As social media has become a widespread feature within modern society, it also plays an increasingly important role within the recruitment process as highlighted by the statistics shown in Figure 1 and 2. This makes it quintessential for jobseekers, in particular graduates to keep up-to-date authentic online professional profiles so that all important job opportunities are not being missed.
Figure 1: Statistics on what recruiters look at on a potential candidate’s social media profile in 2015.
Figure 2: Statistics on how many recruiters chose candidates based on their social media profiles in 2015
The importance of social media profiles is something which, as a final year law student, I have heard being mentioned at multiple career networking events. Given the competitive nature of the legal sector and with many city firms having active profiles on social media, law students tend to use either Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn as well as Aspiring Solicitors, to network with legal recruiters, other law students and legal professionals in order to get that added edge to their legal applications. Therefore, given the importance placed on online profiles within the recruiting process, the top 5 tips on how to create an authentic online digital profile for those wishing to enter the legal sector shall now be discussed;
Figure 3: The online activities of lawyers in 2014.
1) Professional Profile Picture[1]
- This should be head and shoulders shot of yourself wearing corporate attire.
2) Content
- On LinkedIn it is important to include details about your awards as well as details about your work history. On other social networking sites keeping your recreational content separate from your professional content is just as important as it will help you ‘gain credibility in the legal field’[2]
3) Get Involved
- Legal recruiters are interested in the unique elements to individual profiles. Particularly on LinkedIn, it is a good ideas for users to express particular areas of law that interests them as well as detailing any pro bono work that you have undertaken. But also be wary that ‘A legal recruiter may even browse through these groups to see how you have contributed to the discussion’
4) Keep a clean digital footprint[3]
- To prevent old posts coming back to haunt you, search for yourself online, use the Google ‘remove information’ tool if necessary and use tools (such as http://www.tweetdelete.net/ that can help you delete old posts). Adjust privacy settings for social media profiles used recreationally.[4]
5) Maintain Accounts
- It is important with any online professional profile that information you have revealed about yourself is kept up-to-date in order to get the most out of potential networking opportunities that may arise. Keeping your online professional profile up-to-date will also aid the authenticity of your online presence.
If you have any other suggestions, please feel free to comment and share!
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REFERENCES
[1] William Peacock, ‘5 Social Media tips for Law Students’ (FindLaw, November 2014) <http://blogs.findlaw.com/greedy_associates/2014/11/5-tips-for-law-students-on-social-media.html > accessed 12th March 2016.
[2] All About Law, ‘Is your LinkedIn profile optimised for Law Recruiters’ < http://www.allaboutlaw.co.uk/stage/finding-a-training-contract/is-your-linkedin-profile-optimised-for-law-recruiters > accessed 11th March 2016.
[3] The Careers Group, ‘ 5 career-enhancing social media tips for prudent law students’ < http://gradsintocareers.thecareersgroup.co.uk/industry-insider/law/2015/03/5-career-enhancing-social-media-tips-for-prudent-law-students/ >accessed 12th March 2016.
[4] Eduardo Reyes, ‘How to use: Twitter’ (The Law Society Gazette, August 2015) < http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/analysis/features/how-to-use-twitter/5050362.fullarticle > accessed 11th March 2016.
Thomas Connelly, ‘Offensive tweets of Bedford law grad working for Mayoral hopeful come back to haunt him’ (The Legal Cheek, 7th March 2016 <http://www.legalcheek.com/2016/03/offensive-tweets-of-bedford-law-grad-working-for-sadiq-khan-come-back-to-haunt-him/ > accessed 11th March 2016.
The Guardian, ‘Aide to Sadiq Khan suspended after abusive tweets from 2012 emerge’ <http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/06/sadiq-khan-aide-suspended-historical-offensive-social-media-posts-emerge > accessed 12th March 2016.
Aspiring Solicitors, <https://www.aspiringsolicitors.co.uk/ > accessed 12th March 2016.
Google Search Help, <https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/3111061?hl=en > accessed 12th March 2016.
TARGETJobs,’How to find a graduate job using Twitter’ <https://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/networking/409424-how-to-find-a-graduate-job-using-twitter > accessed 11th March 2016.
TARGETJobs, ‘Social networking and graduate recruitment: manage your online reputation’, <https://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/networking/273059-social-networking-and-graduate-recruitment-manage-your-online-reputation > accessed 12th March 2016.
kemi-grace's uosm2008 experience 
This is a great post on how to keep a professional and importantly authentic profile online.
I think the stats you included on the different things recruiters actually look at when browsing our social profiles if very interesting. I have not seen stats like these before so it useful to see perhaps which aspects of our LinkedIn for example to focus on, if not all of it. It is also good to know that many jobs are filled on a personal basis confirming the “it’s not what you know, but who you know” rhetoric.
Your tips on how to improve online profiles for a professional image will very helpful, something I also did on my post.
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Hi Kemi. Great post!
I can relate with the way you talk about the competitive nature of the legal sector, and how using social media to get an advantage is important. As a marketing student, I feel the same emphasis is placed on those who want to go into the area of marketing; after applying for summer internships and now researching potential graduate roles, I am aware more than ever that building an online professional profile is so important nowadays.
However, I noticed that you said that one should have a head and shoulders shot in corporate attire on their LinkedIn profile. I have never considered before the fact that this is an important thing – my LinkedIn profile picture is a head and shoulders shot but I am wearing a plain t-shirt. I might have to reconsider the attire I’m wearing in my picture, now! How strict do you think the dress code rule should actually be on LinkedIn?
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Hi Sam,
Thank you for your comments. In relation to to the dress code on LinkedIn, I do think it is strange that we’re encouraged to wear corporate attire as it seems a bit unnecessary. However, if you think about it with the idea of how important first impressions are, it becomes easier to understand the reasoning behind it. On LinkedIn, we’ll be connecting with professionals as well as potential employers, which means that our profile picture is the first thing that they will be able to see and it is our first shot to leave a good impression of ourselves.
On a plus note, one professional picture on LinkedIn should be enough to keep up for a long time- unlike profile pictures on Facebook where you feel the need to change them frequently!
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Hi Kemi,
Lovely tips on how to maintain a professional profile! I particularly liked the visual graph which shows us what companies are looking for! It didn’t even register that companies look at mutual connections (34%)! This got me thinking about how we can use social media platforms to help strengthen these connections – eg like pages on fb which are relevant to the job you are applying for and following relevant/ appropriate companies and associates that will help your professional image and show that you are up to date with the company or field. Do you feel like it is something everyone should do? Do you personally follow companies of interest?
Miss CEO
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Hi Liz,
Thank you for your comments! The mutual connections aspect is definitely something I can relate to but it is something which differs depending on the industry you are targeting. For the legal sector, I can understand recruiters looking at mutual connections, as there are certain firms which are competitors so by recruiters sussing out mutual connections it helps to establish the calibre of the candidate. From a more generic point of view, following companies helps you to keep abreast with current affairs and have something to discuss at interviews or when meeting with graduate recruiters.
I do not personally follow companies as I am yet to create my LinkedIn profile page however, when I was actively using my Aspiring Solicitors account this is something that I would do.
Kemi
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