Helping students build their online presence and brand

Jasmine Koblik, a fellow Student Advisor, recently attended the TalentEgg Conference & Awards ceremony in Toronto and shared the following trend that is taking place in the area of recruitment which impacts coop students and graduates.

• 93% of employers are now more likely than ever before to check students social profiles during pre-interview screening. The industry is calling this “social screening” and students need to know that it’s going to happen. Companies now want to see a greater positive web presence to learn about who their applicants are and what’s important to them. It’s not only a way to showcase their brand, but also a way to gain a competitive edge in the competitive job market.
• The concept doing your “digital laundry” was introduced as a way to help teach students to “keep it clean” on the web but also to monitor their presence in the online space to make sure it’s a positive one.  How to bury one’s “digital dirt” was a sub topic of this chat meaning if someone has more of a negative than positive online presence, how can it be buried? This is a more challenging task but it can be done by adding more positives to try to reverse that damage. It will not replace the dirt already in existence but it will hopefully make it harder to find.
• Depending on the jobs being applied for, employers are starting to ask for the number of Twitter followers candidates have as well as their KLOUT scores (social impact scores) to measure social influence online.
• Students are encouraged to build their online presence by creating a  page website for free to showcase them and their brand which can easily be linked to their resume/LinkedIn account, etc.   Example: about.me or flavours.me.  LinkedIn is another good way to build their professional brand online

Tags: online presence, personal brand