HootSuite University Partners with CareerArc Group Providing Social Media Education for Job Seekers

HootSuite University partners with CareerArc Group, providing thousands of registered job seekers access to 60 days of HootSuite University services, courseware, training, and certification opportunities.

VANCOUVER, BC – June 18, 2013 – HootSuite University, the educational arm of the industry-leading social media management system HootSuite, has partnered with CareerArc Group, a complete career ecosystem for college students and job seekers, to provide users with access to the HootSuite University certification program free for 60 days. CareerArc Group will target those students and recent graduates concentrating in marketing, communications, public relations, journalism and social media to supplement their academic and career search with an essential social media skills program provided by HootSuite. Through the completion of theHootSuite Certification program, candidates who take advantage of the access can add newly acquired social media certification credentials to their resume, helping them stand out from competition as employers focus more on skills-based proficiencies today.

CareerArc Group’s targeted job and internship seekers receive many benefits of HootSuite University, including:

• Social Media Courseware: Provides practical walk-through videos on basic social media use to advanced strategies and best practices to set candidates up for success.
• HootSuite Training: Designed to educate users with hands-on training to guarantee successful use of the features and functionalities of the HootSuite dashboard in professional business environments.
• HootSuite Certification: Exams demonstrate expertise with the HootSuite dashboard. Upon completion, users receive an industry-recognized badge and listing in the Certified Professionals directory which to date includes over 4,500 certified professionals.

CareerArc Group, which consists of Internships.com, TweetMyjobs and CareerBeam, has long focused on providing support for internship and job seekers in their career discovery. Internships.com, a division of CareerArc Group, was chosen by The White House as a lead partner in the administration’s Youth Jobs+ initiative for students this year. The company’s TweetMyJobs division also supports the White House’s Joining Forces program by helping veterans find jobs through social media. 700 internship and job seekers in the CareerArc Group network have already enrolled in the HootSuite University program, with nearly 50% of them having become HootSuite Certified Professionals to date.

In a recent study, CareerArc Group surveyed more than 300 companies across North America, and found that 66% of these companies would rate interview performance and relevant experience the most important qualities, above academic performance when making hiring decisions. After enrolling in HootSuite University, 54% of surveyed users were successful in landing interviews within the first four weeks. Close to 70% of surveyed users agreed that “Being HootSuite Certified helped me differentiate myself from other candidates,” with 31% of them already having accepted a new work opportunity.

“Social media is being used by more and more businesses, from small businesses to the Fortune 500. In this landscape, being savvy about Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn will become a critical skill set for the job market” says Ryan Holmes, CEO of HootSuite. “So we’re thrilled to be working together with great organizations like CareerArc Group, to deliver practical social media education and certification to thousands of today’s job seekers.”

“We’re excited to partner with HootSuite to offer internship and job seekers in marketing, communications and business the technical social media skills they need to better position themselves in their internship and career search and become the leading marketing executives of tomorrow.” says Robin D. Richards, Chairman & CEO of CareerArc Group.

Today, 79 of the Fortune 100 companies and close to 1500 global agency partners use HootSuite to manage their social media efforts. Both global brands including PepsiCo, Virgin, FOX, and Sony Music, and agencies like Edelman, Graying, and Almighty, use HootSuite University’s educational content to ensure their employees understand best practices for utilizing social networks while maintaining secure control of profiles. Professors and students are also offered benefits through the company’s Higher Education Program, which grants free access to HootSuite University and HootSuite Pro access for 90 days.

More information:

• HootSuite University: http://learn.hootsuite.com/
• CareerArc Group: http://www.careerarcgroup.com/
• HootSuite Media Kit: http://media.hootsuite.com/media-kit

About HootSuite

HootSuite is a social media management system for businesses and organizations to collaboratively execute campaigns across social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ Pages from one secure, web-based dashboard. Advanced functionality includes tools for audience engagement, team collaboration, account security and comprehensive analytics for end-to-end measurement and reporting. To learn more, visithttp://www.hootsuite.com.

About CareerArc Group

CareerArc Group is a complete career ecosystem for college students, job seekers, employers, higher education institutions and government entities.  CareerArc Group, which consists ofInternships.com, TweetMyJobs and CareerBeam, builds on the power of the Internet as well as social and mobile networks to connect employers with job and internship seekers.  Working across the entire employment marketplace, the CareerArc Group ecosystem now serves 30 million annual visitors, 40,000 companies (including more than 50% of the Fortune 100), 375+ universities and powers the jobs platform of cities like Atlanta, GA, Newark, NJ and Houston, TX.