Friday, September 20, 2013

LinkedIn and Branding: What's my name!?

I googled my name once or a lot more.  Apparently I make draw concept cars, I was in a movie call DisOrientation, and I take amazing wedding photos.  In truth I'm much more boring than that.  Nothing came up in my google search about an aspiring programmer named Andrew Sheffield who is just trying to get his Computer Science degree at San Jose State University.  That is, until now.  I recently googled my name once more and behold, the top result!  For those to lazy to click that link, that is a linked in page that displays me, the one true Andrew Sheffield, at the top of the list.  This little adventure into my digital me got me thinking.

When an employer types your name in google, and I honestly can not see a scenario where they wont, what will they find? What do you want them to see? Davidhallsocialmedia.com conducted a study and discovered that 92% of employers search online for details about their potential employees.  LinkedIn is the perfect location to get your name out there, while supplying the appropriate information.

In this digital age resumes make less and less sense.  Why look through countless pages of data that may or may not be accurate, when you can just get online and search for the information you need.  wbaltv.com says that the number one choice of employers to find candidates in LinkedIn.  With the ease of filling out a few forms on LinkedIn.com you can be one step closer to employment discovery.

I am not at the top of a google search if employers do decide to "stalk" me online and I think that is fantastic.  And when they do stumble upon my profile they will see only the best experience, schooling (shout out to SJSU) and skills that can be had.  Check it out for yourself: linkedin.com/in/andrewsheffield.

4 comments:

  1. heh, before reading this blog, I never tried to google my name. When I did, I found myself at the top of the list! I must say that I did a pretty decent job of minimizing my footprint; there was only one entry that I am not particularly keen on having other people see, an old photo-bucket account that I can probably nuke from orbit (its the only way to be sure).

    I agree with almost everything on your post. it is very important to control how your image is displayed on the internet, and having a LinkedIn page goes a long way to correcting that. the one thing I disagree with is your stance on resumes. it is my belief that LinkedIn is very good for casting a wide net, where you post all of your skills and experience. I believe that resumes let you highlight your pertinent skills and tailor yourself to a specific company.

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  2. Hi Andrew,
    I agree that LinkedIn has now become a one stop platform for those looking for jobs and also for employers looking for potential candidates. But I think that LinkedIn helps employers to get a quick glance of the candidate’s profile and skillset. In order to know the complete experience details like what sort of projects the candidate worked in, what are his/her roles and responsibilities in those projects, what is his/her take away from those projects etc., I think resume is better option

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  3. Hi Andrew, after reading your blog, I did try to google my name, funny isn't it? I agree that in a randomly blind search, any piece of information about "you" could be reached by other people while it is not really you. Thanks to social network, especially professional sites like LinkedIn, a person could differentiate him or herself from others who have the same name.

    Overall, this is an interesting blog. I only suggest that it would sound more credential if you could briefly introduces the websites from which you got their studies statistics.

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  4. Hi Andrew !
    Good work with the post. Even I tried to Google my name once due to an incident and as expected my name did not show up in the search results. This is a good example to make your point. It is necessary to be noticed if one has to survive in the cut throat competition prevalent today. With the number of applications that are received it is hard for head hunters to vet resumes. This is much easier when there is a digital copy available. LinkedIn will, in the times to come, remain an important resource for job seekers as well as head hunters.

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