Job Hunting In The Digital Age.

​A guest blog by Vera Marie Reed

If you're on the lookout for a job in the digital, media, or marketing space, you need to know a thing or two about the importance of reputation, CVs, and video interviews in the digital age.

Regardless of how high your grades are, how glowing your reference letters are, and how impressive your CV happens to be, your online behaviour can potentially hurt your job prospects. The reason is quite simple: If you use the internet, you leave behind a digital footprint that prospective employers can follow. And if your digital trail is littered with ill-advised forum comments and questionable photos, then you might miss out on job opportunities.

At Aspire, we specialises in recruiting for the digital, media and marketing communications industry, so read on for our perspective on the ins and outs of job hunting in the digital age.

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Footprints on the Web

The digital, media and marketing communications industry is very competitive, and you don't want to do anything to jeopardise your chances of landing a great job. And yet that's exactly what you'll do if you don’t take your online reputation seriously.

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Consider the following statistics:

● 75% of recruiters will conduct online research on applicants

● 70% of recruiters have turned down applicants based on what they discovered

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So be careful about what you do online, and be sure to keep your personal social media accounts private by choosing whom you want to access them.

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Digital CVs

If you’re reading this blog post, you likely already have a LinkedIn account, and if you don’t, you need to sign up right away since the platform offers a golden opportunity to showcase your resumeCV to the world. But merely having one isn’t quite enough--you need to be an active user.

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Mull over the following statistics:

● 89% of recruiters have hired someone through LinkedIn

● 36% of job seekers are actually active on LinkedIn

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What this means is that you need to have an account and to use it often. And while we’re discussing LinkedIn, it’s important that you fill in all of the information required since statistics show that people who take the time to do so get more responses than those who don’t.

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Video CV

Approximately 90% of all CVs are done in the same traditional format, which is why you need to know something about video CVs. With a video CV, you can differentiate yourself from other applicants, demonstrate how comfortable you are with technology, and showcase your previous accomplishments. You can use YouTube, Vine, or Vimeo to create your video CV.

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Video Interview

Video interviews are becoming more and more popular, so it makes sense to be prepared in the event that you’re required to participate in one. In fact, one survey shows that 53% of human resources managers say they use video interviews quite often. So practice your skills with a friend over Skype to feel comfortable with the video interview format.

Yes, job hunting in the digital age is something you must take seriously since making a wrong move could hurt your chances of getting the digital, media, or marketing job of your dreams. But if you take the aforementioned advice to heart, you’ll be prepared for success. Best of luck!

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Infographic for Job Hunting in the Digital Age: Get a Linkedin Account, Keep your Personal Profiles personal