As a recent graduate and current job hunter, I've came across many articles advising how social media networks can be used to your advantage. Today I came across an article on The Drum about how students should be cleaning their social media profiles if they are job hunting.
According to another article 3 out of 4 employers now check up on applicants profiles. Of course this is a new trend as the social network phenomenon only started becoming this popular a few years ago, mainly due to the introduction of Facebook, with Twitter following soon after. Before everyone echoed their social life online employers would only have what they are given from the applicant.
I initially thought it's somewhat unfair as the old privacy debate comes into mind. In extreme cases, employers may ask for usernames and passwords to accounts from their applicants. Laws are being put in place to stop this happening as it is definitely infringing on privacy.
If employers don't ask for passwords, they can view whatever the rest of the world can see. Therefore it's really up to you what they see. I then thought of it from an employers perspective. If I was an employer who has built a company I would want to know who I'm bringing into the business and who may be representing it in various cases online.
Here's a few tips I've gathered over the past few weeks:
- Don't edit your account to be dishonest or make out you're someone you're not, as the truth always prevails.
- Do however remove anything that's not very professional (drunk photos)
- Interact with those you follow, answer questions, retweet articles you may find interesting.
- Follow professional people who you may find interesting, helping you gain contacts.
- Content is key, if there's nothing on your profile your employer may get the wrong impression
Take a look at your social media profiles and ask yourself, would you hire yourself?
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