If you aren’t online, you don’t exist
With 77% of employers Googling prospective employees there has never been a better time to develop your online professional profile (Hoffman, 2017).
In Topic 2 both Philip and I touched upon the idea of having a different online personal and professional profile and how the differentiation plays dividends in a successful job application. But how can an authentic online professional profile be developed?
I propose the best way to answer this question is to start by defining ‘authentic’.
(Oxford University Press, 2017)
The question is; are you being ‘authentic’?
Use this authenticity checklist I have created using checkii to find out (Noble, 2017).
This screenshot from my authenticity checklist neatly encapsulates the clear line between oversharing and being authentic (Morin, 2016).
For more information take a look at this informative YouTube video and subsequent web page.
According to Watkins (no date) your social networking should supplement and support your professional networking the arguably most significant aspect of your online presence.
Furthermore, the BBC (2013) suggests “you need to make sure that anything on social media that can be seen by a potential employer is going to help you get employed”.
Below I have provided a good and bad example of this.
Fortunatley for me my innocent and uncalculated Tweet had no conserquences. However, the same cannot be said for Justine Sacco who lost her job following a series of ‘stupid’ Tweets (Ronson, 2015).
While Facebook and Twitter are proven and established networking sites with 83% of recruiters using the sites in their recruitment process (JobVite, 2014) they arguably fall under the ‘social’ category and thus the information we choose to share should be filtered in such a way that like Watkins said should ‘support’ our professional networking sites.
There are a number of professional networking platforms out there enabling you to build an authentic online professional profile (Lorang, 2011; Hunt, 2013).
An example of this can be seen below in my Tutora profile.
However, LinkedIn is a good starting point as it covers the basics of professionalism such as past employment and an opportunity to show off key employability skills. A profile can be tailored to a users specific requirements but can also be used to show off personal qualities and interests which allow the user to show a well rounded picture of themselves in a professional platform (Watkins, no date).
Inspired by my research I have decided to set up my own LinkedIn profile using these 6 steps.
It’s not only LinkedIn and other online professional profile builders than can help you get a job. Blogging can too! Take a look at this presentation I have made using Canva to find out more.
Word count: 398
References
BBC (2013) Job hunting: How to promote yourself online. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25217962 (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
Dekmezian (2016) Why Do People Blog? The Benefits of Blogging. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-dekmezian/why-do-people-blog-the-be_b_8178624.html (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
Harris (2014) Using social media in your job search. Available at: http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/websci/2014/03/13/ill-tweet-job-spec-snap-cv/ (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
Hoffman (2017) Job Applicant, Beware: You’re Being Googled. Available at: https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/hr-googling-job-applicants (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
Hunt (2013) 5 Best Apps to Build Your Online Professional Profile. Available at: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/5-best-apps-to-build-your-online-professional-profile/ (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
JobVite (2014) Social Recruiting Survey. Available at: https://www.jobvite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Jobvite_SocialRecruiting_Survey2014.pdf (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
Liubarets (2016) Top Blogging Statistics: 45 Reasons to Blog. Available at: http://writtent.com/blog/top-blogging-statistics-45-reasons-to-blog/ (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
Lorang (2011) 7 Free Sites for your Professional Online Profile. Available at: http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/48836/7-Free-Sites-for-your-Professional-Online-Profile (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
Morin (2016) There Is A Clear Line Between Oversharing And Being Authentic –Here’s How To Avoid Crossing It. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2016/10/22/there-is-a-clear-line-between-oversharing-and-being-authentic-heres-how-to-avoid-crossing-it/#4905ef6756e3 (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
Noble (2017) Truth Will Out – Why Authenticity is the Key to Growing Your Business. Available at: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/truth-will-out/ (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
Oxford University Press (2017) Authentic. Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/authentic (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
Ronson (2015) ‘How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life’, The New York Times, 12 February. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?_r=3 (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
Salma Jafri Media (2016) Are you being real and vulnerable or oversharing on social media?. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOWopi7Fvn4 (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
Tapscott (2014) Five ways talent management must change. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2014/10/don-tapscott-talent-management-millennials/ (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
The Employable (2014) How blogging can help you get a job. Available at: http://www.theemployable.com/index.php/2014/10/28/blogging-can-help-get-job/ (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
Watkins (no date) Developing Your Professional Online Identity. Available at: https://cstudies.ubc.ca/sites/cstudies.ubc.ca/files/cs/documents/program/tmap/Developing-Your-Professional-Online-Identity.pdf (Accessed: 12 March 2017).
UOSM 2008 Living and Working on the Web 