Topic 3: Reflection

In tackling the topic this week on building up an online professional profile, I realised there was a lot more to it than I first thought. The Jobvite statistics proved to be very useful (albeit slightly outdated) in relaying just how much employers rely on social media to recruit new employees. From there, it was an exploration of what steps you can take to further improve your chances of being recruited through your social media platforms.

One major point in increasing employability from your profiles is authenticity and supplying information about experiences that you may have had on sites such as LinkedIn, so that employers can see more than just a CV and grades. In my comment on Sharon’s blog post, we agreed that sharing personal experiences is a good way of differentiating yourself from other candidates, potentially grabbing the interest of future employers!

However, one thing to note is that in sharing things on social media, you need to be careful of what you let others see! In my comment on Rebecca’s post, I questioned the demonising of individuals who tweet and post things which may just be potentially innocuous. She replied with how it is difficult to communicate tone across online, and being in person could garner different reactions. However, I feel that when making posts online, you need to take into account the lack of a strong sense of tone and intentions, as such, it is possible for just one person to take it in a bad way and cause an avalanche of negative reactions, as was the case with Justine Sacco.

Generally, I feel that it is quite easy to overshare details online, and while you should remain authentic, you needn’t share every piece of information that may hinder your approach to being employed!

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Topic 3: Authentic; Professional; Online

This week will be on how to develop your own online professional profile while being authentic.

With the rise of the digital age, recruiters are increasing their use on social media in order to find employees. As discussed in the previous topic, the large number of online identities that you may have all help to put forward a portfolio of yourself that future employers can find.

Self-produced on Adobe Photoshop, stats taken from Jobvite

But how is it possible when most of what we’ve been told about getting a job is sending off CVs and cover letters? Well, if you can’t put everything on a CV, then social media can help to provide all the other information that you can’t get across in one document. In doing so, you can present the passion and creativity that you have in specific fields relevant to the job you’re seeking, as well as staying as authentic as you can!

Authenticity can be easy to maintain: unify all your social medias; make sure that the same information is on all of them such as names, handles, profile pictures, etc. Make sure that they can link back to each other as well as your CV, blogs, or other websites you may have. There are easy mistakes to make when building up your online profile, however, as the following video highlights:

A huge example of how things can go wrong with just one post is that of Justine Sacco, where just one tweet leads to her being fired. There are many situations like this in the highly digital age we live in – with the ease at which posts can be accessed on public platforms, strangers can come in at any moment to analyse your every word, let alone future/current employers, and tear your life apart. Jon Ronson explores the effects that fall upon these people who experience the online shaming in the article linked just above, and in the TED talk below.

How can this be avoided? Well, the main thing is to be conscious of what you share online! Knowing that employers will most likely be looking through your various social media profiles, are there any posts you won’t want them to see?

To finish off, here’s a short list of what you should look out for when maintaining your online profiles:

Self-produced on Adobe Photoshop

References:

BBC News, (2013) “Job Hunting: How to promote yourself online” [Accessed 12th March 2017]

Jobvite, (2014). Social Recruiting Survey [Accessed 12th March 2017]

Nyman, Nik (2014). “Using social media in your job search” [Accessed 12th March 2017]

Ronson, Jon (2015). “How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life” [Accessed 12th March 2017]

TheEmployable, (2014). “How blogging can help you get a job” [Accessed 12th March 2017]