{"id":32,"date":"2022-06-08T12:25:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T12:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/altaccareersforresearchers\/?p=32"},"modified":"2022-06-30T13:35:06","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T13:35:06","slug":"developing-your-online-presence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/altaccareersforresearchers\/2022\/06\/08\/developing-your-online-presence\/","title":{"rendered":"Developing Your Online Presence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Dr Naomi Tyrrell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Being visible online is really important many careers these days, whether academic or alt-ac. There are always exceptions of course \u2013 people who build brilliant career with zero online presence but they are increasingly rare!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t need to be a prolific poster on social media or have a really fancy website but think how many times you have done an online search to find someone\u2019s contact details or background information\u2026If you have an online presence, people can find you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you are transitioning out of academia, you often need to raise your profile beyond where you are known already (i.e., beyond academia) and being on social media and\/or having a website is a really simple way of being visible and contactable for all the new people you are going to be networking with! If someone does an online search for you, can they find you easily? Do you have an up-to-date LinkedIn profile? Do you have an up-to-date Twitter feed? Do you need to set-up a website which outlines who you are and what you (can) do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be clear<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you start thinking about your alt-ac career it is helpful to be clear about how and why you are developing your online presence. The rationale is likely to be slightly different than it is for people working in academia. For them, publication, grants and indicators of esteem may be the career highlights they want to showcase (along with their H-Index!). However, for the alt-ac world, publications and grant income often are less important (not always, but often). So what should you focus on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your online presence needs to be clear about what you offer so that employers (or clients if you are planning to set-up your own business) can quickly find out what your \u2018added value\u2019 would be to their organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be clear in your online messaging across all social media platforms and your blog and\/or website (if you build one). Be the person who can achieve the career you are thinking you want develop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n