Are you aware of your Digital Footprint? Improve your salability!
‘Nowadays you have to prove you and not just what you’ve done’, this is according to Tony Anscombe, who mentions that our digital footprint is a sure way of showing our authenticity.
Last Wednesday morning I headed across to The Soho Hotel for AVG’s Digital Diaries event where an organized discussion took place about how technology has impacted different generations.
The speakers were Tony Anscombe (Senior Security Evangelist at AVG Technologies), Steve Ward (Owner/ Director of Cloud Nine Recruitment) and James Eder (Founder of The Beans Group).
Here is what you should be thinking about:
FACTS
UK graduates who display drunken photos on their social media profiles reduce their chances of gaining an interview by 70 per cent, AVG Technologies’ latest Digital Diaries study reveals. The study of UK HR Professionals, also found that 90 per cent search for unprotected social media profiles in order to assess a candidate’s suitability.
• Range of social media platforms used to vet candidates: UK recruiters are accessing potential candidates using a range of social media platforms, Facebook (85 per cent); Twitter (47 per cent); You Tube (23 per cent); Instagram (16 per cent); Flickr (15 per cent)
• 72 per cent of recruiters rely on LinkedIn to conduct their searches
• Profiles on LinkedIn deemed unreliable by recruiters: Only one in three recruiters fully trust the information candidates post about themselves.
• Over half of recruiters have turned down a job applicant because of their online profile
• 65 per cent also view the content they find online about a candidate as very important
Therefore, be social media savvy and hold some responsibility where your digital footprint is concerned, because ‘more people spend longer working out where they’re going on holiday in the Summer than about the job they are applying for’ – be a little different: start now and twist your online profile to benefit your career…
MEASURES TO BE TAKEN
• Write a blog and use it as a way of expressing your writing skills and ideas (even if it is just commenting on current affairs, it is something and it is definitely a start!)
• Does having your own website sound up your street? Get on it.
• Google yourself (less than half of you have!)– How much of your online presence is public? If you don’t know, how are you able to change your privacy settings? Allow for misspellings too.
• Make sure that your online networks match your CV – ie. LinkedIn. It’s very easy to ‘exaggerate your existence’. HR managers use LinkedIn to compare the veracity.
• Highlight any online presence that you want an interviewer to see on your CV (you might then avoid the accidental click onto something that you would rather leave unshared).
• Twitter makes it very easy to see someone’s online presence- use it to your advantage, follow influential people within your industry and post pictures/links to your previous work (especially if you are applying to work in the creative industry)
• Build ‘brand’ association & be innovative – there are lots of candidates out there!
• Tailor your online networks depending on what sort of industry you are applying to: (Finance – perhaps they won’t want to see you having a drunken, artistic weekend…the PR industry on the other hand might have a different view). One of the obvious contributing factors in recruitment, after a good CV, is the question of cultural fit – will you integrate well into a team? This can all be contemplated and even backed up by your online social networks.– So be aware! It would be naïve to think that nowadays this would not be a likely scenario.
• Recruiters also have a digital footprint – remember to look at theirs before an interview. (However, do get your own reputation in order before checking your recruiters’!)
‘You are a brand so sell it and put yourself out there – if you are aware of your online presence then you have a competitive advantage over other candidates.’
Ailsa Renton – Marketing Intern at WEXO, & Leeds University graduate
