Companies all over the world are getting more and more internet savvy. This is happening at the same time that social networks are becoming more well-known.
This all goes together to insure that there are plenty of companies out there that look at their employees online profiles to learn more about their employees and maybe even catch a bad one or two. You can either accept this but go on your normal business posting crazy pictures of you at a party holding up a red cup with a funny expression on your face for the world to see, or you can use this to your advantage.
Eyes Are On Your Social Media
Companies tend to look up the online social profiles of either their current employees, or the people that they have interviewed or will be interviewing. This is a great way for the employer to see the kind of person you are when you aren’t trying to make a good impression. You can use this to your advantage however, by altering your online profile in a way that it can be visually appealing to the companies viewing it. There are a lot of ways to appeal to the outside world that make you seem friendly and intelligent without being too outspoken about it.
Facebook…
One strategy is to make your Facebook page appealing to people. Facebook is currently the largest social network on the web and would most likely be the first place companies would go to look. By altering your profile on Facebook, you can make it public and let the companies see who you are behind your application. When updating your status, you shouldn’t fill it with any silly quotes that don’t make any sense or tell everyone that you may even be drunk. Instead, you can put intelligent things down such as ideas, thought on a movie, places you are visiting, and other things that may even impress an employer.
What to do?
If there is something that you do not want an employer to see and you do not want to delete it, you can always put it down as private, but be careful because there are always ways to get to that stuff even though it is hidden. The best course of action would be to not put anything on the internet that you would not want a potential employer to see. When it comes to profile pictures, you don’t want to put up a picture of you in a monkey suit riding a mechanical bull. A better alternative is to put a professional look on because the first impression can mean everything. You may be a great person once people get to know you, but employers usually don’t have time for that and will judge your character based on their first impression of you.
Professional help?
Looking professional on your social profiles does not mean that you need to appear boring. It just means that you need to hold back on some of the more wild things that you do and save those moments for your close friends. With a good first impression, potential employers are much more likely to hire you. It is all about looking professional at a first glance. You will be able to show them more about yourself once you are hired. You can still put things down that make you seem like an interesting person. You just have to know where to draw the line.