As we move into another new year, social media will continue to grow and have a large presence in the job market. In today’s world, employers have the ability to learn as much or little about you as you’d prefer before you even meet them in person. If done properly, this can be a huge advantage for you as a candidate. Maintaining the right online presence can be very hard. You want to use social media to share your personal experiences with friends and family, but you want to look professional to your current and future employers. I have the unique opportunity to speak from both points of view on this. Not only am I consistently engaged with employers in conversations about this topic, but I also recently went through the process of finding a new job. I hope my personal set of guidelines will provide you with some tips and help you in your job search. In part 1, I discussed some strategies to use LinkedIn in your job search. Part 2 covers your online visibility and part 3 will discuss maintaining professional relationships online.
Understand and control your visibility
- Search your name on the online search engines Google, Bing and Yahoo; most employers will do the same. Search for your name in all possible scenarios, such as with and without quotes around it, image searches, video searches, etc. If you see anything that would make an employer think twice, change it or contact the provider to have it removed.
- LinkedIn – you should have nothing to hide on LinkedIn. Open it up to everyone and turn off your privacy if you are looking for a job. Make sure to consistently connect with others and update your profile so your current employer does not get suspicious when you have a flurry of activity. Control your settings so no alerts are sent out if you are looking for a job. You don’t want your current employer to be alerted that you’ve connected with a recruiter or a competitor’s personnel. You can even turn on your public alerts when you do something that you want everyone to see (post in a group) and turn it back off afterwards.
- Facebook – If you are looking for a new position, you should make your Facebook profile visible to your friends only. Even if everything on your page is wholesome, you never know when someone may post something on your wall that is not. Also, remember that even when your profile is private, your profile image is not. Nobody expects to see you in a suit in your Facebook profile picture, but a nice family picture or one without alcohol in it is a good idea.
- Twitter – If you are using your account for personal, casual use, make your Twitter profile private, but remember what can be seen by outsiders. This includes your Twitter handle, profile picture and summary. Use a Twitter handle that is either a variation of your name or something professional. Make your profile picture and summary light (since it’s supposed to be), but comes off as someone that you’d want working in your office if you were hiring. If you are tweeting professional information, it is a great idea to keep it public; it will likely be a positive aspect of your overall resume and show that you are in touch with social media through your work.
Be prepared to answer anything questions in an interview about something that is online. Most of your interview should be about what makes you the best candidate for this position. However, if a really good interviewer knows something about you that could be a red flag, they will find a way to get you speaking about it. It’s always better to be prepared with a good answer than the alternative.
#Careers #SocialMedia