Ways in which an authentic online professional profile can be developed.

Recruiters use the internet now more than ever to find potential candidates. With powerful social media platforms we have more opportunities to job search and build ourselves our own online brands. The more information we publish online, the bigger our digital footprints are and the easier they are tracked. We are constantly digitally marketing ourselves to a large, interactive audience.

In today’s digital age, an authentic professional profile on the net is becoming a necessity for those job-seeking or being sought out by employers. It’s important to realise that your personal and professional profiles are continuously overlapping and the divide between the two is sliding away.

Be careful what you publish on any online platform because employers will find you.

You need to ask yourself the following questions:

• What are my employers looking for?
• Do I present myself in a respectable light?
• Will these employers want me to represent their company based on my online activities?
• What social networks do I use and am I using them appropriately?

Recruiters use social media platforms Linkedin, twitter, facebook, etc to screen candidates. Cross-tab marketing services claim that 75% of HR departments are required to screen candidates online and 70% of recruiters claim they have rejected potential employees based on information surfaced online.

Maintenance is the key. It’s important to establish your own brand and promote yourself in an interesting, engaging way. You need to be attractive but not boastful. You want employers to want you! Be selective with what you share and publish, and ensure you optimise the online experience for others. Chamorro-Premuzic, (2013), believes “your future depends on being a signal in the noisy universe of human capital”. Make yourself a strong signal to generate a buzz and add value to a chain of networks. Buzz will be achieved temporarily but authenticity will be achieved in the long term by maintaining your online identity.

Write a blog, make a video, tweet your opinions – do whatever you can to authentically express yourself! Whether you’re shy, loud, creative or theoretical you must have a passion for something. Express it! Do it in a way that suits you and employers will immediately pick up on your authenticity.

If you want to see how people view you on the web use Brand Yourself. It is a great way to see what people find when they google your name. A helpful tool: http://brandyourself.com/

The past few months I have been growing my online identity and using social media sites to find placement opportunities for next year. I applied to a variety of different companies including Porsche, Samsung, Unilever, Warner Bros, Apple and Waitrose. I have been lucky enough to secure a Studios film marketing role at The Walt Disney but the online journey has been a struggle! I knew employers were going to be screening me online so I made sure my Linkedin was up to date, my tweets were appropriate and I was following the companies I had applied to on these social networks. Unilever even followed me back – they are not afraid to let you know they’re watching your every move online! Twitter and Linkedin proved to be extremely useful tools to find placement opportunities and to connect with relevant people. Linkedin is useful online CV which I used frequently upload to job boards. From my own previous experience I’ve noted that employers want to see you being yourself, no false personas because they want effective communications offline as well as online.

I used twitter extensively through my job search. This article highlights some of the ways to effectively use twitter to job search: http://mashable.com/2013/02/09/twitter-job-search/

To conclude, maintaining an authentic online professional profile is hard work and takes time, but the benefits outweigh the effort by boosting your employability. Convince your employers you are right for the job!

References

Albright, L. (2012). 4 Reasons to Stop Leading a Virtual Double Life: How to Manage Your Digital Persona. Available: http://nusocialimc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/leading-virtual-double-life-how-to.html. Last accessed 8th March 2014.

Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2013). The Future of You. Available: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/01/the-future-of-you/. Last accessed 8th March 2014.

Hartwig, L. (2013). How to Effectively Use Twitter as a Job Search Resource. Available: http://mashable.com/2013/02/09/twitter-job-search/. Last accessed 8th March 2014.

Jeffrey, M. (2011). Opinion A Vision for the Future of Recruitment: Recruitment 3.0. Available: http://www.ere.net/2011/06/14/a-vision-for-the-future-of-recruitment-recruitment-3-0/. Last accessed 8th March 2014