The world as it stands today, is indisputably digital. It has been said that in the near future, the online presence of job applicants may replace their CVs. The implication of this is that your online presence as a job seeker could improve or mar your chances at a job you want.
Employers typically go through the social media profiles of job applicants to determine their qualifications, assess their professionalism, get a sense of their cultural and personality fit with the organization, assess their legitimacy, or even eliminate negative attributes/red flags. What you want to do is have an online presence that improves the way the employer perceives you and betters your chances of landing the job you desire.
Without further ado, let's get into how you can improve your online presence as a job seeker.
Your main objective is to ensure that you establish legitimacy and professionalism when someone visits your social media accounts. Having inconsistencies in your display names, bios or handles doesn't exactly say professional or legitimate.
Consider making a list of all your existing accounts then deactivating the ones that you do not actively use. Switch any accounts you do not want everyone to come across from public to private. While this doesn't guarantee that they wouldn't find the account, it makes the profile harder to find.
The next step is to update the public profiles to ensure that across all the social media platforms, your message about yourself is up to date, relevant and consistent. A tip is to look yourself up on Google with incognito mode (to prevent the interference of your search history and the algorithm) to see what comes up when your name is searched. This gives you an idea of what your prospective employer might see as they scan your online accounts.
Every social media platform is designed uniquely. This means that what works on Twitter may not work on Instagram. To get the best of the social media platforms as a job applicant, your profile must be optimized accordingly.
LinkedIn for example has over the years become an avenue to build a professional brand. Also, as your LinkedIn profile may appear first when your name is searched on Google, you may want to be strategic about your profile there. Your profile picture should be professional, your work experiences regularly updated, and your headline should be precise.
On the other hand, Instagram is a photo and video-sharing social media platform. This makes it the go-to app for hiring managers seeking to know more about the applicant outside their CV. As such, you might want to rethink posting those pictures of you clubbing with your friends no matter how fun they may seem.
The truth is those kinds of pictures are more likely to reduce rather than improve your chances of getting the job. Take advantage of the app's features instead to showcase your creativity, create a community of like-minded people, demonstrate your talents and skills or even discuss your hobbies with interested people.
The thing here is unlike social media platforms, you have total control of your branding, and frequent changes in the algorithm of those social media platforms do not affect you. Whatever rocks your boat and highlights your skills works here. In fact, prospective employers are very likely to be impressed by a personal website, and who knows, it may just be what sets you apart from other candidates.
However, you shouldn't just create a personal website without taking some things into perspective. For example, you must define your brand and decide how you want others, especially your prospective employers, to see you. Set a tone for the website and stick to it. You could even take it a notch further by regularly posting entertaining and informative content to improve the website's ranking and optimize it for search.
There are several templates for personal websites that you can choose from to save time and have it up in no time.
This isn't the 1970's. Yes, people are more sensitive. This is why you should steer clear of issues that are controversial and think before you tweet or post anything. For example, posting pictures of you at political rallies, discussing political opinions on your personal websites or social media pages, showing support for controversial issues either by commenting, liking or retweeting could be red flags to your prospective employer.
You see, the thing is, organizations are mindful of the image their brand portrays to the public and when you become an employee of the company, you would be an extension of the brand. This means that your prospective employer wouldn't be out of line to want to know and judge the extent to which you express your political opinions.
Inappropriate content such as tasteless jokes, racist speeches, sexist speeches, Islamophobic speeches, bigotry, and every other form of hate speech will completely ruin your chances of getting the job you want. To be on the safe side, you may also want to consider avoiding controversial social issues like: party politics, immigration, etc.
When you regularly update your account on Bayt. com, you establish a solid presence in your field and develop a strong online presence that prospective employers cannot help but notice. Consequently, this increases your chances of getting your dream job (if you do not have a Bayt.com account yet, click here to open one).
To achieve this, consider:
