The Faculty of Graduate Studies is hosting a series of workshops to help students, including one about the impact of personal social media presences in job searches.

Imagine it’s the day of a job interview. Two hours before the interview, you’re at home standing in front of a mirror. Reflected in the glass is an individual who looks and feels confident and professional.

Have you ever thought that your social media life works as a kind of cyber mirror for prospective employers? Who will they find staring out from it?

Employers are turning to social media more and more as part of their recruitment and hiring processes, says Amy Elder, director of Brock’s Career Services.

“If you’re looking for a job in today’s world, how and where you engage in social media takes on a new dimension as part of an effective job search,” she says.

Elder will speak to graduate students about the powerful role of social media in the current job market during a professional development workshop on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., in Pond Inlet.

This is the third in a series of six professional skills development workshops organized by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and presented in partnership with GradPlus. Graduate students can still register for this workshop by emailing gradplus@brocku.ca.

Elder will provide students with examples of key networks that employers turn to when recruiting people to fill positions.

“Recent statistics indicate that 87 per cent of North American companies use LinkedIn for recruiting and 64 per cent of organizations use more than two social networks to recruit,” Elder notes.

Elder points to a recent online article posted on the Forbes website titled How your social media profile could make or break your next job opportunity when talking about the importance of social media as a professional reference tool. The article refers to a worldwide 2012 technology market survey that found almost one in five tech industry executives say that a candidate’s social media profile has caused them not to hire that person.

“Too many people aren’t paying enough attention to how their social media activities are creating a personal brand – from the information posted on Facebook walls to the tweets they send out and the blogs they write,” says Elder. “You have to step back and think about what those activities say about who you are and how that translates to a prospective employer.

“Overall, we hope graduate students come away from the workshop better informed on how to become savvy users of social media in respect to their career goals and professional success.”

The Faculty of Graduate Studies also invites graduate students to register at gradplus@brocku.ca for the other workshops in the series:
• Tuesday, Feb. 5: Effective Leadership in Team Environments
• Tuesday, March 12: Time-Wise – Time and Project Management
• Tuesday, April 2: Thinking Entrepreneurially – Always and Everywhere
All workshops will be held in Pond Inlet from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and refreshments will be provided.