Tag: Social Media

Tayler Sorensen (C’11) shares her story

My day

I work in Corporate Communications at Bayer Corporation in Pittsburgh, Pa. It still amazes me every day how such a small department does so much work for such a large company. I work in an open office space with four other people and my boss has an office a few feet away. The lack of cubicles encourages us to talk and share ideas often, and I love hearing what everyone else is working on.

First thing in the morning, I read my emails and check for mentions of Bayer in the U.S. media. I run the media archive for the department, keeping a record of all the mentions of Bayer in outlets such as newspapers, television, and radio shows. I use this data to compile quarterly media reports so we can measure how much coverage we receive and whether it’s positive or negative.

Most of my work revolves around social media. I write campaigns for our Twitter and Facebook pages, post videos to YouTube, and I recently started working on campaigns for Pinterest. That’s probably my favorite thing about this internship – Bayer encourages interns to come up with their own ideas and then they help make them a reality. I pitched a plan for adding content on our Pinterest page, my boss thought it was a great idea, and then I actually got to implement it.

Continue reading “Tayler Sorensen (C’11) shares her story”

You’re on Twitter, now what?

by Lin Yuan (Wh’ 13)

Whether we’re getting sick of Facebook or just want to try something new, many of us are migrating over to Twitter these days. However, as a student using Twitter (or anyone really), we have to keep in mind what image our Twitter feeds may convey. Twitter is a great platform for personal expression, but as with all social media outlets, the fact that almost anyone can see what we post means we need to think before we tweet. Here are some practical tips for a Twitter to be proud of.

Some Don’ts:

Don’t be cryptic – Tweeting out of context non-sequiturs is a great way to lose followers and lose credibility. If no one knows what you’re talking about, they’ll assume you don’t really know either.

Don’t be sarcastic – Sarcasm is a delicate art, and one that doesn’t always translate well online. If you want to make a sarcastic remark about something, think about how well it would go over if the reader didn’t understand the humor. Remember, whoever is the target of your sarcastic joke can easily see your tweets.

Don’t be discriminatory, profane, or intoxicated – Self explanatory. Don’t end up on this Tumblr.

 

Some Do’s:

Do follow interesting people – Follow news outlets, employers, and other influential people.  Twitter can be a great way to stay updated on what you’re interested in.

Do state your opinions – Have an opinion on an article or issue? Tweet it and say what you think (in a respectful, thoughtful way, of course.) Twitter can be a way to establish your expertise as much as it is a way to hear what others have to say.

Do show off your personality – Just because you want to keep it professional doesn’t mean you have to come across like a robot. Share your interests and find your unique “voice” on Twitter.

Do tweet regularly – Keep your posts regular and consistent to build your follower base and show off your interests and fabulous wit.

One last do:

Do follow @PennCareerServ – shameless plug.

Online Dating: Jobs Edition

LinkedIn website traffic volume is booming –  employers and job seekers are proactively using the site as an effective tool to connect.   There are also many articles on current recruiting practices and social media.  As the LinkedIn community becomes more central to hiring for many companies, I have become interested in the fact that most people now are including a photo, a component of what LinkedIn considers to be “completing” your online profile.

In the USA, the convention of attaching your photo with your resume faded away in the late1970s with the civil rights movement and the establishment of ideas of equal opportunity in hiring.  Are we taking a step back as we embrace the future with social media job searches?

Few people want a potential employer to pursue them – or disregard them – because of the way they look.  Yet, unconscious or even overt inclinations can influence hiring practices. To be very objective in finding the best candidates, hiring managers likely will be combating well documented proclivites towards hiring people who look like them, preconceptions about ethnicity and gender, biases about people who they find attractive or ugly, as well as stereotypes related to age or visible disabilities.   You can read more about hiring biases and discrimination online – in essence, studies indicate that people are prone to making quick judgments, having nothing to do with a candidate’s skills and accomplishments.

The question is, how would you feel knowing that someone might not look further into your LinkedIn profile if you don’t have an appealing picture?  Do you think that your picture reflects well on you and improves your chance of getting hired?  Obviously, even in the past when photos were not readily available, as soon as a candidate showed up for the interview, a hiring manager’s biases regarding the person’s appearance could come into play.  But at this point in the hiring process, the job seeker has already impressed the employer with their resume of accomplishments, or their well written cover letter.  They have the chance to verbally counter some of the biases based on their looks.

I will continue to look for more information or articles on how hiring practices and biases may be affected now that it is so easy to find a picture of someone online. While I think this newish trend (or retrotrend?) of incorporating photos in professional profiles is not going to change, I do believe that employers can be vigilant in training recruiters to address their biases, and to acknowledge the benefits of diversity in hiring.  Here is an example of guidelines developed in the Human Resources industry, which addresses this issue: http://www.shrm.org/TemplatesTools/hrqa/diversity/Pages/default.aspx .

For you the candidate?  In addition to being thoughtful of the image you put forward via social media, there are also suggestions for breaking through biases during your interviews: http://www.culturosity.com/articles/interviewbias.htm.

Social Media Updates: LinkedIn’s New Look

Have you logged on to LinkedIn lately? If you have, you may have noticed a few updates to your homepage. I’ll just give a quick overview of the two key improvements.  I encourage you to check out the LinkedIn Blog for full details.

First, the tool bar across the top has a new look.  The categories pop thanks to new font and background colors.  This makes it easier to navigate the different areas of your account and utilize the system more efficiently.

Second, the news stream is more organized.  Have your eyes ever gotten tired after scrolling through network updates, the latest news, etc.? If so, then you will find this to be a welcomed change.

Overall, LinkedIn’s new homepage is much cleaner, and, as they put in their own words, “simpler”.  Whether you are new to LinkedIn or an experienced user, I hope you find this new look helpful. This update is also an important reminder that social networking sites experience change frequently, and sometimes with little warning.  Be sure you utilize resources, like the LinkedIn Blog, to understand new features and tools, as well as stay ahead of the curve when it comes to social media.

 

 

 

 

Social Media This Summer

The semester officially ends in just a few more days, but we’re still going to be here at Career Services for you.  As the manager of our social media efforts, I’ll still be tweeting, posting on Facebook and LinkedIn, and adding pins to Pinterest.  This school year on our social media platforms I focused each week on different career paths or tips to help manage your search, like our Stress Busters focus this past week with finals. This summer is no different, as I’ll continue to have themes. Here’s a glimpse of some of our themes to look forward to this summer:

May 7th to May 11th – Alumni Resources & Staying in Touch.  This theme is to celebrate Alumni Weekend and all the commencement ceremonies, where our current students will officially become alumni of Penn.  Learn about resources you can utilize after you officially leave campus and how you can stay in touch with your fellow Quakers.

May 21st to May 25th – Summer Professional Development. A big part to any career, and any stage in that career, is professional development.  Summer classes start here at Penn on the 21st, so we’re going to look at how to manage an internship and summer classes. We’ll also highlight popular conferences, how to network at conferences and other ways to take advantage of the slower pace many industries experience from May through August.

July 2nd to July 6th – Federal Careers.  In celebration of the Fourth of July and our nation’s independence, we’re going to showcase the diverse paths that support our country.  We’ll include tips for applying to federal careers, the various programs to take advantage of and what skills you’ll need to succeed.

These are just a few of the themes for Summer 2012, so stay tuned to our social media platforms to see what else I’ll have in store for you!