Take Another Look At Your Online Presence

March 10, 2022

Social media was the “cool new thing” more than a decade ago. Everybody was emailing you to join some kind of “next best thing” and you just had to be there for fear of missing out, right?! Whether you still long for the dopamine response of seeing that next post, tweet, comment or your enthusiasm has waned for these tools and you’ve become complacent (or given up), it would do you good to spend a few minutes thinking about them again. Here are a few ideas that you may want to consider that could affect your career options:

Conduct a Social Media Audit

1. Google yourself. Think like a hiring manager or recruiter and conduct a Google search for your name. You may need to conduct a couple of searches using different variations of your name (First Name/Last Name, First Name/Middle Name/Last Name or First Name/Middle Initial/Last Name) to see what comes up.
2. Review your current social media profiles for any potentially objectionable content. Also, determine if any profile information is missing or if there’s anything you can add. (For example, you can add a link to your blog in your LinkedIn profile.)
3. Change the privacy settings for any religious or political posts. Delete any posts that show you engaging in anything that a prospective employer may find offensive or inappropriate.
4. See if there are any gaps in your social media presence — are there websites that are standard for your industry that you should be on (for example, an Instagram account if you’re a photographer)?

Increase Your Social Media Participation

1. Assess your current social media accounts. Are there any platforms that you’re not using? (Thought you were going to post on Twitter but gave up after a couple of weeks?) Delete or deactivate unused accounts so they no longer show up in your active search results.
2. Review your privacy settings on any accounts you’re keeping. First, make a list of the accounts you have. Next, check your privacy settings for each account.
3. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is considered “complete” by LinkedIn standards. Populate your industry and location, update your current position with a description, add two past positions, include your education, define at least three skills, add a profile photo and make sure you’re connected with at least 50 other people.
4. For consistency, consider changing your profile photos on all of your social media accounts to the same (professional) photo so that it makes it clear that the hiring manager found the right person.
5. For the social media platforms where you’ve decided to cultivate your online presence, develop a schedule for adding new content regularly.

Do More on LinkedIn — It’s still your best source for maintaining professional connections!

1. Do one thing to improve your LinkedIn profile. Create a custom headline for your profile, review your current job position/description and make sure it’s updated, or review/add to your professional summary.
2. Increase your connections with contacts by connecting with one of your references on LinkedIn or sending a connection request to a former co-worker.
3. Publish something relevant to your career/industry on LinkedIn today — a status update or a LinkedIn Publishing post.
4. Get involved in a new LinkedIn group today. Despite Linkedin’s moves away from supporting groups as platforms for engaging new people, there are still many great groups to choose from. They can be a great way to meet new people who are interested in the same professional topics.
5. Be conscientious about who you give an endorsement or recommendation to. Are there people who you’ve recommended in the past who you’ve discovered are “bad actors?” Don’t be shy about deleting those endorsements/recommendations. Also, don’t be shy about handing them out to people who reflect positively upon your professional brand. After all, no matter which technology platform we’re using, it’s still all about who we know.

Whatever your view on social media is, it’s clear that this stuff is not going away. Even if you’re not participating, you need to realize that other people are. Sometimes that means your kids posted that funny video of you from Halloween on their TikTok account and now it is making its way around Facebook for all of your coworkers to see. Like it or not, this is the world we live in. Do yourself a favor and at least perform an annual audit to see what is out there.

 

Dave Isbell is the assistant director of alumni professional enrichment in the MSU Alumni Office. In this role he facilitates opportunities for alumni to engage in career content. Dave proudly graduated from MSU with a Master’s in Social Work in 2013. He is a licensed Master Social Worker, Global Career Development Facilitator, Certified Online Instructor and Certified Human Resources Specialist. In addition to his part-time employment with MSU, Dave owns a private mental health and couples therapy practice and is the founding president of Mid-Michigan Emotionally Focused Therapy, a not-for-profit training and development organization.

Karen J. Reiff is an alumna of Michigan State University who recently retired from a 30+ year career as a career coach, executive resume writer, and licensed Practical Counselor and is currently enjoying “life after work.” She was Dave Isbell’s GCDF Instructor early in his career and decades later remains a source of inspiration and friendship.

Contributing Writer(s): Dave Isbell ’13, LMSW, GCDF, COI, CHRS and Karen J. Reiff '77, ACRW