Who Are You On the Internet (Part 2)

I stated in my last post that this would be the last post on this topic, but I have written so much I will be adding a third post. Enjoy the information on updating the current internet you.

Who Are You On The Internet (Part 2)

Step 4

As was stated above most of us would not hire the us we find on the internet. This may be less true for people above a certain age, but definitely true for people who went to college after the introduction of Facebook. When social media sites first  launched you posted just about any photo or comment in your profile with few if any understanding of the repercussions. As older adults began using these sites the full magnitude became clear. People lost jobs or did not get them, arrests were made and relationships ended. Even with all these stories people still did not take the time to clean up their social media sites. I am here to tell you it is a great idea and the following will give you some ideas.

Facebook

The best place to start your social media clean-up is with Facebook. We all have put stuff up that shouldn’t be on the internet. I had a recent hiring manager look at my profile. He didn’t look into my profile to deeply. He checked and made sure that my profile photo was appropriate. Fortunately, it was just of me finishing a marathon. I actually agree with his premise of this checking. If you at least have a good profile picture, then you are somewhat concise that people are looking for you: personal or professional. For that pick a fun appropriate photo. It can be with your family, doing volunteer work, or at a sporting event. My rule of thumb is to ask yourself if you would show it to the cops.

Moving forward with Facebook, I recommended removing the drunk photos of yourself. They’re just as good on a flash drive as they are on the internet. They look great back in the day but now they just look trashy. Also, begin limiting the number of “friends” you have. I went from 600+ friends to less than 200 and honestly I find myself enjoying Facebook again. I longer hear what people from freshman year of college are doing and am starting to hear from people I actually enjoy. A final note on Facebook is to watch what you post and comment on. While your views on politics and religion may be correct some people won’t see it your way and you don’t want to start off on the wrong foot with people.

Linkedin

You next need to get going on Linkedin. I am assuming if you have a professional career, then you are on Linkedin. If not, then I highly recommended doing so. It is a great for anyone from a long-term professional to a college freshman. The features that are available can help anybody.

Since losing my job, I have learned the importance of this site. In engineering and many other fields, you only give Human Resource departments a one-page resume. If you have spent anytime as a professional, then this is hardly enough space to tell all of the work you have done along with the skills you have acquired. When used properly, Linkedin can fill in the gap. After losing my job, I discovered how little of the site I was using. If you look on the right-hand side of Linkedin, then you will see there is a tool that determines your “Profile Strength”. Linkedin provides step-by-step instructions for improving your profile. For the most part I agree with these and the order that is followed.

You start by filling in your experience. You will be asked your title, the company name, how long you worked there and a description of the position. The most important of these section is the position description. This is your opportunity to give in-depth details about your accomplishments that do not fit in your resume. You can, also, use keywords that recruiters will use to find people. This description should show that value you have added to each of the companies you worked at. Below is an example:

Validation Engineer

PharmaForce, Inc.

August 2010 - October 2012 (2 years 3 months) l Columbus, Ohio Area

My main responsibility was to ensure that equipment continued to meet FDA requirements. These projects were done on a yearly basis and required coordination with manufacturing. Often the best time for testing was during 2nd and 3rd shifts. Also, this required an update to the Standard Operation Procedures so that the documents reflected changes from previous testing. When equipment did not meet requirements I conducted investigation into the cause of critical errors including operator error and system failures.

After learning about company procedures, I lead the process validation for various types of drug products that would require FDA approval before release. For this task, I needed to coordinate with multiple departments and schedule the responsibility for each. After the products were manufactured, I compiled the information to show that we can consistently make the product.

I was, also, in charge of the certifying products on the automatic inspections system. The inspection portion of the production line was the biggest bottleneck. To lower this bottleneck, it was necessary that products go from being inspected manually to being inspected with an automated system. For this to be done, it needed to be proven that the automated inspection system can outperform the human system. This is accomplished by comparing the two systems using various statistics. Not every product can be certified on the automated system due to viscosity of the liquid. Also, it needs to be determined if it is cost effective to certify a product. Before leaving the company, I helped implement a Return-On-Investment tool to ensure which products were cost effective to qualify. With this tool, it was determined that several products have a low batch size and it could take upwards of three years to see a return on investment.

If I had included all of this detail in my resume, then this is the only information that would be on the page. Also, these descriptions give you the opportunity to show companies your writing skills. After you fill in your experience, you will fill in your educational background. This is not the most crucial section and provides very little detail, but it will again make it easier for recruiters to find you. The next step is again simple however it is one of the most important: selecting a photo for your profile.

This is so crucial, because it can be the first impression that potential employers get of you. Think about that for a second. If you have a picture up of you that is anything less than professional, then you will spend the rest of the recruiting process trying to convince a company that you will be professional on the first day. I recommend getting this done by a professional photographer. I was a fortunate and a former employer provided this service to all employees. Below is the photo that is on my profile. Also, do not think that no photo puts you somewhere in between. No photo makes you faceless and easily forgettable.

After selecting an appropriate photo, it is a good idea to fill in the summary section of your profile. This will give employers a brief overview of your experience. Personally this is not as important as the position descriptions but several HR professional I have told me that they read this before moving onto the rest of someones profile. Another way to impress recruiters is to add projects to each of your positions. These project section allow you to give detailed information about projects that added significant value to an employer. I recommend describing projects where you can give concrete savings which recruiters always love to hear about. Finally with Linkedin, I suggest you recommend others and endorse their skills.

Linkedin provides a unique process by where you can recommend people you have worked with in the past or endorse them for various skills. This service allows you to improve your professional network by showing people how much you appreciate your work and that you respect what they have done. Not only is this general good will toward other people, those you recommend or endorse will often do the same for you. This is very valuable as it will give recruiters and hiring managers third party verification. I like to help people start their weeks off on the right foot and write 3 recommendations on Monday morning. No better feeling that getting positive reinforcement on the longest day of the week.  

After you have cleaned up the you already on the internet it is a good idea to start using other medias to give people an idea of who you are professional and personally. In my next post, I hopefully will be able to describe effective ways to use a blog and Google+. Additional, if that information does not get too lengthy, I will help provide a plan to keep your personal brand up-to-date.