LinkedIn or Out?
During my adolescent years I had some inclination that I wanted to go into the world of Finance. Having watched ‘Pursuit of Happyness’ – a great film, at the age of 15 I decided to try and become a Stockbroker. Needless the say, my opinions matured over the years.
I managed to secure a Gap Year Placement with IBM and that’s how I found out about LinkedIn – The ‘Facebook’ for the professional world. Of course, being new to the business environment, my understanding of my own professional online identity was limited to a few pointless posts on my own Facebook. The fact that every interview I have ever gone to has in some form or another referred to my Facebook is quite alarming. According to an article written by Forbes, employers spend on average 5-10 minutes looking at a potential employees Facebook profile. [1] Take this in contrast to 10 seconds spent looking at a CV. It pays dividends to brush up on your social media.
However, on the question of authenticity, I see a lot of LinkedIn profiles with many connections but not relevant to their field of study or work. To that extent, if friends are just adding their friends then their LinkedIn experience just becomes their friend’s experiences and not a professional platform. For my IBM interview, I read up on my interviewer. I found that he studied Computer Science at Warwick University with a first class honours and more relevant to the the interview, held the same role that I was applying for 4 years earlier. Bringing this up was just one of many bits of preparation I had done and it secured me a highly competitive placement.
On the subject of a professional platform, LinkedIn boasts 300 million unique users as well as being worth an estimated $7.5 billion. [2] So when you finish reading this blog make a LinkedIn if you haven’t already and add the countless groups related to your area of interest!
Going back to my previous blog titled: ‘Help! I’ve stolen someone’s Identity!’ [3], I talk about the ability for people to remove their past internet history. There is another method where businesses pay for a better on-line ‘reputation’. In retrospect it is important for businesses to have good online reputations because this attracts attention and ultimately sales.
Sorry for the shorter blog this week, but I’m having to manage mid terms with tests for internships! #unilife
References:
1) ‘What employers are thinking when they see your Facebook page’ – Kashmir Hill http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/03/06/what-employers-are-thinking-when-they-look-at-your-facebook-page/ Date Accessed 07/11/2014
2) Facts about LinkedIn 2014 – http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/05/08/the-top-10-linkedin-facts-and-figures-in-2014-you-need-to-know/ Date Accessed 07/11/2014
3) Aumar Mustafa’s blog about Online Identity – http://aumarm.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/help-ive-stolen-someones-online-identity/ Date Accessed 07/11/2014
