This document discusses building a professional digital profile and presence online. It notes that employers are increasingly using social media to evaluate candidates and that having an online presence can help one stand out. It recommends that students and job seekers create profiles on platforms like LinkedIn, maintain active social media accounts, develop blogs pulling in their online activities, and focus on developing digital literacy skills that are in high demand by employers. Maintaining an appropriate online presence requires long-term strategy and giving value to others through sharing and collaboration.

1. Building a professional digital
profile
@lisaharris
16th October 2014

2. Building a professional digital profile
• What are employers doing?
• What can job seekers be doing during their
studies?
• Tools that I use
• Digichamp case studies – past and present

3. About.me/lisa.harris
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4. Finding me online
www.about.me/lisa.harris
www.twitter.com/lisaharris
www.linkedin.com/in/lisajaneharris
http://www.slideshare.net/lisaharris
https://www.vizify.com/lisa-harris
http://digitaleconomy.soton.ac.uk/people/lisa-harris/

5. Did you know…?
Digital marketing principles can also be applied to
ourselves to networks and attract potential employers
Creative videos produced by candidates now play an
important role in the job application process
As do blogging, tweeting and participating in relevant
online communities such as LinkedIn
38 million students and recent graduates are now on
LinkedIn, its fastest-growing demographic.
Socialnomics 2014 by Erik Qualmann

6. According to the British Computer
Society…
Employers increasingly require validation of digital literacy skills
and employability can depend on it.
Why is Digital Literacy important to employers and employees?
• Digital literacy is required in 77% of all employment
• Digital literacy is expected to be required in 90% of all
employment by 2015
• Employability for graduates increasingly requires a broad
range of digital literacy skills
• Employers expect graduates to be able to communicate using
digital media”
(http://www.bcs.org/category/17854)

7. Digital Literacy
• “Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organise, understand,
evaluate, and analyse information using digital technology. It
involves a working knowledge of current tools and an
understanding of how they can be used”
• “The active management of online activities such as
collaboration, networking , content creation and curation in
order to “stand out from the crowd” in today’s job market”
• “an ability to respond positively to change”

8. “Life-wide” and “life-long” learning
Contacts
Teachers
Experts
Classmates Friends
Family
Coworkers
Video
Conferencing
Synchronous
Communication
Mobile
Texting
Microbloging
Instant
Messaging
RSS
Wikis
Subscriptions
readers
Blogs
Podcasts
Social
Networks
Social
Bookmarking
Information
Evaluating
Resources
Scholarly
Works
Library/ Management
Texts
Open
CourseWare
Locating
Experts
Wendy Drexler (2008)

10. So what are employers doing?
• According to a recent study by Jobvite
– 92% of recruiters use social media in the hiring process
– 80% had been positively influenced by a candidate’s
professional social network profile
– 78% had been negatively influenced towards a candidate’s
inappropriate use of social media
• The best candidates might not be actively looking for
a new job (up to 90% of the workforce)
• Social media can identify the best talent , encourage
conversation and build relationships with them
• Enables recruiters to promote their company as “a
great place to work”

11. Why should you care?
A standard CV is no longer sufficient to stand out from the crowd in a
global and rapidly evolving job market.
“We are currently preparing students for
jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies
that haven’t been invented, in order to
solve problems we don’t even know are
problems yet.”
- Karl Fisch, “Did You Know”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmwwrGV_aiE

12. So what should job seekers do?
• Recognise that building an online personal brand is
now a critical aspect of career development
• It boosts our reputation and gives us new skills in
communication, creativity and reflective thinking.
• The information we display on social networks
should actively encourage rather than discourage
potential employers
• Don’t “opt out” - finding NOTHING about a person
on a Google search creates a negative impression too

13. The Future of You
“Welcome to a new era of work, where your
future depends on being a signal in the noisy
universe of human capital. In order to achieve
this, you will need to master three things: self-branding,
entrepreneurship, and
hyperconnectivity.”
By Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, in the HBR blog

14. Dare you Google yourself...?

15. www.employadam.com
• The original video
• Why it works
• The follow up video

16. Using social media to get a job
• Connect (LinkedIn, FB, Twitter)
• Collaborate (Skype, Dropbox, Google Drive)
• Create (Wordpress, Soundcloud, Pinterest,
YouTube/Vimeo)
• Curate (ScoopIt, Delicious, Slideshare)

19. Blogs: pulling it all together
• Use the blog framework as a central point pulling in your
other social media content:
– Tweets – Flickr – LinkedIn – Vimeo - Slideshare – Pinterest -
Soundcloud - YouTube
• You can also embed other social media within individual
blog posts
• Video is increasingly important, especially authentic user
generated content
• Provide sharing buttons
• These activities provide a regular supply of “googlejuice” to
the blog

20. Google likes blogging
• Social media interaction with digital content is
the *biggest influence* on its search visibility:
1. Facebook shares
2. Facebook comments
3. Facebook likes
4. Tweets
http://www.socialmediastrategist.co.uk/blog/1-
news/175-social-media-seo

21. Digital Footprints: the practicalities
• It requires a long term strategy to develop a digital
“footprint” which demonstrates our skills, and build
an appropriate network of contacts.
• The successful author and speaker Chris Brogan talks
about “paying it forward” – meaning we should give
before we receive.
• For a more negative view of “digital tattoos”, see this
TED video presented by Juan Enriquez of Harvard

23. Reppler
• Go to http://reppler.com and check your own social
media profiles. The tool highlights any inappropriate
content, and shows you what aspects of your
information are publically available. Then you can
connect directly to Facebook to edit your privacy
settings and adjust the visibility of your content as
necessary.
• This exercise does require you to allow Reppler access
to your social media accounts as explained in their
privacy policy
• “Every potential candidate for 2040 presidental
election is now unelectable due to Facebook” - satire

24. Web Science Institute
• The Web Science Institute brings together
world-leading multidisciplinary expertise to
tackle the most pressing global challenges
facing the World Wide Web and wider society
today.
• Events
– Barry Wellman 31st October 6pm @unisouthampton
• Funded PhD opportunities
• WSI Blog
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25. Digital Champions
Sam Su
Oliver Bills
Panos Grimanellis
Marina Sakipi
George
Georgi
ev
Hamed
Ayhan
Hame
d
Ayhan
Farnoosh Berahman
Manish Pathak
Ivan Melendez
Ahmed
Abulaila
Lucy Braiden
Alessia
Fiochi
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26. Digichamps: Ivan Melendez
• KISM MSc @ Southampton 2012
• Helped out with employability workshops and
university events
• Now working for Hootsuite in Vancouver
• http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/digital-marketing/
2014/10/10/building-professional-online-
profile/

27. Digichamps: Flo Broderick
• Took Digital Marketing and CI modules, learned
interviewing skills and video editing
• Helped out in a big way at Digital Media Europe
• Masterminded student contribution to Digital
Literacies Conference
• Provided student perspective on our research into
online learning MOOC filming in Portus
• Now in Madrid working for Telefonica Digital
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28. Joining the Digichamps
• More information:
– Digichamps Blog
– Facebook Group
– What do the Digichamps do? (video)
• Digichamps help staff and students with educational
applications of new technologies, build professional online
profiles, and manage social media for live events.
• Students from all University Faculties & all levels of study
• Send a note to Lisa explaining why you would like to join
the Digichamps and highlighting the skills you offer / would
like to develop
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29. Getting started: useful resources
• Social media for the terrified (by Sue
Beckingham, Sheffield Hallam)
• http://www.southampton.ac.uk/careers/stude
nts/events/online.html - webinar on digital
footprints (8 mins)
• Time spent online to exceed time watching TV
in 2014 (eMarketer research)
• The digital revolution is still gearing up
(Marketing Week)
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