Sometimes job applicants get so involved in hunting for jobs online that they forget that recruiters and hiring manager are also online savvy. Nowadays, recruiters and hiring managers are mining for potential employees on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and so on. What does that mean for your resume?
- Make sure your online words are professional, consistent with your resume, and scrubbed clean of any discussion of terrible bosses, awful companies, and personal failures.
- Make sure you online images meet the same standard. Remove that LinkedIn selfie that shows you flexing your muscles in a Speedo and get a professional photograph.
- Ask for recommendations that you can post on LinkedIn or other professional sites.
- Periodically check the links you mention in your resume—your online portfolio or other online presence (authorship of an article, a positive press release)—to make sure the links still work.
- Don’t lie. Many facts can be easily checked online, including your real-world location or degree. Smaller lies can be checked and found out. Due to the increase in reporting about lying on resumes in the media, companies have been increasing the use of extensive background checking prior to hiring. Even if you get away with a lie now, it may come back to haunt you in the future. There are numerous cases of folks (even people I know) who were caught in lies they told early in their career and later on lost everything. Get your position honestly, and you never have to look over your shoulder.
- Don’t fake-boast about coming up at the top of a Google search or being a recognized expert in your field because recruiters and hiring managers will check.
- If you are conducting a stealth job search, set your online accounts to block your current company from seeing conversations with recruiters.
- Recruiters and hiring managers are interested in your communication skills so proofread everything you write online and communicate clearly and concisely in standard English.
- Soft skills are also important: Your online presence should show you as a well-rounded person with such outside interests as continuing education, volunteering, mentoring, or participating in sports or community events.
- Check the basics: Create an email address that is easy to read and easy to type in. The best email address is your name.
Your online presence and your real life presence should align, and they should both show a person whom recruiters and hiring managers would eagerly invite to an interview. Robin’s Resumes® can help make any adjustments needed to ensure that happens