Have you ever typed your name into a search engine? What popped up? I've put some time into building my brand. If you google "Kelley Porter" you'll find my LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter profiles. You will also find my involvement with the Advertising Federation of Lincoln and the Nebraska Brain Injury Task Force, my photo with the Governor, as well as my work with the Nebraska Hospital Association.
This is all the information you want a prospective employer or client to find. Please don't advertise the photos of what you did for Halloween or the 'last calls' you've made at the local bar to anyone who might be in a position to recommend you for a job or hire you. You can still have personal information on the Web, but make sure it's only available to those you want to view it.
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Great advice, Kelly! Believe me, employers do look up FaceBook, MySpace and Twitter accounts to research potential job candidates. That said - I'm more likely to make a business connection with someone who is shares personal information on those social sites. That's what they're for. If the only FB updates I get are related to someone's business projects or fundraising event, I'm not as interested.
ReplyDeleteI like how social sites and blogs allow you to get to know a person and make new friends, but as you've pointed out, it's wise not to share TOO much information!
I think a wise rule of thumb would be to Google yourself monthly, or at least on a regular basis to keep tabs on what's going out there. As a writer, I have found that blogging is a great creative outlet and in addition to helping me become a better writer, it also offers an opportunity to expand my portfolio of work.
ReplyDeleteI also believe people should consider using the 24-hour rule for social media. If something happens to you and your gut reaction is to Tweet about it or put something on FB, wait 24 hours, or at least a few until you can think about the consequences. Gut reactions tend to throw professionalism out the door.
Good comments! Business relationships always seem to boil down to personal relationships. We do business with people we know, trust and like. The same applies to new hire situations – if two candidates are similarly qualified, you’ll choose the one that made a better personal impression. The key word being “better” and not necessarily “bigger”.
ReplyDeleteI am guilty of not hiring people based on their facebook photos. It's great to show your personality in your photos and whitty comments, but showing too much can be interpreted the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteSome people like to think that advertising is an open and casual business, and you may be lucky enough to find an employer that embraces the photos of your latest barcrawl as "exhibiting your own brand" but don't be surprised if you run into clients that aren't too happy about your latest exploits.
I googled myself, clicked on images and a tombstone with my name came up... I'm screwed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice to Google myself Kelley...(why does that sound not nice?)...and found that the job I left in 2006 came up first. So, I need to dig a bit to see how to get that corrected. When I work with a new free-lancer, I want to know as much about them as possible, so I do check out the social media...and have learned a lot. Sometimes, it's the goofy stuff that demonstrates "creative-types" range. That said, I want someone who pays attention to business first, is responsible and can hit a deadline. I'm not sure much of that comes through in FP.
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