How “The poor man’s psychotherapist” can help you land a job

by Laura Stillman, reporter
October 2, 2014

You have been warned time and time again- monitor your social media, employers are watching. It doesn’t matter if you’re a practiced professional or penniless college graduate; social media has pushed its way to become one of the most prominent parts of a job search.

CEO of SocialWise Media Group, Ini Augustine, came to Simpson College last Thursday not only to remind students to watch their social media, but to teach students how to use what she refers to as “the poor man’s psychotherapist” in a way that will appeal to businesses.

“I know that there is a really big disconnect in the way we do social media,” said Augustine. “You’re probably doing it to talk to friends or family, cute girls, hot boys etc, because you know that is what it was created for. At the end of the day, Facebook was created to help college students hook up.”

According to emirates.com, about 64 percent of employers are getting in on the latest millennial fad by using social media to determine hiring decisions. Prospective employees are able to create a digital footprint through the business oriented site, LinkedIn.

During the two-hour seminar, Augustine had students Google themselves, monitor Facebook settings, hide any unwanted information such as mug shots and create a professional LinkedIn profile.

According to Augustine, three in four hiring managers will check public information on a social profile. 46% will do so even if that information is not provided by the candidate.

Because of these statistics, it is important to keep your information on social media consistent with your resume, frequently check social media sites and keep sites as private as possible.

“A lot of the frustration with social media is that everyone is talking about it, and everyone is thinking about it, brainstorming about it, but at a certain point a time comes to do,” said Augustine.

Augustine’s entrepreneurial passion has been displayed since the age of seven when she began buying and reselling Starburst from a local gas station because the gas station wouldn’t hire her. She wrote former president Ronald Reagan to request a law allowing younger children to work.

At 15 she was hired at Dun & Bradstreet Inc. and has worked for companies such as Dell Inc. and KCWI 23 in Des Moines. While at KCWI 23, she noticed a need for social media interaction between clients and businesses.

“I have been a business owner since I was 21, and it just killed me how I could be basically the best and people would just buy from the people that they knew,” said Augustine.

Professor Marilyn Mueller created the connection with Augustine at the University of Iowa during an entrepreneurship training program.

“Since the student body changes and not everybody goes to the training we have, this (social media presentation) presents an opportunity for new students and students who haven’t had the training and the background to get this training.” Mueller said.

Students striving to stay ahead of competition will provide a clean profile on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for investigative employers.

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