When did you last update your LinkedIn profile or post a work-related insight on Twitter?
In these turbulent times where many of us are currently working from home, it provides an opportunity to take a bit of time to think about how best to address your online presence.
In today’s world, your scientific reputation is determined by your online presence. Managing your online reputation is no less important for scientists than it is for celebrities or influencers.
Whether you want to continue in academia and build an internationally-recognised research reputation, or if you’re getting ready to transition to an alternative academic (altac) career, you need to take control of your online presence to help achieve your goals.
When your networking to meet new people, or when you send them your CV, the first thing they’ll do (if the initial introduction has sparked their interest), is Google you.
Much of the online information they gather will be from social media (SM) sites that could reinforce (or maybe invalidate) your attractiveness as a candidate for a job (or even for funding).
Therefore, SM provides an important opportunity for you to develop a professional profile that will positively influence decision-makers.
Here I’ll outline how best to do this, whether you want to stay on in academic research or pursue a different career track…
A One Voice Approach to Job Hunting
Effective use of SM is an important component of a successful job hunt. But it is only one component. The others including:
- Your CV/resume
- Networking ‘pitching’
- Cover letter
- Interview preparation
…Should all be presented in a way that they ‘sing from the same hymn sheet.’
You should use one strong message throughout all your jobs searching materials that resonates with decision makers.
As the purveyor of no-nonsense career advice (John Lees) states, the use of ‘healthy-pigeon holing’ will enable you manage the way you’re labelled on the job market and help secure the job you want.
For example, many people who want to break out of academia might write a LinkedIn profile that starts ‘A PhD candidate who…’
However when someone glances at this, it can profoundly influence their labelling of you. Readers would see you predominately as a PhD student before anything else.
Armed with this information, you can influence them by rewording this opening statement to set out your career aspirations.
The healthy-pigeon holing technique can work in your favour once you’ve identified the language used to describe the job you’d like to find, and then use it to reword your profile.
So the PhD student with a cancer research background might now write ‘An oncology research specialist who…’
The first 15 words of what you write can often dictate the types of jobs you’ll be offered, so make sure all your written materials (resume, cover letter, SM profiles etc.) are projecting the same message.
Likewise this should be the same directive used, when meeting people of potential employment influence for the first time. Be clear with your message, avoid confusion and put your best foot forward!
SM for an academic research career
In academia you need to be known for something.
Being a specialist where you’re capable of eventually competing with the best in that field, is what institutions are looking for in their future faculty.
When I was an academic researcher my niche was understanding the genetic changes of metastatic skin cancers to develop novel therapies for treatment. This was a message that I wanted people to know me for and is how I tried to project myself to the academic community.
What is it that you want to be known for as a researcher? You need to be clear on this if you want a tenured post and your SM headlines and bios need to state that.
Define what it is that sets you apart from other researchers.
In addition to talking about who you are as a researcher and the work you currently do in your profile sections, you should also detail what is you want to do and ideas for future projects. This can attract potential collaborators and other researchers with similar interests.
Finish with a call to action for others to get into contact with you.
Aside from the usual LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook etc. SM platforms, other sites and forums that I found particularly useful for reaching out to like-minded scientists, boosting citations and keeping abreast of current research trends, included:
As LinkedIn is the SM channel of choice for job seekers and employers, it’s crucial to keep on top of this one regularly.
You should be using LinkedIn as the online version of your academic CV. All your publications need to be on there and kept up-to-date.
Likewise, use your LinkedIn URL at the top of your academic CV. But make sure there are no discrepancies between your LinkedIn profile and CV. Don’t confuse people.
SM for a career transition outside academia
If you’re searching for a career outside of academia, to the outside world this is viewed as a career change. This is why academic researchers can sometimes find it tough to make this transition.
But despite the challenges, most research-trained scientists will achieve this transition at some point in their careers.
The good news is you can leverage the power of your online presence to make this transition smoother.
The commercial world employs recruiters and head-hunters to source talent, who are using most SM platforms.
Recruiters are however particularly active on LinkedIn, given its employment-orientated service and that it doesn’t blur into chat/entertainment like many other SM channels.
LinkedIn enables you to get your CV/resume into the public domain, and is a fantastic place to set out your stall as a candidate for a new career.
Recruiters will search and look at your LinkedIn profile to assess if your skills are a good fit or not, so it’s important that your profile to works in your favour of your career transition.
Over 10 years ago when I was doing my first postdoc I knew a fellow postdoc in my department who was headhunted for a large multinational, based on his specific scientific expertise.
His research group worked on nicotine dependence and he was approached to develop novel nicotine replacement products, based on the global trend in smoking cessation.
The head-hunter had found him through LinkedIn and this was my first experience of where a well-crafted online presence had attracted a commercial recruiter to an academic researcher.
Since then I have witnessed many more examples, but all have included formulating a professional identity that enables others to see them in the way they want to be viewed. Their online presence (in particular their LinkedIn profile), plays an important role here.
LinkedIn Tips for a Career Transition to Industry
- Achievement focused employment/education sections: Demonstrate how you’ve added value to your institution, lab group etc., rather than just providing a list of factual information about your dates of employment/job title, or postgraduate education
- Use relevant language: Include terminology and keywords from the type of industry and role you are looking to transition to. This enables recruiters to find you, when using these search terms
- Demonstrate skills and experience: In your profile section, include examples that prove your relevant capabilities. Keep this section brief, but focused on the critical points
- Cohesive CV/resume and LinkedIn profile: Updating your LinkedIn profile is very much the same as you would do for your CV/resume when job hunting. Make sure there are no discrepancies between the two. Inconsistencies raise doubts
- Headline offer: Too many people state they are searching for a job in their headline, when they’re looking for work. This is a wasted opportunity to communicate what it is you have to offer to a potential employer, rather than highlight the hurdle you’re trying to get past (i.e. transitioning out of academia)
- And finally: LinkedIn offers a number of other features you can leverage during your job search. It’s worth working on these and using them to your advantage:
- Endorsements: Ask friends and colleagues to endorse you for skills related to the roles you’re looking for, and endorse others (they might return the favour)!
- Activity updates: Post on topics relevant to the industry you’re interested in and write updates on any skills you’ve used recently that you want to highlight. This activity could get you noticed in the relevant sectors
- Advertised jobs: The commercial side of LinkedIn has enabled it to become a hub for job advertisements, so take advantage of this. Look out for people who frequently post jobs relevant to your job search and follow them
- Privacy settings: If you don’t want your academic supervisor or lab colleagues to know that you’re looking for an altac career, you can take advantage of a couple of LinkedIn’s privacy settings to help you keep your job search private:
- You can show recruiters that you’re open to job opportunities (profile page – box entitled ‘open to job opportunities’ – click this and select job types/locations – select ‘recruiters only’). This way, only recruiters who have paid a subscription to LinkedIn can see this
- Turn off activity broadcasts in your privacy control settings. This will block announcements that would otherwise be broadcast to your network when you change your profile, make a recommendation, follow a company etc.
- Groups: Join industry-relevant groups. This is a great way to make contacts and learn more about the industry you want to move into
- Networking: This is perhaps one of the most important features of LinkedIn. You can search for individuals who work in the companies you’re interested in, industry-relevant recruiters and even hiring managers in those companies.
LinkedIn’s networking function is an incredibly important aspect of the platform that you can leverage. So I’ll be following up with another blog post shortly, on how to do this effectively…
In Summary
- Your web presence is your reputation, so use it well and play it safe by keeping it professional!
- Managing your online presence effectively through SM, is vital in an efficient job search
- Ensure all SM profiles are kept up-to-date and are in-line with your job application documents (CV/resume, cover letter etc.)
- Use SM to set out your research speciality for an academic career
- When transitioning out of academia, use SM to demonstrate your candidacy for a new career
- LinkedIn is particularly helpful for career transitions to industry, as recruiters use it to source new talent
- Take advantage of the wide array of LinkedIn’s features to assist in your job search
So enjoy taking control of your online profile and in these unprecedented times, keep safe, stay upbeat and look after yourself!
Vicky (BB founder)