While your résumé may list your academic and professional achievements, employers are just as interested in who you are as a person and are increasingly turning to Twitter and Facebook, in addition to LinkedIn, as their information source of choice.
Social media has blurred the lines between the personal and the professional and many viewing your online activity will not make the distinction between the two. Just one photo of a night on the town or an ill-judged comment could create a bad impression, tarnishing even the most impressive résumé.
Since it’s no secret that the majority of employers these days use social media to vet their candidates, it’s surprising how little attention people pay to the image they portray on social media. Your social media accounts represent who you are.
Whether you are currently looking for a job or not, follow this simple advice on how to behave online to ensure that social media is your friend rather than your enemy when it comes to furthering your career:
Don’t:
- Complain about your job, boss or colleagues
- Post inappropriate photos or comments
- Use texting language or poor spelling, punctuation or grammar
- Share your latest job offer
- Friend request someone who’s just interviewed you, no matter how well you got on
Do:
- Review the privacy settings for all your social media accounts regularly; what’s private today may not be private tomorrow
- Follow companies that you admire or would like to work for; you will gain valuable insight into their culture and they will be impressed by your attention to detail if you ever apply for a job with them
- Share and comment on articles relevant to your industry
The Proven Group
Choosing how to appear online is a crucial decision. The Proven Group offers a range of services that will ensure that you are represented in a professional manner within the digital world. These include a free and unbiased assessment of your LinkedIn profile (and advice on how to get it noticed), as well as LinkedIn profile-writing and Seek profile-writing services.
The Proven Group also provides professional interview coaching, cover-letter and résumé-writing services in Melbourne, Ballarat and Geelong. In addition to these services, we offer advice on how to address key selection criteria, personality profiling and career counselling.
Contact us today to discuss our services.
