From the moment I created my first MySpace profile, my mother erred on the side of caution.
From the moment I created my first MySpace profile, my mother erred on the side of caution.
“Be sure to keep your account completely private,” she warned me, second-guessing her decision to allow me to have an online presence.
Fast-forward seven years later, I doubt my mom expected that I would land a job as a social media intern for two different companies in New York City. (Didn’t see that one coming, huh, Mom?)
There is no question that I am a huge fan of social networking. It’s the reason I was able to land my internships and become a blogger at various publications. After years of liking, tweeting and pinning, it’s safe to say I have an addiction.
Though I personally couldn’t imagine life without social media, every once and a while I’ll have a friend who considers deleting his or her profile. The reasons behind abandoning social media vary—some friends are worried their Facebook posts will prevent them from getting a job, others insist social media does nothing but promote bullying and unfair comparisons of success and beauty.
While their points are valid, the lack of an online presence is definitely negative when you consider the fast-paced, competitive job market we are dealing with today.
According to Social Media Today, more and more companies are shifting towards marketing via social media rather than through more traditional approaches due to social media’s cost effectiveness and ability to maintain large audiences. With this shift in marketing strategy, Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project predict that one of the most desired skills of 2020 will be internet literacy. Because our generation is more technologically savvy than any generation prior, most jobs relating to the Internet and social media will go to us recent college grads.
How can you land a tech-heavy job without an online life for employers to reference? In an article from U.S. News and World Report, Dan Klamm, social media guru and Outreach and Marketing Coordinator at Syracuse University, said that temporarily deleting your social media accounts for the sake of landing a job may backfire.
“It's important that you have some type of presence at all times,” Klamm said in the article.
Granted, I religiously post to social media because it’s fun, but I also regularly post updates because I am trying to sell myself as a brand. I maintain public profiles that showcase my interests and skills, hoping that prospective employers will notice.
This is the type of exposure students are missing out on when they delete their profiles—or make them private.
While private accounts seem like good alternatives to abandoning social media altogether, it prevents hiring managers from seeing what you’re all about (or worse: make them wonder what you’re hiding).
My solution? Keep some social media accounts professional, and others personal. For me, Facebook is more about connecting with close friends and family; to sell myself as a budding journalist, I use my blog, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles.
If you’re still unconvinced about the power of social media in today’s job market, Mike Montano, a recent University of Kansas graduate, initiated a weeklong social media campaign called “Hire Mike.” Using his blog, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Vine and YouTube profiles, Montano reached out to various companies to promote himself. According to a profile from USA Today Tech, the campaign worked, and helped Montano score a job in—you guessed it—social media.
As it turns out, Facebook and Twitter are good for more than funny memes and ice bucket challenge videos. Social networking has the potential to lead you to your dream job.
Maria Fischer is a junior studying journalism. Do you use social media to search for a job? Email her at mf628211@ohio.edu.
