This past week in ICT class we have been working on how to make a good website to promote ourselves as educators, especially music educators. Having a professional, well laid out website, is crucial in this generation of technology and employers. This website that you make, can very well make or break you getting a job as an educator. You have to be careful what you put on there. You want to express yourself and define who you are, but you also have to filter what is and is not appropriate in the workplace. Not everything you do is important to your future employer. What does this sound like? YES! A RESUME! That is what our digital footprints have become in this generation; A part of our resumes; A gateway into our job.
This leads into my next discussion, which is when I tried looking up my own digital footprint. How do you do so? Easy. Too easy, in fact. Just google your name. What can possibly come up when you google your name? TOO MUCH! That's what!! Do you have any idea how many 'Brittany Lamontagne's' are out there in the world? And, ironically enough, how many of them are also educators in some way!? It actually made my jaw drop ... and giggle a little bit. Who knew? One of the things I learned by doing this was that I am not that known of a person in google search because I do not have many social networks (ie: Twitter, Facebook, etc..). The names that came up were some how related to one of the social networking sites. From articles I have been reading, this appears to be not an overly positive thing.
Like I had mentioned earlier, employers and work places are using the internet to learn more about their future employers. Some almost rely on it completely. This is not something I approve of completely. I do not believe that you should be judged based on how many social networking sites you have. I do agree, however, with the fact that your content should be filtered, and if you do not care enough to clean your content on these social networking sites, then that might reflect on how you might handle your job. Another issue I have encountered with the use of our digital footprint as a form of resume is the fact that there are so many people with the same name, how do they know 100% if they have the right person? Unfortunately, I do know of an individual who was "googled" and they looked at the wrong person and cost her a position.
I do believe that social networking can help promote yourself and make finding/getting a job easier and less stressful, but I do not believe that that should be the only aspect of who you are. I have my reasons and beliefs for not being on Facebook and Twitter, so I do not feel I should be judged based on the fact that my social networking is limited. This is why creating a website can be a great way to put your name out there into the world, expand your digital footprint, while still keeping your beliefs about social networking intact. Our digital footprint can be helpful if we nurture it properly. If not, then it can seriously damage our future professional career and, unfortunately, whether we agree with it or not, a lot of professionals and employers do rely on it as a source of valuable information.
So, google your name. Research your digital footprint. You never know what might be out there.
Be careful, be cautious.
BeeLAMS
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