As a recent college grad, I have rapidly gained a wealth of knowledge regarding digital media and the beneficial (and not so beneficial ways) to utilize these various forms of technology. Most job seekers these days begin and end their search online. With wildly popular sites such as Craigslist, Career Builder and Idealist, it’s hard for the broke twenty-something not periodically check them out. Whether you are pursuing grad school, or prefer to enter the professional world as soon as possible, there is no doubt that there are resources to help to you do so and they’re only a mouse-click away.
Generally speaking, I’ve found mixed messages about working towards the ‘next step’ in cyberspace. In career resource guides, such as What Color is Your Parachute, warn in the dangers of being too heavily reliant on websites. Statistically speaking, this is far from the top of the list in terms of job-search success rates. But personally, I would beg to differ with this. I currently hold a job at the Ann Arbor Hands on Museum, an internship with Green Market Fundraising and of course serve as a member of the Eco-Friendly Internship team at Ingenex Digital Marketing. All three of these employment experiences I just so happened to stumble upon during several late night job-search sessions.
Although I realize that I may an exception to this supposed rule, this raises several questions has to how one should approach the job search from such a plethora of digital listings and how to present yourself additionally. Personally, I would recommend to know yourself going into the search. It sounds stupidly simply, right? But take a moment to consider: What are you good at? What do you like doing? Where do you want to be? Are you interested in working for a non-profit for a for-profit organization? By asking yourself questions such as these, you can target sources of media that cater to what you really want. Approaching these utilities with an idealized outcome definitely proves to have advantages in terms of potential outcome.
Job search websites barely even scratch the surface of digital media’s usefulness for a young professional. As I discussed in my most recent blog post, social networking sites are a great way to make legitimate contacts and help get your presence known among an online community. LinkedIn, for instance, acts not only as a social utility that connects you to peers and superiors in any given industry, but allows you to actively search the United States for current job openings.
Many professionals, both young and old, may have difficulty creating a profile that is appropriate- whether their constraints be caused by lack of time, lack of experience or unfamiliarity with the given interface. Ingenex Digital Marketing‘s newest product, Social Harbor, offers a solution to this. Social Harbor offers professional online profile management- for a fee, they will create an online presence for you on a variety of social networking sites, create inbound links to your sites and create maximum SEO efficiency. This resource is entirely unique and offers a service unlike any other profile building agency on the web. If you’re interested in creating a legitimate, presentable profile online, I highly suggest you check it out!
Of course, these are very few examples of available online digital media resources relevant to recent college grads or those on the job hunt. These types of resources are ubiquitous; the ones you choose to use and how you choose to use them is entirely up to you. It is indeed important to present your self as you, but it is important to do so with considerable thought.
