How Your Online Presence Can Affect your Job Search

More and more jobs are going fully remote in the post-pandemic world. It leaves little room for doubt that recruiters will look to social media increasingly for locating and evaluating potential applicants. 

Even before the transformation in the job market brought about by the pandemic, a survey conducted by CareerArc observed that as much as 91% of the employers were using social media as a tool in their recruiting mechanism. It implies that what you do online can significantly influence your recruitment by any company. 

The million-dollar question is, how do you use social media to benefit you in your job hunt? Learning how to use your social media profiles and leveraging your online network wisely can bring you right at the top of the candidate lists. You’ll also need to be mindful of your surfing history to improve your chances of being in the top tier of the job market. 

We share a few ways to help you stand firm when you go job hunting. 

Keep A Tab On Your Photos

First and foremost, you’ve got to make sure that there are no unprofessional snaps of yours on the internet. Refraining from posting any photos that show you misbehaving or ones that make you appear unflattering is a practical rule for you to stick to. In fact, inappropriate content is one of the biggest turn-offs for recruiters. While we all can post whatever we want, it is crucial to know how others will judge our posts. 

Keep Reviewing Your Status

Make sure that you review your status updates regularly. It’s wise to remove posts critical of your job or your former employer. The same applies to all negative statuses you may post. Removing such posts that give off negative vibes about you is a good strategy. It helps you paint an image of yourself as an optimistic person who remains positive in all situations. 

Overall, it is better to refrain from posting opinions about your current or former employer. 

Avoid Politics

It’s best to appear completely disinterested in politics. True, social media is meant for expressing your views. However, your political opinions may greatly influence your potential recruiters. They may wonder whether you’ll be able to fit culturally into the company irrespective of the fact that you may possess the necessary qualifications and experience. 

If you’re unwilling to tinker with your social media profiles too much, change the privacy settings to make sure that only those close to you get to see your life up and close, not your potential recruiters. 

The first impression a recruiter forms about a candidate usually occurs much before the interview, online or in-person. Now that we have told you this, you should control what potential recruiters can see about you online. 

Look Yourself Up on Google

Google yourself and see what you can find about yourself on the internet. It’s the key to locating any misinformation that may exist about you online. You’ll also see any inappropriate or outdated information about yourself you should remove right away. Be mindful that recruiters look for all the information available about you online publicly, not just your social media profiles. 

You may ask, what if nothing shows up during the search? Is that a good thing? Not quite. Your complete online absence would raise questions about how tech-savvy and digitally skilled you are. It might also create doubts about your qualifications and awareness of the latest communication trends. Despite all this, there’s an advantage of nothing showing up on the search. It becomes easier for you to manage your image on social media. You have a clean slate to work on. 

Some services can help you locate companies that have data on you. Thus, you will know which information you might need to request to be deleted. 

Creating a Positive Brand Image

Use social media to your advantage and create a brand image as a thorough professional, knowledgeable and qualified. It’s sure to bring you to the top among all the probable candidates. You may create your website showcasing yourself—your skills and talent for branding yourself. You may also start your domain name. That makes quite a statement. 

Become More Untraceable 

There are many ways to limit the data you share online. The most obvious solution is to post less information or images. However, you should also pay attention to the data you leave behind accidentally. 

For one, everyone on the web can see your IP address, pinpointing your approximate location. It is one of the identifiers used to relate particular activities to a specific user. Luckily, you can hide this identifier after getting a VPN service. It lets you connect to remote servers and reroute your traffic. As a result, your actual IP address will be masked with the IP belonging to the server. 

Conclusion

Social media acts as a powerful tool for both recruiters and job hunters. You can use social media and the internet to promote yourself as the ideal candidate—professional, responsible, and qualified. Managing your online presence wisely creates a positive image among recruiters generating interest in yourself. You succeed in catching their attention, and your dream job is yours.