Here is an article I wrote for Sarah Ebner at Times Online on top tips for graduates in securing that first elusive job. The article covers some of the basic tools and techologies graduates need to make themselves more visible online. It’s tough out there but with a little planning and sensible online reputation management, graduates can still make themselves visible and get ahead.
It’s no surprise when you think about it, but it appears that Brits are having their dirty secrets aired online. In an age where more than ever before we are being judged by our actions online, it seems that there are still too many people yet to fully grasp the impact of what they do on the internet.
With that in mind, the team at Halpern Cowan commissioned its first Digital Literacy Report for 2009, looking at how UK consumers are engaging with the internet. What we’ve found is that there is a real lack of understanding and basic digital literacy amongst UK consumers when it comes to conducting themselves online.
Most notably for me, the Digital Literacy Report found that one in four (23%) single British adults admitted there are pictures of themselves online that they wouldn’t want their bosses or colleagues to see, whilst over a quarter (28%) of 18-35 year olds admitted they have posted inappropriate content on services such as Facebook and Twitter that they have later gone on to regret.
As a result, it is clear that young professionals out there looking to establish themselves in a career are jeopardising their future chances with a careless approach to what is being posted about them online.
Consider as well that 47 per cent of those asked confessed to searching someone online before meeting with them, be it in professional of personal circumstances, that means that an individual’s misdemeanours are even more likely to found online by the very people they least want to see them.
This is a serious situation. We can expect to see young British professionals losing out in business and in their personal lives unless this apathetic approach to the internet is properly addressed.
Some seem to think, ‘I don’t need to be proactive.’ This is a dangerous attitude to have. As an individual it is easy to search for you online and see what you are doing, so if you have someone posting pictures of you on Facebook doing something you don’t want shared with the world, or you’re posting things on chat sites without a second thought as to its impact, you need to prepare for the consequences.
With more and more people being directly affected by their actions online, getting sacked for an inappropriate picture on Facebook or being judged by friends for a stray comment on Twitter, we need to improve people’s understanding of their consequences online and the impact it can have on their reputation.
Your reputation affects you, what people think about you and your ability to get on in the world accordingly. With a proactive approach the internet can be used to improve your reputation, but internet users must understand that promoting and protecting their online presence is now a major factor in achieving their professional and personal objectives.
Twitter is one of the most successful communication tools on the internet, but what type of people are actually using it? what are their political allegences and preferences? are those who tweet actually able to change anything?
A recent poll conducted by prospect magazine and complied by YouGov gives us a window into where the “twittering classes” as a group sit on the scale of liberal to authoritarian. My gut feel before looking at the stats would err toward the liberal but that’s likely to be coloured by my work within creative, media and technology.-Most of the savvy people within these groups are likely to be more digitally active if not politically and concious of broader social issues such as the environment, culture, the arts, education etc…
The poll found that Twitter users are less liberal than those who vote for the liberal democrats, but more so than either people aged 18-34 or Labour voters
We have already seen twitter users develop a groundswell of support for various issues and causes, through thousands of tweets, blogs and online protests; Iran, The Guardian / Trafigura gagging order. The homophobic rant regarding Stephen Gately in the Daily Mail etc…
These statistics could make interesting reading given that the parties contesting the UK general election in 2010 will rely heavily on the internet to spread their messages to the wider public. The general feeling up until now is that the conservatives and their supporters have been considered to lead the digital communication space. In contrast it is the left wing with a strongly liberal and civil libertarian bias that is leading the way.
To put the whole thing into perspective, one other stat from the research stands out – upto three quarters of the population don’t use twitter and don’t think it much use outside general chit chat and gossip. that is where the first digital battle lies, in changing attitudes toward how and when communication is spread and making people aware of the change in the balance of power. If we can get more people on board to understand the power of social networks as a force for dialogue and for change, then things could get interesting in May 2010
A hung parliament with Labour and the Liberal Democrats forming the next government anyone?
The law courts are beginning to take cyber stalking seriously, social networks need to as well.
A very real and scary stalking case shows how harassment
Has moved in a very real sense to the digital sphere
Facebook and MySpace are places where individuals can hang out, chat and communicate amongst friends and colleagues. But there are also hidden dangers to having your name, age, interests likes and dislikes out there for anyone to see.
Inappropriate contact online is not just an annoyance and simply blocking the individual concerned may not be enough. Unfortunately this is a by product of our information age. At last the law seems to be catching up with the reality.
This story from the London Metro Newspaper tells how A 23 year old man has been given a suspended 12 month prison term and a lifetime restraining order after bombarding a 20 year old college student with aggressive and threatening messages.
It is becoming harder and harder to stave off people who are hell bent, for whatever reason, in harassing us online. The channels are growing quickly and more and more of us are available 24/7 on social networks, blogs, twitter, email and mobile devices.
New rules must be put in place to combat unwanted attention. It is heartening to see the law taking this issue seriously but it is not enough. Facebook, MySpace and the other social network giants need to adhere to a code of conduct, better still, to be leading the initiatives. The ‘carrier’ defence that is left over from the telephone networks is from a bygone age and can no longer hold sway
All of this means individuals need to be aware of their digital footprint, to know that any information that is put online can be used against them as well as for them.
This places us squarely in a conundrum. Do we throw caution to the wind and have an open network of people inviting anyone to connect, join in and communicate with us? Or do we close the digital avenues of communication only letting select known people through our internet filters. A difficult choice in an age of openness.
A fresh, exciting and excited new graduate pops out of the academic machine all new and shiny and keen to get started in the great world of work. Except she can’t get a job where she can apply at least some of her creative thinking, utilising at least some of the things she has learned over the last 3 years.
So she decides to head off around the world for a year or two, miss most of the recession and come back when its all blown over and things are back to how they should be. another graduate sees the same picture and hunkers down in a crap job for crap money in a crap location. Which one has the upper hand an which one is more likely to end up with a great job further down the line?
One school of thought is that any job is good and once one door opens any number of opportunities will present themselves. The individual concerned has shown clear thinking in getting a head start on her contemporaries and is better placed.
The other says that showing a creative approach to a less favourable job market shows a willingness to bring original ideas to the table, a trait that is in demand. I know both these people and have thought both ‘difficult choice’ and ‘no brainer’ at different times. Any thoughts?
Louis Halpern, my-co author on personal reputation management writes about not getting any sleep and the writing process here. I know how he feels. The writing process is a well worth it in the long run. But by the lord harry, isn’t it painful when you are in the middle of it. I’ve found it easer running through treacle (not recommended outside of vivid, nightmarish dreams) and probably one of the hardest creative tasks I undertake, or at least it feels that way until a new brief comes in…
Personally I have no trouble starting writing, it seems to flow quite easily, and I never have any issues with getting what’s on my mind down on paper. Where I run into problems is second, third and fourth draft. That’s where it all slooooooooooows down for me. I can happily leave a piece that I started and never touch it again for ages, well forever actually.
This is how I try to deal with the dreaded second draft
1. Try not to finish any work that’s flowing in one session, much easier to come back to something when you have a fair idea of how it’s going to end to get you started again.
2. Don’t write any passages out in full, use frameworks, keywords etc.. To keep the mind flowing and not focussing on any one subject too much (the old look at it by not looking at it trick – works wonders for me)
3. Write on paper first, I used to do this all the time, preferring to lay out everything in front of me and piece the ideas together. It’s quite a natural process when you think about it, similar to laying out the plans for a building or website before diving straight in.
4. Distraction. I find distracting myself quite easy at the best of times. When I’m writing I find making tea, reading the newspaper, and not doing any writing quite motivating. It might sound a little odd but the thought of a looming deadline and a possible repeat of countdown can do wonders for your get up and go
5. Never write after 10pm. This is the one I find hardest to stick to, being a bit of a natural night owl, however, anytime I write after 10 my eyes start bulging, sweat starts pouring down my face and the veins in my forehead start trying to meet in the middle – sure signs that I should stop writing, and perhaps go easy on the chilli sauce.
Finally, the first prints are here and ready. Much excitement in the office now that we’ve gotten our mitts on the actual books themselves. 18 months in the making, some pain but now all worth it. good stuff.
Along the journey to writing our book personal reputation management, we talked to numerous individuals about their thoughts on reputation management actually is. Mostly the replies were in the “I don’t have to think about it until my reputation is attacked” variety. For me, this is a dangerous perspective to have. to get yourself an advantage, particularly today, is hard enough. Waiting for your reputation to be besmirched or for a competitor for a job to use your profile against you is just plain careless.
Much better to be pro-active and have a half-decent reputation strategy in the first place. the basics don’t take long at all to do: be consistent, tell your story and use the big internet shop window for what its good at – making you visible online.
Imagine a position that you you were well qualified for, worked hard to find and interviewed brilliantly for went to another person. The prospective employer gave the reson that they searched for you on the internet and found content that was rather unprofessional to say the least….you would be pretty annoyed wouldn’t you? maybe even kicking yourself. Welcome to the world of personal reputation management, where how you are percieved online can directly enhance or detract from your job prospects.
Nearly a quarter of web users believe there is content on the internet about them and they wouldn’t want to be seen by their employer. Today, more than ever, you need to be visible online, and more importantly you need to be seen in the best light possible by those who could offer you land your next job or contract.
In the competitive job market you have to be unique, be aware of market trends and the most up to date with new techniques and technologies. but today that isn’t anywhere near enough to get you where you want to be. What you really need is to have an effective personal reputation management strategy – and to use the internet to amplify it.
As the great philosopher Socrates said: “Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of”
The Internet is now the defacto way of presenting the information you would like seen about yourself to the world. Social networks and online communication tools such as forums, blogging, viral marketing are now essential in managing your online presence how you are perceived by potential employers or customers.
All businesses take time to protect their names, their brands, and reputations now it is becoming increasingly important for individuals. Anyone who is concerned with their personal reputation (and really, who doesn’t need to impress prospective employers, clients or customers?) needs to take control of their personal reputation to actively protect and promote their online presence.
Managing your personal reputation in a tough job market could make all the difference in your job hunt. Here are some basic tips to help;
You can read the first chapter of our reputation management book free at www.reputation-book.com
Our book – Personal Reputation Management – Making the internet work for you – is finally finished. Hooray. The book will give you an in-depth understanding of how your reputation affects your financial and professional status and offers straightforward, practical advice on how your online reputation can land you a new job, a new piece of business or even keep you employed at your current company. Go to www.reputation-book.com where the Digital download is available now for £12.99 / $19.99
(by the way the ETA for the paperback version is September 15, Pre-order now and be the first to get your hands on the print version)
Here’s a tag cloud of our reputation management book first chapter. Good to see the words “Reputation” and “Personal” being the most used. Management seems to be further down the pecking order….
Are we nearly there yet? At the risk of sounding like my two year old, well are we? If I can just finish these last pesky edits for our personal reputation management book here, myself and Louis will be shouting from the rooftops…
Our book “Personal Reputation Management” is out shortly, here’s a peek at the front cover. Head over to www.halpernprm.co.uk/prm-book to find out more about ordering and to download a free chapter
Managing your personal reputation can be the difference between getting that job or losing out, gaining that new contract or losing out. You can understand what people are saying about you by using the inherent power of the internet – this is now becoming crucial to personal success – both financially and professionally. Here isa a list of reputation management things you can do now, to get started.
Your reputation is your business. how you are perceived online affects you and your companies image and success. To understand this is to understand the power of perception and to understand how you can positively affect your professional status.
Be consistent. you must convey a similar message across all of your digital profiles if you are a company looking for new clients or customers offer something unique, be personable, offer free advice, trials or products. letting people know what you are about and what you have to offer will begin to develop people who will be your advocates and talk positively about you or your company. these leads to respect, which also leads to recommendation.
Clean up your digital footprint. make a list of all of your social media networks, blogs, websites both company and individual. this means separating out the professonal you from the personal you. make use of privacy settings.
Pick your online profile name and look after it. Even if your name is popular and you cant use “John Smith” across your own website or blog and social media profiles you can try things like “John Smith Designer” to differentiate yourself.
Ask your friends or colleagues to take down any unprofessional pictures, videos or content of you from their flickr, facebook, myspace or twitter accounts.
Make yourself more visible to one of your main target audiences. This means search engines. think about the words that you would describe your professional self. For instance if you are a web developer looking for a new role using words like: dynamic, developer, london based, pro-active on your web spaces can help your visibility also think about your skills and list them on your profiles as major keywords – php, css, aspx, python, javascript etc… use these words in your email signature, on your blog comments or posts on your blog or website
Don’t try and spread your profile across multiple social media networks just because they exist. Use the networks that reflect your personality and your professional objectives.
Monitor your reputation. Set up some simple but effective Google and yahoo alerts for your name or business. You could also check what your competitors are doing using the same technique. Further down the line have a look at products like TrackUR and Reputation Defender to make things easier to manage.
For more creative, reputation and writing news and views follow Roy Murphy on Twitter
Monkey say Monkey do and the new demographics
Is anybody else getting completely “newwebbed” – (patent pending) out? I know I am. From the creative after perspective I think it’s about time our industry is finally eating at the big boys table. Now that Rupert, Bill and friends are truly on board and have, for now, made their billion dollar purchases and have temporarily stopped hopping about trying to figure out how to monopolise the web 2.0 environment, things are beginning to clear. This means we can again think about real users, real problems and offering useful, engaging digital solutions. As opposed to the current sorry state of affairs where the growing noise of snake oil salesmen masquerading as web 2.0 guru’s is becoming ever more intrusive . Interactive TV anyone?
If we can forget about the quick buck merchants and think positively it leaves the field wide open for us creatives to continue flexing our muscles in ever varying ways to see how far we can push new technology and what new, undiscovered ideas might come as a result For every netvibe, flickr, last.fm out there are a bundle of poor imitations, most of them adding very little weight apart from the of the wagon creaking under the weight of the clod-footed, me-too opportunism. This is my major gripe. Clients are already getting sick of the phrase web 2.0 and I feel are beginning to view its exponents as cheap con artists.
I’m hoping that out there aren’t lots of new digital creative pitches beginning with. ‘It’ll be fine, well web 2.0 it to up, make it really sexy’ but I know for sure this isn’t the case/ as creative professionals I suggest trying to understand the implications of shifting technology on a client by client perspective. Rather that blather on about Ajax, atlas, social networking, the new youtube and other tired buzzwords to our clients we’d rather the creative elements worked in conjunction with the technology to contribute to the whole. This includes running digital projects the old fashioned way – proper planning and IA, usability, accessibility, user journeys allied with cutting edge creativity equalling useful, creative solutions to a client problem. If these elements are in place it’s a much easier task to develop full-on customer centered solutions instead of bolting on the latest buzzwords to give a poor solution credence. Now here’s the thing, the customer is now empowered with changing, adding to and sometimes even improving our best ideas. These technologies are the creative building blocks for the industry to push ahead and raise our profile from the boom and bust headlines to create some great content with solid, ongoing ROI
The creative challenge is not spewing out clichéd buzz phrases it is this. Engender trust from our clients in our industry as a whole, by keeping away from and lazy targeting and damaging recommendations. Advise from a position of expertise, even if that advice is not to use a particular technology. When each and every user is the customer, reviewer, critic, publisher and creator of content. Operating not just creatively, but effectively within these new boundaries is where my money is going in terms of the most exciting, challenging creative environments just don’t get “newwebbed” out before we truly understand how powerful and creative these tools can be.
Well, you can dream can’t you?
Oh really? thats an interesting viewpoint. I’d imagine it came from an account manager or maybe even a client?
its a strong perspective to say the least and not one i’d usually like to be associated with. but ever keen play the angles ive decided to give it some thought. what actually is creativity?
Well, in the new media digital environment i’d argue it is the “thing” that we all gather around. We eyei nervously lest we look directly at it while it floats into the nether. We cajole, encourage, protect and agrue fiercely to give it and those who have the talent to believe in it and to embellish it the rights to see it through. It is the campaing that sells toothpaste, touches hearts, drives us crazy, makes us laugh. It is the only touchpoint from which the consumer or user comes into contact with the brand in an honest way.
There is another school of thought that propoess That creativity can be turned on like a tap and that given a finite amount of time any given person can create a specified number of creative “things”. That it is pure touchy-feely, nice on the eye, visual candy. Poppycock. Without harnessing creativity in the right way and doing the utmost to care for it it does indeed become a commodiity and one that can be replaced ad nauesum by any number of other comodities, is this what we want for our brand communciations? is this what we are being asked to create? to truly deliver a compelling user experience? This tanks-on-the-lawn approach to the creative art is damaging in both the short and long term and has a major impact on ROI.
Bulldozing in and expect an immediate return results without investing the time, effort and care to grow the creativity and the team creating it into a world beating campaing, product launch or service is a sure path to failure.
It is then a very short path to not understanding the underlying reasons for the “thing” in the first place. why not replace the “thing” with another “thing” and see if that works. Monkeys and photoshop do not a campaign make.
The easily avoidable mistake here is that if creativity as an art is treated with the respect it deserves and not foisted upon the consumer as just another commoditity it will make a difference to ROI and it will begin a mutually rewarding consumer dialogue that builds trust and engages from the start. its simple really. Crude commodotising of the creative process only leads to conflicting direction, and ultimately harms the consumer or user who , lets face it, has every chance of seeing through an ill thought out product or service for what it is and never uses or buys it again.
Clearly understanding the process of creativity and clearing a path for its development can only be a good thing. Creativity + Thought + understanding = better brand communication, better thought out ideas and better return on investment. Join me in rallying against commoditising creative “things” and watch how much better the results will get
Roy Murphy is creative director at Halpern Cowan, author of a book on personal reputation management and offers corking creative digital advice, usually with a large side helping of Irish cheek.
