SBC Scoop: Matching Your Face(book) To Your Name

*Please note that no client details are ever shared in SBC Scoop or otherwise without complete sign off from client.

Marco was ready to start sending in his applications: he proudly displayed his 3.9 GPA from UCLA, a strong 710 GMAT score, and with the help of his consultant, a polished essay that delved into his experience working for a consulting firm in his father’s native Portugal. In addition, he felt confident that his natural leadership style and friendly demeanor would win over personal contacts at his target MBA programs.

There was just one question- how to manage those new contacts online? While sending a Facebook friend request, or just as frequently, receiving one from current students, alumni or even admissions officers while researching MBA programs was easy, Marco wondered how they would perceive the collection of photos and posts making up his profile. It was time for a little profile cleanup.

As captain of his college rugby team, Marco had whole folders of great photos to flip through. Obviously, the action shots that made the school newspaper could stay, and so could the all-smiles team portrait taken with the league trophy his junior year. But when it came to the photos from the party after the championship game, those had to go. Marco carefully made private or deleted any photos that looked a little too “fun” for the professional image he wanted to convey.

The photos from his first company Halloween party went too- the costumes were funny, but didn’t make sense without context. The fun but intense political debates with mom and his uncles back in California over the last election on his wall posts? Sure, public was fine when “public” just meant family and close friends, but not any more.

Marco bounced a few “close calls” off his Stacy Blackman consultant and found some inside jokes with old college friends that didn’t make sense and should go, but also found that an active set of posts on the right topics attested to his professional focus and intellectual curiosity and should stay. They even found a few details he’d forgotten in his basic info, like adding a former employer to match his resume and updating his current location, and finally swept away some outdated “Likes” to reflect his maturing perspectives. Together with his consultant Marco focused on keeping his social media presence clean, mature and presentable, without scrubbing away Marco’s entire personality.

A few minutes to do the same to some other profiles after uploading a fresh new profile photo, and Marco felt confident his Facebook page reflected the strong candidate he’d worked so hard to present on his applications. He accepted all his pending friend requests, along with acceptances to Darden and UCLA.

Do you need help managing your presentation? Stacy Blackman Consulting experts are happy to give you a free consultation on any of your MBA concerns.

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