Qualifications: Social Media Expert. Is That Even Possible?

With graduation sneakily approaching, college seniors wonder, ‘What’s next?’ Up until now, every step of our lives has been decided for us, elementary school, middle school, high school, and lastly, college. Now, it is our turn to decide what to do with the rest of our life? In a recent Huffington Post Article, “Social Media Experts With 5-7 Years of Experience?,” Craig Agranoff discusses the vital role that social media plays, in regards to big businesses, as well as the importance of a company hiring a ‘social media expert.’ To find an individual with seven years’ experience in social media is difficult, seeing as social media wasn’t popular until 2009.  Agranoff’s article is trying to persuade companies from putting an allotted amount of time on job titles, and as a soon-to-be college graduate, looking for a job, this would crack open new jobs and networks for my fellow graduates and myself. Instead, Agranoff suggests that companies examine a potential employee’s accuracy with regards to forecasting future social media, not just how many years they can put down on a resume.

With all of the changes that social media has endured, years of experience doesn’t matter, since the field itself is so young. What is important is one’s capacity to learn, understand and utilize social media, whether they have been using social media for ten years or ten months. Companies need to realize that social media is constantly developing; therefore, a business searching for an ‘expert’ doesn’t suffice, while looking for an individual who is well informed, is able to research the area and find a strategy are three principle business needs to examine.  We are about to embark on our hunt for the perfect job, in a field relatively young in age, and my hope is that we are not discouraged from jobs that are labeled ‘expert’ because that word is unrealistic.