Managing Social Media Presence (CD10)

  • Due No Due Date
  • Points 10
  • Submitting a text entry box or a file upload

Your social media presence can positively or negatively influence your job search.

When you apply for an internship or a job, your employer will no doubt google you and research your online presence (e.g., Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube channel, etc.)  In fact, your LinkedIn profile is considered a "second resume."  Thus, employers will use social media to learn more about you.

But what will they learn?  You can be proactive in managing your social media presence.

In this assignment, you are going to do an audit of your social media accounts. 

Instructions: Engage in each of the five activities described below and write a couple sentences responding to the questions.

1. First, google yourself. (Type your name into the google search engine.) What would a potential employer learn about you if they googled you? If you say, "nothing," do not worry. We are going to build your online presence. But you might already be linked to:

  • a University of Utah page (e.g., research team profile)?
  • Google Scholar?
  • LinkedIn?
  • Twitter?
  • YouTube?

2. Now google one scientist you admire. (I googled Cynthia Furse.  Dr. Furse has a great example of a positive social media presence).  What did you learn about this scientist?  What types of social media were they linked to? How might this be helpful?

3. If you have social media accounts, check each one and do a audit.  If a potential employer searched your Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or other social media, what would they learn about you? Are you happy with that? Why or why not?

4. In what ways would you like to enhance your social media presence before you graduate?  (I know I got some ideas from googling Dr. Furse.  A simple one would be to set up a google scholar profile and make sure it links to research papers.)

5. Finally, do you have a LinkedIn account?  If you do not have one, I encourage you to create one. LinkedIn is a great way to explore opportunities for internships and jobs in electrical engineering, build your professional network, and keep current with the latest trends in your field.  Go to your LinkedIn account (or create one) and add three people to your professional network (e.g., colleagues, professors, mentors, scientists you admire, etc.) Who did you add and why? 

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