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Advancing your career or changing jobs comes with numerous challenges. Getting your CV to catch the attention of HR, the recruiting manager or your new boss is the first of those challenges. In fact, you get about six seconds to grab your prospective employers attention. Once you catch their attention, only a small part of your work is done.
If you want to progress in or change your job blending in is not an option. You need to stand out from the crowd in a highly competitive recruitment market. When it comes down to it, your online and social presence informs the hiring process. So how can you use your digital presence to improve your career prospects?
Your CV and cover letter tell one part of your career story, your social media presence tells the rest. Think carefully about the information you want to communicate through these platforms. Sit down and plan a social media strategy around your personal career story. Use these platforms cleverly to help you deliver that story in an informal yet impactful way. Get a professional profile picture, keep content professional and craft your bio to suit your career story.
As you build your professional digital strategy remember anything you post, share or engage with online is public forever more. Make no mistake this all forms part of your online CV. So, if you are not sure how a potential employer might view your social media escapades activate your privacy settings. Make your profile on any account that you post personal information from nights out or family occasions private accessible by you, your friends and your family.
LinkedIn is the go-to social media outlet of choice for recruiters and hiring managers. It is the ideal platform to share your career story, connect with those in industry and engage with professionals at all levels. Take a great profile picture, include all your qualifications, any voluntary work, and previous work experiences. If your employer knows you want to change job, consider adding the line ?Seeking New Opportunities? to your profile. This alerts others to your professional availability. If on the other hand, your boss doesn’t know, turn off your notifications. Therefore, nobody in your network knows you are updating your profile. Finally, change your profile URL to your name which allows others to find you more easily. Do this by accessing settings.
While it might be nice to show pictures of your lunch and after work drinks, what your prospective employer is interested in is your professionalism. If you want to stand out from the crowd, use your digital footprint as a branding tool. Seek out and share online content that is industry relevant, exciting, and cutting edge. By doing this, you not alone learn, but you appear professionally impressive.
By Sinead Brady