Social Media Best Practices

No matter what career path you take, your digital footprint will have a big impact on how ‘hirable’ you are. It is important as a young professional to keep a clean digital presence across your social media platforms to not interfere with current and future career opportunities. Here are a few tips on maintaining a positive presence online:

• Private isn’t private.

While setting your personal social media profiles to private does offer a layer of protection from employers scanning the internet, it does not offer total immunity from them seeing what you post or interact with. Anyone who follows you can screenshot your social media activity and send it to your colleagues or your employer. If you post something shocking or inappropriate and your followers do as little as gossip about it, it could still get back to someone connected to your job or career. It’s best to maintain the mindset of everyone can see everything once it’s posted online.

• Comments, likes and shares are worth a thousand words.

It’s not just about what you post – things you interact with online via likes, shares, follows, comments and reposts are visible to others. If you engage with something in a way that could be interpreted as inappropriate or controversial, that interaction can represent you poorly online in the same way creating a post would. Be aware of what you interact with publicly and think ‘is this something I would want my employer to see?’ before you act.

• Google yourself.

What does an employer see when they do a Google search of your name? A Google search is the modern-age first impression, and you should be aware of what pops up when searching your name. Does anything populate that you would not want an employer to see? Take stock of results and see if there is anything that you can clean up or change to make a better impression. Put your best digital foot forward!

Social media can be a great tool for job hunting if it is used correctly. Be mindful of your presence online and remember to think before you post!