In this digital age, your online persona says a lot about you. You should remember that because your future employers keep that in mind as well. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can act as recruiters’ secret weapons which can be used to weed out applicants. Follow the tips in this article and realize that you can turn social media into your secret weapon instead.
Let’s start with Instagram. The faults here are obvious: inappropriate photos that present you as less than professional, even ones that aren’t posted on your own account. Try to delete these photos or untag yourself from them. If your account is listed under your full name, consider changing it to your nickname or just omit your last name. The safest option is to simply change your privacy settings to private instead of public, if it isn’t already. Although before you do, make sure that you go through your list of followers just to confirm that any prospective employer hasn’t already followed you.
When it comes to Twitter—the platform built on freedom of speech—it’s best to remember that you can have too much of a good thing. Begin by getting rid of all the unnecessary Tweets which although might seem harmless, could actually cause more harm than good. Negative Tweets where you’re complaining, ranting, or cursing should definitely go. Instead, try to put a positive spin on it and use Twitter to promote yourself as someone you’d want to hire. Try sending out informative Tweets related to your field of expertise or, retweeting recent news and features. Lastly, be conscious of grammar and spelling. Those seemingly small mistakes do add up and will definitely leave a bad impression.
Facebook will undoubtedly be the holy grail of your information for your future employers, especially because it’s the biggest and most widely used social network to date. On this website is where most of your tidying up should be done. Go over everything: your photos, provided information, status updates, and shared content. For your photos, you can follow the same tips for Instagram, but make sure to specifically choose a profile picture and cover photo that will represent you properly. This is important because even though your profile is private, those two parts of your profile are always public. In addition, certain parts of your provided information can be public as well, so ensure that they are both accurate and up-to-date, as some employers might use it to verify your background. The tips for status updates and shared content are mostly the same as those for Twitter, but keep in mind that anything you share on Facebook — whether just a funny video or an educational article — can affect your professional image.
It’s certain that your social media profiles have the power to influence whether or not you’ll get that job you applied for, so make sure that you use them as tools to put your best foot forward. With the help of these tips, you can make these sites your virtual resumes, turning your online profiles into the most professional and likeable versions of you.