After reading Wil’s post I was pleased to see that he agreed that failing to engage in ‘social’ content online can actually have a detrimental effect on the authenticity of your professional profile. In a discussion, Wil provided some extremely interesting resources which looked to explain how his personality often restricts his behaviour online but not necessarily in a professional context. Nevertheless I wonder whether this restrictive behaviour limits the perceptions employers build when viewing certain profiles.
In a comment on Rachel’s post we again touched on the implication that recruiters want an insight into our social lives as well as our professional lives. As a consequence of this behaviour, Rachel explained how she tries to stay professional across all platforms. We also discussed the inclusion of YouTube as a recruiting strategy in the Jobvite survey. Rachel explained how she had even seen job applications which required the creation of a video through the platform.
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In terms of comments on my own post, a dialogue with Ji again emphasised the importance of maintaining professionalism, even when looking to separate profiles online. However unlike previous discussions, the importance was emphasised for those already in work rather than those seeking employment. Ji linked to a story discussing the sacking of an individual in 2016 based on a photograph uploaded by the individual’s wife, showing that such issues are very much current issues.
A comment by Rachel on my post solidified the suggestion that online professionalism isn’t something exclusive to LinkedIn with Twitter also important and to some degree services such as Indeed.
On the whole, engaging with other around this topic has highlighted the importance of maintaining a professional manner across all online platforms, not only for recruitment purposes but also for maintaining job security.
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