Being authentic whilst online, meaning unique/genuine (Oxford dictionary, 2016), is key when building successful professional profiles. One common form is LinkedIn – adding connections in order to showcase your experience and impress potential future employers. I found this image below informative yet quirky (digitalcare.org).
I have outlined the differences between using a Facebook account and a LinkedIn account below.
It’s vital that we have platforms like LinkedIn that provide a large domain in which to display professional skills, qualifications and business information. How you use it determines the authenticity and how successful you are. It’s important to give a sense of personality but where do you draw the line between personal, and too personal? An engaging BBC video featuring Michael Weiss (2013) describes how having relevant information in the correct context, in the correct amount is key – you shouldn’t include too much nor too little about yourself in order to engage the reader quickly.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25217962
Online professional profiles have the edge over Facebook when it comes to actively seeking employment. Often, flaws arise from using Twitter etc to promote/seek business. Many people don’t realise the boundaries of online professional profiles, and seemingly overstep the mark. An example of this would be the Justine Sacco case, in which she posted an infamous tweet, resulting in her being fired and vilified.
Some insightful social media statistics are shown below regarding the recruiting process (Jobvite,2014). This highlights how essential it is to portray yourself and your company in a positive light. Just like Justine Sacco, it only takes one tweet for your career to be ruined – keep the boundaries clear.
When browsing online, I found plenty of examples of negative publicity generated on social media.
Personally, I acknowledge the clear boundaries between professionalism and personal life online. Looking to the future, I would hope the online sites providing these career opportunities could’ve doubled in popularity, and therefore demand.
Finally, in order to develop authentic professional profiles it’s essential we have a suitable username/email address. The importance of blogging is also something to mention – writing informatively about topics of interest sets you apart from other candidates – showing you’re passionate about engaging audiences in an insightful/intellectual way (The Employable, 2014). Discussing personal issues is out of bounds, however showing characteristics of your personality is an important factor for potential employers to get to know you better.
400 words
Bibliography
“Authentic Definition”. Authentic. Web. 8 Nov. 2016.
BBC,. Job Hunting: How To Promote Yourself Online. 2013. Web. 8 Nov. 2016.
Digital Care,. How To Create A Professional Linkedin Profile. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.
Facebook And Being Friends With Your Boss. 2011. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.
Facebook,. Facebook Logo. 2016. Print.
“How Blogging Can Help You Get A Job”. TheEmployable. N.p., 2014. Web. 8 Nov. 2016.
“How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life”. NY TIMES (2015): n. pag. Web. 8 Nov. 2016.
LinkedIn,. Linkedin Logo. 2016. Print.
“Social Recruiting Survey”. Jobvite (2014): n. pag. Web. 8 Nov. 2016.
Alice Bath - Blog 
Hi Alice,
Firstly, I felt your blog was very well laid out. I personally don’t like large blocks of text to read so the way you broke up your points with info-graphics and pictures really engaged me. I also like that you took the initiative to find your own examples of an un-professional profile as it highlighted to me just how common of an occurrence it is! One question I do have is relating to the image you made about the differences between Facebook and LinkedIn. Do you think that Facebook profiles in the future will be able to be, “personal, funny and non serious”? I ask this because, as your other info-graphic demonstrates, “60% of employers are using Facebook to recruit”. Is it possible that in a world where jobs are so vital it will hinder you to be seen as anything other than professional?
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Hi Tom,
Thank you for your feedback!
I would like to hope that Facebook stays as common ground between employers as well as job hunters as something that can be used for personal reasons/ fun for both parties involved. I suppose that by altering privacy settings on your Facebook account this can ease any worries regarding your profile hindering you from getting a job. Although it’s a very interesting point. Who knows what will happen in future!
Thanks again,
Alice
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Hi Alice,
I enjoyed the title of your post, incorporating a play on words (something I tried with my own post) and felt that overall you made strong points throughout, drawing on all of the sources with clarity.
The first image you used was effective in guiding readers towards developing their professional online profile, e.g ‘is this relevant to my professional development? If not then it doesn’t belong on Linkedin’ – directly addressing the topic in hand.
I do feel however, that your second graphic is perhaps contradicted later in your blog. Although you say Facebook is informal and personal, the statistics taken from Jobvite display that 66% of recruiters have actually used this medium to recruit employees. I would argue that Facebook can therefore not be that personal and perhaps advising readers to use a funny/non-serious profile picture may hinder future job opportunities. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.
I appreciated the screenshots of the Justine Sacco tweet and the Facebook status. They are both great examples of what not to do when developing your online profile!
Great work and I look forward to reading your future posts!
Tobie
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Hi Tobie,
thank you for your feedback, its much appreciated! I agree with your view that Facebook can’t be all that personal judging by the statistics, although I do believe that LinkedIn is more of a suitable medium within which to do this. LinkedIn is, to me, more of a professional and serious platform from which to launch/search for a career when compared to Facebook. The image is there to simplify and clearly outline the differences between the two sites.
Thank you again for your comments!
Alice
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