The completion of the ‘connect quiz’ conveyed that I am a “bold beginner”. The quiz results expressed that I am only somewhat confident in the area in digitally connecting. Reflecting on the results demonstrated to me that I need to develop on my confidence in my personal learning environment. To promote my social media presence I need to build skills in finding others to connect with online.
Boosting my online presence and connecting with professionals will help me make valuable connections and help with gaining future employment. By creating a LinkedIn profile I have established a digital footprint within the workplace domain. Initiating a LinkedIn profile has enabled me to connect with professionals in the careers area that I strive to achieve and for future employers to be able to review my profile and to make valuable networks that will help when achieving goals. Using LinkedIn means that I can connect with potential mentors that can be helpful in building networks in my future career. The quiz results have been a guide to planning for my future and in achieving career goals.
Online connections are vital in a growing technological world. The importance of establishing and growing a digital footprint in the current world is critical to professional success. Having a leveraged social media presence and having online professional profiles established can significantly benefit you in the business world. The online connections you establish will assist in widening your networks to increase your professional reach.
Through learning new ways to connect with people I have obtained the knowledge of how to manipulate various digital sights to best display my professional profile. I gained skills in creating a ‘LinkedIn’ profile; https://www.linkedin.com/mynetwork/invite-connect/connections/ that is instrumental in creating networks. However, at this current stage my professional profile will help establish my work life. Along with ‘LinkedIn’, I have been able to establish a ‘Evernote’ https://evernote.com account. Being able to explore these new online websites has assisted me in new ways of learning and connecting. Evernote allows me to have a safe place to store my notes online which are accessible from most devices and enable me to share my notes with classmates.
Setting up and establishing my presence in these sites did prove somewhat challenging. When navigating through the sites to find how to do this I was able to learn a lot. Previously I have networked with colleagues and peers by telephone, having conversations about the industry or opportunities or doing this by presenting in person for face to face conversations. I have also used email, Facebook or other social media platforms to stay in touch and keep up to date with relevant networks.
While I am quite competent at online content, what I did learn was that there were professional platforms that I was not aware of. Or I may have heard of them but I was not aware of how important they could be in relation to my future career opportunities. I have now been able to follow areas of interest including current research and link into groups which will assist my learning and future career path. Connecting online is so important because it has global reach and a large capacity for communicating with many people from different areas, backgrounds and ages. There is also the opportunity to retrieve current and validated information and to share many resources.
In the future I will continue to build on my LinkedIn profile, connecting with other people in my chosen field and following important groups and research. I will expand my networks through additional online platforms, and I will be able to gather information and additional site suggestions through the peers that I have and through new contacts.
This new and emerging online presence will increase my opportunities, expand my profile and present me to other professionals online. I plan to have increased my connectivity exponentially before the end of 2020 and the current isolation will allow me additional time to do this.
