How badly could your social media and other online presence hurt your potential career opportunities?
All this week, I’m sharing 5 common mistakes to avoid when job hunting.
And how to stop making those mistakes.
Everything I’m sharing with you in this series, is based on my experience of taking 100s of women through my LinkedIn training, my career coaching or when I’ve run in-house redundancy transition programmes.
What I’m sharing this week is typical of the tips and tricks that I also share in my Career Conversations group on Facebook.
Today I want to talk about your social media and online presence and how that can affect and hurt your career opportunities.
How to stop your social media hurting your career
If you didn’t yet realise that recruiters and hiring managers will check you out on social media, today’s the day to wake up.
It might not be the official policy, but you can bet that most people can’t resist check you out on your social media platforms before they meet you in person or before they make the job offer.
Which means that if you talk non-stop on Twitter about the latest developments on Love Island, you’re just not going to be taken seriously as an IT Business Relationship Manager.
Harsh but true.
So it makes good career sense to review what you say online in your social media.
What does your email address say about you?
Let’s start with the basics.
What does the email address that you use to submit job applications say about you?
Is it professional? Is it appropriate?
If your email address is something like sweetpeas@gmail.com, then it’s time to create a new email address that you use specifically for job applications.
Once created, don’t forget to check that mailbox on a very regular basis. Or set up an auto forward.
The last thing you want to happen is to miss an invite to a job interview because it’s not your normal email address.
What do you talk about online?
The next step is to review all your social media profiles.
Are they in alignment with your personal brand?
In particular take an objective look at your Twitter feed and your LinkedIn profiles.
There’s nothing wrong with talking about Love Island but if it’s the ONLY thing you talk about, and you’re looking for a role with a professional organisation, it may throw doubt on your gravitas.
Right now, in today’s job market, you don’t want to put any question marks in the potential recruiter’s mind.
Is your LinkedIn profile in alignment?
Your LinkedIn profile needs to match what you have put on your CV and on the job application.
Would I look at your CV and your LinkedIn profile and recognise it as being same person?
If you haven’t touched your LinkedIn profile in ages, at the very least pay attention to the 7 essentials on LinkedIn.
5 mistakes to avoid when job hunting
Today was the third in a series exploring the 5 mistakes you need to avoid to be successful in your job hunt.
Yesterday we looked at how and why to focus on one job application at a time.
Come back tomorrow or click subscribe and find out how to stop missing out on opportunities through your network.
For more tips like this, join my Career Conversations group on Facebook.
p.s. if you’re actively job hunting, facing redundancy or going back to work after a career break, you’ll love Job Search Confidence, a 12 week structured job search programme. Get crystal clear in your job search goals and become the stand out candidate for your dream job – before you even apply!
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