Title:
'You Are Your Brand:' Using Social Media to Find a
Job
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Economics Report.
See text below
Text:
Today we share some ideas for job hunters about
presenting yourself online. Ben Kirshner is chief
executive of a New York company he started in two
thousand four. Elite SEM, or search engine
marketing, has about twenty-five employees. Many
companies use headhunters -- recruiting services
that find workers for high-paying positions. But Mr.
Kirshner says that would cost him probably ten to
fifteen thousand dollars to find a one hundred fifty
thousand dollar a year employee. He saves money by
advertising jobs online and using social media.
Sometimes finding the right person this way can take
time. But recently Mr. Kirshner posted a job on the
advertising site Craigslist. He says he had one
hundred fifty good candidates within four hours.He
says his company does not use sites that offer to
search the Web for information about job candidates.
His company does that itself. Social networks and
other websites can provide a lot of details about
people's lives. As Ben Kirshner points out, that may
even include personal information that employment
laws prevent employers from asking. He says: "Things
we are not legally allowed to ask in an interview,
we can find because they're publicly displaying it
on the social networks." Leslie Stevenson directs
the Career Development Center at the University of
Richmond in Virginia. For young job-seekers, she
says, the barrier between public and private is
changing. She says: "In the past two years,
candidates are not seeing social media as a place
that we have to keep private from prospective
employers but as a tool that will assist in my
search." To do that, job-seekers need to carefully
develop their online image. Ben Kirshner says an
important part of that is managing public and
private details on social media. He says: "You are
your brand. So everything you do online reflects who
you are personally and professionally." He thinks a
willingness to share experiences and skills will
lead to a more open workplace. Even the kinds of
links you share with other people on Facebook or
other sites are part of your image. Image is one
thing. But you also need skills. And career
specialist Leslie Stevenson says that includes the
"soft skills" that help communicate in the workplace
and with potential clients. For VOA Special English,
I'm Alex Villarreal. You can find last week's report
about finding a job online at voaspecialenglish.com.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
