater on CraigsList and the job description was focused on corporate culture but also on the actual individual. The most appealing thing was that Meltwater did not shy away from, in fact it endorsed, investing in young talent.

It didn’t take long for Briana to realise that Meltwater was offering its employees a supportive and motivated environment and that it was the right business for her. Contemplating those very early days, Kane is nostalgic for the support she received and acknowledges the opportunities she was lucky enough to have.

“At the age of 22 it was difficult to internalise the opportunity I was being offered, but with the support and direction of our managers, we always felt confident that if we worked hard, remained positive and coachable, we would achieve our goals.” She continues, “I felt that Meltwater was offering a career where individuals could quickly learn and develop their sales skills, get exposure to and help build management skills, and have a real impact on the company.”

Although Briana had gained some experience in sales prior to joining Meltwater, she felt that her previous jobs were missing something. “My first job was a summer internship “selling” pick-up/drop-off dry cleaning services in Boston. It was a door-to-door sales position; not a particularly glamorous job, but it taught me important fundamentals in communication skills, sales, and building rapport with clients.” It was these initial skills that the team at Meltwater worked with Briana to build upon.

Today

It was joining the motivated team at Meltwater that really brought out Briana’s natural talents, as she enjoyed the exposure to management and the moral boosting that came from working closely with other successful sales consultants. She was presented with opportunities to showcase her drive and determination, both attributes key to success within the business.

“I would describe Meltwater as ambitious, challenging, and fun,” explains Briana, “We’ve had the chance to do some fantastic things here. Getting the opportunity to represent the Boston office and present in front of the entire company during mChallenge at our 2009 corporate kickoff in Jamaica was really exciting. My fellow sales manager (Samantha Monk) and I competed against each office globally (about 50 offices worldwide and more than 500 employees at the time) and won the entire challenge. We couldn’t believe it! Although I’ve celebrated and shared many cool milestones throughout my career, this is still the “coolest” thing that Meltwater have enabled me to do in my four years with the business.”

As with any business, opportunities are balanced with challenges, which is something Briana embraces with the support of her Meltwater colleagues.

“The biggest challenge I’ve faced at Meltwater – and this has been true for each role I’ve been in whilst working here – was remaining positive and fearless, even in times of adversity. One piece of advice that resonated with me was from Jonas Oppedal (Executive Director for Meltwater Reach). He told me to be fearless and allow myself to be motivated by the possibility of success, rather than afraid of the possibility of failure. I’ve been lucky to have had the support of mentors at Meltwater who have helped me through those tough times and always believed in me, which made me feel like I could overcome any obstacle.”

Briana is clearly proud of the business she works for; “I’m confident that there is no other company that would invest so highly in someone with limited (or virtually zero) business experience. At the age of 24, Meltwater offered me the chance to be part of opening up Meltwater´s first office in Vancouver. Having the belief and support from executive management was incredibly inspiring and empowering.”

When it comes to inspiration, there is one individual at Meltwater in particular who stands out for Briana. “Samantha Monk, currently the Managing Director of the Buenos Aires office, is one of the most inspirational people I’ve met at Meltwater. Her unwavering sense of positivity, hard work and determination is unparalleled. It was very clear from the beginning that she would be an incredible asset to the organisation. Samantha’s ability to create loyal and winning teams is inspiring for me every day.”

Being a very driven team at Meltwater, it is easy to see how they help inspire individuals such as Briana to find success in their careers. “The atmosphere at Meltwater is very open to friendly competition, setting new goals and consistently raising the bar. One of my favourite quotes is from Henrik Ornstedt, Area Director at Meltwater; ‘you can take this as far as you want to’ and that stuck with me. There is no glass ceiling at Meltwater which naturally makes people strive to be number one in everything they do.”

Tomorrow

When discussing the future of Meltwater and the next generation of employees suited to the business, Briana share’s her thoughts around the ideal candidate. “For the right individual, Meltwater is the perfect place to start a career after graduation. There is constant exposure to high-level business both internally and externally. A career in sales builds a great foundation when it comes to discipline, focus, hard work, and constant personal development that prepares you for future roles in management.”

She continues, “I’m extremely proud to work for Meltwater, especially at the Vancouver office. Opening up an office from scratch is not an easy task. There were many expected and unexpected challenges that really expanded my comfort zone and confidence to tackle anything in the business world. I felt a huge sense of ownership and pride with each step of the way; finding an office space, creating recruitment sessions, hiring and training new employees, watching new consultants develop their own knowledge and confidence – the entire process was extremely rewarding.”

“While I’ve learned many invaluable lessons during my time at Meltwater, I have to say that my biggest take-away is the ability to adapt and succeed, especially when the unexpected happens.”

Briana says, “Working with the team at Meltwater has helped build and solidify my personal and professional character.”

How businesses use social media

It’s crucial to understand how and why businesses are using social media as this will help you identify what to look for when you start your job hunting.  I’ve said for a while now that social media should no longer be the sole domain of the Comms and Marketing departments.

Critically, it helps brands to gain intelligence and therefore improve and strengthen customer relations, feed into product development, assist HR and recruitment, track the competition, and keep on top of market trends and opinion.

How a company conducts its social media activities says a lot about it as a brand, so pay attention to its HR and Recruitment digital footprint.  Does it have a careers blog?  Does it share insights into its company culture – employee profiles, top employer awards, pictures of its offices and nights out, top tips for finding a job, is there a personality behind the Twitter handle or just a corporate machine firing out company news?

This research will show whether the typical ‘work hard, play hard’ mantra boasted by many organisations rings true or not.  And, most importantly, it will show whether the company cares about its employees.

What about your social media presence?

Quite simply: you need to sell yourself.  Your digital footprint will reveal SO much to a prospective employer.  Just a quick look on your LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter profiles will highlight how motivated you are, what your personality is like, what your work experience is, and so on.

But this can work both ways – be careful what you post.  Being critical of your current employers or sharing lewd photographs won’t get you very far.

Sure, you can set privacy settings, but this can often go against you – what do you have to hide and why?  It’s never good to start with these sort of questions.

But where do you start?  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, to name but a few!  Or you could start a blog.  The list is endless.  Having a presence on all of them would be great, but don’t spread yourself too thinly.  Remember: you need to be feeding them regularly with interesting content or updates.  Focusing on two or three would be optimum.

Facebook and LinkedIn are the typical first port of calls for interviewers before candidates are selected for an interview.  Quite simply, Facebook shows your personality, while you should treat LinkedIn as your ‘real-time CV’.

Kimling Lam has written great posts on how to get to grips with the new Facebook Timeline and also shared her Top 5 Tips for LinkedIn.  I would check them out right away before you do anything else.

You should also consider YouTube, if you have the time.  Increasingly, social media is all about visual content.  Video content is the pinnacle of this.  You can include a whole variety of clips – amusing things you caught on film or would like to share, the view you had while cycling or paragliding, short videos of gigs and festivals you’ve been too…why not a Video CV as well?!

Creative CVs

You don’t need to be as extreme as Matthew Epstein in his quest for his dream job with Google, but you get the idea!  Although he didn’t succeed, it did land him a job!  Thanks to @Fluffylinks for this share.

My final thoughts on this topic are particularly relevant should you be looking for a job in marketing, comms, PR or social media: if video isn’t for you, then you must consider producing a Social Media CV.

I can’t put it any better than Mashable’s Brian Anthony Hernandez, who recently wrote this piece: 10 Creative Social Media Resumes To Learn From, which includes some excellent examples.

Hopefully this will give you all some food for thought at least.

Name: Jonas Oppedal

Birthplace: Tønsberg, Norway

Joined Meltwater: September 2003

Current job title: Executive Director, Meltwater Reach

Who inspires you: Anyone who is able to remain humble after achieving success

My three words to describe Meltwater: Team, performance, care

Just starting out

Oppedal turned his back on what he humorously refers to as his “series of glamorous jobs” in the past – most notably picking strawberries, flipping burgers at McDonald’s and being a tennis coach – and Meltwater was to become the start of his professional career.

Like many people with successful careers at Meltwater, he didn’t realise what he was looking for until he had found it.

“I think part of the challenge was that I didn’t know what I wanted out of my career,” he says. “I was completely broke so money was clearly a short-term goal.”

But within a few short hours of meeting the team at Meltwater, which at that time was only a 10-person company, he wanted “in” and no mistake.

Thinking back to where it all began, Oppedal reminisces. “I met the founding team one Friday evening at the office in Oslo. We opened a few beers and a few hours later a box full of hot dogs materialized. All of a sudden it was midnight and no one had left. I thought this was incredible. This wasn’t ‘work’ the way I had imagined it. This was a group of really passionate and intelligent people that loved hanging out together. It struck me – this is what I want.”

Having grown into a 900-employee company, with 57 offices across the world, Meltwater today has a sophisticated approach to recruitment. But, of course, that was all very different in 2003.

“My interview process was very different from what potential hires go through today,” Oppedal tells me. “I had a five-minute conversation with the person in charge of the sales team. He asked if I wanted to do sales, and I hesitated for a second and reluctantly responded “yes”. I remember feeling like a hypocrite because I didn’t want to do sales. I had a very stigmatized view of sales.”

Which is true of many people new to the world of sales. It has become a byword for pushiness, shallowness and an over-reliance on doing whatever it takes to hit your targets. So, would Jonas advise everyone entering the job market to throw away their preconceived ideas of sales and consider joining Meltwater?

“It depends,” he replies, again exhibiting a refreshing honesty. “Meltwater is a very ambitious company. If that trait aligns well with you, and you are looking for responsibility and real exposure – then I would absolutely recommend it. At Meltwater you get to work on real accounts; dealing directly with customers, with real problems and real opportunities pretty much from your first week. This type of learning is very different from the theoretical and abstract nature of the learning that takes place in academia.”

It’s also not what many people expect from an entry-level sales job, is it?

“This exposure builds character and confidence, which helps you become more decisive, a better communicator and more trustworthy. These are key traits needed in any profession and I think Meltwater provides a good, let’s call it, a postgraduate ‘real world’ education.”

Beginning to grow

Having joined Meltwater in September 2003, the end of the following month Oppedal had achieved a staggering 286% of his monthly target. At which point surely any doubts he’d had about a career in sales must have felt like a dim and distant memory.

“I’ve always had high standards and worked hard at whatever I’ve set my mind to. I think that helps to compensate for a long laundry list of weaknesses. Verbal diarrhea, being overly spontaneous, lack of structure, fear of failure, lack of patience etc,” he laughs. “My whole career at Meltwater has been challenging. I’ve had more responsibility than I’ve felt prepared for at times.”

He continues: “I’ve continuously been faced with situations I haven’t dealt with before. One area that stands out as the biggest culprit for insomnia is people. How are we going to find the right talent? Are we doing enough to support our employees? Do we have enough resources to develop our people? Who will be ready to shoulder management responsibility next quarter? What are the most effective ways to motivate people?”

Extending the family

So, how does he think finding the right people and allowing them to develop can best be handled?

“Perhaps it sounds reckless but I think if you hire smart and driven people and give them responsibility, they desperately want to succeed, and therefore end up giving 100%. Creating a trusting environment by giving people responsibility elevates performance and consequently people accomplish things that exceed their expectations. I’ve seen that happen many times in our teams. I believe that belief in people’s abilities is a unique quality to Meltwater.”

Believing in your people certainly sounds like a recipe for success when it comes to getting the best from them. Too few employers get the balance right between supporting staff and pushing them to deliver.

“You have to be driven,” is Oppedal’s advice to anyone who wants to investigate a career at Meltwater. “I’ve yet to met a single person in an interview process that said he/she wasn’t ambitious. The question is: are you able to focus your ambition to accomplish something spectacular – a story you can proudly tell your grandkids?”

This is great advice for anyone starting out. But looking back on his eight years, what had Oppedal gained on a personal level?

“I was broke when I started. I’m no longer broke,” he laughs. “I wanted to work abroad. I have worked in four different markets and been extremely fortunate to be able to live the life that I dreamt about when I started my career. Early on I learned how crucial it is to allow yourself to dream about what could be.

My professional experiences so far have helped reduce my fear of failure. Mistakes are unavoidable. I know.

If there was a book titled “The Idiot’s Guide to All the Mistakes You Wish You Didn’t Make as a Manager” I could probably add a chapter or two. Knowing that you can’t have perfect information has helped me become more decisive and more comfortable accepting mistakes.”

At the end of the day, what is it that really matters to Jonas Oppedal and to Meltwater? He says it all boils down to two things:

1) providing significant value to customers through the services they buy.

2) that his coworkers have meaningful careers, that they enjoy their work and feel a sense of accomplishment through it.

If you visit a few of the Meltwater offices around the globe, you’ll notice that there is one special theme that is common throughout, irrespective of the native tongue spoken; it’s the culture, and the people.

Meltwater’s employees are a diverse group. Among those on the Meltwater team are a former priest, a professional paintball player, lawyers, a professional NFL football player, financial analysts, former actors and TV news reporters, a ballerina and a competitive tomahawk thrower. But behind these apparent differences is a shared desire to apply their entrepreneurial spirit in an environment where they can quickly see tangible results. This drive and creative thinking fuel Meltwater’s growth.

Every business has its own style. What is the office environment and culture like at Meltwater Group?

Check out this video to hear from our employees

It gives me great pleasure to finally announce that … (drum roll) …  Meltwater was awarded ALL FOUR awards!!

• Germany: Ranked 29^th out of 100 in Great Place to Work Germany 2012
• Sweden: Ranked 13^th in the medium-size company category in Great Place to Work Sweden 2012
• Norway: Ranked 5^th in the medium-size category in Great Place to Work Norway 2012
• UK: Awarded for our “outstanding working conditions” in Britain’s Top Employer 2012

This is also the second year in a row that Meltwater has been awarded these awards in Germany and the UK!

Congratulations to all of our employees in Germany, Sweden, Norway and the UK! These awards are a great celebration of the hard work that you have all contributed to the company and its success.

For Meltwater, these employer-of-choice awards are particularly meaningful, as they are an external confirmation of our employment and HR strategies. Our friendly and collaborative culture, as well as our growth opportunities, was highlighted across all the different awards as our strengths.

Since our inception, our aim has been to develop the potential of our employees on a personal and professional level. Our CEO, Jorn Lyseggen, describes how employee engagement is at the heart of our overall growth strategy: “The Meltwater investment in nurturing and developing home-grown talent has been the single most important factor in growing Meltwater from a two man start-up in Norway 11 years ago, to the world’s leading news and social media monitoring company today.”

This marks the end of yet another awards season. As we continue to grow throughout 2012, we will focus firmly on our employees and their development, aiming to inform you in a year’s time of yet more success in this area.

1. Be flexible: Too many plans could weigh you down, and perhaps cause you to miss an important event. Don’t pencil everything in. Make sure you leave room for at least a little downtime and the random spontaneous plan. You never know who you might bump into while waiting for an elevator or simply come across something ‘unofficial’ you’d like to attend. With fewer obligations you can make the most of your time.
2. Ditch your friends: That’s right. You heard us. Tell your friends to beat it. When it comes to networking, the last thing you want is a clinger. Plus, you don’t want to spend all night talking to your friends when you could be making new ones.
3. Do your homework: Well before any event, reach out to the types of people you want to connect with during your time there. Try to synch up for coffee or attend an event you know they’ll be attending. Whether it’s a recruiter or an industry peer, sending a tweet or an email leading up to an event can’t hurt!
4. Make meet-ups your priority: Skip attending scheduled panels and talks, however interesting they might be, to maximize the amount of time you can spend meeting others. Meet-ups, tweet-ups, all other types of mixers are potential opportunities for you to interact and engage with others.
5. Set goals: While you might not want to plan out your entire time, it’s important to set some goals so you can stay on track. Target types of people, or specific individuals you’d like to meet. Prioritize and stay organized and you’ll be good to go!

We’d love to hear your networking tips! Please share in the comments or let us know onTwitter or Facebook.

Here’s a photo of me and my colleagues at SXSW. From left to right: Sara Davar, Kim Kelly, me, CEO Jorn Lyseggen

One of the main reasons I decided to join Meltwater was to really challenge myself and push myself outside my comfort zone. Before this job I lived quite comfortably inside my own comfortable world, which of course is quite normal when you’re a student, living the student life. My responsibilities and concerns involved research projects and exams, with very little at stake. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?

When I joined Meltwater, I wanted to learn more about business and to improve my business acumen. Besides business I also had a fascination for sales, especially B2B sales. That’s why I ended up in Meltwater News in April 2009.

My first career path within Meltwater started in the Client Relations department in Oslo, working with digital media monitoring. Back then I was an Account Manager, where my focus was to bring more value to my given portfolio (small and medium sized businesses). As my main personal goal at Meltwater is to get more responsibility on a more strategic level, I worked really hard over the next months, to get to the next level in the management trainee program.

The next level in the program is responsibility for a team (3-4 people), including personal development of the team members, larger budgets and continued full control of your own portfolio. To get to this level, I needed to show that I could handle different responsibilities and the management team needed to be confident in my abilities. Just over one year after starting my career at Meltwater, I was promoted to Senior Account Manager and got my own team! That was a big milestone for me.

So what do I do now? I’m now responsible for a team solely working with clients using Meltwater Buzz (our Social Media tool), Meltwater Press (our PR tool) and our largest clients in Norway. Because of my interest in social media and passion for research I was asked to start the Client Relations team in Oslo, Norway, something I saw as a great opportunity that would also challenge me personally. In the last 9 months my team has worked hard to create more value for our clients; helping clients to incorporate social media and PR in their organizations, find relevant case studies and design workshops for staff training and customer success.

I hope the next stop in my career path will give even more challenges and responsibilities within communication and marketing, in a more strategic perspective. This work gives me all I want regarding knowledge, business acumen and personal development. That’s why I genuinely love Meltwater, the culture, my colleagues and the opportunity to carve out my own career path.

If you are considering a career with Meltwater, and have an interest in sales, the foundation of any business, please consider my perspective. Also, feel free to comment below and I will make sure to answer your questions.

Guys, that was all from me, take care in the meanwhile.

Best,

@alexandevensen

Name: Ylva Strander

Birthplace: Gothenburg, Sweden

Joined Meltwater: August 2006

Current job title: Marketing Manager Nordics

Who inspires you: Many of my colleagues!

My three words to describe Meltwater: Positive, Passionate, Warm

The early days

Having been introduced to Meltwater whilst still at university, Ylva was instantly drawn to the energy and determination of the business. “At university, I attended two company presentations by Meltwater, and realised that I already knew someone in the business. The energetic team that came to recruit, the bold visions of the company, and the ‘we are underdogs but we are going to conquer the world’ kind of attitude that came across was very inspiring.”

Ylva hoped that the business she chose to start her career with would offer her a high paced, international environment that would provide the opportunity to be regularly challenged. “I wanted to work with something that matters on a fundamental level, and Meltwater has given me the chance to do that.”

Ylva continues, “Before I attended the interview, I had learned a lot about the company history and culture from the presentation Meltwater held at the university I attended, but I didn’t know much about the role. I have to say, I wasn’t super excited to go into sales because I didn’t think I would be very good at it, but the opportunities that Meltwater was presenting were exciting, and the support on offer from my colleagues helped me quickly improve my sales skills. I came to realize sales is the fundamentals of business and a great kick-start to an interesting career.”

Beginning to grow

“If I was asked to describe the Meltwater culture, I would say that it is a positive, passionate and warm place to be. There is a playful competitiveness within the teams that motivates you to hit your goals.”

It is working in the supportive and driven environment at Meltwater that has seen Ylva progress through the ranks from Sales Manager, to Project Manager and Managing Director for the non profit MEST in Ghana. Currently Ylva is back in Sweden in a new role as Marketing Manager for the Nordic Region. “I’m proud of my colleagues and our success as a company. The constant progression for individuals is invaluable and – as the company continues to grow and diversify – so do we as employees.”

As Ylva climbed the career ladder, she was offered an opportunity by Meltwater that can only be described as ‘once in a lifetime’. “I got the opportunity to move to Ghana at the age of 25 to start up the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) project.  I was working on an equal level with team members more than twice my age, mutually exchanging experiences and advice. The trust shown in me by Meltwater is something that I doubt I would have got in any other organisation considering I had worked there for less than a year.”

Working with technology entrepreneurs of the future is something that Ylva counts herself as lucky to have been able to do, particularly with the Meltwater team she has worked alongside. “My favourite part of my job is implementing new ideas and projects, and having the opportunity to do that with my team at Meltwater has been amazing. There are several people in the company that inspire me with their positive attitude, fun personalities and warm and caring attitude towards people that they work with. Many of my colleagues also inspire me with their sharp intellect and ability to read and understand people.”

Whilst discussing the people that she has been working with, Ylva stops to contemplate the type of person that makes a great Meltwater employee. “I’ve recommended Meltwater to a couple of people whose personalities I thought would be a good fit for the company culture. I’d say that the type of person who would make a good Meltwater team member would be; humble, positive, confident and hard working. I would have to say that someone who feels entitled wouldn’t be the best fit for Meltwater, because everyone in the business works hard to make it the thriving and energetic place that it is.”

What the future holds

Having experienced everything that she has during her time with Meltwater, Ylva has also got a better vision of what kind of workplace she can see herself at in the future.

“If I were to be somewhere else in in five years time, I would say that I see myself in a management role within a dynamic organization with passionate colleagues who are passionately promoting a product, service or cause.”

Ylva continues, “My time at Meltwater has given me lots of useful and diverse experience, skills and confidence that I will take with me in the future. With the support of my team at Meltwater, I feel I have become a more passionate, positive and professional individual.”

Thinking back to the career goals that she set herself prior to joining Meltwater, Ylva responds in true Meltwater style, “So far so good, but when your goal is to be challenged, there are always new goals ahead…”

Cover Photo: Make sure to display a clear and captivating cover photo. This image is the gateway to your profile, especially for those who aren’t friends with you. It’s the most prominent new feature, and when used effectively it can be of great value, so don’t neglect it. Need some ideas? Check out these cool uses of cover photos, or consider designing one like you would a blog header, a business card, or a personal template. Here are some more tips on how to make the most of your cover photo.

*Creative fellows will want to take note the Cover Photo specs are 851px x 315px.

Life Events: Fill out major life events (i.e. a new job, a graduation) like you would on LinkedIn. Leaving blank portions of your profile provides little-to-no information for those on the outside looking in. You never know if a recruiter’s favorite means of cyber-stalking is Facebook. Take 5 and fill it in! But remember, there is such thing as oversharing.

Activity: Make sure you’re not only aware of which applications you’re using on Facebook but how and what they’re publishing. These settings can be edited through your ‘Activity Log.’ Right now it might be cool that you’re listening to Justin Bieber or reading trashy, gossip articles but perhaps you wouldn’t necessarily want to share this information with an employer, client or future business partner.

Hopefully these quick tips will allow you to make a flawless transition over to the new user interface, or optimize an already updated one. Either way, now you’re all set for when Facebook decides to make Timeline mandatory for all profiles. Good luck!