It has been the status quo that CVs and cover letters have been at the forefront of establishing your professional profile. However, significant changes in technology has influenced employers to change the ways in which they screen and hire candidates, primarily by using social media sites. The following infographic that I’ve produced, highlights key statistics taken from JobVite (2014), which stresses on how employers are recruiting.
But what do we mean by authenticity?
Having an authentic online presence requires you to come across as genuine and able to present an accurate representation of your identity (Rampersad, 2009). As demonstrated above, employers are actively checking our digital footprints in order to search for the most suitable candidate. So if you were to Google yourself, would you be happy with your results?
In last week’s topic, I discussed briefly on how easy it can be for people like Justine Sacco to tarnish their employability with a single tweet. Subsequently, it has become vital to make sure that online profiles are carefully managed as it cannot be underestimated how important a role they can play in determining your employability.
Consistency is key!
Developing your professional online profile isn’t easy, but a good place to start marketing yourself is LinkedIn. 94% of companies use LinkedIn for recruiting which is why it is widely recognised as your go-to platform for professional networking and employability (JobVite, 2014). This site has played a massive role in online networking and the video below offers people help with developing a strong profile.
But how can you ensure authenticity?
Being able to project your authenticity may be difficult but I have produced a short video that gives tips on how you can maintain it throughout your online profiles.
To add further, Tim Rayner (2013) expresses the idea that ‘an authentic presence requires that you creatively represent the best version of who you are’. Following this, suggestions have been made that blogging can make you stand out amongst competing candidates as it demonstrates passion, creativity and dedication in an increasingly competitive job market (The Employable, 2014).
Interestingly enough, I also came across an article that suggested the use of video resumes. This indicates that there are a plethora of ways to tailor your professional profile to make it appealing to the type of industry you’re applying for.
It is important to understand that we live in an era where companies are now using different types of social media to attract employable individuals. With that being said, keeping a transparent, articulate and authentic profile across all mediums will allow you to strengthen your own ‘brand’ and differentiate yourself (BBC, 2013).
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References
Applyandgo.articlealley.com. (2009). Advantages of Video Resumes. [online] Available at: http://applyandgo.articlealley.com/advantages-of-video-resumes-1312970.html [Accessed 12 Mar. 2017].
BBC News. 2013, Job hunting: How to promote yourself online, [Online], Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25217962 [Accessed 12th March 2017].
Jobvite. (2014). Social recruitment survey. Available: https://www.jobvite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Jobvite_SocialRecruiting_Survey2014.pdf . Last accessed 9th March 2017.
The Employable. (2014). How blogging can help you get a job. Available: http://www.theemployable.com/index.php/2014/10/28/blogging-can-help-get-job/. Last accessed 10th March 2017.
Rampersad, H. K. 2009, Authentic personal Branding, Online, Available: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dCRZoNZPnEoC&pg=PA118&lpg=PA118&dq=authentic+online+professional+profiles&source=bl&ots=lcS9cWw6tS&sig=ARduPLmpRn2Y6Kj8Wr7xPeKkcRU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjsjsymu57QAhWqJcAKHaUUDeA4ChDoAQgxMAU#v=onepage&q=alavi&f=false [Accessed 12th March 2017].
Ronson, J. (2017). How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?_r=1 [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].
Carolina Poveda-Ocampo 
Hi Carolina,
I’ve been keeping up with your fortnightly posts and have been enjoying the reads (that makes me sound creepy, promise I’m not), but this week has definitely been your best post. I really appreciated that you broke down the concept of building an authentic professional profile; focussing on the ‘authentic’ aspect. I did this myself in my post, but I must admit I prefer your approach. You use a variety of helpful visual infographs, and I was engaged through-out. Your focus on LinkedIn has been incredibly eye-opening, and has led me to make some changes on my own profile; thank you for that!
I see that you have made an infograph based on blogging as an employability factor, but according to Jobsite (2014) only 7% of employers factor in online blogs when recruiting; having mentioned so many benefits, why do you think that this figure is so low, and how can jobseekers further highlight their blogs to make sure it’s elevating their chances of employment?
Thanks for the well written post, keep it up!
Faazila
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Hi Faazila,
Thank you so much for such positive feedback. I am so glad you have been enjoying my posts and I can’t wait for you to read my next one!
Personally, I feel that this figure may be low since jobseekers may not actually express the fact they have a blog (as it may be personal to them) so recruiters are not able to factor in online blogs when recruiting. Furthermore, if recruiters are aware a blog exists, some may find that it is not relevant to the industry the candidate is applying for and so may find it time-consuming to read their blog. I am interested to know your thoughts on this?
I think that jobseekers should add their URL link of their blog on their LinkedIn page or CV, regardless of what the blog posts are about. As I demonstrate in my infographic, it highlights creativity and dedication and even if it isn’t relevant to the industry in which they are applying for, recruiters will still notice that they can dedicate themselves to a task. There is also this site https://pathbrite.com/about-us/ which jobseekers can use to showcase what they have ‘created, achieved and mastered’. Seeing as almost everything is now done online, you might as well make the most of it! I would also suggest setting up a professional Twitter account, with tweets linking to their blog.
Thanks again,
Carolina
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Hi Carolina!
Thanks for taking the time to reply to my comment! I completely agree with your points and couldn’t have put it better myself.
With the employment market becoming increasingly competitive, I believe jobseekers must continue to find innovative ways to showcase themselves. As Jobvite’s research (2014) found, recruiters are looking for examples of written or design work and ‘cultural fit’; and whilst this may mainly be via Linked-In and Facebook currently, as the job market continues to saturate, I believe these recruiters will begin to look further, in to blogs etc. for these examples.
We as millennials have the world at our fingertips due, and should definitely take advantage of it!
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Hi Carolina, I love to PowToon video you created it makes the content really fun to watch. You make some very good points throughout your post and I particularly like the idea of a video resume; I can really see how that would differentiate you from other candidates and am considering one myself.
In your post you mentioned Googling yourself and being happy with the results which reminded me of the EU “right to be forgotten” proposal a few years back that was designed to help protect the privacy of citizens [1]. The idea was that people would be able to remove listings from search engines that were slanderous, a possible respite for the likes of Justin Sacco. However, there has been significant controversy as to whether an individual’s right to privacy is greater than the public right to know [2].
What’s your opinion; do people deserve the right to be forgotten?
Jordan
1. Rosen J. The Right to Be Forgotten | Stanford Law Review [Internet]. Stanford Law Review. 2017 [cited 15 March 2017]. Available from: https://www.stanfordlawreview.org/online/privacy-paradox-the-right-to-be-forgotten/
2. Ausloos J. The ‘right to be forgotten’–worth remembering?. Computer Law & Security Review. 2012 Apr 30;28(2):143-52.
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Hi Jordan,
Thank you for this feedback! I too was surprised and intrigued that you could do video resumes and its perhaps something I will be considering seeing as I am a Marketing student and would love to showcase my creativity!
This is a very though-provoking question and it is something I had not yet thought about. I was unaware of this proposal and having read the article you linked in your comment, it was very interesting to read about the different conflicts it has brought between Europeans and Americans. Personally, I happen to agree with the idea that if someone has revealed compromising information they later regret, they should have the right for it to be deleted. There are also many cases where someone has uploaded a picture of another person without their permission and there is a clear invasion of privacy that has been disrespected. In certain situations, like Justine Sacco, I am also a firm believer that you must take responsibility for your actions (which she later did)- but it can also help prevent other people like her from doing the same. At the same time, I do think people should be educated as to what they should be posting on social media as not everyone needs to know every single detail of your life! I found this article very interesting in helping me know more about the ‘right to be forgotten’ proposal https://newrepublic.com/article/117844/googles-right-know-vs-europes-right-be-forgotten.
What would you say your thoughts are on this?
Carolina
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Thanks for the reply Carolina.
The article you linked gives a a unique perspective to the argument I hadn’t considered.
Personally, I feel that people have a right against arbitrary interference with their privacy and oppose unauthorized collection of information. However, I also believe in the freedom of expression.
Most of these ‘right to be forgotten’ claims are based after some public event that has harmed them in the past. As this is already public knowledge anybody should be allowed to right or post about it. Could you imagine if the newspapers were subject to censorship by anyone who wanted to claim? Furthermore, the way this currently implemented is that the search engines will just hide the listing from searches, yet the original source is still available meaning it is never really ‘forgotten’ at all, more just hidden instead.
To sum it up, I don’t believe anyone should have the right to try rewrite history. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
Jordan
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