Anna Griffin/Staff Photographer
The start of the University’s spring 2015 semester kicks off the openings of summer jobs and internships. To gain the approval of potential employers, students should take precautionary measures when it comes to deciding on what to post on social media.
Seton Hall Amanda Theobald, a psychology graduate student, started to be more aware of her Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as an undergraduate during her senior year. Theobald strives to relay a genuine self-image on social media.
“It is not necessarily about who in the workforce I am trying to impress; it is more so about impressing myself,” Theobald said. “If I can feel confident in what I have to offer, then I hope and put faith in the belief that employers will also see that and want to give me the chance to prove myself further.”
As an extra measure in being cautious on social media Theobald has added relatives, including her mother, to her friend and follower lists as a reminder to think before she posts. While the internet proves to be dangerous to students during employment processes, websites such as LinkedIn offer positive networking opportunities to its users. Theobald takes advantage of the opportunities job websites like Indeed and LinkedIn have to offer.
LinkedIn continues to grow past its 332 million users and Seton Hall University alone has accumulated over 47,000 followers on the networking site. Bob Franco, senior assistant director of the Career Center, reminds LinkedIn users that it is crucial to know and represent their values and strengths on their profiles to accordingly show potential network opportunities and employers why they are the best suited for the job. If students do not represent themselves professionally through their appearance and writing on LinkedIn profiles, employers will not take them seriously.
Recognizing that networking is not the same that it was 20 years ago before the emergence of the internet, Franco stresses the importance of professionalism in students through online networking. It is crucial for students to portray themselves and their professional attributes in a clear and precise manner so that employers will want to hire them.
“LinkedIn is the most upfront viable tool,” Franco said.
Through mass networking, students can obtain advice, information and referrals that can lead them to job openings.
According to Franco, networking opportunities are found on other social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Raytheon Jobs (@Raytheon_Jobs) directly tweets information regarding careers and over 1,500 job openings to its 23,000 Twitter followers.
Potential employees can also actively engage through likes and post discussions on business Facebook pages to be heard and, recognized by employers during application review processes.
The growth of corporate presence on social media has occurred because, “Companies know they need to represent themselves on social media outlets because the people are on these sites,” Franco said.
Both professionals and students see that the positives of social media in regards to employment outweigh the dangers it presents.
“I think the internet has definitely opened up new opportunities and chances for people to find jobs and have employers eliminate those who do not qualify much easier,” Theobald said.
Leah Carton can be reached at leah.carton@student.shu.edu.
