Let's put ourselves in a hypothetical situation. You applied online for an internship with a large company. This company, let's call them Gas Con Corp. (GCC) compiles hundreds of resumes and distributes them to the hiring managers at each location. Your resume ends up in the hands of the manager at the Dallas branch. The manager, Mr. James, decides he likes your resume along with a few others and wants to consider you as part of the interview group. However, he first wants to do an online search before he starts, because he tends to highly distrust resumes, especially when it comes to student resumes.
In this post, all of the information is mine, and is real. We will see where my virtual footprint is good, and where it is not.
Mr. James starts by reading over Luke's resume.
In this post, all of the information is mine, and is real. We will see where my virtual footprint is good, and where it is not.
Mr. James starts by reading over Luke's resume.
FIGURE 1. RESUME [1]
Mr. James notices that over half of Luke's resume is about his prior work experience. He figures that he can ask about the specific projects in the interview, but he would feel more comfortable if he could find some proof online that he actually worked there. He searches for Luke Smith in linkedin.com. Here's what he finds.
FIGURE 2. LINKEDIN.COM [2]
Mr. James sees Luke's picture. This is convenient because Mr. James plans on conducting phone interviews and a professional photo makes a good first impression. He notices Luke's industry preference, which says Oil & Energy. Now Mr. James knows Luke is interested in GCC's industry and is a candidate likely to accept an offer. Linkedin also gives some information about each company. Mr. James had never heard of Cargill, but now he gets a better understanding of what they do, and the projects wirtten on Luke's resume carry more meaning.
Next, Mr. James looks up Luke's facebook. His primary purpose for this is not to see if Luke drinks. So before you go and delete every picture off your facebook, let's think through Mr. James' thought process. He really would like to determine how relevant Luke's extra-curricular activities are. The three things that stand out from to Mr. James from Luke's resume are the study abroad, church involvement, and various clubs. Let's see how involved Luke actually is, or if these activities are mostly filler.
Next, Mr. James looks up Luke's facebook. His primary purpose for this is not to see if Luke drinks. So before you go and delete every picture off your facebook, let's think through Mr. James' thought process. He really would like to determine how relevant Luke's extra-curricular activities are. The three things that stand out from to Mr. James from Luke's resume are the study abroad, church involvement, and various clubs. Let's see how involved Luke actually is, or if these activities are mostly filler.
FIGURE 3. FACEBOOK PROFILE [3]
Mr. James sees the Shanghai background in Luke's profile picture and all the Chinese people in his cover photo, so that must be from his study abroad. He naturally wants to look at pictures, because they are more interesting than reading a bunch of posts. He scrolls quickly past all the China pictures because he wants to see what else he can find. Again, let's see if he can find anything regarding either church involvement or any of the other clubs on his resume.
FIGURE 4. COLORADO PICTURES [3]
After the China pictures, he sees that Luke doesn't have all that many pictures. A couple from a ski trip. probably during spring break, and then some pumpkin ones, likely from October. Maybe the pumpkin pictures are from his church group; it kind of looks like something from a planned event of some kind. He scrolls quickly through the rest and sees a couple camp pictures, but not much else.
FIGURE 5. IMPACT PICTURES [3]
Luke wrote quite a bit about his church involvement, but Mr. James doesn't see all that much on his facebook that would point to Luke being very involved. All in all, Luke appears to be a guy that doesn't use facebook very much (he has made one status in the past 3 months.) He could probably benefit from posting a picture now and then.
Mr. James googles Luke Smith, and expectedly finds nothing. He types in Luke Severine Smith, and finds some posting about multiple intramural teams Luke has been on at A&M.
Mr. James googles Luke Smith, and expectedly finds nothing. He types in Luke Severine Smith, and finds some posting about multiple intramural teams Luke has been on at A&M.
FIGURE 6. GOOGLE [4]
Interesting team names from the Bible study leader... Maybe there's a reason Luke doesn't have much on facebook? All of a sudden, Mr. James' impression of Luke changes. He will still interview him, but he will be a bit more hesitant when it comes to trusting Luke's character.
Here's my overall conclusion of my (Luke's) virtual footprint:
The linkedin profile was a definite benefit because it showed Luke's previous experience and even gave Mr. James resources to learn about the companies for whom Luke had worked. More information would be even better, as well as more connections; however, he is a college student so just having a page is a step above more other candidates.
The facebook page was also mostly good. Mr. James was able to see pictures from Luke's study abroad, and that will make Luke more memorable since those pictures relate directly to his resume. His lack of posts and pictures in general is not necessarily a good thing. Yes, 390 good pictures is better than 2000 incriminating ones, but it leaves holes that Mr. James can fill with what he wants, and human nature would suggest that is not always the best thing.
The google search was a totally unexpected red flag. I had never googled myself before, and I was disappointed to see those team names on the top of the page. The truth is, I've been on six intramural teams at A&M, and only two have had inappropriate names, but of course those two are the only ones that show up online. There's nothing I can do to erase that data from the intramural website, but I'd be wise to not create another inappropriate team name next time I play intramurals.
How do you think I did in this online search? Would you interview me? What would you suggest I do to create a better virtual footprint? Comment, please!
Here's my overall conclusion of my (Luke's) virtual footprint:
The linkedin profile was a definite benefit because it showed Luke's previous experience and even gave Mr. James resources to learn about the companies for whom Luke had worked. More information would be even better, as well as more connections; however, he is a college student so just having a page is a step above more other candidates.
The facebook page was also mostly good. Mr. James was able to see pictures from Luke's study abroad, and that will make Luke more memorable since those pictures relate directly to his resume. His lack of posts and pictures in general is not necessarily a good thing. Yes, 390 good pictures is better than 2000 incriminating ones, but it leaves holes that Mr. James can fill with what he wants, and human nature would suggest that is not always the best thing.
The google search was a totally unexpected red flag. I had never googled myself before, and I was disappointed to see those team names on the top of the page. The truth is, I've been on six intramural teams at A&M, and only two have had inappropriate names, but of course those two are the only ones that show up online. There's nothing I can do to erase that data from the intramural website, but I'd be wise to not create another inappropriate team name next time I play intramurals.
How do you think I did in this online search? Would you interview me? What would you suggest I do to create a better virtual footprint? Comment, please!
REFERENCES[1] Luke Smith, (2013, Sept. 12). “Resume” Word document. File name: LSSresume.2.docx
[2] Linkedin.com. (2013, Sept. 12). "Luke Smith" [Online]. Available:http://www.linkedin.com/pub/luke-smith/36/39a/757
[3] Facebook.com. (2013, Sept. 12). “Luke Smith” [Online]. Available:
https://www.facebook.com/luke.lssmith
[4] Google.com (2013, Sept. 12). "Luke Severine Smith" [Online]. Available:
https://www.google.com/#q=luke+severine+smith