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My Social Media Tips, Part 3: Professional Relationships

By Brad Pierson posted 02-21-2013 10:20

  

As we move into another new year, social media will continue to grow and have a large presence in the job market. In today’s world, employers have the ability to learn as much or little about you as you’d prefer before you even meet them in person. If done properly, this can be a huge advantage for you as a candidate. Maintaining the right online presence can be very hard. You want to use social media to share your personal experiences with friends and family, but you want to look professional to your current and future employers. I have the unique opportunity to speak from both points of view on this. Not only am I consistently engaged with employers in conversations about this topic, but I also recently went through the process of finding a new job. I hope my personal set of guidelines will provide you with some tips and help you in your job search. In part 1, I discussed some strategies to use LinkedIn in your job search. Part 2 covers your online visibility and part 3 will discuss maintaining professional relationships online.

What should I do if professional contacts try to connect to me?

  • LinkedIn is designed for professional development. You should not be showcasing anything personal on there, so it should be safe for your current co-workers and other professional connections. It is okay to have a rule to decline a professional contact’s Facebook or Twitter request as long as you respond with an appropriate message that explains your rules on connecting (no workplace contacts). Just be sure to follow this rule strictly so it does not appear you are picking and choosing. Even if you make your friends list private, they may be able to recognize that you are connected through another co-worker’s page. If you really want to connect with certain people in your office, you can always create two accounts and use one for your professional side and one for your personal side. In this case, be sure to make your professional profile the one that comes up in search results (maybe use a nickname or middle name for your primary one). 
  • If it is a request from a potential new employer, you can always ignore their request until the process is finalized using the excuse that you rarely check your accounts. Then, you can deny and respond with a nice message about your social media rules and connect on LinkedIn; maybe even bring it up in person if you get the job. That way, you don’t offend them while they are still considering you as a candidate.

Continuously update your LinkedIn profile and stay connected. This is important for a couple of reasons. If you are currently employed, you are likely connected through LinkedIn. If you go from having no activity to having a fully developed profile with recommendations, skills and more in a short amount of time, your employer may grow suspicious that you are looking for a new position. If you do not have a profile or have a basic one, I’d recommend beginning to slowly develop it in pieces.  The other benefit of doing this is that it will ensure that you are adding updates while they are still fresh in your mind. It is much easier to record something when it happens than trying to think back years later.



#SocialMedia #Careers
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