Employability: Social media

Your digital footprint is the impact your online activities make on the internet. This includes anything from where you shop online to the posts, likes and comments made on social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. When job-seeking it is particularly important that the impact created is positive. You can use your digital footprint to create a good impression, to promote your skills, experience and  interests. Having a good social media presence makes it easier for potential employers to find you and learn about your qualities. 

It is a good idea to periodically review your online footprint and ensure that it portrays you in a positive way. Just search on your name and see what you find and whether you think a prospective employer would be impressed.

You can increase your online presence by blogging about topics that you are interested in, contribute to online newsletters, create videos or podcasts and keep your Linkedin profile up to date.

You can review your privacy settings on social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to control what can be viewed by other people. However, because social media sites like Twitter and Instagram are about gaining followers and sharing information it may be better to carefully consider what you post.

Remember that even if you have high privacy settings, your comments and likes may still be visible on other people's pages, so it is better to be cautious about what you say and what you like.

Use social media to show what you are interested in outside work. Positive, articulate, and well thought out comments about current affairs will generally be received positively.

Follow people, organizations and professional groups on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin to keep up to date with activities in an industry sector or company. 

Social media can be a great tool for networking and increasing and maintaining your contacts as well as finding out about job vacancies and graduate schemes. You can follow people and organizations on Facebook or Twitter. 

Setting up a Linkedin account is a really good way to increase your network, develop contacts, showcase your skills, talents and experience as well as research companies you are interested in and get updates on job vacancies.

Linkedin is widely used by employers and is very easy to set up. Go to Linkedin.com and click 'Join now'.

Linkedin Tips

• Adding a good quality professional photo will help to get you noticed
• Keep your headline statement simple, but include keywords that describe your job. You could use your job title for this or state that you are a student studying a degree in ...
• Add a clear summary of your experience and professional interests using keyword to help an employer find you easily.
• Add details of your education and work experience. Include details of any volunteering. 
• Add skills and ask your connections to endorse them.
• Add projects and media
• Join professional groups to expand your network
• Customise your Linkedin url

Use social media to find out more about companies or organisations you would like to work for. Their social media interactions will help you to find out about their values, corporate social responsibility issues, launches of new products and how they communicate with customers.