 |
| Mr. Herbert Lowe |
Ream/Oct.25/Blog Post
This last Wednesday, the Communication Department and the open public were invited to come hear Mr. Herbert Lowe's lecture titled, Branding Me: Communication in the Age of Social Media.
The charismatic Lowe, a journalist-in residence at Marquette University, took the time to visit our campus and share his knowledge involving every student's social media presence and the impact that it has on our job hunting.
Needless to say the impact that it has is immense. Do you have a Facebook page? A recruiter is going to look at it. Do you have a Twitter account? A recruiter is going to look at it. Do you have an LinkedIn? Of course a recruiter is going to look at it. Do you have all of these social media websites up to date, appropriate, and most importantly are they impressive? If not, then you are out of a job. Lowe spoke to the students that night in a personable manner but also with a strong sense of severity, which I believe is justified. In this day and age, of growing technology dependence, of course these are the certain facets of "you" that are going to be picked apart and judged upon by a job recruiter.
Of all of the information that Lowe presented, in the limited amount of time that he had, one of the main things that takes precedence over a lot of good information is the quote, "Who you are is who you attract." Lowe applied this quote to the fact that you, as a professional, should be and act like the kind of people that you want to attract i.e. professional business people. Unfortunately, this means that a person has to change who they are in order to tailor themselves to be what society believes that a professional should be.
So then social media, such as Facebook, which is supposed to be an expression of one's self, is to be censored, tailored, and used as a tool to present a good clean "brand" version of yourself. I wish it was not so. Selling my "brand" and selling me means that I have to change things about me into what a business or career setting ideally want their employees to be. Some may argue that this is a part of growing up, and that maybe so, but I like who I am as a person and I do not want to change a part of me that I enjoy.
Maybe I am stubborn? Maybe I am dumb? Maybe, but I doubt that I will ever keep a Twitter account and post twice a day just so that I can have a lot of followers and impress a recruiter that measures a hardworking employee by their Twitter popularity.
This last Wednesday, the Communication Department and the open public were invited to come hear Mr. Herbert Lowe's lecture titled, Branding Me: Communication in the Age of Social Media.
The charismatic Lowe, a journalist-in residence at Marquette University, took the time to visit our campus and share his knowledge involving every student's social media presence and the impact that it has on our job hunting.
Needless to say the impact that it has is immense. Do you have a Facebook page? A recruiter is going to look at it. Do you have a Twitter account? A recruiter is going to look at it. Do you have an LinkedIn? Of course a recruiter is going to look at it. Do you have all of these social media websites up to date, appropriate, and most importantly are they impressive? If not, then you are out of a job. Lowe spoke to the students that night in a personable manner but also with a strong sense of severity, which I believe is justified. In this day and age, of growing technology dependence, of course these are the certain facets of "you" that are going to be picked apart and judged upon by a job recruiter.
Of all of the information that Lowe presented, in the limited amount of time that he had, one of the main things that takes precedence over a lot of good information is the quote, "Who you are is who you attract." Lowe applied this quote to the fact that you, as a professional, should be and act like the kind of people that you want to attract i.e. professional business people. Unfortunately, this means that a person has to change who they are in order to tailor themselves to be what society believes that a professional should be.
So then social media, such as Facebook, which is supposed to be an expression of one's self, is to be censored, tailored, and used as a tool to present a good clean "brand" version of yourself. I wish it was not so. Selling my "brand" and selling me means that I have to change things about me into what a business or career setting ideally want their employees to be. Some may argue that this is a part of growing up, and that maybe so, but I like who I am as a person and I do not want to change a part of me that I enjoy.
Maybe I am stubborn? Maybe I am dumb? Maybe, but I doubt that I will ever keep a Twitter account and post twice a day just so that I can have a lot of followers and impress a recruiter that measures a hardworking employee by their Twitter popularity.
Great post! You covered Herb Lowe's speech wonderfully, hitting on some of the most interesting points covered in his discussion and peppering your post with key quotes that Lowe made in his frank discussion of branding and social media. I was somewhat surprised by your resistance, at the end of your post, to conforming to the ideal image or brand that would help sell you to an employer. I like your honesty and candor about not wanting to give up part of who you are to impress an employer. But I also agree with Lowe's point of view that who you are online will be scrutinized and ultimately judged by an employer, which can factor greatly into your chance of getting hired.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, it's a tough balancing act - and a decision that young people, in particular, must make in terms of how much of who they are privately are they willing to sacrifice in order to sell their brands in a fiercely competitive job market. Again, this was a well-written and insightful analysis of Lowe's speech. I also loved the image you used of Mr. Lowe to enhance your message.
I definately never put into perspective that employers upon hiring will search for me on the web, specifically anaylzing my social media profiles. I am very family based in all of my accounts (twitter, facebook, instagram). Although I think family ties are still very important, as is expressing yourself, things like Twitter and Linkden should reflect a more professional version for outsiders in a career industry to see, and I am glad Lowe put it into that perspective- Stephanie Kohel
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post on the seminar. I thought it summed it up very well. I really liked how Mr. Lowe stressed the importance of social media. I always knew that it was something that I should be mindful of but it has only grown in importance since I first made my social media. While doing my blog post, I found out that there are apps that will go through your accounts and flag anything that might be harmful to you getting a job. I think that options like that are a huge benefit to college kids like us that grew up with social media and may have something that we regret on there!
ReplyDelete-Crystiana Schlitz