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 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. 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 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 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.
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.