How To Clean Up Your Social Media While Job Searching…

You have two CVs – the nice crisp sheets of paper with carefully curated bullet points showing yourself in the best possible light and then there’s the online resume – the Instagram account that shows your love of clubbing ‘til late every weekend, your Twitter feed which is more of a political stomping ground, or your Facebook feed with not-so-flattering tagged photos.

It’s easy to think your social media profiles have no bearing whatsoever on your job search, but think again. Hiring managers search for you online to get a better idea of your personality and interests, and, more importantly to them, how you are likely to represent the company.

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Posted @withrepost • @lpcpersonneltx This may be a comic, but it’s no joke! According to a recent survey, around 70% of employers screen job candidate’s social media profiles during the hiring process. So, if you are on the job hunt, take a few minutes to take down the party photos and set your profiles to ‘private’ – it could cost you a job. . . . . #socialmedia #jobsearchcomic #jobsearchmeme #haha #instagood #staffingagency #recruitingagency #recruiter #jobsearch #nowhiring #temporarywork #temptohire #USstaffing #letsworktogether #careeradvice #directhire #Houston #Houstonjobs #HoustonTX#Houstonemployers

A post shared by Houston Jobs (@houston_jobs) on Nov 26, 2019 at 7:10pm PST

So, how do balance what you post and share with how you’re presenting yourself to future employers?

Google yourself
The first step is to see what kind of digital footprint you’ve left. You’d be amazed at some of the obscure stuff on there.

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Go private
This one is a bit contentious because one argument is that going private means you have something to hide. But it’s not just employers looking at your public accounts, it’s everyone. In the interests of safety alone it’s worth keeping some things private, or at least just not sharing every little thing.

Delete any inappropriate posts
If cancel culture in the YouTube beauty community has taught us anything it’s that there are people out there willing to do a deep dive into your social media to dredge up any dirt necessary. If you’ve had your pages for a few years, it’s worth going back and getting rid of anything inappropriate – not only for the purposes of job hunting, but as you grow up posts from 10 years ago may not accurately represent who you are now. 

Delete any old accounts
Look, all I’m saying is your now-defunct YouTube channel from your awkward years at school may not be something you’d want the world to see.

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Update your profile photos
Your profile photo on any of your accounts is the likely to be the first to come up in any searches. Make sure you have one and make sure it’s appropriate.

I have seen, first hand, one of my CEOs drop a potential candidate because of Facebook. She was well in the lead for the job and the only thing that killed it for her was her Facebook profile picture. Your chances really can be shattered as quickly as that.

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