Managing an Online Professional Portfolio

Discuss the ways in which an authentic online professional profile can be developed.

Credit: Social Media Comparison Infographic via Leverage, New Age Media

Can you visualize yourself not using any of the social media sites shown above? Ayman N. (2014) advocated that the general population spends nearly four hours a day on social media which is equivalent to half a working day. So why aren’t we using social media more to our advantage in career searches? Social media offers both applicants and employers the opportunity to be more proactive in their job hunt (Holmes R., 2013). 

As marketers, I think self-branding plays such a vital role in today’s fast-moving society. Chamorro-Premuzic T. (2013) suggested that self-branding is about being a signal in the noise of human capital; the stronger your brand, the stronger that signal. It is clear that without an idiosyncratic presence, recruiters will not be able to spot you from the vast crowd online. Therefore, users are highly recommended to present an authentic and professional profile of themselves.

Here is an extremely useful video by Rose A., five steps to creating your personal brand:

Credit: Rose A., TV. 

5 Steps to Create Your Personal Brand by Amanda Rose. 

via YouTube

At the end of the day, organizations are looking to recruit people with innovative ideas rather than monotonous automatons. Thus, users should use the right social media networks effectively to attract potential employers. For example, Twitter did not emerge immediately as an apparent professional platform online. Twitter is only said to be emerging as one of the preeminent social networks used by organizations to recruit new employees (LeViet S., 2014). Additionally, Ronson J. (2015) has presented an article regarding a racist comment made by Justine Sacco that ruined the latter’s public persona. Thus, individuals should acknowledge how influential social media is. Hence, consumers must be mindful of what they post online.    

LinkedIn is certainly one of the most commonly used sites in the recruitment process for numerous organizations. Undoubtedly, it is essential to many marketing recruitment agencies like Blue Skies and Major Players. Here is a video on how you can set up a professional LinkedIn account:

 Credit: Lead Creation. How to Create a Professional LinkedIn Profile.

via YouTube

Furthermore, yes, LinkedIn will definitely benefit individuals especially the ones who have working experience, and are looking for managerial positions. However, I have to agree with Sophie Pitman, a final year student from University of Southampton. She suggested the use of other social media platforms that would be more advantageous for students and fresh graduates like about.me and WordPress. Ultimately, it solely depends on individuals and what career paths they are pursuing. Nevertheless, as the saying goes, better safe than sorry. Therefore, I will be constructing my LinkedIn and about.me profiles by the end of this week. 

Lastly, it is essential to make the utmost out of the virtual tools which are readily available to us. Also, it is important to ensure consistency and professional presence on the various social media platforms online.

[420 Words, excluding citations & references]

References

Marketing Recruitment Agency. Blue Skies [Accessed November 05, 2015]

Marketing & PR Jobs, Advertising, Creative & Design Jobs London. Major Players [Accessed November, 2015]

Ronson, Jon (2015) How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco's Life The New York Times Magazine.

Le Viet, Stephane (2014) Twitter's Redesign Makes the Platform Ripe for Recruitment. MashableAsia

Leverage, New Age Media, Social Media Comparison Infographic (2014) https://leveragenewagemedia.com/blog/social-media-infographic/ [Accessed November 05, 2015]

Nyman, Nik (2014) Using social media in your job search. Web Science MOOC, University of Southampton

Holmes, Ryan (2013) How Social Media Is Job Hunting Better - For Candidates & Companies. Hootsuite

Chamorro-Premuzic, Tomas (2013) The Future of You. Harvard Business Review

Tapscott, Don. (2004) Five ways talent management must change World Economic Forum, Agenda

The Employable (2014) How blogging can help you get a job.

BBC News (2013) Job hunting: How to promote yourself online.

Jobvite (2014) Social Recruiting Survey Statistics

Carruthers, Richard (2012) Managing Your Digital Footprint. University of Southampton

Harris, Lisa. Living and Working on the Web #MANG2049 #hangout7 YouTube Video [Accessed November 05, 2015]

Rose, Amanda, TV. 5 Steps to Create Your Personal Brand by Amanda Rose. YouTube Video [Accessed November 05, 2015]

Lead Creation. How to Create a Professional LinkedIn Profile. YouTube Video [Accessed November 05, 2015]