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Editor's Notes

1. Based on where I am professionally right now, skill sets are very important, but just as important to that is how I market myself in the working world as I move forward. I’m currently on the search committee at Clark for the next Athletic Director as ours is retiring this coming December. So for the past week or so I’ve been sifting through over 150 applications and it has really gotten me thinking about marketing not just from the employer’s perspective, but from the potential employee’s. In my final presentation I tried to look at how social media is impacting how people market themselves as well as search and apply for jobs.
2. Proactive Learning is Only Step 1 - Clearly everyone in the class is proactive about individual learning and developing new skill sets, otherwise we wouldn't all be sitting here. What is the more frightening outlook for me than continually learning as the world changes is how I fit into it all. Personally I feel as though I’ve been nonstop practicing the “learning” side of things for over 4 years now (over 17 straight if you add them all up). It’s now factoring myself and all this learning into the bigger picture that seems like the harder feat. As we all move past this class, these new proficiencies will be useless if we hide ourselves under a rock after learning them. It's now just as important to learn how to organize and proactively market our own selves online as it is to market the companies for which we do (or hopefully will one day) work. It all links back to the same concepts as communicating within social media. The companies are out there, having conversations with potential applicants, I have to work on penetrating those interactions and marketing myself effectively Establishing a Presence – The greatest thing about the internet is that you find anything on it. Suddenly there’s limitless information that’s just a click away and questions asked out loud all receive the same answer, “Google It” or translated into WebLanguage JFGI (Just F-ing Google It) So in the midst of all the mess... how does a person establish themselves online?
3. Process of my Generation It seems like there is already a step-by-step process in place for recent graduates these days. I can tell when my friends have begun job searching when all of sudden viewing their pictures on Facebook is no longer an option. Their page becomes more static, sometimes you can’t even post on their walls, they eliminate conversation in order to have control over what potential employers may see. Understandable. The knee-jerk reaction is to hide who you are But if the purpose of social media is to build relationships, “who you are” is an important component – it now just becomes the art of personally establishing your professional presence. Let people get a glimpse of who you are in order to connect on that level social media requires, but still maintain professionalism Now if a person did have the urge to hide, it doesn’t seem like it would be that hard with over 240 million hostnames, 500 million facebook accounts, and privacy settings you can tinker with until you are invisible. But one thing will remain constant throughout time, in order to get a job you have to stand out. There has to be something about you in which an employer sees potential regardless of age. As location seems to become more and more irrelevant, competition for jobs has only increased; now with one less stipulation standing in the way, applicants can apply to a wider range of opportunities which means standing out becomes even more important still
4. So, who is Joanna Clark? Well... JFGI . To make a long search short... None of the links on the first page even come close to being me. Actually it isn't until page 6 that one little hint of my online presence pops up from clarku.edu. With a name like "Joanna Clark" I wasn't holding my breath for originality. Just for some reference I plugged in my friend's name next; and now that I know there is only one "Darcey Kurashige-Elliott" in the world, it's back to the unlucky rest of us whose surnames rank in the top 25 most common in the US (at least as of 2000).
5. A Facebook search yields 378 matches. MySpace? 111. LinkedIn displayed 304 results with “Jo Clark” appearing somewhere in them. I found countless social networking profiles, a singer on MySpace, even an interpretive dancer. When adding “Massachusetts” in attempts at refining the search all I did was add anyone named Joanna who had attended Clark University in Massachusetts. But I suppose I did that to myself. It’s important to distinguish yourself amongst these copycats. It would be very uncomfortable to be sitting in an interview and be asked to sing one of my original songs or express how I think I’m best qualified for the position through interpretive dance.
6. As with any social media marketing campaign, things should be integrated. Just like a user subscribes to RSS Feeds in order to avoid going out and finding each individual piece of news, an employer should have all the necessary links to your professional campaign right at his or her fingertips. Now not all of these social media outlets may be utilized by you, or perhaps you aren't participating in all of them professionally. If this is the case then first consider if you would benefit from joining any of them. If the answer is yes begin to expand your presence, but if not focus on adding more value to your current outreach.
7. I Googled, “Me” and was prompted to create a Google Profile. Within five minutes I had created "Me" and in the first .23 seconds of my next Google search I had made it to the coveted first page of results. Through this tool I can incorporate and organize all my online locations into one overall presence
8. Now I know that my campaign isn’t the best example to go by. So I found someone with a fully integrated and impressive Google Profile to refer to
9. Proactive Learning Should be followed by proactive updating Maintaining a current online presence is just as important as learning new skills. The skills will help you progress in your career but the online presence and personal marketing will be what helps you initially reach out to companies For those in my generation it is important to not fall into the trap of graduation becoming synonymous with burying personal profiles. It is more about shifting the focus to adding professionalism to your personality. Digital profiles and integrated presence online is a power thing while marketing oneself and utilizing all the many tools and technologies out there can help you build a presence that helps you stand out in our competitive job market