Discuss the ways in which an authentic online professional profile can be developed.
“It used to be that your resume was the determining factor in landing a job, but now social platforms are becoming the norm for both networking and finding work.” (Weiler)
It is important to connect and collaborate with online professionals and companies to develop an authentic online professional profile. In the age of social media, we have countless outlets for building such profiles which can be used for job searching and connecting with employers (Hartwig, 2013), be it through sites such as LikedIn, Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Pintrest or YouTube. LinkedIn is conceivably one of the most universal ways in which an online professional profile can be developed, with Facebook and Twitter following closely behind and ever growing in use for online professional profiles (Jobvite, 2012).
How can an authentic professional profile be developed with LinkedIn?
With over 175 million registered users, the professional networking site LinkedIn has become one of the key ways in which an online professional profile can be developed. As we live in a visual world, it is important that an authentic professional profile on LinkedIn has a photo attached; but it is of even greater importance that this photo is suitable for professional audiences, and not geared towards social audiences – such as a holiday photo. It is important not to leave professional online profiles, like LinkedIn profiles, incomplete. Online professional profiles should be created with the purpose of being found; the more incomplete a profile, the less chance there is of employers finding or having interest in such a profile (Hyams, 2012).
Utilising functions such as LinkedIn groups for discussions, questions and commentary is another way to develop an authentic professional profile. It demonstrates interest in a particular field or company further than just a job application, and will help to gain recognition as a genuine professional profile. It is also important to develop an authentic professional online profile by gaining recommendations on LinkedIn from previous or current colleagues. The quality of such recommendations goes a long way in demonstrating authenticity rather than quantity of recommendations, so it is important to only request these from who you have or currently work with and who know you (Hyams, 2012).
Is it all about LinkedIn or are there other platforms that can be used professionally? How can we make these authentic?
Despite considered less reputable for online professional profiles than LinkedIn, Twitter is fast becoming a social networking platform which is used to develop an online professional profile. In order to make such profiles authentic, users should follow companies of interest, retweet and converse with hiring managers to build a rapport, create a 140 character resume and clearly indicate that new job opportunities are of interest. Because Twitter can combine both a person’s personal and professional identities, it is important to keep any tweets ‘clean’ and to adopt a photo with a professional appearance (Silverman, 2013).
Twitter is not the only alternative to LinkedIn, and clearly there are multiple ways in which a professional and authentic online profile can be developed, with only a few being touched upon in this post. For example, musical artists may prefer to represent themselves on YouTube rather than LinkedIn in as a way to portray their professional online profile.
It is important to note that true authentic profiles take time, effort and dedication to develop. A professional profile which is created in the space of a few hours is unlikely to be authentic and a true representation of your professional self (Harris, 2013). Perhaps the most vital element to creating an authentic online professional profile is to remember not to lie; chances are, you will always be caught out! Take for example how the former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson was forced to step down after it was discovered he did not have a computer science degree as his CV claimed.
References:
Harris, L., (2013), Building Your Online Professional Profile, [Online], Available: https://connect.soton.ac.uk/p32693389 [Accessed: 8th March 2014]
Hartwig, E., (2013), How to Effectively Use Twitter as a Job Search Resource, [Online], Available: http://mashable.com/2013/02/09/twitter-job-search [Accessed: 6th March 2014]
Hyams, C., (2012), Personal Branding on LinkedIn: 10 Mistakes to Avoid, [Online], Available: http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/11/09/personal-branding-on-linkedin-10-mistakes-to-avoid/ [Accessed: 7th March 2014]
Jobvite, (2012), Social Recruiting Survey Results, [Online], Available: http://web.jobvite.com/rs/jobvite/images/Jobvite_2012_Social_Recruiting_Survey.pdf [Accessed: 6th March 2014]
Silverman, R., (2013), The New Résumé: It’s 140 Characters, [Online], Available: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323820304578412741852687994?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424127887323820304578412741852687994.html
Weiler, W., [n.d.], 6 Things Your Professional Profile Needs, [Online], Available: http://blog.hiredmyway.com/6-things-your-professional-profile-needs/ [Accessed on 7th March 2014]
Living and Working on the Web 
Hi Becca 🙂
This is a very thorough and well researched blog that like the couple of others that I’ve read focuses very much on LinkedIn as the chief platform for a professional profile. Although that’s very much an accurate conclusion based on the source material you’ve listed here, my own reading led me to a difference conclusion that Twitter and blogs are the heart and soul of your online profile while Linked acts as a hub for these profiles. As I say, that mostly comes from different source material but I’d be interested in knowing how you feel a blog fits in an online professional profile as our conclusions were so drastically different and I’d really appreciate your ideas on that. I will say you’ve definitely converted me to having a lot more respect for the opportunities that LinkedIn provides and I’ll certainly be doing more work on improving mine off the back of this blog.
Keep up the good work 🙂
Hi George,
Having read your blog post I agree; our conclusions are quite different! Having spent a fair bit of time this week having a bit of an edit on my LinkedIn I can see the point you are making about how our LinkedIn profile can act as a ‘hub’ for our other online professional profiles – especially with the ability to externally link our LinkedIn followers to these profiles (a pretty handy tutorial I found on how to do this can be found here:http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_add_web_links_to_my_linkedin_profile/).
I still think LinkedIn has more capabilities than just being a hub for our other professional profiles though. The ability to network and engage in discussions through LinkedIn groups and discussion boards I would argue allows us to create a profile or a brand of ourselves just through LinkedIn alone – although obviously our presence elsewhere on the web helps contribute to this.
The reason why I did not cover blog posts in depth as an authentic professional profile in my post is probably down to my personal experience with blogs. Until this module, I had never had a blog of my own – and I always viewed them in more of a personal/hobby way. Having thought about it a little more, I can see why a blog would be considered an online professional profile. I think caution would just have to be taken if a blog expressed a lot of personal or strong views; I’m not sure these are necessarily positive elements to showcase to prospective employers, but I do believe it is important to demonstrate your personality and interests and after considering your point I do believe blogs are an ‘authentic’ way to showcase these.
I would still give preference to LinkedIn for my professional online profile, and I still disagree with viewing it as a ‘hub’ – I think it is a separate online profile in its own right with the capability to link to other profiles. But having considered your point I definitely agree that blogs can contribute to our online professional profiles.
Hope that answers your question!
Rebecca
[…] our professional profile; essentially making it more authentic. Until George mentioned it in my comments, blogs had not been a large focus to my post this week. George questioned why I hadn’t considered […]