Topic 6 – Living and Working on the Web Module Summary

My experiences of this Living and Working on the Web module have been interesting. Before commencing it I would have said that I had a decent grasp of many technological methods that are gradually expanding into our every day lives. I was capable of writing in HTML to a decent standard, could program in BASIC, had a relatively fast word-per-minute typing speed and had used various different programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Access as well as Macromedia Flash and Dreamweaver to a passable standard.

However, the use of social media was something that I had never anticipated would be a fundamental factor in any attempts to get a job in the future. Previously, my use had solely been consigned to using Facebook on a personal level as well as various other sites such as Imgur and several football forums. As you might guess, this has not had a great bearing upon my online profile in a professional measure.

Living and Working on the Web has allowed me to increase my online profile and forge links with others in the field of technology and communications. However, on reflection I should have made more of an effort to connect with people in the field of work that I wish to go into. However, this was made more difficult by the lack of people in the criminal justice system who are communicable via social media. This may be because of restrictions on the information that can be broadcast through the media and has significantly restricted my efforts to connect with people via the medium of Twitter (my profile on this can be found by clicking on the image below). Despite this, I have managed to increase my standing online through Twitter, just not in the manner I had hoped, with my number of followers increasing to 76; several of which hold some standing in the world of technology and social media. On top of this I have also increased the number of people I follow which can increase my standing further through retweets and hashtags. This is a massive increase on my previous use of Twitter, which had been dismally poor despite having an open account for several years.

On top of this, I have also created a profile on LinkedIn, which can be found by clicking on on the image below. I have found this more useful than Twitter for interacting with those in my preferred field of work due to the ease at which I can read information that is shared and has relevance to criminal justice policy. According to LinkedIn my profile is now at ‘Expert’ level and, while I have a relatively small number of  ‘connections’ at 11, it is an improvement on the online professional profile that I had before the start of this module. Even more encouragingly, in the last 30 days my profile views has increased by 29%.

Topic 3 – Developing an online profile

Discuss the ways in which an authentic online professional profile can be developed.

A professional profile is becoming of increasingly great importance in the employment market today due to the massive expansion of implementing technological – specifically web- and social media-based applications – within the workplace. Statistics published by Office for National Statistics (2013) show that 43% of the total businesses surveyed used a social media site such as Facebook, Twitter and/or LinkedIn; 81% of large companies use them while only 42% of ‘small businesses’ use them professionally. Recruitment Buzz also states that 2 out of 5 employers use social media to screen out potential candidates depending on their online output (2014).

Because of this, it is imperative that people start to use social media to develop a professional online profile in order to maximise their employability. There are many different ways in which this can be achieved. Firstly Sue Beckingham (2013) states that first impressions count; it is likely that a web search of your name in any application i.e. Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. will be one of the first steps an potential employer will take, therefore it is vital that the information on your front or profile page is relevant, clean and professional – so no pictures of you vomiting after a night out!

Beckingham also maintains that we should develop and online profile in order to distinguish ourselves from those who we might share a name with – something that, fortunately, is quite easy for me as the only other prominent figure with my name that shows up in a Google search happens to be a fictional comic book character! This can be achieved by engaging with others who are prominent in the field you aspire to be a part of; interact with them and share useful information with them.

Lontos and Ciske (http://www.fairfaxcountyeda.org/8-steps-professional-online-presence, no date) make several recommendations, one of which is that you should develop two online profiles: a personal one and a professional one i.e. a private Twitter account for interacting with friends and family and a professional account to disseminate information and your views to employers and others in your field. This helps potential employers to only see that information which you wish to be public and maintains a more professional outlook.

The Ohio State University (http://asccareerservices.osu.edu/sites/asccareerservices.osu.edu/files/Building%20a%20Professional%20Online%20Presence.pdf, no date) also has several tips for their students regarding the use of social media in a professional capacity. Not least of which is their suggestion to decide on one username so that people know who you are regardless of which application they are viewing you on; a similar suggestion by both OSU and Lontos and Ciske is to use the same profile picture of yourself to provide authenticity and continuity across the web.

REFERENCES

Beckingham, S. (2013) Building Your Professional Online Presence. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/suebeckingham/building-your-professional-online-presence (Accessed: 09 March 2014).

http://asccareerservices.osu.edu/sites/asccareerservices.osu.edu/files/Building%20a%20Professional%20Online%20Presence.pdf (no date) (Accessed: 09 March 2014).

http://www.fairfaxcountyeda.org/8-steps-professional-online-presence (no date) (Accessed: 09 March 2014).

Office for National Statistics (2013) Business use of social media. Available at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/rdit2/ict-activity-of-uk-businesses/2012/sty-ecom-2012.html (Accessed: 09 March 2014).

Recruitment Buzz (2014) The role of social media in Pre-Employment Candidate Screening – Statistics and Trends. Available at: http://recruitmentbuzz.co.uk/the-role-of-social-media-in-pre-employment-candidate-screening-statistics-and-trends/ (Accessed: 09 March 2014).