Social Media meets CV
by Jamie Curtis on 2009/02/03
Social Media is galvanising the recruiting process by allowing job-seekers to manage their own online reputation and in the process build their own personal brand. I first got into this subject when I read Dan Shwarbel’s post on Mashable about how to build a Social Media resume. It sounds futuristic, yet all the more plausible in today’s digital age.
Social Media is becoming a primary tool for a true and priceless indication of someone’s knowledge, experience, talents, activities, and sociability factor in an employment context – all CV essentials. In other words, social networks, especially LinkedIn, allow potential employers to gauge what you do, what you say and what other people say about you –your reputation.
LinkedIn is where social networking meets the CV. The 30 million strong network has quickly become infused as part of the criteria on any potential employer’s checklist when shortlisting candidates.
What’s more, with LinkedIn you are able to extend opportunities by pulling different channels into your online CV; if you have an industry-related blog that highlights your take and knowledge of a particular subject, you can pull it into your profile. If you tweet extensively about your industry, you can pull those tweets in too. You can also display your own presentations on your profile.
This isn’t just for the employees benefit; more and more potential employer’s curiosity cannot be restrained. In a survey done in the U.S.A. close to one in five managers and HR professionals said they screened potential employees via respective social networking sites. In addition, 24% of managers surveyed said they found content online that confirmed their decision to hire that candidate.
Next generation employees have tools at their finger tips that allow them to manage their online reputation in a frighteningly efficient manner. Soon employers may choose digital over paper, as paper has for far too long painted a dull picture of one’s reputation and offers less opportunity to differentiate oneself. What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – a paper CV on its own may no longer apply.
The question on everyone’s lips is then: when will online social media platforms become the only touchpoint for employers? How cool, unearthly, and easy would it be for job-seekers if they could just send out a link to the most complete, dynamic and multi-faceted representation of their professional and personal experience? Alternatively, when will businesses start requesting an invite to your LinkedIn profile to check out your reputation?
Comments
Anderson Brady on 2009/02/06
Cool blog. Getting recruiters to look at someone's LinkedIn profile makes so much sense. I have a linked in profile and its definitely worthwile.
Jamie Curtis on 2009/02/12
Hey Anderson, thanks for the message.
It does make sense to create a digital CV. Funny enough, I've yet to create my LinkedIn profile. Your one step ahead... for now ;)
arthur c. van wyk on 2009/03/09
I am of the firm belief that more than social media, the blog will become the actual yardstick by which propsective employers will measure your compatibility with their company's vision, mission and long term objectives. Social media is perfect for building a personal brand online fast, but not enough to make an employer decide whether to employ you or not.
I have 3 facebook profiles (for 3 different reasons) and the one that talks the most crap online is the one with the most followers and gets taken serious by more young people than the other two combined. That's just one small example of how insidious and misleading social media can be as well.
So while it does add leverage to your employability, there are loads more factors to be considered when seeking employees.
I know of a company in Stellenbosch that employed a young lady and her blog contributed 80% to the decision on the part of her employers.
And with the existence of companies like WithTank and Synthasite, the next 5 - 10 years will see more and more personal webpages and blogs come up and ultimately become personal branding touchpoints.
Jamie Curtis on 2009/03/10
Hey Arthur!
I believe your point on social media allowing one to a build personal brand is true. There are so many social media networks for one to do this.
Regarding your 3 Facebook profiles - most users don't do this, and in addition they like to keep their personal profiles pretty 'neat', if you know what I mean... However, I do understand where you are coming from regarding social media being misleading.
Blogs too are a great online touch-point, and in combination with social media create a pretty powerful brand that can differentiate oneself on the job market.
I do think that social media profiles, take LinkedIn for example, are going to be looked into by respective firms more and more over the next few years, with employers looking for greater insight into their potential employees.