You have the job
interview you’ve been dreaming about most of your adult life. What do you do?
You prepare what you are going to say, you focus on calming your nerves and
then make sure to bring in your professional resume and cover letter. You go
for the interview and do better then you expected, leaving the interview room
excited and hopeful. A week later, the employer calls you. They said that you
did a great job in the interview however they had a browse through your social
media accounts and are now not going to hire you due to what you have posted. It
isn’t as direct and blunt as that example but employers do look at the social
media of people they interview. This is why you must have a professional online
presence or set your accounts privacy settings to where employers can’t see
what you post.
When you are working,
you are representing a company so what you post online is important. If you continuously
post party shots with alcohol and drugs for example, that isn’t a good
representation of yourself professionally therefore can affect the company. Here
are some guidelines to follow to have a professional looking social media
account (that an employer can see and be happy with)
-
Have a profile picture of you
looking your best (no drunk shots or ‘duck lips’)
-
Have your name and age be
correct
-
Don’t swear in any posts that
you upload
-
Play by the rules of the social
media website
-
Don’t post anything bad about
any job you’ve had (example… ‘Ahhh I hate my job…)
-
Be respectful in what you post
-
Don’t engage commenter’s that
misbehave on your blog
-
Never post while drunk or
incredibly upset
-
Keep well written status’ on
LinkedIn
-
Keep your social media account
up to date.
To summarize, an employer can always look
you up on the web so it’s best if you either have two accounts, one professional
and one private. You can always just have one account for each social media
platform and be careful of what you post making sure it represents you well. Happy
posting
