How To Create a Brilliant Personal Brand on LinkedIn

Whether we are walking through town late at night, catching a train or queuing at the supermarket checkout, we make assumptions about people we don’t know: sometimes positive, sometimes negative.

When delivering my employability seminars, I often show a number of images of me. I ask the audience to shout out words they would associate with each picture. I never have to wait longer than a few seconds before people start throwing all kinds of descriptions at me. [Read more...]

Aimee Bateman

Aimee Bateman worked for some of the world's largest recruitment companies, before setting up her own consultancy. She has helped thousands of people get their dream jobs and has appeared in a number of TV programmes as the 'Recruitment Expert' on BBC 1 and BBC 3. Aimee is also the founder of Careercake.TV which is designed to help people thrive in their careers. Follow Aimee on Twitter @CareercakeTV.

Filed Under: LinkedIn, Personal Branding, Picture Tagged With: , , , , ,

How to Prepare Your Social Media for a Job Search

If you are ready to begin the search for a great job, chances are you have a lot on your mind! You have to get your resume up to date and impressive, create the perfect cover letter, find out who is hiring and prepare for those tough interview questions.

Even though you’ve got a lot on your plate, don’t overlook management of your social media accounts. More and more potential employers are turning to social networks to check up on prospective employees, and what you’ve got online could determine whether or not you land the job!

Know where you can be found

Sure, you have a Facebook account or a LinkedIn profile, but you might not be aware of everywhere you appear online. Maybe you signed up for a dating site a few years back and have forgotten all about it, or maybe a family member uploaded some crazy pictures of you at your last family reunion.

While you certainly need to be concerned about the social networking sites you use on a regular basis, old profiles need to be addressed too. If you can’t remember every site you’ve ever signed up for (and who can?), try doing an online search of your name, any screen names and/or your email address. If you find your name attached to a profile or website that you’ve never heard of, email the webmaster of the site and ask them to remove you.

You can almost bet that your potential employers are going to run a Google search on you, and you don’t want to lose out on an amazing job because you didn’t take the time to make sure there was nothing bad about you online — especially if you didn’t willingly sign up to the site!

Keep pictures G-Rated

When you upload a picture online, you are sending a message about who you are. Even if you delete that picture, it may have been saved by countless others, circulating the Internet unbeknownst to you. This is why you should always be careful about the pictures that you post, even if you’re celebrating because you’ve recently graduated from college.

Avoid posting pictures in which you are scantily clad, obviously drinking alcohol or engaging in any illegal activities, and any pictures that you wouldn’t want your future boss to see — because chances are he or she will.

Facebook has a tendency to change their privacy settings quite often, and most people don’t care to read the latest updates. The next time you log onto your Facebook page take a look at your privacy settings and make sure that your settings are private!

If you don’t have anything nice to say…

Chances are you don’t upload photos to Twitter like you do on Facebook, but you do have to watch what you say. Unlike Facebook, if your Twitter account is public anyone and everyone can see your tweets, regardless of whether or not they have their own account.

If a potential employer sees you tweeted something inappropriate, illegal, politically incorrect, or anything else that could be deemed offensive they may not hire you. For example, if you’re a recent college grad who is applying for jobs, a potential employer isn’t going to be too pleased when they see a tweet where you talk about how you cheated your way through your Philosophy class, or how you “embellished” your resume a bit.

Even if your Twitter account is protected, that doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. Many employers will request to follow potential employees on Twitter. Sure you’re free to deny their request, but that doesn’t send them the best impression of you!

Don’t insults/diss past employers

If you’ve ever been unfairly fired or just had a bad employment experience, it can feel very good to vent your feelings on your blog or through some other social media platform. However, potential employers are sure to find these kinds of tirades and it can make them worry that you’d do the same thing to them. Vent to a trusted friend (in private) instead.

If you’re filling out a profile on a job search website and you’re trying to explain why you were “let go” from a previous position, be extremely careful not to sound angry or bitter toward the company, even if they did wrong you. Keep your explanations vague and political. Saying “The position was not the right fit for my personality” sounds much better than saying “My boss and I could never see eye to eye.”

If all else fails…

If the temptation to post pictures of yourself partying or to blog about how awful your last job was is too great to resist, then at least take control of your online escapades by keeping them anonymous.

Use a separate email address or screen name for personal online activity and don’t mix it with your work name or email. Remember, though, that it’s best to resist if you can, because today’s savvy employers often have a way of finding what you don’t want them to find.

photo by: Jerry Bunkers

Michael C Deaven

Michael is a full-time blogger who has passions in all corners of the online world. In his down time he enjoys being outdoors, traveling, and blogging on everything from technology, to business, to marketing, and beyond.

Filed Under: Etiquette, Facebook, Graduate, Hiring, Job Search, Personal Branding, Picture, Privacy, Reputation, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How Your Facebook Picture Can Damage Your Personal Brand [INFOGRAPHIC]


Can a good picture help your personal brand? Maybe. Can a bad photo on Facebook ruin your brand? Absolutely.

Here’s a nifty infographic from LinkingR about the level of damage your image can make to your online identity on Facebook and other places.

Minor damage is incurred by using a default picture (imagine the egg on Twitter). A little more damage is done by using a low-res photo or something blurry altogether (so forget those holiday snaps please).

Dual damage is when you use someone elses photo, especially if that photo is bad as well. In the graphic below they’ve used Brad Pitt which probably mitigates that damage just a tad. Severe damage is caused by using an offensive image that will shock your grandma.

The highest level of damage is apparently the use of pornographic imagery. Funny that, I see lots of these images on Twitter by spammers and it seems to work for them, mind you they’re not looking to boost their online personal brand of course. [Read more...]

Jorgen Sundberg

The original Undercover Recruiter, after 7 years in tech recruiting Jorgen now runs Link Humans, a social media marketing agency in London.

Filed Under: Facebook, Infographic, Personal Branding, Picture Tagged With: , , , , ,

7 LinkedIn Profile Pictures You Should Never Use

We’ve all seen the really bad LinkedIn profile images and we kind of know what to avoid…. Or do we? Here is a list of seven pictures that must never be used on your LinkedIn profile:

1. Grainy or Pixelated

A picture that is grainy in any way is not only annoying, it just looks bad. This happens when you don’t have enough light to take the picture, so it gives off kind of a dark unprofessional vibe. You want the image to be completely clear. Also, don’t crop an image of yourself out of a photo and resize it to the extent that it becomes pixilated. It is difficult for people to see what you actually look like and just looks like you don’t know how to resize a photo.

2. The Self Portrait

There is nothing wrong with taking your own profile picture. Just don’t make it look like you did. Photos that are obviously taken from your laptop or by holding your arm out and snapping a picture look hasty and unprofessional. Hire a photographer or use a timed setting on your camera to stand against a wall and snap one.

3. Poorly Lit

This goes back to not wanting to have a grainy or pixilated image. But even if the photo comes out well, you probably don’t want to have a dramatic or shadowy image to represent you professionally unless you work in the arts.

4. Inappropriate for Your Industry

Think about what a potential employer would be looking to hire and try to present yourself in that way. It’s great to have a creative or wacky profile photo of you’re a creative professional. If you’re a lawyer or accountant, potential employers and clients may want to move on to someone who comes off as more trustworthy and solid.

5. Boring

You definitely don’t want to be too flashy or crazy with your photo, but, at the same time, try to think of an image that is a little different from the common profile shot. Try using a lightly colored background or a physical location that speaks to your industry.

6. Black and White for No Reason

Black and white photos make great profile pictures, if they were meant to be in black and white. Don’t try to take a regular photo and make it look more professional or distinguished by simply switching it to black and white.

7. Party Pic

Using a picture of yourself in a social situation can be great. You will look relaxed, friendly and fun. However, make sure to choose wisely. Don’t use a photo of yourself with alcohol in hand or amidst a huge crowd of people.

Bonus: No Picture

The ultimate no-no is not uploading any kind of image to represent yourself! Any viewer to your page will most likely move along without a picture. Don’t you? So, if you don’t have a photo you like yet, use an image of anything, as long as it’s appropriate and follows the guidelines above.

And when you’re done with your picture, time to have a look at your professional email signature.

This is a guest post by Kimberly Wilson. If you would like to write a guest post, check out our Accredited Online Colleges, she writes on topics including career, education, student life, college life, home improvement, time management etc.

Image credit Calamity Photography

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This post is written by a guest blogger. If you are interested in submitting a guest post, check out our Guest Post Guidelines - we look forward to hearing from you!

Filed Under: LinkedIn, Picture Tagged With: ,