Developed in conjunction with UCL Careers, this hands-on workshop will help you find out what potential employers see when they search for your profile online and learn how to tailor it to make it more appealing. We’ll also discuss how to keep your private life private and suggest ways to raise your digital profile. Bring a smart device along and a pen to get the most out of this session.
2. What’s we’ll cover?
• How can social media help you find a job?
• Why is your online presence important?
• What’s your digital footprint?
• Tips for improving your online presence.
– Keeping your private life private.
– Promoting your digital skills and experience.
3. What’s a digital footprint?
• When you go online you leave a ‘footprint’ of
personal information behind you.
• Some of this can be seen by others and is often
referred to as your ‘online presence’.
• This workshop will help you identify your own
digital footprint and suggest ways to improve it.
4. How can social media help you find a job?
• Create your “online brand”.
• Network.
• Show off your skills.
• Backup your qualifications and experience.
5. How can social media help you find a job?
Employers are increasingly realising the benefits
of utilising social media in the workplace*.
BUT
“Many job seekers are device savvy - but not in
a business context!”
– IT employer, 2014
* Jue, A.L. (2010) Social media at work: how networking tools propel organizational performance. 1st ed. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass.
6. Tales from the real world
Youth Police Commissioner resigns…
7. People who’ve lost jobs through
social media blunders!
http://mashable.com/2011/06/16/weinergate-social-media-job-loss/
8. What’s ok to tweet?
A. Keep it purely
professional.
B. Mix in
uncontroversial
personal topics
and opinions.
C. Controversial
opinions using a
pseudo name.
D. Controversial
opinions using
your real name.
Keep
itpurelyprofessional.
M
ixin
uncontroversialpe...
Controversialopinionsusi..
Controversialopinionsus...
25% 25%25%25%
9.
10. Why is your online presence important?
• 93% of hiring managers (surveyed by Jobvite)
review a candidate’s social profile before hiring.
• Contentious topics to avoid include:
– illegal drugs (83%)
– sexual posts (70%)
– profanity (67%)
– alcohol (44%)
http://time.com/money/3510967/jobvite-social-media-profiles-job-applicants
11. Why is your online presence important?
• A 2014 study found 51% of employers rejected
candidates after checking their online profiles:
– Provocative images / text (46%)
– Drinking & using drugs (41%)
– Lying (38%)
– Badmouthing their company/colleagues (36%)
– Poor communication skills (32%)
– Discrimination (28%)
http://www.careerbuilder.co.uk/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?sd=6%2F26%2F2014&id=pr829&ed=12%2F31%2F
2014
12. Why is your online presence important?
• The same study found 23% of employers hired
candidates based on their online profiles, which
conveyed:
– personality (46%)
– confirmed professional qualifications (45%)
– professionalism (43%)
– wide range of interests (40%)
– strong communication skills (40%)
– creativity (36%)
– good references from others (20%)
– interaction with company social media (24%)
http://www.careerbuilder.co.uk/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?sd=6%2F26%2F2014&id=pr829&ed=12%2F31%2F2014
13. What social media tools do you use?
A. Facebook.
B. Google+
C. LinkedIn.
D. Twitter.
E. WordPress
F. Blogger.
G. YouTube.
H. Instagram.
I. Pinterest.
J. Others…
A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J.
10% 10% 10% 10% 10%10%10%10%10%10%
16. What did I find when I did this?
• *My address!
• *My age :o
• *Who I’ve lived with in the UK
But also:
• Blog posts
• My public LinkedIn, Google+ & Facebook profiles
• Academia.edu papers
• Conference presentations
• My websites
*On www.192.com – you can request this information is removed
17. What do you think you’ll find?
http://www.barbarapachtersblog.com/2013/11/on-job-search-avoid-these-6-social_20.html
24. Tales from the real world
A friend asked to remove (innocent) content
that she was not comfortable being public…
25. Check your Facebook profile!
Of 220 surveyed doctors who had Facebook accounts*:
– 63% had activated their privacy options.
– 37% had publicly available accounts. Of these:
• 46% showed photos of the users drinking alcohol.
• 43% indicated their relationship status.
• 37% revealed users’ sexual orientation.
• 16% revealed their religious views.
• 10% showed photos of the users intoxicated.
*MacDonald, Joanna, Sangsu Sohn and Pete Ellis. 2010. "Privacy, professionalism and Facebook: a dilemma
for young doctors." Medical Education 44(8):805-813.
http://equilibriumnetwork.co.uk/facebook-should-you-lead-a-double-life/facebook-logo/
26. Use LinkedIn to market
yourself and network
Improve your online profile.
27. LinkedIn
• Used by 95% of employers to search and
contact candidates*.
• Over 433 million members in over 200
countries and territories#.
• Students and recent graduates are
LinkedIn's fastest-growing demographic
with over 40 million currently#.
*https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/jobvite_socialrecruiting_survey2014.pdf
#https://press.linkedin.com/about-linkedin
29. Advice from LinkedIn
Use keywords to be found!
Look at job descriptions for your dream job.
• What skills are listed as requirements?
• What job titles are they using?
• What specific terms are listed in these
descriptions?
• Is the same concept listed three different ways by
three different companies?
Make sure your resume incorporates popular ways
way of saying the same thing.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140401012957-460284-5-things-jobseekers-need-to-know-about-linkedin
30. Lynda.com
• Video tutorials for software, creative & business skills.
• Free to UCL staff and students.
• Display completed courses on your LinkedIn profile.
• Learning paths for particular careers.
• www.ucl.ac.uk/Lynda
Learning Paths
32. Create (or curate) online
content to showcase your skills
You should also…
33. Top social networks (UK)
http://wearesocial.com/uk/special-reports/digital-in-2016 - slide 491
34. What content might you create or curate?
• Tweets
• Blog posts
• Discussion forum posts
• Images
• Videos
• Portfolios
• Websites
35. Tales from the real world
There was an apprentice who…
36. UCL Student Blog
*minimum contributions required
Want to get started with developing your digital
footprint?
We’re looking for students and staff to get involved.
Sign up to the UCL Student Blogging project:
– Write video reviews for your modules.
– Write app reviews to help others at UCL.
– Receive writing support and guidance.
– Get recognition with HEAR*.
Register interest:
https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-student-blog
37. Have you used Creative Commons
to license your own work?
A. Yes.
B. No.
C. I don’t know what it is.
A. B. C.
18%
45%
36%
38. Creative Commons helps you share your
knowledge and creativity with the world.
Visit https://creativecommons.org
39. Tips for improving your online profile
#1. Keep personal profiles private.
#2. Use LinkedIn to market yourself & network.
#3. Create (or curate) online content to
showcase your skills:
E.g. tweets, blogs, discussion forum posts, images,
videos, portfolios, websites.
40. Social Media Examples
• Blog
– Anthony Finkelstein - Dean of UCL Engineering until 2015:
http://blog.prof.so
• Twitter
– Melissa Terras – Director, UCL Centre for Digital Humanities
https://twitter.com/melissaterras
• Video
– Matt Jenner – UCL Distance Learning Facilitator:
http://www.youtube.com/user/shangrulawhatnow/videos
• Portfolio
– Domi Sinclair – UCL Learning Technologist:
https://myportfolio.ucl.ac.uk/user/view.php?id=5094
Jessica Gramp – Digital Education
This is a workshop developed in conjunction with the UCL Careers Service
we run with students, usually in induction week for undergraduates to help them start thinking about their future careers.
-mobile device connected to wifi
-clickers coming around
-worksheet
-take a pen if needed, but please return it afterwards.
Your footprint includes personal information you enter into forms, as well as your behaviour in terms of clicks and page view times.
We’re interested in is your publically visible online presence.
Today’s workshop will help identify what public information is available about you on the Internet, and how you can improve it to improve your job prospects.
A number of things social media is useful for when job hunting:
Networking
Helping to create an “online brand” or ‘online presence’
Showing off your skills, in particular technical skills – more generic skills like communication too.
Proving your qualifications and experience – are what appear on your resume.
While people might know how to use technology
They might not know how BEST to use it in a professional context.
Britain's first youth crime commissioner resigned after tweets she had sent years earlier were uncovered and publicised that portrayed her in a negative light.
“The comments were racist, homophobic and condoned violence and drug-taking.”
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/apr/09/paris-brown-stands-down-twitter
There are many other instances of social media blunders that have lost people their jobs:
Tweeting offensive messages from the work account. Guess what? He lost his job.
Tweeting disrespectfully about a job offer – guess what? the offer was withdrawn.
Sharing videos of dubious work practices and conversations without employer permission (Dominoes and NBC).
Some people keep their tweets completely professional.
Others mix in uncontroversial personal opinion.
Others still might use a pseudo name to post controversial opinions.
Others still use their real name.
As far as recruiters are concerned “ You are what you tweet”.
They don’t know you, so every time you retweet something think to yourself.
Would I be happy for a future employer to see this attached to my name?
2014
illegal drugs (83%, although 2% viewed using illegal drugs in a positive light)
sexuality
Profanity
Alcohol
Provactive text and images
Lying – about skipping work, or qualifications
Badmouthing their company/colleagues (36%)
Poor communication skills (32%)
Discrimination (28%)
If you have anything like this publically visible online you want to think about taking these offline.
On a positive note, the Same study…
Personality – prompted employers to see them as a “good fit” for the company.
Confirmed professional qualifications
Professionalism, wide range of interests, strong communications, creativity, good references
When candidates interacted with company’s social media profiles, this painted them in a good light. Might be a sign of an eagerness to work for this company.
Others…
Does anyone want to share what OTHER social media they use?
Slideshare
UK electoral commission sells data to online companies who then share it publically.
There’s a checkbox on electoral registration forms if you don’t want this shared.
Once it’s online you can request the information to be removed.
Turn to the person next to you
Write down what you find on the NOW side of your handout (5 mins)
Share with your neighbour what you found.
Now cross out anything you don’t want appearing on the google search.
Now I’m going to give you three tips to improving your “online profile”
Write down anything you might add or change about your profile on the future side of the worksheet.
Although there are a number of online profiles you might want to keep private, Facebook is probably the most popular.
Privacy settings > change settings, check what it looks like by viewing as public.
What about other people posting things about you on Facebook?
Privacy settings can also help with this.
Do you control photos and posts that you are tagged in
or that appear on your facebook wall
by manually approving them?
Privacy > see more settings.
Ask friends to remove information about you that you aren’t comfortable with.
Reference to a party she attended when she was younger
Because she was a teacher and didn’t want her student’s parents seeing the post and assuming she was drinking.
Remember you can always ask someone to remove content you aren’t comfortable with.
2010 survey of doctors who used facebook found:
nearly half showed the doctors drinking.
A number also showed information most of us would consider private.
10% even showed pictures of those doctors intoxicated.
Keeping in mind their patients may google them. I wonder how many would be happy for those patients to have this information about them?
So what can you do to positively impact your online profile.
2016
20 million UK members.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140401012957-460284-5-things-jobseekers-need-to-know-about-linkedin
Use the terms companies are using in their job descriptions – and use a variety of terms.
When these companies search for candidates your profile is more likely to appear.
At UCL we’re very fortunate to have access to Lynda.com.
As we heard earlier from Moira, Lynda.com offers online courses.
You can display your completed courses on your LinkedIn profile.
Lynda offers learning paths for particular careers to help guide you through their online courses.
You should also be creating or
Curating (collecting together) – select, organise, present
CONTENT that showcases your skills.
Ignoring the items in red you can see the most popular public social platforms in the UK in 2016, based on a survey conducted by “we are social”, where people self-reported their use of social platforms.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Google+
LinkedIn
Pinterest
You might want to broaden the technologies you use to give you exposure to new networks and skills.
Here are some generic ideas to help you brainstorm ways to improve your online presence.
Write any down that you want to follow up later.
A few years ago (2014) I attended a digital skills events at the British Computer Society (BCS) and heard this story…
…went to work for a company who knew nothing about social media. By introducing them to Facebook and Twitter he increased their sales and ended up staying on at the company long term.
If you want to improve your online presence by blogging
UCL runs a student blog.
You can sign up and get support to write reviews of videos and apps on the UCL Student blog.
And at the same time you can get recognition through the (HEAR) Higher Education Achievement Report.
And when you create your own content how do you share it with others?
Creative Commons licenses allows you to share your work with others which helping you to protect your work from being used in ways you are not comfortable with, by making it clear to those using it what they can and can’t do with it.
1. Lock down Facebook and consider what you post to Twitter.
2. Get your LinkedIn profile up to date.
3. Create online content to show off your digital skills to potential employers.
E.g. tweets, blog posts, forum contributions, images, videos, websites.