Authenticity online: Honesty is the best policy.

“Your personal brand is all about who you are and what you want to be known for.” – Megan Marrs, 2012.

Building an online professional profile is essential for those looking to increase employability prospects, and with the rise of social media it is in everyone’s best interest to find ways of effectively managing your online reputation. (Marrs, 2012) Maintaining a genuine and relatable persona is vital to enhancing networking abilities; authenticity is key to creating successful and respectable online profiles.

The recruitment market is changing and as soon as one realises that a paper CV isn’t the be all and end all for employability hopes, the closer you will get to pushing boundaries, discovering your creative flair and promoting yourself online in the best possible light. A familiar example is with employadam.com, he kept his billboard simple and to the point: employ Adam! His touch of self-depreciating humour on his Video CV and billboard made his campaign authentic and endearing, earning him a wide fan base across social media.

Having read this article, I decided to give it a go myself and get creative, transferring my CV onto something a little bit different and potentially more appealing… Given that travelling is one of my passions, and maps of all shapes and sizes fill my rooms at University and at home, why not add my CV to one instead? See here, and explore the interactive icons. I would like to hear your thoughts as to which is more effective, my profile on LinkedIn or an interactive Google map, displaying a touch of authenticity/my personality? Please let me know either in the comments below or @kim_puravida on Twitter; is an unusual CV a good idea?

There is no question that employers will check our digital footprints in their search for the most suitable candidate, and so it is our job to stay ahead of the game and ensure that our online activity represents who we are, and is nothing short of encouraging for a potential employer. We are able to fully represent ourselves in the best way possible online, so why not take advantage and develop an authentic brand across a variety of different platforms, portraying multiple, yet consistent, sides to ourselves by:

– Creating relative and up to date content on platforms such as WordPress, Youtube and/or other blogging sites to display your beliefs and interests. However, it is another skill entirely directing useful content to a target audience. How much of what we post online is actually beneficial to others?

– Connecting with the right people; one way to enhance your authenticity online is through increased interaction whilst network building, whether that be on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Follow companies to keep up with news and insights. Share your thoughts, updates and most of all, your honest opinion, whilst demonstrating an interest in your particular industry.

– Collaborating with peers and professionals, proudly displaying your talents, defining your skills and elaborating on experiences to stand out from the competition. Personally I need to ensure that I am making full use of my LinkedIn to connect with professionals, follow articles posted by companies and contribute to discussion boards.

Thanks to peer Alysia Wildman for sharing this SlideShare from LinkedIn Europe which nicely summarizes the above:

The main points I wish to put across in this post is that, personally, we owe it to ourselves and to our professional development, to enhance our online professional profiles over a variety of mediums. The best way to achieve this is through regularly maintaining your social profiles in not only a professional manner, to manage what potential employers learn about you, but in an authentic way which best represents who you are, and what you wish to be known for. Like we discussed in Topic 2, you can never be sure of how private the internet is, so honesty really is the best policy; if you lie, you will be found out!

Embrace the surge of social media, speak the truth, post about your passions and interests, and most importantly, be yourself. Authenticity is key.

 

References:

Giraffe CVS. (2014) Unusual CVs. [Online] Available at: http://www.giraffecvs.co.uk/unusual-cvs/ [Accessed 3rd March 2014]

LinkedIn Europe. (2012) Building your professional identity and career opportunities, [Online] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/linkedineurope/linkedin-building-your-professional-identity-and-career-opportunities-14470790 [Accessed:7th March 2014]

Marrs, M. (2012) The First Step to Building Your Personal Brand. Forbes. [Online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2012/02/14/the-first-step-to-building-your-personal-brand/ [Accessed: 6th March 2014]