No longer are sites like MySpace and Facebook just for college students posting their inappropriate pictures from the previous weekend, these sites now appeal to a different demographic—recruiters and employers looking to learn more about candidates they’re considering for employment.
As the amount of personal information available online to potential employers increases every second, candidates these days are making first impressions on employers long before they even show up for the interview.
Since social networking sites are no longer seen as an evil of the job search world, but rather a professional networking tool, it is important to remember that when participating in these sites, you are creating an online image that will make a good impression on your site visitors, especially those who may be looking to hire you.
As the amount of personal information available online to potential employers increases every second, candidates these days are making first impressions on employers long before they even show up for the interview.
Since social networking sites are no longer seen as an evil of the job search world, but rather a professional networking tool, it is important to remember that when participating in these sites, you are creating an online image that will make a good impression on your site visitors, especially those who may be looking to hire you.
In order to make that great positive impression on potential employers keep these tips in mind when creating or modifying your profile on sites like MySpace or Facebook:
- Avoid Unprofessional Content and Pictures – Be sure that you are presenting yourself in the best possible light by avoiding unprofessional content and pictures. Remember that site users will not only be able to see what you post about yourself but they will also be able to see what friends post about you and vice versa. Remember to pay attention to tagged photos and content that you did not necessarily post, but can be linked back to you and be potentially damaging.
- Choose Your Friends Wisely – When accepting to link your page to a friend’s page, exercise caution and make good decisions. To keep your page professional, make sure you have chosen to associate with friends who also maintain a professional online image and monitor their sites closely on occasion to avoid any surprises.
- Update Your Profile Regularly – Maintain control over new information that is posted to your site. It’s important to monitor and update your profile on a regular basis to catch anything that can be seen as incriminating. Plus, when you’re scrubbing your page and links for inappropriate content you can take the time to update and highlight your latest professional accomplishments.
- Google yourself – After you have created your social networking page, type your name into a Google search to find out what employers might see when searching for your name, email address, screen name, and phone number. If you find information that can be used against you, find out how you can combat that digital dirt with services like Reputation Defender.
- Change Your Privacy Settings – Did you find too much potentially damaging information on your social networking page that you cannot remove or your friends insist on posting inappropriate messages? Consider setting your pages to private. There are different levels of privacy you can select from as well, so when in doubt be conservative. When employers search for you, they will most likely able to see your profile picture despite the settings of your page, so be sure that that this image is "employer friendly."
