3 Things You Need to Take Off Your Social Profiles, PRONTO!

August 15, 2018
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Think there are clear boundaries between your social and professional life that potential employers won’t peer across? Think again. These days, HR professionals at organizations in all industries research social media accounts for clues that you are the consummate professional your resume portrays.

A 2018 TalentNow study found that 89 percent of companies plan to recruit on social media this year, 80 percent say social recruiting helps to find passive candidates, and 70 percent have successfully hired with social recruiting. A recent CareerBuilder study shows similar results. It found that 70 percent of employers use social media to screen candidates and 54 percent have decided not to hire a candidate based on information obtained from social media profiles. Furthermore, three in ten employers have someone specifically dedicated to the task of social media recruiting.

If you are an upstanding citizen and a conscientious worker, these statistics should come as a pleasing revelation. If you have cultivated a social media presence that confirms the positive impression your work history has generated, your social profiles will be a career asset. However, if you have been active for years on social media, chances are there may be a few glitches that do not accurately portray your professional image and communication skills. If you are a current job candidate, active or passive, take some time to clean up your social profiles using these seven suggestions:

Google Yourself

Search for your name using a private window so that results aren’t customized based on your location and previous searches. Review the first page of results carefully to see if there is any “digital dirt” that could cast a negative spell on your job hunt. Depending on the results you see, there may be ways to have the negative content removed, including online reputation management services. If removal isn’t possible, there may be ways to mitigate the potential damage to your reputation.

Be careful not to click on negative search results often, as every click a web page gets increases its importance to Google. If you are in a field in which your name is especially important, Google yourself regularly to protect and defend your reputation.

Remove Twitter Vents

Have you ever opined on Twitter about polarizing topics such as religion or politics? Or have you had a bad day and groaned about any individuals in your personal or professional life? Maybe you’ve occasionally used Twitter to have personal conversations with a group of friends, without realizing that your dialogues are public and viewable by potential employers. Twitter vents and personal discussions have been the undoing of many qualified job candidates. Read through your tweets and delete any that have the potential to turn off employers. You may even go so far as to remove nearly everything that doesn’t relate to your field, so as to highlight your professional passion and knowledge.

Clean Up Your Facebook Page and Instagram Profile

Recruiters review your timeline, photos, and “About Me” section. They may also look at your interactions to see if you have espoused controversial or discriminatory viewpoints, demonstrated a pattern of negativity, complained about your current job, or engaged in personal feuds. Even your contacts may jeopardize your reputation if their online interactions poorly represent your choice of friends. All of these behaviors may portray you as someone who is not a team player in the office.

Your profile may also be reviewed for communication style, clarity, grammar, and spelling, depending on your field. While a casual voice is perfectly acceptable on Facebook, your posts should still demonstrate strong communication skills. If speaking and writing abilities matter in your career, delete any errors that reflect poorly on your communication skills.

Similarly, your posts and photographs should reveal nothing too personal or concerning to employers. If you have provocative pictures or too many party photos, your professionalism could also come into question. If you have pictures of your children in swimming attire that can be viewed by strangers, your judgement may come into question. When in doubt about a post or picture, delete it or control your privacy settings so that only close friends can view questionable material. Finally, make sure that any information in your “About Me” section is accurate and consistent with your resume.

On Instagram, the same suggestions apply to your photos and the interactions you have with your followers. Check your privacy settings on this platform as well, and consider not having your profile open to the public.

Your social media presence is important to employers, so resist the urge to shut down your accounts while you’re on a job hunt. Employers want to see that you have a life outside of work, and that a glimpse into that life enhances the perceptions they have of your professional potential.