Social media is a huge part of life nowadays; there’s no doubt about it. You want your friends and family to know what you’re up to at any given moment, so you post a picture or send off a tweet. You may not think anyone besides your friends care about your page, but you’re wrong.
A study by CareerBuilder.com last year shows that employers are looking at candidate’s social media pages to determine their employability. It isn’t uncommon for them to ask you to sign into your Facebook during the interview. It’s important to clean up and tailor your social media sites to present a professional image.
In the digital age, it’s easy to forget that people other than your friends can look at your social media sites. By following these suggestions, you can show your employers that you are a savvy, knowledgeable candidate who can help put their best image forward. If you don’t want to follow these six easy steps, then adjust your privacy settings at the very least.
1. Limit or eliminate profanity from your posts. Your employer doesn’t want to worry about you mouthing off during an important business meeting. Every other word in your posts shouldn’t be a curse, but you can throw in a word or two every so often, to add emphasis.
2. Delete pictures of rowdy parties and excessive drinking. If you have a drink in your hand in every picture on your profile, you might come off as an alcoholic. If you want to keep some of your personality in your page, limit pictures of you with a drink to a handful, at most. And try to keep your setting nice and somewhat subdued (i.e. without a wild party in the background).
3. Try not to post too many political or religious links. Your employer or coworkers will probably have different views and too many posts many seem ignorant. This also includes your comments on the posts of others. Yes, your views are important too but, by regulating your posts, you may seem more approachable and respectful.
4. Watch what you repost and share from your friends. Sharing inappropriate photos might seem funny and like a good idea at the time, but employers may think you’re a pervert if half of your news feed contains half–dressed women.
5. Use a professional photo as your profile picture. You want to send of a great first impression and a good picture shows that you are aware of the various audiences who have access to your social media sites.
6. Don’t be stupid. Think twice about what you post. Everyone makes mistakes, but if you take a few extra seconds to reread what you’ve written and think about the tone of your message, you can save yourself some embarrassment.