Your guide to social media

Many employers use platforms such as LinkedIn as a way of screening candidates. This guide will ensure your social media profiles are ready for a professional setting to help you when you are job hunting.

The bulk of professional engagement on social media occurs through LinkedIn, as it is used as a tool for networking and recruiting in many industries. Here are some top tips to ensure your profile presents you in the best light.

Your profile photo should be as neat and professional as possible. We wouldn't recommend photos on nights out or with large groups of people.
Ensure that all your contact details are up-to-date and are appropriate to a professional environment, i.e. sensible email addresses and any other alternative information.
Create an appropriate work and education history with accurate and relevant information. You do not need to include every educational establishment you have attended. High school, college and university will be enough.
If you wish to write a profile summary, keep it brief and relevant to your current employment situation.
Make sure your settings have been set to say you’re interested in seeking new job opportunities and you’ve turned on the open to work banner for your profile picture.
Follow company LinkedIn pages that you’re interested in joining. It’s a great way to keep up to date with what is happening in a company and you’ll also see job alerts come through.
Make sure any content that you post through your account is suitable for the platform. An employer may look at your profile, so think about how this would look to a new employer.

With regards to posting on the site, avoid anything non-work related. It is a much more professional platform than Facebook and should be treated as such. This means you should avoid “selfies”, updates on your social life and any sort of political affiliations — especially whilst you are job hunting.

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This is one of the platforms that many people, both in and out of employment, make mistakes on; with many examples of people losing their jobs over interactions on the site. Some ways to avoid these pitfalls are:

Do not post any extreme social or political views on the site, regardless of if you believe they are valid or not. You do not know how an employer will react to them.
Avoid using any extremely crude or vulgar language or images.
Do not post anything relating to your current/former employers.
Any images of you or any of your associates engaging in anti-social/illegal activity should not be posted.

In the long run, it would be highly beneficial to keep both your real name/face from your profile and set the profile to private. This will aid in stopping anything controversial or inappropriate which you may post being tied back to you. Setting your profile to private will not only stop internet trolls and a fair amount of unwanted negative posts being targeted at you, but will also prevent anyone who you have not approved, viewing your profile.

Facebook

This is the platform where mistakes most often occur. There are several steps you can take to ensure your Facebook profile does not lead to any negative situations in the workplace or during the application process. These include:

Enabling tag review on your profile, to ensure that no inappropriate photos or posts end up on your timeline.
If in doubt, set the settings such as who can post to your timeline and who can see your tagged posts either to friends or only me.
Most importantly, set your privacy settings with regards to who can view your profile and those who can look you up using your email or phone number to friends only.

On this platform, it is best to err on the side of caution. Facebook offers the facility to view your profile as a member of the public who is not on your friends list. Use this feature, as it will allow you to see your profile as a potential employer would, and thereby enable you to adjust your content accordingly.

Instagram

It is unlikely that an employer will check your Instagram page as it is not often a platform of interest. Despite this, photos taken during nights out, or that are in any way suggestive, are unsuitable if your profile is public, and we would strongly recommend changing the privacy settings on your profile. If you have any doubts with regards to how appropriate your photos are, don’t risk it.