How to keep your social media up-to-scratch when job hunting

SOCIAL media has become a critical and essential part of our daily lives in the 21st century, with corporations, government and almost all societal institutions utilising the interactive technological platforms. Social media gives users the opportunity to discover new ideas, information and trends, connect with others, market and promote personal brands or businesses and can even be used to build brands, businesses or companies.

Although social media can be used to make a potential employee seem more appealing to companies that are hiring, there have also been instances where social media has lost people potential work opportunities due to their unsavoury or unprofessional social-networking habits.

The fact remains that social media now forms a large part of our lives, and it is not as simple as it used to be to separate your professional use of social media networks from your personal use of the platforms. There are, however, ways to spruce up your social media platforms to make you more appealing to businesses and your potential future bosses. Social media is constantly being optimised, so the way that you use it must regularly be updated. Every visit, every like, and every comment can provide a new contact, and every new contact offers your company hundreds of other potential connections.

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Here are a few tips to make your social media look better to businesses that are hiring new employees:

Keep your social media profiles updated

Ensure that all of your profiles across all platforms have recent uploads, so that job recruiters are able to get a sense of what is currently happening in your life. Check that your contact information and descriptions are accurate and up-to-date and ensure that all public posts, including ones going back a few years, reflect your current, professional self.

Even having multiple old social media accounts gives off a negative impression as it communicates to your potential employer that you have trouble with committing to a single goal or task and become disinterested easily.

Engage in social media debates and discussions

If you are hoping to join a particular company or brand, follow their social media pages from your own profile. This will help inform you about the business and also show your potential employers that you take an interest in the business or brand. To take it a step further, keep an eye on the discussions online that involve the business or company you would like to join and engage in these conversations. Make sure your comments are articulate, well thought out, considerate of others and written with precise grammar and in perfect English. Posting relevant articles you find interesting, and keeping up with the sorts of developments and challenges your industry is facing, is also excellent preparation for any upcoming job interviews.

This method will not necessarily bring you to the attention of job recruiters right away, however, it does help you gather important information for a potential interview and will look good on your track record if a company does decide to look into you as a potential employee.

Make creative online profiles

There are a wide range of social media networks out there, and while it’s not essential to have an account with every single one, it does help to express your personality on creative sites such as Pinterest, TikTok or Instagram.

If you’re a visual thinker, you could show this by taking the time to curate your pages artistically, and this could help you stand out amongst other candidates.

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Show your personality online

Showing your personality online does not necessarily mean developing yourself as an online brand. Your personal profile should, however, show bits of yourself that would reveal to employers that you are an interesting person who could fit well into the company’s workplace culture and dynamics. Recruiters are not only looking for someone who is qualified and capable, but also someone who is well-rounded and can adapt well to social settings. When presenting your professional self online, focus on doing so on platforms such as LinkedIn. You can show a bit more about your life outside of work, while still keeping things professional on other channels like Twitter and Instagram.

Always bear in mind that a recruiter will be getting their first impression of you when they type your name into the browser, so make sure your social media accounts represent you in the best light possible.

Edit the privacy settings on your social media

If there are any posts or photos on your social accounts that you wouldn’t want a potential employer to see, you have the option to update your privacy settings on your accounts.

This doesn’t mean that you should hide everything; some employers may even view it as a negative if they can’t find out anything about you online.

If you’re unsure what a recruiter might find out about your online presence, google yourself. Put your name and university/current employer into Google and see what comes up.

No matter how strict your privacy settings are, people will always be able to see your profile pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and WhatsApp (if they have your number), so make sure these are up-to-date and professional. Most social media platforms can be made private which then requires a user to request to see your entire profile. This will give you a heads-up as to whether a business is checking out your profile and searching for you online, so it will give you the opportunity to clean up your profile before they are allowed access to viewing it online.

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