Being Digital Can Get You A Job
Advice from the former CEO of Kred on the importance of being “100% digital”.
Note: This post was originally published on 2nd April 2014.
Google makes all of our lives a whole lot easier. This also includes hiring managers who can now find out all there is to know about you online in a few minutes. This makes your ‘personal brand’ and ‘digital footprint’ very important when it comes to applying for new jobs.
To set some context here this post was inspired by a talk from Andrew Grill, Global Partner for IBM Interactive and Former CEO of Kred, the leading social influence platform. I saw Andrew deliver a super interesting talk last week about the importance of being “100% digital” as he puts it. “I can tell you the exact ROI of my blogging and social efforts; it’s a job with IBM”. That one sentence really hit home with me and I felt it was a really important insight that I should share with you all.
Now, Andrew blogs a lot(!), and of course we’re not going to be able to build overnight the level of influence that Andrew has built over many years.
However, being 100% digital in today’s world makes you not just visible, but relevant (tweet this).
Andrew spoke about how being visible is hugely important in growing an extended network and becoming influential in your chosen field. Just being visible alone is a huge competitive advantage in many cases, not least when applying for a job.
If you are digitally visible, relevant and have your own opinion think how important these factors could be in swaying an employer’s decision in your favour versus another candidate.
By being visible on digital platforms, we’re talking about blogging, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Medium, etc it provides evidence of your interests, your opinions and your thought processes. It’s an insight into you as a person and for a potential employer this insight can make your application stand out head and shoulders above the crowd.
Think about it, if you’re visible and have a small following on your social channels then your influence is not just a benefit to you for a whole host of reasons including getting hired, but also of benefit to any future employers.
Your brand can be an advocate for their brand.
Of course, there are do’s and don’ts which I won’t be going into here. But if you’re authentic and professional then you can’t go far wrong. I’ve written before about how bad use of social media can cost you your job. If in doubt apply the Gran test — would you be embarrased if your Gran saw what you’re posting? If the answer is yes then maybe you should reconsider. Having a negative digital footprint can be damaging to your prospects but it’s also interesting how people perceive somebody when there is NOTHING at all to be found on them via Google. This screams of one of two things. Either a) this person has something to hide, or b) this person is lagging behind on adopting new technology. Neither of which are desirable traits in a potential employee.
Overall, there are no doubts about the benefits of being digital, having a presence and building your influence. I’ll be the first to admit that blogging is not something I have been great at committing to. Andrew’s advice was “don’t view it as a chore”. Blogging is a long-game, not a quick-win but over time can be a huge differentiator for us all. It’s something I’m going to commit to long-term and I hope you’ll all join me on the route to becoming 100% digital.
PS. If you want to learn more about Andrew then I highly recommend checking him out. He has a load of videos on his vimeo channel and blogs at andrewgrill.com and londoncalling.co
