Don't change your career- change your settings!

By: Bree Blair

Do you have a Facebook and/or Twitter account?

Do you want a job or want to keep your job?

If you answered yes to both of these questions, then this blog is for you! Many people underestimate how much of an impact social networks have on your career. Professionalism takes place in and out of the office, including your appearance on social sites. Companies and organizations want people representing their office well. Of course you can still have fun, live your life, and share it with your friends, but representing yourself well is just as important.

The first thing you should always do is make sure your profile and information are completely private. For Facebook, this makes sure that no one except for your friends can see your wall posts, pictures, or even pages you liked if you make it secure enough. You can even hide your page from specific people or groups, so if you're really worried about someone finding your page, there's always an extra route to take. This is really important to do; you don't want an employer getting the wrong impression of you just because of something or someone you are friends with on Facebook. Unless you are close friends with coworkers, it's suggested to keep that information private. Keeping your social life private from your professional life is usually the safer way out and not worth the risk, with exceptions of course. Plus, I don't think you want your employer seeing some old tagged photo of you from spring break in college that you didn't even know was on there (embarrassing). If for some reason you just really don't want to make your profile private, just remember to never post anything about work or your coworkers!

If you have a Twitter account, definitely consider making your tweets private. There would be nothing worse than having your employer see your ranting tweets about all your pet peeves or how much you can't wait to quit your job. Even if your profiles and tweets are private, always avoid ever mentioning anything about work. You could be as careful as possible, and at some point, word can get back to your employer who knows someone who knows someone who follows your social site, and then a situation comes up that you really don't want to be in. Keeping business and social life separate is an easy way to stay in the clear from looking bad at the workplace. If you just thrive off of people re-tweeting you, then be careful with what you say. You don't want to give off the wrong impression to your employer or coworkers. You don't have to change your whole life just because you have a career; you just might want to change your privacy settings!

Creating an Online Presence

Written By Monica Page


When many people think of creating an online presence their mind automatically goes to creating a Facebook or LinkedIn page. Although social media can be a beneficial addition to your job search, it is also important to use other outlets to expand your reach. Whether it is creating a personal website or ensuring that employers are able to look at your complete employment history, using online components can simplify your job search and make it easier for recruiters to find you.

Online and Offline Components
It is important that what you present online and what you present in person are the same. Resumes have a certain amount of available space to fill with information. With an online version, it may be possible to extend the document to more than a standard page. Your print resume, which should not be longer than a page, can be tailored to a specific position. For example, if you are applying for a marketing position the resume you present should touch on your experience relevant to that position. If you have an excess amount of non-relevant experience, have the information readily available on your LinkedIn profile with a link to the page on your resume. This way, you are presenting the employer with the relevant experience first and if they want to know more about you everything is readily available to look through.

Central Hub/ Official Website
An easier and more creative way to develop an online presence is to create a simple online “landing page” for recruiters to access with links to all your various social networking websites and webpages. Free websites such as about.me and flavors.me allow you to create and edit websites that contain all of your social media channels and any additional information you would like to have. The benefit of using these channels is that they are both free and require no HTML or web design experience to manage. In the simplest terms, your personal website should act as an RSS feed for yourself. Blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr and any other relevant websites you may be a part of should be linked to your personal website. Recruiters don’t want to sit and type in every single social media URL you have, it is best to just provide them with a simple link that they can click through for all your information.


Visual Resume
This may be more along the lines of creative careers, but visual-based resumes are becoming more popular. Whether you create an infographic or chart chronicling your employment experience and skills, it is best if they are accessible online in addition to paper versions. The reason for this is to ensure that all the colors and graphical quality are seen in their best representation on a computer screen. Depending on the employer (or your own) printer, quality may be lost which could look bad on your part especially if you are applying for a position in advertising or graphic design.

Social Media
A simple Google search can reveal the content you post on social media, so it may be wise to just provide the links to the recruiters, especially if you are applying for a position in either marketing or communications. Social media is the double-edged sword where you are made to believe that what you post is private, but it actually isn’t. The best advice would be to either keep your social media channels clean enough that if an employer finds them and searches through them, they won’t be discouraged from hiring you or to just not have them at all. It may be heartbreaking to close your Facebook, but one misplaced photo from South Beach could make or break your job search.

It is possible to begin your job search without a proper online presence, but it will make you look a little dated. For careers in communications it may be expected to have personal websites and social media channels versus those looking for careers in the field of law and medicine. The benefit of the Internet and technology is that you can create and delete what you feel is and is not relevant to your job search. When deciding on what you feel you need, put yourself in the shoes of the recruiter and think of the best way to search for and obtain information on multiple candidates.