We have already discussed online identities, but here’s why they are so important professionally. As the days of posting a CV and cover letter are fading into the background, coming to the forefront are the new days of employers using your online identity to judge your employability.
How do we make our persona authentic?
Your professional online persona needs to be multifaceted and should not stand in the way of promotion. Anyone who views this profile should get the impression you want to put across (Queens University, n.d).
You mustn’t lie or make claims you can’t evidence, our virtual impression management is limited because the public aspect of the professional profile means any deceptions will be detected. LinkedIn is perfect for preventing that. (Landers and Schmidt, 2016).
Don’t forget the Implied!
You need to look further than just your social media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn… what do you imply from your online presence? The way you interact on the internet and your name alone can be detrimental or beneficial for you persona. Indirect tactics can enhance your image by managing information about the people and events with which you are associated with (Paliszkiewicz and Madra-sawicka, n.d).
Justine Sacco made a joke on social media which was branded as racist, and in the time it took her to catch a flight, her career had been ruined. (Ronson, 2015)
What does Blogging imply?
Blogging is more than just a hobby, if done to a professional standard it can add to your professional persona. Maintaining a blog suggests dedication and motivation, it shows creativity (The Employable, 2014). The skills you show from maintaining a blog allows you to be in the loop, have a passion for the subject and even start to develop relationships with other companies or online presences.
Reviews?
If you have previously worked and your name is used in online customer feedback, that can be traced straight to your online identity and employers will include that under your professional persona. Bad customer reviews could be used as evidence as bad employability.
As the title of this blog suggests, when searching your name you want the listings to be positive, professional and consistent. That includes moderating your social media accounts, but also anything on the internet under your name. Anytime your professional name is used on the internet- it is the opportunity to be found. You can help keep your professional identity through sites like LinkedIn, and remember like the Sacco case, once its online it never comes off!
Word Count: 399
BBC, Job Hunting: How to promote yourself online, 2013 Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25217962
D. Tapscott, The Tapscott Group, Five Ways Talent Management Must Change, 2014 Available at https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2014/10/don-tapscott-talent-management-millennials/
E.Back, Recruitment Online, Piktochart, 2017
E.Back, Twitter Examples, SlideShare, 2017
E.Back, ‘How To’ Guide, Canva, 2017
J.Paliszkiewicz, M.Madra-sawicka, Impression Management in Social Media: The Example of LinkedIn, n.d Availabe at http://www.fm-kp.si/zalozba/ISSN/1854-4231/11_203-212.pdf
J.Ronson, How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life, 2015 Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?_r=1
Jobvite, Social Recruitment Survey, 2014 Available at https://www.jobvite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Jobvite_SocialRecruiting_Survey2014.pdf
M.Henley, The Effective Marketing Company, 2014 Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5xtQKLvX4U
R. Landers, B.Schmidt, Social Media in Employee Selection and Recruitment: Theory Practice and Current Challenges Available at https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YfIgDAAAQBAJ&dq=Social+Media+in+Employee+Selection+and+Recruitment:+Theory,+Practice,+and+Current+Challenges,+Richard+N+Landers,+Gordon+B+Schmidt&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
T. Rayner, Philosophy For Change, 2013, Available at https://philosophyforchange.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/be-human-heidegger-and-online-authenticity/
The Employable, How Blogging Can Help You Get a Job, 2014 Available at http://www.theemployable.com/index.php/2014/10/28/blogging-can-help-get-job/
Queens University of Charlotte, n.d, https://philosophyforchange.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/be-human-heidegger-and-online-authenticity/
Emily Back 
Hi Emily
Great post! I thoroughly enjoyed the infographic at the start of the post. The figures on the graphic highlighting the importance of developing a professional online profile made it very informative and engaging.
You mention “the public aspect of the professional profile means any deceptions will be detected” – I didn’t quite understand how the public aspect could showcase deceptions, could you elaborate with an example? Do you mean the public opinions others have on you could unfold lies? For instance, Zoella (youtuber) was accused of lying about her anxiety to boost views – this was damaging to her profiles perceived authenticity. Check out the story in this article.
On your “how to” infographic you mention “no nicknames”. I personally believe having a nickname online is very beneficial as it enables us to separate our professional and personal accounts, do you agree?
Looking forward to your reply and your future posts!
Eloane
(152)
LikeLike
sorry the link didn’t work – the article i mentioned is on this link http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4024482/People-said-pretend-suffer-anxiety-YouTube-sensation-Zoella-reveals-accused-LYING-mental-health-boost-viewing-figures.html
LikeLike
Unaieelvbble how well-written and informative this was.
LikeLike
Hi Eloane,
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
In response to your question on the public nature of the post allowing deceptions to be found, the public nature of users profiles means that any false claims or lies a user may put on their profile will end up being found. This is because anyone can view their profile and see if they have copied from another user. For example fellow employees who view a LinkedIn account will know if the user is lying about their responsibilities etc. Hope this helps.
With your opinion on no nicknames I agree, I believe that’s how you differentiate from both profiles. This is why you should not use your nickname for your professional profile as the lines may be blurred, as suggested in the info graphic.
Thanks again for your questions hope I have helped.
Emily
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Emily,
Thank you , that makes things clearer. I believe that point further enhances the importance of being authentic to who you are and not lie about your achievements or responsibilities taken in past roles.
I also agree with not using nicknames on professional profiles as not only does that blur the line between a personal and professional profile but the informal nature of a nickname also looks unprofessional.
Thanks again for replying and I look forward to reading your future posts!
Eloane
LikeLike
Hi Emily,
I really enjoyed reading your post as well as, exploring all the images that you have produced. I loved how you used accurate and timely facts on social media activity to back up your argument.
In terms of your question on: what do you imply from your online presence? I believe my professional information is well managed and presented using LinkedIn. In terms of my twitter account, I believe it would be in my best interest to set up an account solely for professional use.
To build upon your argument on appropriate communication on social media I recommend watching Guild Insurances video on “Don’t let social media impact your career”.
Kind Regards,
Mary
Word Count: 113
References:
Guild Insurance (2016) Don’t let social media impact your career. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1rD1FdpBU0. (Accessed: 11 March 2017)
LikeLike
Hi Mary!
Thank you for taking the time to read my post, I’m glad you liked my graphics and they were useful to you!
Yes, I have learnt LinkedIn is the best way forward in separating your personal and professional. I have realised I need to set up my own account in order to advance my professional persona.
Thank you for your recommendation I shall give that a watch.
Emily
LikeLike
Hi Emily,
As soon as I saw your first infographic, I knew straightaway that this was one of the blog posts that I would be commenting on this week. Your use of graphics to accompany your message was exploited excellently and the tone of your post was nicely informal making it easy to read but still very informative. I also like the fact that you included blogging as a professional tool because it is a great medium to attribute employability skills and showcase work but is often overlooked. Moreover, I noticed that in the latter paragraphs you mentioned that LinkedIn is good for illustrating professional authenticity however, I must say I think that on LinkedIn like any other self-reporting service; it is still fairly easy to be subject to social desirability bias and fabricate your work history. This is supported by (Johnson, 2016) who argues that lying on LinkedIn is rampant. Thus, I was wondering if you could further clarify how LinkedIn is good at “preventing deceptions?”
Thanks,
Raziya
LikeLike
Hi Raziya,
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and thank you for your lovely comments. I’m glad that it was a post that stood out to you.
I agree that the self publication means that you can easily lie and fabricate when using LinkedIn. However, having the opportunity to upload evidence helps prevent certain users from appearing to have lied when they haven’t. Also, the public nature of the profiles means that fellow colleagues can view your account and therefore be able to see if you have fabricated your role in the job. Also, as fellow users can view each other’s profiles it means that if someone has claimed your work as their own you can easily spot and report it. However, I do agree with your point, in order for the above to be true, the users needs to have found and seen the infringement first and if they have no connections then it is possible that they will never find out.
Regards
Emily
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Emily,
Thank you for your post, I enjoyed reading it. I am interested by your views of expanding your presence beyond the major social networks into areas such as blogging. While I agree it is good for creating a well rounded profile on the internet which you can be proud to display, I am not convinced it is necessarily the case it helps you in a major way when it comes to online job searching.
According to Jobvite (2014), just 7% of employers had employed anyone through the medium of a candidates blog. I wonder what your views on this are? Do you think blogs are an effective tool to attract employers, or do you think the main advantage to having a blog is that it is a maintained presence online you can reference doing elsewhere (such as on LinkedIn)?
Best Wishes,
Phil
(Word Count 144)
Source:
Click to access Jobvite_SocialRecruiting_Survey2014.pdf
LikeLike
Hi Phil,
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I am glad its stimulated you. In regards to your comment on blogging not being beneficial in the search for a job, I believe the opposite. Although it may not be the most popular means of recruitment as you’ve proven with your Jobvite statistic, I think it is very beneficial. Putting your name out there and making a name for yourself can only benefit you professionally. If your blog is professional, it can only attract positive attention. It may even mean that recruiters find out about you- before you find out about them! I believe blogging allows you to channel your personality and passion about your career, traits that you can’t accurately get across in a LInkedIn account, for example. Jobvite also says that 55% of recruiters reconsider a candidate based on their social media. Running a professional and up to date blog can only give you an advantage over other potential candidates.
Emily
LikeLike
Hi Emily,
Thank you for your reply. I find your argument to be quite convincing, however I would argue that maintaining a blog is not the only way to achieve a goal of having a further advantage to your professional profile. An important thing to consider while building a profile are the time constraints you face, if you spend more time on a blog, that is less time that can go into other projects or areas of your profile. I would argue more professional projects in which you can showcase your abilities to use online resources and perhaps even work with others exist, such as being involved in online research projects, podcasts or community projects.
Out of curiosity, what would you believe to be the most appealing things you could find out about on an online professional profile? Would you agree that being involved in projects could be more beneficial than maintaining your own blog, or would you argue the individual skill showcased by a blog is more enticing to recruiters?
Phil
LikeLike
Hi Emily! Thanks for a great blog post I really enjoyed reading it! I loved the title of the post – it’s really inventive and made me wonder what actually would come up if someone Googled me, although there is a successful yoghurt entrepreneur with the same name as me so I doubt it would be very eye-opening haha! I also really liked the infographic about online recruitment, and I’m not sure about you but I was surprised that Facebook was the second most popular social media platform used for recruitment.
I found what you mentioned about the benefits of blogging for your career really interesting as it’s something I’d never have considered doing myself. I do wonder however it some things people write could be misinterpreted such as the tweets by Justin Sacco – where do you stand on this? Do you personally keep a blog to enhance your professional persona?
Thanks for a great read,
Rachel
LikeLike
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and giving me some feedback! I agree, I would of thought that Facebook would be the number one site to use from recruiters as it is one of the most used social medias!
Your point about blogging is very true; it would be easy to misinterpret blog posts similar to the Sacco case. However, I feel that jokes and informality wouldn’t really be common on a professional blog. And therefore I think it is much less of a problem if the blog is kept professional. Maintaining a professional blog myself is not something I had thought about. I personally do now from this module, however I didn’t before. I intend to keep this blog running as my professional blog after this module has finished as I think there are many benefits from doing so!
Emily
LikeLike
Hi Emily,
Really enjoyed reading your post this week, I especially like all the infographics you included. I feel they really support you points made on social media activity in the eyes of recruiters.
You talk about your online presence as almost a single online identity and when searching for your name throughout the web you would like it to be completely positive. I do agree with this however what is your opinion on rather separating online identities and using different social media’s for different purposes. For example, do you believe LinkedIn to be completely used for professional work and facebook for social work? Do you also believe that blogs are as relevant as online social profiles even if your blog is irrelevant for your chosen career path?
Many thanks,
Ausaf
(133)
LikeLike
Hi Ausaf,
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I’m glad you enjoyed reading it.
I actually think that each social media could be beneficial professionally AND personally. For example I have plenty of companies and businesses on Instagram, Facebook and twitter whom use it to interact and promote to other users. Therefore I think that you can’t brand social sites into ‘professional’ and ‘personal’ groups, i think that they are good for both uses. It is important however that if you use them both personally and professionally these are done on separate accounts.
I believe that blogging showcases valuable skills an employer would value for example; passion, commitment, dedication, knowledge as well as literary and social skills. It is always going to be more beneficial if the blog is in your favoured field, however it is still an important asset to show off regardless.
Emily
LikeLike
Repare-se na satisfação com que a derrota do Sporting foi recebida pelos adversários. O noss primeiro jogo da época. Realmente muito siicfignativo! Eles estão mas é cagadinhos de medo, é o que é…
LikeLike
“Ritengo però che tale convincimento abbisogni anch’esso di un certo pudore nell’esternarsi, altrimenti è solo un salire in cattedra. Mi riferisco chiaramente a quante se ne sono sentite in questi giorni in tal senso.C’è anche una pornografia della parola, non solo dell’immagineâ€. (Luigi)Non c’è alcun dubbio. E infatti il coro di sdegno dei “politicamente corretti†e delle “politicamente corrette†suona ancora più falso dal momento che sono gli stessi e le stesse che incitavano alla guerra umanitaria contro Ghvedafi…Doerebbdro vergognarsi ma non hanno vergogna…Fabrizio
LikeLike
Very cute! I love the little mice, and I really like the blacebkrries on the original cake. Those had to take some time – did you roll each individual little ball to make the berries?
LikeLike
estaba pensando montarmela por mi cuenta: comprando la llanta con el motor delantero, la bateria, el bms, el acelerador y frenos con switch por separado. pero lo del detector de pedaleo me ha jodido. k me recomiendas si me lo quiero hacer todo DIY? puedo explicar cual es mi plan, pero no quiero ab3&rirr#82u0;.muchas gracias!
LikeLike
I'm 56, female.spend most of my time at home or on cabsis.hobmuep: reading, writing, photography, SCRABBLE!I am an English professor. My specialty is creative writing. Much of my teaching is online.I like the fitted, tailored looks of the 1940s.
LikeLike
You need to install in the library folder, the object folder is a ref so it can be called ant.hingyyou need another plgin called OLX which allows the CS tools to be viewed.Check out Nick’s guide for version 11 as this is covered there.
LikeLike
I found just what I was needed, and it was engetrainint!
LikeLike
I might be benatig a dead horse, but thank you for posting this!
LikeLike
It’s always a relief when someone with obvious exsprtiee answers. Thanks!
LikeLike
June 25, 2012 Thanks for your information on this blog. One thing I would wish to say is the fact purchasing electronic products items on the Internet is nothing new. In reality, in the past few years alone, the market for online electronic products has grown noticeably. Today, you can find practically almost any electronic unit and other gadgets on the Internet, ranging from cameras plus camcorders to computer pieces and gambling consoles.
LikeLike
This is what I’d been attempting to find! So the information and facts are achievement widziaĹ‚me in your life. Impressive internet site, could there have been alot more this type of records because this just one.
LikeLike
Thank you Garfish for a splendid night. And, for those of you who weren’t there (and to see who was) you can read more about the tasty tasting night on the Garfish blog.
LikeLike
2f2à °…à °·à ±Âà °Ÿà °¾à °µà °•à ±Âà °° à °…à °¨à °¿ à °¯à °‚à °¡à °®à ±‚à °°à °¿ à °µà ±€à °°à ±‡à °‚à °¦à ±Âà °°à °¨à °¾à °¥à ± à °¨à °µà °² – à °°à ±†à °‚à °¡à ± à °Âà °¾à °—à °¾à °²à ± à °šà °¦à °¿à °µà ±‡à °¶à °¾. à °’à °•à ±Âà °• à °Šà °ªà ±Âà °¨ à °šà °¦à °¿à °µà °¿à °‚à °šà °¿à °‚à °¦à °¿. à °¬à °¾à °˜à °¾ à °šà ±†à °µà °¿à °²à ±‹ à °ªà ±‚à °²à ± à °ªà ±†à °Ÿà ±Âà °Ÿà °¾à °¡à ±Â. à °…à °¯à °¿à °¤à ±‡ à °®à ±†à °²à ±‹à °¡à ±Âà °°à °¾à °®à °¾ à °ªà °‚à °¡à °¿à °‚à °šà °¡à °‚à °²à ±‹ à °¯à °‚à °¡à °®à ±‚à °°à °¿ à °¤à °°à ±Âà °µà °¾à °¤à ±‡ à °Žà °µà °°à ±ˆà °¨à °¾.
LikeLike