Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Ways to use Social Media to boost your Career prospects
Its reality now that employers, both current and future, look you up online. And not just your LinkedIn profile—most of them will also click any public social network links that are floating around. But don’t panic. With a little effort, you can polish your profiles so your personality shines through and makes you a more attractive candidate to recruiters. Here are five tips for leveraging your social networks to give your career a competitive edge.
1. Keep it professional
It should go without saying that if you have a penchant for posting sexy selfies, risqué party pics, and curse-filled tirades, you should lock down public access to your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram profiles. Although the question of whether your boss can fire you because of something you posted on your own time is up for debate, you don’t want that photo of you at the business end of a beer bong to be the first thing that pops up when a potential employer Googles your name.
An employer's first impression of you may be something you posted on one of your social accounts. If your profiles don't pass professional muster, keep them locked down.
But making sure your profile is “professional” is about more than scrubbing NSFW content. If your networks are family-friendly but also family-only, you may want to keep them private rather than public. “Using non-professional social media in a professional setting can be tricky,” says Matt Brosseau, director of technology and recruiting at IT strategy and consulting company Instant Technology. “Twitter and Facebook are meant less for establishing yourself as a professional and more for facilitating conversation.”
2. Engage with others
Having thousands of Twitter followers is one thing, having significant influence over them is another. Are you an interesting, engaging online persona, or are you just collecting followers? Employers can check this—sites like Twitter Audit and Klout reveal if your followers are real and whether you’re an engager or just a broadcaster. It’s better to have a small, involved following than it is to have an ego-boosting number on your page.
“Personally, I don’t check candidates’ Klout scores,” says Tracey Russell, a recruiter at sales and marketing recruiting firm Naviga Business Services. “But I will pay attention if someone is active and engaging on Twitter.” According to Russell, who frequently sources “passive” candidates (people who are not actively looking for jobs), engagement on social media shows you’re passionate, you understand technology and social media, and you’re able to work with and talk to other people.
3. Show off your interests
There are hundreds of other candidates with your same level of education, work experience, and job-related skills. Demonstrating that you’re interested in a variety of things—not just being a punctual, detail-oriented team player—makes you stand out from the horde and helps employers make a deeper connection with you.
career sushi candidate profile part 1
Career Sushi is designed to showcase personal interests to employers, but you can use Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to do the same.
One social network, Career Sushi, is designed to bring your personal interests to the fore, but you can also showcase them with your existing Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. Unless your passion is partying, you shouldn’t hesitate to post status updates and photos that display what you love doing in your free time. “Instagram photos that show varied interests, such as cooking, attending sporting events, and traveling show that you’re well-rounded and that you can balance work and life,” says social media and marketing consultant Jessica Hall.
4. Treat it like email
Social networks, especially Twitter, are inherently casual. But as a general rule, you should keep your tweets and status updates free of grammar and spelling mistakes, excessive emoticons, and gratuitous netspeak. This is especially important if you’re in, or looking for, a client-facing position—employers see your social media as a snapshot of how you relate to the public.
“I’m not sure what it is, but there seems to be something about social media that causes people to end every sentence with a smiley face or exclamation mark,” Hall says. “If I see someone that does this a lot, I run for the hills. They could be a highly intelligent person, but they elicit the image of a vapid sorority girl who says ‘like’ in between every other word. It’s hard not to imagine them sending professional emails in the exact same manner.”
Hall suggests treating social media like you would email: Only add emoticons and exclamation marks if they’ll convey tone or add context.
5. Brand yourself
The nice thing about social media is it only shows what you want it to show, so you can easily create a cultivated online image with a few well-placed status updates.
“If you Instagram photos of yourself at restaurant openings, or showing off new brands or hobbies or trips to off-the-beaten-path locales, you look like someone who’s an early adopter and who’s willing to try new things,” Hall says.
You can also leverage social media to ameliorate shortcomings you might have when it comes to first impressions. For example, if you look younger, using more refined speech in your status updates can convey experience and seriousness. Alternatively, if you’re older in an industry that values youth, you can use social media to show people you’re up-to-date with current trends and young at heart.
A Simple Strategy to Boost Your Career
Do you want to get promoted, energize your job, or get a raise?
Your best tactic isn’t glamorous and it doesn’t require any major training. But it will heighten your boss’s appreciation of you today and establish your track record through future upswings and downturns.
Enough suspense. Here it is: Writing a biweekly or monthly “executive briefing”—or if you prefer, “executive update,” can not only protect your job, but enhance your status.
Perhaps you’re thinking “I already work really hard, with too little appreciation. Are you really telling me to add one more task to my already full plate? Yes, I am.
There are five substantial benefits for you:
1. Gain more respect. If you don’t give yourself credit, no one else will, either. Other people can only appreciate you fully if they fully understand what you contribute. You are more likely to be promoted and recognized if management keeps your achievements top of mind throughout the year.
2. Increase the value you bring to the table. Increasing your value is the best way to increase your compensation. Organizing your thoughts and questions demonstrates respect for your boss’s time. Your status reports enable your boss to remain fully and efficiently apprised of your work, redirect or facilitate your initiatives, respond with advice, add resources, or approve spending, all in a concentrated time period. Providing a framework facilitates feedback and action. Your boss will more readily make a phone call or send an e-mail to troubleshoot a request that may be stuck in limbo. She is also likely to say “thank you” or “good job” more often and more genuinely.
3. Maintain a current documented record of the results of your work. When your boss reads about your work continually, she is more likely to provide real-time feedback, rather than spring surprises on you at the end of the program. You can react to these discussions with agility to stay aligned with her expectations and perceptions of your performance. When the time comes for your formal review, four reports backing up your achievements strengthen your professional presentation with dignity, rather than defensiveness. You’ll also have a terrific head start for updating your résumé.
4. Focus your time to get the most bang for your buck. One client told me, “After you convinced me to write status reports, I began keeping myself more on track with actions and results. Now, I sometimes start a task, then realize it isn’t really meaningful enough to put on my status report. I’m motivated to do something more critical and so I try to delegate the other task to my staff or an outside resource.”
5. Increase your motivation, pride, and confidence. It’s easy to lose sight of our accomplishments amidst the day-to-day noise and challenges in our lives. Your status reports transport you from that for an hour or two, allowing you to stop and say, “Hey, I did all this and I did it well!”
Still in doubt? Here’s a true story:
“Nnenna” is an extremely dedicated and talented executive assistant to the CEO of an event management company. While reviewing the scope of her work, I asked if the CEO was duly impressed with her ability to manage so many projects across budgets, reports, event planning, and working with regulators. Her priceless response: “My boss knows what I do—he just doesn’t know all I do.”
Sound familiar?
Based on our initial discussions, Nnenna realized she wasn’t aware of all she did either. Her role had expanded over decades, but over 24 years, neither her title nor her position description had ever changed.
I asked how she kept the CEO updated on the breadth of activities she oversaw. She initially informed me, in a somewhat patronizing manner “He is a very busy man and doesn’t have time for details.”
She listened attentively about the value of status reports, but remained skeptical and apprehensive. But after she logged few weeks of notes, we defined six broad categories of her work and created an outline. She then submitted the first status report ever—after 24 years on the executive floor.
The CEO’s response? A special trip to her office to say, “This is a lot of work, and we should schedule time to review.” Nnenna proudly told me that simple statement was the greatest recognition she’d ever received. That’s when she came to understand why even if she executed everything to perfection, her boss still benefited from knowing about her accomplishments.
Using her status reports as a basis, we developed an accurate and comprehensive job description. We then began the formal HR process to upgrade her position. After the review, she received a new title— “Director of Administration and Budget” —with a professional level designation. Beyond the salary increase, her promotion entitles her to training, stock options, and other benefits which she had deserved for years. Furthermore, she is now in a position to train others to assume some of her functions so she can concentrate on delivering her highest value to the CEO, shareholders, and her department. Everyone is better off.
What will your status report look like?
Keep the process as fast and easy as possible. Your report should be a bullet point list of key accomplishments and questions sent via e-mail. The entire document should be no more than one or two pages.
Facilitate reading and response through format and structure.
—Organize the content according to topics or priorities.
—Highlight the difference between statements, questions, and requests.
Cater to your audience. Ask your boss for direction regarding:
—Timing—biweekly or monthly.
—Review and discussion—“Live” discussion is best, but regardless, arrange a way to collect comments and directions.
How do I start?
The first report may take you awhile to compose. You’ll probably experience some resistance; you may worry that you won’t be able to write something compelling enough. However, you’ll become more adept and efficient as you add to your upcoming status reports over time. You’ll have a template to follow. You’ll learn to summarize in bullet points, rather than paragraphs. Knowing the main categories in advance expedites and facilitates both writing and reading status reports. There is no need to come up with creative formats or presentations each time.
When do I start?
Whenever you’re ready to gain the recognition and respect you deserve. (How about today?).
Your best tactic isn’t glamorous and it doesn’t require any major training. But it will heighten your boss’s appreciation of you today and establish your track record through future upswings and downturns.
Enough suspense. Here it is: Writing a biweekly or monthly “executive briefing”—or if you prefer, “executive update,” can not only protect your job, but enhance your status.
Perhaps you’re thinking “I already work really hard, with too little appreciation. Are you really telling me to add one more task to my already full plate? Yes, I am.
There are five substantial benefits for you:
1. Gain more respect. If you don’t give yourself credit, no one else will, either. Other people can only appreciate you fully if they fully understand what you contribute. You are more likely to be promoted and recognized if management keeps your achievements top of mind throughout the year.
2. Increase the value you bring to the table. Increasing your value is the best way to increase your compensation. Organizing your thoughts and questions demonstrates respect for your boss’s time. Your status reports enable your boss to remain fully and efficiently apprised of your work, redirect or facilitate your initiatives, respond with advice, add resources, or approve spending, all in a concentrated time period. Providing a framework facilitates feedback and action. Your boss will more readily make a phone call or send an e-mail to troubleshoot a request that may be stuck in limbo. She is also likely to say “thank you” or “good job” more often and more genuinely.
3. Maintain a current documented record of the results of your work. When your boss reads about your work continually, she is more likely to provide real-time feedback, rather than spring surprises on you at the end of the program. You can react to these discussions with agility to stay aligned with her expectations and perceptions of your performance. When the time comes for your formal review, four reports backing up your achievements strengthen your professional presentation with dignity, rather than defensiveness. You’ll also have a terrific head start for updating your résumé.
4. Focus your time to get the most bang for your buck. One client told me, “After you convinced me to write status reports, I began keeping myself more on track with actions and results. Now, I sometimes start a task, then realize it isn’t really meaningful enough to put on my status report. I’m motivated to do something more critical and so I try to delegate the other task to my staff or an outside resource.”
5. Increase your motivation, pride, and confidence. It’s easy to lose sight of our accomplishments amidst the day-to-day noise and challenges in our lives. Your status reports transport you from that for an hour or two, allowing you to stop and say, “Hey, I did all this and I did it well!”
Still in doubt? Here’s a true story:
“Nnenna” is an extremely dedicated and talented executive assistant to the CEO of an event management company. While reviewing the scope of her work, I asked if the CEO was duly impressed with her ability to manage so many projects across budgets, reports, event planning, and working with regulators. Her priceless response: “My boss knows what I do—he just doesn’t know all I do.”
Sound familiar?
Based on our initial discussions, Nnenna realized she wasn’t aware of all she did either. Her role had expanded over decades, but over 24 years, neither her title nor her position description had ever changed.
I asked how she kept the CEO updated on the breadth of activities she oversaw. She initially informed me, in a somewhat patronizing manner “He is a very busy man and doesn’t have time for details.”
She listened attentively about the value of status reports, but remained skeptical and apprehensive. But after she logged few weeks of notes, we defined six broad categories of her work and created an outline. She then submitted the first status report ever—after 24 years on the executive floor.
The CEO’s response? A special trip to her office to say, “This is a lot of work, and we should schedule time to review.” Nnenna proudly told me that simple statement was the greatest recognition she’d ever received. That’s when she came to understand why even if she executed everything to perfection, her boss still benefited from knowing about her accomplishments.
Using her status reports as a basis, we developed an accurate and comprehensive job description. We then began the formal HR process to upgrade her position. After the review, she received a new title— “Director of Administration and Budget” —with a professional level designation. Beyond the salary increase, her promotion entitles her to training, stock options, and other benefits which she had deserved for years. Furthermore, she is now in a position to train others to assume some of her functions so she can concentrate on delivering her highest value to the CEO, shareholders, and her department. Everyone is better off.
What will your status report look like?
Keep the process as fast and easy as possible. Your report should be a bullet point list of key accomplishments and questions sent via e-mail. The entire document should be no more than one or two pages.
Facilitate reading and response through format and structure.
—Organize the content according to topics or priorities.
—Highlight the difference between statements, questions, and requests.
Cater to your audience. Ask your boss for direction regarding:
—Timing—biweekly or monthly.
—Review and discussion—“Live” discussion is best, but regardless, arrange a way to collect comments and directions.
How do I start?
The first report may take you awhile to compose. You’ll probably experience some resistance; you may worry that you won’t be able to write something compelling enough. However, you’ll become more adept and efficient as you add to your upcoming status reports over time. You’ll have a template to follow. You’ll learn to summarize in bullet points, rather than paragraphs. Knowing the main categories in advance expedites and facilitates both writing and reading status reports. There is no need to come up with creative formats or presentations each time.
When do I start?
Whenever you’re ready to gain the recognition and respect you deserve. (How about today?).
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