Finbarr McCarthy

There is no one has any doubts about the fact that the job market is a tough place right now, jobless numbers seem to be at generational highs and depending on where you are in the world, unemployment is probably in double digits in percentage terms.  The media are having a field-day putting the shockers into us all, they are telling us stories where 500 professionals (Architects, Accountants, Lawyers, Etc) applied for a single job in McDonald’s.  Perhaps its true, I cant say for sure that its not, but it smells of old media trying to grab or retain readership with sensational headlines.  I work in the recruitment industry and yes its true that, job vacancies are down and job applicants are up, but not nearly to the extent that you would think from the media headlines.  Without underestimating the devastating impact of unemployment on an individual, you have to appreciate that the jobs market is a cyclical thing and depending on who you listen to we are either at or approaching the bottom of the cycle.  I cant predict when things will begin to improve again, but I have no doubt that an improvement is on the way.  In any case, right now, competition for jobs is tougher than it has been for a long while and to give yourself the best chance of success there are a number of things that you can do improve your odds. Specifically I am referring to “Building Your Personal Brand Online to Help Your Career”.

Here is a list of things that you can (and should) control yourself

1: Clean up your act
Many people have for the past couple of years been very open about putting all sorts of information about themselves on Social Networks. Check out any profiles you may have created and see if there is any content that you would not necessarily want a prospective employer to see.  Don’t stop with just your own profile, check out your friends profiles just in-case they may have something on their pages that could come back to haunt you.

2: Google Yourself
Simply go to Google and type in your name and see what comes up (do this in Yahoo and Bing also), dig through the results and see if you are happy with what information is available about you.  The first thing to do is to concentrate on anything that’s not portraying you in a positive light, can you access and amend the source information? If yes amend it, if not find out who can amend it - but most importantly get it taken care of.  Think I am over reacting? In a 2007 survey by Career Builder one in four managers admitted to using search engines to screen candidates, and more than half of those eliminated candidates based on what they found, I can only suspect that since then, this practice has become more mainstream. Some of the main areas of concern that hiring managers highlighted were;

• Information about alcohol or drug use (41% of managers said this was a top concern)
• Inappropriate photos or information posted on a candidate’s page (40%)
• Poor communication skills (29%)
• Bad-mouthing of former employers or fellow employees (28%)
• Inaccurate qualifications (27%)
• Unprofessional screen names (22%)
• Notes showing links to criminal behavior (21%)
• Confidential information about past employers (19%)

3: Create a LinkedIn profile
LinkedIn is a professional online network and in my view it is essential to create and maintain an up to date profile there.  LinkedIn is also a very good place to build and maintain a your network of past and current contacts and it can really help you to keep in touch with people you may otherwise loose contact with.  Apart from that LinkedIn enables you to create an online profile which outlines your current and past employment details, your professional affiliations and achievements and there is also a feature which allows people to recommend (reference) you.  Make sure to add in an appropriate amount of keywords under which prospective employers might search.

4: Participate
Its not good enough to just create good profiles on LinkedIn and Facebook, if you dont participate in discussions, groups etc there is a very high chance that you will never get any attention.  If you have specific professional skills or have a passion on a specific topic there is a very good chance that there is a group on LinkedIn for like minded people, if so join the group, if there is no such group consider creating a group and search out and invite like minded people to join.

5: Turn OnLine Contacts into OffLine Contacts
Consider attending events organised by your groups and contacts on LinkedIn and Facebook, Online connections are a good starting point but it can be very helpful to get out and actually meet some of the connections you have made.  There are several examples of this from attending Open Coffee sessions to seminars on your area of interest.

6: Blog or Create a Website
This might not be for everyone but creating your own blog or even a simple website can be a very enjoyable and beneficial project.  In particular if you are extremely passionate about a specific topic it is an extremely enjoyable pursuit, be warned though, if you are only vaugely interested in what you are writing about it will quickly become apparent to your readers and there is also a very high chance that you will give up yourself.  I am extremely passionate about Cloud Computing and the Internet and get great pleasure in sharing my thought with others on the subject.

In conclusion, even if you are not in the job market right now it is still worth your while considering the points above.  Because of the way data is stored and propogated on the internet, it can take anywhere from days to months to get any unwanted information to drop out of the search engine indexes (even after the source information has been deleted / amended) and the same amount of time to get your desired professional information appearing where and when you want it.  The job market will bounce back and getting control of your own personal brand now will most certainly pay dividends in the long term.

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