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Social Media Presence

As a key component of your career planning and employment preparation, social media can be a helpful tool for exploring careers and connecting with professionals in the field. The Career Centre offers a LinkedIn: Build Your Profile workshop.

Managing Your Online Professional Image

Consider your Online Presence

Today more than ever employers are utilizing the internet to identify candidates and verify their qualifications and reputation. 2017 research by CareerBuilder indicates that:

  • 70% of hiring managers use social media to research job applicants (up from 59% last year).
  • 54% of hiring managers reported not hiring a candidate because of something negative.
  • 44% of hiring managers reported finding something positive that led to a job offer

What this means is that you are almost guaranteed that at some point during your job search, your online image will be assessed. What a potential employer finds may make or break their decision to hire you.

Evaluate your Online Presence

The best way to evaluate your online presence is to search yourself on search engines such as Google. Review what you find and ask yourself the following questions:

  • Is what you found helpful to your professional image?
  • If you found nothing, is that really helpful to your professional reputation?
  • Will the information support or contradict your resumé and interview claims?

If you are in doubt about what your online information is saying about you, consult with a professional in your desired industry or a career consultant at the Laurier Career Centre.

Monitor your Online Presence

One of the first things you can do to manage your online presence is to review and adjust your privacy settings on an ongoing basis. Social Media experts recommend that for dynamic sites like Facebook you will want to monitor your settings at least on a monthly basis. You will also want to edit or remove those elements (e.g. pictures, videos, comments, associates, etc.) that do not contribute positively to your desired professional image.

Enhance your Online Presence

One of the best ways for enhancing your online presence is establishing a search engine optimized professional profile on a respected professional networking site such as like LinkedIn. As you engage in searches and activities on this website, it will become one of the first websites that an employer sees when they Google your name.

Other professional image-enhancing online activities include developing and maintaining a personal website or blog, joining field-related online networks and discussion groups. You may also choose to upload publications, conference presentations, articles and other professional artifacts to various web locations. For example, LinkedIn allows you to upload rich formatted documents to display your work.

Network Effectively

Informational interviews are a great opportunity to network and learn about career opportunities. Connect with the Career Centre to chat with a career consultant when preparing for informational interviews or developing a  strategy to build your professional network.

Using Social Media for your Job Search

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the most widely respected professional social media sites available to learn more about a career field, establish your professional online profile and connect with professionals or alumni in your field. LinkedIn allows you to establish a personal profile and to network virtually with the industry leaders, recruiters, and other professionals within a strictly career-relevant forum.

In fact, many of the biggest organizations in the world have representatives who post jobs exclusively on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn has created a number of quick tip sheets and video tutorials designed exclusively for university students who are new to LinkedIn or who are interested in using their site to support your job search and networking efforts.

Create your professional LinkedIn profile by reviewing the profile-related tip sheets and tutorials. If you are already a member of LinkedIn, see the relevant tip sheets and tutorials to help you stand out positively and network effectively using this site. For Laurier students or alumni, join the Laurier Career Centre group on LinkedIn to follow discussions, post questions, get career advice and interact with Laurier Career Centre staff.

Twitter

You can find valuable information related to your career and make connections with a growing number of professionals and professional organizations. A great place to start is the Twitter job search engine. Follow the Career Centre @WLUCareerCentre.