In the last topic, I wrote about online identity and how what you post can damage your reputation online and the chances of finding a job from a digital footprint that gets left behind. This week’s topic links very well, and I will be discussing how you are able to create an authentic online professional profile.
During a seminar last year for my Digital Age module, we discussed online security and were asked to Google ourselves and check to see what results were shown. Luckily for me nothing damaging came up from my social media accounts, but I still proceeded to do a security and privacy check on all accounts. By doing this, I could prevent anything from happening in the future that might jeopardise work prospects or current job. An article written by Jon Ronson tells a story of a woman called Justine Sacco and how her world flipped from an absent-minded tweet, which caused her to lose her job and impacted her life massively.
It’s clear as technology continues to develop, social media is having more of an impact when it comes to employers recruiting new employees and the current ones they have. Statistics from Jobsite showed that 93% of recruiters would review a candidate’s social profile before making a decision. That in fact, 94% of employers use LinkedIn for recruiting – LinkedIn being one of the highest social media websites used. If you take a look at all the statistics shown, you’ll see the competition for jobs is increasing which means recruiters have to really select the best possible candidates. In order to do this, “social media is an essential tool across industries.” (Jobsite, 2014) You will also discover social media -especially LinkedIn – is highly used when it comes to recruiting.
Having a LinkedIn profile for employers to view enables you to show your best abilities and what you have exactly to offer them. In this article, it explains how you are able to create a good profile. One point that isn’t mentioned in the article is having groups in order to network. I think that networking is important when it comes to LinkedIn because it allows you to show you interests and connections, which you may need later on. However, you mustn’t be mistaken that you can connect with someone but not talk to him or her until it’s to your advantage.
References:
Nicole Gildone 
November 15, 2016 at 5:10 pm
Hi Nicole,
I enjoyed the format of your post which links to articles on how to create a good profile which saves space within your post. The text is clear and informative and each point is clearly backed up.
I do however wander whether you could have gone into more detail on authenticity. You mentioned the Justine Sacco case however, could you have related to this when talking about creating a strong profile?
Having said that the majority of people are prone to over exaggerating a skill in order to appear more employable. The key danger however is during an interview when these skills or interests may not show.
I was also left wandering whether you knew the stats about ever increasing job competition as although it is true I would be interested to know how competitive the job market has become.
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November 20, 2016 at 6:37 pm
Hi Gus,
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I do feel with this blog there was so much to say about this topic as the question was broad and the word count is so limited. So there were a few things I needed to expand on and add in.
I couldn’t find exact stats on job competition but to give you a rough idea: from April to June 2016 full-time jobs increased 350,000 to 23.24m and part-time jobs increased 110,000 more to 8.56m. In September 2016, unemployment rates was down to 4.8% which is the lowest it’s been since 2005.
I hope these stats give you more insight on how much competition has increased in half a year alone. As well as how much unemployment rates are decreasing meaning there’s less jobs on the market.
Nicole
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November 15, 2016 at 5:32 pm
Hi Nicole,
I enjoyed reading your post. I appreciate its clear structure and how you outlined exactly what you were to discuss.
I like how you first explained why there was such a need for developing a professional online profile before outlining how.
However, I feel much of the focus of this post was on LinkedIn and I wondered if there were any other ways and sites you felt could help boost your professional identity online?
Kevin
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November 20, 2016 at 8:19 pm
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I do think there are other ways such as creating professional profiles on Twitter and Facebook. Through my research I did come across a couple of articles saying how blogs helped a lot of people find a job and how beneficial they can be to creating your professional identity. Of course, this depends on what you write about but I think it’s a perfectly valid way too.
Nicole
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November 16, 2016 at 10:10 am
Hi Nicole,
It came across to me in this post that you are well informed about professional profiles and have had previous experience in this area. I, much like you, have checked my social media accounts to ensure they are private and secure. One question I do have relating to this is where you mentioned you found “nothing damaging” when googling yourself. Do you think that in an age where our social media accounts are essentially resumes, it is enough to simply find nothing damaging? Surely we would want to come across more positively to potential employers? I would be interested in hearing your views on this as well as reading your future posts.
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November 16, 2016 at 7:28 pm
I enjoyed reading this article, largely down to the strong use of statistics throughout. I enjoyed the little factoids of information that I had no previous knowledge of, such as ‘94% of recruiters use LinkedIn for recruiting’. However, I am unsure of the accuracy of such a claim. For example, A 16 year old working a part time job is unlikely to have been hired on the basis of his strong LinkedIn profile, but he would still have been recruited nonetheless. Given this, I feel a little more clarity may have been beneficial to your article.
On a positive note, I enjoyed how you were able to link the last two topics together – I also found them to be directly relatable and it is abundantly clear that you have built on your knowledge over the last few weeks in order to make each article progressively stronger.
Nik
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