Image Credit: Mashable

• 91% of prospective employers look at social profiles before they choose whether or not to hire you.
• 69% of those surveyed have not given someone a job based on what they saw online.
• 68% have given someone a job based on what they saw online.

The bottom line is that employers will look at what you’re doing online before they hire you. You better make sure that what you’re posting reflects positively on who you are as an employee.

Here are some tips to help improve your chances of landing your dream job:

• Don’t bad-mouth an employer. Ever.
  No matter how much you may hate your job, don’t go blabbing all about it on Facebook, Twitter and your blog. 11% of people surveyed for the infographic said they didn’t hire someone because they were negative towards an employer. If someone in HR of the company you’re applying to sees that, then they’ll think that you’ll do the same to their company. They may also think that you’re a diva or hard to please. Don’t ever say anything bad about your current or past employers online. It kind of makes you look like a whiny baby.
• Keep the partying private.
  Everyone likes to relax and unwind after a long week. If you’re the type of person who likes to party and drink with friends, don’t put it online (or at least change your privacy settings so only certain people can see them). It reflects poorly on you as an employee. Employers don’t want someone coming into work hungover. They also don’t want someone who puts a priority on drinking and partying, because they may assume that it takes precedence over work to you.
• Be Honest.
  This may sound lame and common sense, but some people may not be consciously aware of it. By be honest, I mean be yourself. Make sure that who you are in person is reflected by your online personality. If you’re lying about your qualifications, an employer can find out. Also, if you’re extremely outgoing online, and timid and shy in person, an employer is going to be confused as they try to figure out who you actually are.
• Get Creative.
  Stand out from the crowd. Do something different. 36% of employers surveyed said that they hired someone because their social networking profiles showed creativity. If you show creativity online, then a prospective employer will see you as a creative person and problem solver, which are desirable qualities in an employee.
  

Of course, none of these are absolutes. And, if you aren’t qualified for the position that you applied for, editing your social profiles won’t save you. Just keep in  mind that social networking is a powerful tool. If you use it properly, you could get a great internship or job.

Image via Mashable

]]> http://mckenzielawton.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/startup-funding/feed/ 0 McKenzie Lawton startup fundig by the numbers http://mckenzielawton.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/was-google-ever-the-facebook-killer/ http://mckenzielawton.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/was-google-ever-the-facebook-killer/#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:45:28 +0000 McKenzie Lawton http://mckenzielawton.wordpress.com/?p=353 ]]> Back at the end of June, Google launched Google+ in beta for users only with an invitation. I remember feeling like I absolutely HAD to get an invitation as soon as humanly possible. I love trying out new social networking sites, so I obviously had to get my hands on this one. I’m already Google crazy, why wouldn’t I want to sign up?

Soon enough, I got my wish and signed up for Google+. Since then, I honestly haven’t done much with it. A post here, a post there. A new profile picture. I even got the iPhone app. But I just don’t use it a lot, it at all. It’s just one more network for me to be on.

When Google+ first came out many people touted it as a “Facebook killer“. After the service opened to the public in September, traffic to the site spiked, which I completely expected. This week, traffic to the site fell 60%. Was Google+ ever really a “Facebook killer“? Here’s what I think.

One more social network, one more thing I gotta deal with
In all honesty, Google+ is just another social network and at this point people are getting burned out. We’re already on over-load. With Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, foursquare, LinkedIn, GetGlue, SCVNGR, Instagram etc, people already have a lot going on. Google+ was something else that we had to deal with, and it was just too much.

Awkward Space
Google+ occupied an awkward space in the world of social networking. At first, this seemed like a main selling point. It was a lot like Facebook in the way you could create a profile, add pictures and communicate with friends. But, it integrated the open-ness of Twitter of being able to follow anyone you want and not being limited to friend request approvals. It seemed like a match made in heaven. Google+ created its own space. However, the place in between Facebook and Twitter was kind of awkward. Personally, I was trying to figure out what I would share on Google+ that was different from Facebook and Twitter. How could I use this new space? Clearly, most people, like me, haven’t been able to figure it out.

Who are you?
I feel like every day I get notified by Google+ telling me that someone added me to one of their Circles. The problem with that is that I have no idea who these people are. It makes me awkward and uncomfortable, especially since most of these people just seem like spam (Does anyone else have this problem?). On Facebook, I only want “friends” to read what I write. On Twitter, I don’t really care who reads it. On Google+ I can’t figure out who my audience is.

Ultimately this brings me to a few questions: are people on social media overload? Is there a limit to the number of social networks we can be on before we get completely burned out?

To be honest, I don’t have the answers to these questions. And as for Google+ time can only tell what will happen to it. Maybe it will make a comeback. Maybe it will be the next Google Wave. What do you think will happen to Google+?

I love dogs. And this video of an adorably sad Pug named Chocoholic tugs at the heart strings. Can I have one?

“When it went up, the phone stopped ringing. I guarantee 100% I’ve not written anything about my hotel on there.”

TripAdvisor recommends to patrons that they don’t review a hotel while they’re staying there, but it isn’t a requirement for posting a review. In my opinion, this isn’t the best system. There will be customers who don’t listen to the rules and recommendations, and will post reviews while staying at a hotel. Should it ruin the hotel’s business?

On the actual page for the hotel on TripAdvisor, the reviews were mixed. While some praise and love the hotel, others hated it. Of course, it’s almost impossible for a business to have 100% customer satisfaction (unless you’re Zappos) so I wasn’t too surprised when I saw the mixed reviews. If the hotel was trying to boost ratings and post fake reviews, you’d think that their ratings would be more consistent with praise.

All of this begs the question, can social media hurt your business? The answer: yes and no.

People will always speak out against businesses they don’t like, or bad experiences that they’ve had with a brand, especially on social media. If your business does get negative feedback through social channels, learn how to deal with it. Boloco does a great job of this by responding to detractors on Twitter without inciting controversy or anger.

Unfortunately cases like the Riverside Hotel are unique, or at least, you don’t hear about them often. To be honest, I’m not sure which side is being truthful in this situation. If the review was fake, then the hotel is paying the price. If TripAdvisor’s review system screwed the hotel over, then clearly there needs to be a major change in their system.

For better or for worse, social media is around to stay. Businesses need to learn how to properly use these channels to gain a larger customer base, and give great customer service. For the Riverside Hotel, they need to forge ahead and develop a strategy to gain back customer support.

Image Credit: Jason in Hollywood

Every year Doritos does their crowd-sourced SuperBowl commercials. They’re always fun and they give fans an opportunity to engage with the brand on a massive scale. Recently, Doritos announced a new addition to their SuperBowl competition this year – The Lonely Island. If you don’t know who The Lonely Island is, than you must be living under a rock. It’s comedy geniuses Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer. They started off doing SNL Digital Shorts that everyone knew and loved (Dick in a Box anyone?) and they turned it into their very own comedy/music group. The three guys write everything, and they often get help of celebrities (like Lady Gaga) to work on songs with them. Note: I am obsessed with The Lonely Island.

The Doritos SuperBowl ad competition is going to work like this: consumers can submit ads just as they would any year. But this year, you’re not only competing against everyone else, but The Lonely Island too. Whichever ad out of the ones aired get #1 on the USA Today’s AdMeter, gets a $1 million prize. If The Lonely Island wins, that money is donated to charity. Even if you don’t win the money, you’ll still get a chance to work on a “Doritos Project” with the trio.Just submit your video to www.crashthesuperbowl.com/ between October 3rd and and November 21st.

The Lonely Island also promoted RÖKK vodka with a funny, quasi-sexy ad.

When they released their latest album, Turtle Neck & Chain (a recent favorite on my iPod) I saw a billboard for the album, complete with RÖKK vodka near my apartment in Allston. I’ve never tried RÖKK before, but I might as well now. The Lonely Island just instantly upped the cool-factor of the Swedish brand vodka.

There is something about The Lonely Island that is incredibly appealing to my demographic. They don’t take themselves seriously at all, and I appreciate that. If I felt as though the group was trying to sell me something seriously, I wouldn’t be into it. But their irreverence and humor is what makes the ads they’re featured in so appealing. Who would’ve thought that using a group that makes fun of advertising, makes products more marketable

• The Timeline
  Your Facebook profile is going to be much different than you currently know it to be. A new algorithm is being introduced to your profile in which it sorts out the most “important” events from your profile and highlights them on your page. Not only that, but your Facebook will go back to when you were born. How crazy is that?! You can go in and add photos to your childhood years so your Facebook essentially is the timeline of your entire life. Personally, I think this feature is incredibly cool and it’s going to make changing from Facebook to another social network (ahem, Google+) all the more difficult. Why would you abandon your profile when it chronicles your entire life?Some are even talking about Facebook replacing scrapbooks with the new Timeline feature.
• The Cover
  A lot of people on my Twitter feed were commenting about how the Facebook redesign looks a lot like a blog, mainly because of the Cover feature. On the top of your profile you’ll have a “Cover” or a photo that you chose to represent who you are. It’s the first thing people see and in my opinion, it’s going to be a huge personal branding opportunity.
  
• Stories
  With the new algorithm, I mentioned that Facebook picks what events were most “important” in your life and highlights them on your profile. But fear not, it’s still customizable. There will be Star and Remove options where people can chose what to highlight, and what to remove. That way, your Facebook page becomes uniquely you and exactly what you want others to see.
  
• Open Graph
  Open Graph will allow apps to be much more integrated with your Facebook profile. It will allow the apps to automatically update in the background what you’re doing. Facebook has partnered with several different companies (including Netflix, Spotify, and Nike+) to create this seemless integration. Out of everything in the f8 conference, this is what I think will be the least popular feature. We don’t want to share what we’re doing all the time with our friends. To be honest, I don’t really care what my friend Jessica is listening to on Spotify at that very moment, or what Mike is watching on Netflix. I want the option to filter what people see and what they don’t.
  

Overall, I think the changes are a great move for Facebook. It’s making itself THE social networking tool for your life, and possibly forever. Who wants to switch from Facebook to another platform when Facebook already has your entire life chronicled?

What are your thoughts on the new Facebook profile?