By this time, we all know that wild party photos are not really suitable for posting online during a job search. When recruiters and hiring managers are looking at your online presence, they want to see a valuable addition to their company, not a valuable addition to the office football pool.
However, even the best intentions may go awry online. Beware of these mistakes in using social media during your job search.
- Posting unprofessional photos on LinkedIn and similar professional sites. Make sure your photo is professional, a headshot taken when you are dressed appropriately for your chosen career.
- Using texting abbreviations and not worrying about grammar and spelling. Your communication skills are important to any employer. Maintain high standards for your writing wherever it appears and proofread, proofread, proofread.
- Posting negative comments about your current or former employer and fellow employees, no matter how justified they are. Your future employer is looking for someone with a positive attitude who is able to work well in a team.
- Aggressively arguing political, religious, social and other opinions. Yes, you are entitled to your opinions. But when you are job hunting, you want employers to concentrate on your accomplishments, education and skills, not on your positions on controversial subjects.
- Indulging in over-the-top bragging about yourself or laughter about your own follies. People do tend to reveal all in sites like Facebook. A little bit of reserve is helpful while you are job hunting. Let your employer find out about you gradually.
- Neglecting to make personal contact with your network. Although you should mine your contacts on social networking sites, face-to-face contact is also essential. At networking, industry, Chamber of Commerce and similar events, you will meet people you may never reach through your social networks, and you will be able to hone those personal skills that will be important during job interviews.
- Wasting time. Social networking is seductive. You start out on Twitter with every intention of following job leads and become distracted by tweets about your favorite book, movie star or hobby. Time passes and you are no further on your job search.
- Contradicting yourself. Make sure that the information you give on your resume, cover letter or email, LinkedIn account, Facebook page and so on is consistent. When contradictions occur in dates, the names of employers, contact information and so on, recruiters and hiring managers begin to wonder if they can trust your information and if you are attentive to detail.
- Not using social media at all. Yes, social media can have drawbacks. But employers are looking for employees who are comfortable with technology, at least to the extent of using word processing systems and email. By appearing on at least one social media site (LinkedIn, for example), you are showing that you have kept up with the computer age.
Let Robin’s Resumes® help you with a great resume; then we can help you back it up to the hilt with the correct social media message.