This article was written by Naufal Virindra, an Indonesian civil servant working on the Indonesian Civil Service Commission (KASN RI). This article represents personal ideas and not those of the institution.

  • The problem: The ‘public sector comfort zone’ may be preventing you from leveraging social media and building your professional reputation.
  • **Why it matters: **Reputations aren’t built overnight; future job candidates may be sourced through social media channels.
  • The solution: Make the most of social media to improve your professional self-image and broaden your career opportunities.

Working in the comfort zone?

Working in the public sector offers many benefits that attract people to be a part of it. It offers job security and stability. It offers good pay, with some public sector workers earning 30% more than those in the private sector, even though they might work nine years less. The civil service also offers a generous pension scheme, plus employees are often offered personal and professional development through mentoring and training, enabling them to improve their professional skills over time. All these benefits reaped by civil servants lead me to the following questions: do public service workers still strive to develop in their careers? Do some perhaps get trapped in the public sector ‘comfort zone’ and limit their careers?

💬 Let the author know what you think about using social media to build a reputation as a civil servant by leaving a comment below

Building a professional reputation

To avoid falling into this comfort zone, beat the competition for jobs and boost skills, civil servants should look to develop a professional reputation. Employers tend to be associated with those with a good reputation. Earning a good reputation at work creates many benefits and opportunities; those who create a name for themselves might have higher chances of being recommended for promotion or being invited to join projects or research and have the chance to network with other professionals who can assist in boosting their career. One of the ways to develop a professional reputation is through social media.

Social media is a land of opportunities

Social media is a key tool for job seekers and professionals to build a reputation and hunt for dream jobs. Research from 2023 revealed:

  • 79% of job seekers use social media to search for potential jobs.
  • 73% of millennials found their latest job through social media.
  • 70% of managers find and hire candidates through social media.
  • 67% of recruiters use social media for candidate research.
  • 85% of recruiters say social media helps them find, connect and engage with passive job seekers.

These figures show that people are increasingly likely to find job opportunities and recruiters through social media. In terms of the sites used by job seekers and professionals building a reputation:

  • 74% of people use Facebook to manage their social media reputation.
  • 56% use LinkedIn.
  • 49% use Instagram to build their social media reputation.

Social media can open doors and help civil servants to avoid the ‘public service comfort zone’ and realise their true career potential.

With civil service roles known to be secure and stable over the long term, does this make civil servants more passive job seekers and perhaps less likely to build and maintain their professional reputation than their private sector counterparts? What if future public sector managers were to rely on social media research/profiling to seek the best candidates? Would employees get a promotion if they are ‘unseen’? Civil servants who choose not to utilise social media to build their self-image may become invisible from a manager’s radar; they may sacrifice the chance to showcase their skills and the projects they have worked on. Utilising social media can therefore make civil servants more visible to public sector managers and showcase a positive legacy from their work in the public sector to improve their reputation.

Be aware of cybersecurity

While there are clear benefits to developing an online presence, it’s important to consider cybersecurity. Civil servants need to be mindful and aware of cybersecurity issues whenever they join a social media platform or post online. Cybercrimes such as social engineering attacks (phishing, credential theft, data theft and scams) often occur on social media channels and oversharing, data aggregation, unsecured devices, malware and human error are also becoming more problematic. The following steps will help to prevent cybercrime:

  1. Cybersecurity awareness is important for everyone: public sector offices should implement a cybersecurity culture by regularly sharing policies and reminders about digital ethics to employees.
  2. IT teams should regularly install and maintain updates to official/business anti-malware/anti-virus on each device to help protect accounts/email/data from breaches.
  3. At an individual level, be sure to carefully manage and consider the following data when you join new platforms or post on social media:
  • contact information
  • date of birth and gender
  • the time of the post
  • the location tagged on the post
  • locations identifiable from the post
  • links to people/friends tagged on the post
  • faces recognised and identified by the social media network
  1. Make sure you read, understand and consent to the terms and conditions offered by the different social media platforms.

Ultimately, social media is a key tool to help make civil servants visible and able to showcase their skills and contributions to develop their professional reputation. With wise and careful use to avoid cyber threats, social media can open doors and help civil servants to avoid the ‘public service comfort zone’ and realise their true career potential.

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