Managing your self online before and during placement

Manage your x-rated mates – choose your friends carefully Choose carefully who you link with. If your friends are posting inappropriate material, employers will judge you by association. Beware of friends who ‘friend’ anyone - you could become linked to a whole range of unsavory characters!

Manage your friends’ understanding of your situation Talk with your friends about the consequences for you career of those photographs of late night antics being posted all over the internet! This may help them manage their online presence too. They may not understand at first, but be persistent and strong. If you are firm, they will eventually respect your decision. At the very least, you should ensure any such pictures do not have you tagged in them – this way they will not be searchable by employers.

Manage your privacy Use the tools available with each web space e.g. Facebook, Vine, Twitter to ensure that you share material selectively. You can create groups so that some comments can only be seen by selected contacts. This can help you manage your personal and professional communications. Your privacy settings are particularly useful help you manage the tags that others add – if you don’t want to be associated with photographs or content you will be able to reject their attempt to tag you. Stay up to date with privacy policies and tools as these are constantly changing.

Know where you stand Some employers will encourage positive and responsible use of social media, others would not want to have staff contributing to the organization's digital footprint. Find out where you stand before posting anything in relation to your placement. Never post commercially sensitive, offensive or sarcastic, disrespectful material which is in anyway connected to your placement – even if you think you are in a safe online space, it can get out.

Know that the internet remembers Footprint’s on the internet last forever - once something is posted it can be reposted many times. You can’t just take it down with no consequence. In all of your online conduct think ‘how will this look if I am promoted to a very senior position in years to come? This attitude will help you to make good judgments online. Never post any pictures of yourself or comments that you don’t want the world to see.

Consider two accounts Consider constructing two for each type of social media, one for outsiders that stresses your professional accomplishments and another for your close friends, with the most private settings you can find.

Never engage in social media when under the influence or alcohol or drugs, or while you are feeling emotional After several vodka shots it might seem like a good idea to Tweet how boring your work presentation or party evening is, but it’s never a good look the next morning. Likewise if you have had a bad day, don’t vent online. When your issues are resolved, your momentary character assassination of your placement employer will remain online and could be hugely damaging. Even if you take it down, the damage could be done.

Get your online presence employer ready Make sure that your online footprint is one that your would be proud to share with employers. To do this build up a positive, professional online presence such as a CV and showcase of your skills. This could go in your favour when applying for jobs.

Be an ambassador for Harper One of Harper Adams’ key strengths is it’s reputation with employers. This is something that every Harper student benefits from. It is important that together we keep this reputation in tact for our own future and for the future of all new students. Please uphold Harper Adams’ good name in industry and conduct yourself professionally online.

Keep asking – what else can I do? The steps you take now are only the beginning of your online professional journey. You need to keep your presence under review and keep pace with the changes in technology and the expectations of industry in this area.