Hi Everyone,

Today I want to talk about the affect social networks can have on your career.  These days it seems nothing is private, and with the help of the web, employers, investors, and employees, can have access to information about you through your social networks. 
There are many articles on how much your online presence can affect your eligibility to be hired.  Many employers are now Googling future employee candidates and looking up everything including their Myspace and Facebook pages.

Now, I assume for most independent retailers you are not worried about this, seeing as you most likely call the shots in your organization; but, you should concern yourself with your online presence if you are thinking of expanding, obtaining a business partner, care about your appearance in your community, and/or you are using social networks as a resource to research potential future employees, as future employees are probably using the social network to research your organization.

What I mean by your “online presence”, is basically any websites, blogs, profiles, or online communities you belong to, including Linkedin, Myspace, Facebook, etc.  I recently read a great article which listed out three points to keep in mind when networking online and I have shared them below:

1) Craft your profile carefully. Pay just as much attention to the content of your profile as you would to the information in your resume. Make sure it clearly highlights your professional skills. Double-check for typos and grammatical errors.

2) Strive for quality, not quantity. While it may be tempting to amass as many contacts as you can, it's important to be selective about the company you keep. Guilt by association can become a factor if you're linked with people who have poor professional reputations. If you make your contact list public, potential employers may reach out to the people on it for referrals.

3) Ask for recommendations. Most professional networks provide space for others to comment on your work or recommend you to others. Don't be shy about asking trusted colleagues to post on your profile. These testimonials can quickly give hiring managers positive input about your work ethic and experience.

These points should help you with your online PR as well as give you some good tips for researching your potential employees.  Make sure to check out their profiles, if your 19 year old employee has a public Myspace that is plastered with photos of undesired behavior this may be reason for concern if this presented lifestyle does not fit in with your organizations standards.

In general a great rule of thumb is not to post anything you wouldn’t want a future employer to see, or your mother.  Also, consider setting your social networking profiles to “private” and on some you can even request that all comments be submitted to you prior to them being live on your profile.  This can be particularly helpful as it increases your control over your online image. 

Now, of course controlling your online presence does not mean you have to have a dry profile that resembles your resume and nothing else.  I simply want to convey the impact of the social web and how anyone and everyone can have access to your “online life.”  Overall social networks are great, so go ahead, speak your mind, upload your image, say hi to the world, and connect with like minded people and old friends.  Just be conscious that you are on the web, (they don’t call it the WORLD WIDE WEB for nothing).

Until next time…

Happy Blogging,

Jessica