Employers and hiring companies are checking your social media profiles. Yes, the rumors are true. So, before you tweet that bigot opinion, publish a politically-charged post or participate in a tacky trend, think about your current or future employers.
Employers can let you go for inappropriate social media post, especially if it relates to the company. Imagine an employer finding posts bad-mouthing colleagues on an employee’s social media.
Also, HR and recruiters research candidates’ social media activities before hiring. They want to learn more about you beyond what’s on your cv and how well you ace their multiple rounds of interviews.
And, it isn’t just about what they find on your social profile. Sometimes, what they don’t find can affect your ability to be hired. For instance, an inactive or non-existent profile may suggest that you’re on social media anonymously because you’ve got something to hide.
3 Tips To Prevent Social Media From Affecting Your Job (Search)
Whether you already have a job or you’re job hunting, these tips will prevent social media from affecting your job or ability to be hired.
1. Cleanse your profile
Scroll as far back as possible and get rid of any incriminating content. You can do a search of triggering words to find and delete explicit posts or offensive comments that may affect your job (search).
Also, check for inappropriate content you’re tagged in and untag yourself. Your wild night with friends clubbing and drinking doesn’t have to be on your Facebook timeline. Neither should you trend for negative reasons on Twitter.
2. Update your social profiles
Beyond finding dirt, an unorganized profile may turn some recruiters off. So, make sure your profiles are well put together and professional. And only share content that will portray you as a professional.
Sure, you can’t be all professional on all platforms. Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are different from LinkedIn. Nevertheless, you can make sure that your profile motivates recruiters to hire you, rather than give reasons to question your professionalism.
3. Turn on privacy settings
Although there are ways around privacy settings, turning on some settings can help protect your job and ability to be hired. Most important, restrict some or all of your content visibility and engagement to friends only, and prevent people from tagging you.
Furthermore, avoid connecting with colleagues and employers. Imagine a colleague asking how your weekend was because they saw pictures of you partying. So, if possible, block them preemptively.
Key Takeaway
What you post on social media can affect your chances of getting hired and keeping the job. So, be conscious of your activities and post only content that your employers or potential employers will consider unprofessional.
