RECRUITER Create your
digital footprint Entrepreneur Bianca Miller reveals why it’s so important to pay attention to how you come across to employers online
So, how can you make sure that your digital footprint helps you to stand out from the crowd for the right reasons? To answer this question, we caught
W
up with Bianca Miller, runner-up of The Apprentice 2014 and serial entrepreneur. Bianca has gone from accomplishment to accomplishment since leaving university, and has used a personal domain space to continue to grow her personal brand.
Can you tell us a bit about your transition from university to where you are now? I graduated with a business management and economics degree in the middle of the recession, so venturing out into the world and trying to get a job was more diffi cult than I expected. I eventually got off ered a temp opportunity at Accenture, a management and tech consultancy fi rm. Suddenly, I found myself as HR adviser to 350 graduates. I worked really hard,
hat potential employers see and read about you online can directly infl uence your career prospects.
learnt as much as I could, and was off ered a permanent position. The experience taught me that with hard work, you really can succeed. I spent two and a half years at Accenture and it set me out on my journey into the business world.
What piece of advice would you give your student self? Have awareness of your personal brand and the eff ect it can have on your career prospects. Going through secondary school and university, a lot of focus was placed on academic ability. I’ve since learnt that for those who succeed, it is down to more than that. It’s down to online brand and visibility,
as well as your face-to-face interaction, networking and other communication skills. Most people have degrees now, so I’d tell myself not to rely on it to get ahead and to fi nd other ways to diff erentiate myself.
Why do you think it’s important to Google yourself and what should students be on the lookout for? You want to know how a potential employer will view you. Employers will
almost certainly perform a search and look at your online presence including your social profi les. If you haven’t made the eff ort to take a look at what’s out there you might be in for a shock! Look at whether what comes up
refl ects who you are and how you want to be perceived, whether the images that come up in an image search are appropriate, and if there’s any material online from years ago that might not refl ect who you are now.
What advice would you have for students’ social media profi les? Employers don’t expect you to be an academic robot. They expect you to be human, but a responsible one. By all means highlight your personality and life outside of academia or work, but use common sense in how you go about this. Privacy settings on certain profi les can help, but don’t rely on them as a gatekeeper!
Why should students create a personal website instead of just using social media? Having a personal site can be a great way to showcase your creativity. Think of
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GradJobs.co.uk | Autumn 2016
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