Topic 3: SUMMARY – How To Create a Professional Online Presence

Topic 3, on the ways in which an online professional profile can be managed, has been particularly interesting and relevant to myself, as I will soon be applying for jobs. During the task, I found the YouTube video by Distinctive Career Services particularly helpful in furthering my understanding on the topic.

There are a mixture of opinions when it comes to professional self-promotion. After reading around the subject, I am in favour of privatising my Facebook account and maintaining a professional, public Twitter and LinkedIn account. However, I understand that adding work colleagues blurs the lines between work and play. It makes the definition between the two far less clear.

I thoroughly enjoyed Tatiana’s blog points in regards to the ways social media can do wonders for professional self-promotion. The example of Adam Pacitti is a good example of how to gather publicity and make yourself, and your social media known to the masses. However I would argue that it perhaps does not come across as too professional and could be seen as desperation.

I also learned several statistics relating to social media from Olivia’s post, highlighting ours and our employer’s usage of social media. She also makes a very valid point that rambling via Twitter and WordPress are not adequate examples of a professional online presence.

The insightful material I have read has opened my eyes to the importance of self-promotion to future employers. I previously had not considered the importance of blogging and following firm’s and employer’s Twitter accounts, when job searching. Managing an attractive, professional online profile is of course essential, but if you are going further by blogging or tweeting, it is very important to make that distinction between work and play, and make sure you write insightful material for employers!

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