The Career Resource Center will begin its first social media workshop series today at 4 p.m. in its classroom on the first floor of the Reitz Union.
Career Development Coordinator Jill Skufe said attendees will learn ways to network and portray themselves online in a positive light. Networking is the number one way to find a job, she said.
“Social media has opened doors that didn’t exist before,” Skufe said. “Students don’t think to take advantage of it.”
The series will consist of three workshops. The first will focus on online branding.
Skufe said 92 percent of recruiters screen social media when looking for potential employees.
The current generation of students in college has grown up with social media on only a personal level, she said.
“They don’t know yet how the professional world is using it,” Skufe said. “It’s different.”
Kiersten Sigmond, a 21-year-old telecommunication junior, said she deactivated her Facebook account after a friend was fired for posting a picture with a beer in her hand.
“When you have a Facebook, you’re responsible for what other people post,” she said. “They may blur out their drink, but you still know it’s alcohol.”
Sigmond said the workshop could help teach her how to professionally promote herself.
“Most of the business world is online,” she said. “It’s important to put yourself out there in a respectable manner.”
