Most of us are at that stage where we are actively job hunting for next year. The economic outlook may be improving but competition is fierce and I’m busy trying to make myself stand out. And to stand out these days it’s an absolute necessity to have a heavy online presence. Websites like about.me and LinkedIn are redefining job hunting in the digital age, LinkedIn is the market leader with 332 million users; Nik Nyman pointed out in his blog that “94% of all recruiters use LinkedIn to search for candidates”.
The first thing I was told on my first day at my internship was that I had to network relentlessly and LinkedIn was the tool to use to advertise myself. You set up your profile and list your skills and experience and your colleagues and network endorse your skills, so potential employers know your skills/experience and have references to back it up. It’s an effective setup that is becoming increasingly popular amongst most employers. In the end I managed to get endorsements from 8 or so senior investment professionals and when I apply to corporate finance roles later in the year, employers can see my LinkedIn profile and see that I’m good enough to be endorsed by respected professionals.
Another way to increase your professional presence is to follow employers on Twitter and Facebook and engage with them regularly. In the past when people would go to an interview you would have to demonstrate why you wanted to join but online engagement has made this much easier and increased our visibility to employers. Searle (2006) points out that engagement can create “positive reactions to the firm” and “shape new employees psycholocial contracts” with the firm.
It isn’t just about creating LinkedIn profiles, prospective employees must engage with brands and market themselves like products to stand out, we must understand that we are a commodity in the labour market (a bit soul destroying, but essentially the reality) and differentiate ourselves.
You're Inside My Head 
HI!
I like that you draw on your own real life experience within your blog as it adds insight into you as an author. It might have been good to add links to the sites you recommend such as LinkedIn and even Twitter and Facebook.
As the blog is primarily written for other people on the module the reference of “most of us are at that stage” is fine, although, I personally feel that if you were looking to connect with a wider audience it may cause some readers to feel less included and less inclined to read on.
I am also interested in what you mean by “engage with” employers on Twitter and Facebook, and how you would go about this?
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Thanks for the feedback Jess!
If the post seems rushed or lacking in detail it’s because it was a bit rushed. I wanted to talk about how to engage businesses online and put my LinkedIn and Twitter profiles on the blog but time constraints put paid to that ( I have 4 simultaneous assignments to do right now! ). I agree that referring to the people who are also doing this module in the post might leave the general public out of the loop for the post but if they have read the previous posts then they should be able to follow. However, I take your advice on board and probably make the post more inclusive nxt time. Engagement with companies on Twitter or Facebook can be as simple as responding to Q&A sessions, feedback hours or taking part in competitions. The more we participate the more name recognition we have and publicity we generate for the brands. It’s a symbiotic process, by participating we stand out while the brands get to advertise their products/services to our friends and followers.
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Hi!
I enjoyed reading your post this week only I too had a couple of questions. As someone who uses LinkedIn fairly regularly after having a working 15 months abroad I do really realise how important and useful it is to have a presence on it. The only thing I struggle with is going further than LinkedIn to create an authentic professional profile. I think to do this we do have to “differentiate ourselves” like you say towards the end of your post, but how can we do this? I still personally consider Facebook and Twitter to be quite personal social networks, so I do wonder what else there is we can put ourselves on aside from LinkedIn.
Sophie
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Hey Sophie,
To differentiate ourselves it’s perhaps better to consider our competition in the marketplace. We have young people entering the market who are relying on the same traditional methods of job hunting most of the time ( I am most of the time ); I should point out that it does matter what industry you are interested in. If you are applying to financial institutions or civil/government jobs then there isn’t much emphasis on digital interaction so competition is less fierce but it’s the opposite in the marketing/technology/fashion business. Employers are looking for creative and driven people all the time, they want to see people take the initiative or do something off the beaten path. Something as simple as creating an about.me page ( rarely do people do this ) or reviewing a product online of a company you are interested in can get you noticed in the creative industries. Many firms hire social media manager nowadays so constantly engaging companies can get you noticed by these people, it’s matter or preseverance and constant engagement. I wouldn’t consider Twitter to be as personal as Facebook as Twitter is more publicly accessible and it’s basically inteded for the purpose of people talking to the world and probably a useful tool to engage with firms. Hope your question was answered.
Cheers!
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