What Digital Footprint will you Leave? Image by meetup.com
When Chris Wexler, Vice President Group Planning for Compass Point Media, interviews a job candidate, what three qualifications do you think he is looking for? Surprisingly, instead of perusing the candidate’s resume for experience, education or credentials, Mr. Wexler talks with the person he is interviewing and looks for a candidate who is curious, intelligent and enthusiastic.
As part of the VCT Lecture Series on February 4 at Century College, Chris Wexler presented the “Top Five Things Happening Now that are Changing Marketing.” His lecture was fascinating and packed with valuable tips for students seeking a career in marketing. For example, Chris Wexler offered the following recommendations for building a professional digital footprint:
1. Be Curious. Become a lifelong reader and learner.
- There is no test – but that shouldn’t matter.
- Use an RSS feeder to obtain the latest news. Google has a good one.
- Follow the people on Twitter who are experts in your field of interest – such as Chris Wexler!
- Even if you don’t use Foursquare, Quora or Living Social, understand what these tools do.
2. Be Positive!
3. Start Tweeting – or whatever, just start doing it.
- Use multiple online profiles. Make sure what you share is business appropriate.
- When interviewing, check out the interviewer’s profiles and the company sites.
4. Set up a LinkedIn Profile
- Get your resume out there proactively.
- Connect with the people you meet.
Again, thanks to the VCT program and Chris Wexler for a fabulous presentation and mark your calendars for the next VCT Lecture on March 4 in the Lincoln Mall on the east campus at Century College.
4 Responses
-
Stephen Kelly Says:
I wish so much that I could have attended this presentation, but alas, buried in work. Did VCT record the presentation by any chance? Could have been Youtube material, and certainly valuable for posting here!
-
Bill Parker Says:
I am also curious if there is a recorded presentation as well. I am beginning to understand how important it is to build a proffesional digatal footprint. Most of my coworkers are established with multiple profiles on social networking sites, had to sign up on Facebook because I was falling out of the loop! Just goes to show you that an old dog can learn new tricks:)
-
Dawn Says:
I’m on FB, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and I blog often, but I have to admit that I haven’t done much with LinkedIn yet. I’m “linked” to people and have set up my profile, but that’s the extent of it for now. What am I missing?
-
Stephen Kelly Says:
I view LinkedIn as a somewhat puzzling social network. It gets touted a lot, but most people I’ve spoken with have little use for it, and its testified successes seem to be few relative to the number of people who have established profiles on it. It’s more difficult to communicate through than Facebook, it lacks the rapid response time of Twitter, it has no geographical relevance like Foursquare – the list goes on and on.
What it is proven useful for is HR recruiting and the posting of professional experience, but here again it is particularly limited compared to a portfolio website, and the problem is that it doesn’t engage individuals enough to encourage them to regularly maintain an up-to-date profile. I suspect LinkedIn will either have to increase its interactiveness or go the way of the dinosaur sometime in the near future.
