Tweak your social media presence when searching for work

Searching for a new job in the age of social media presents new challenges that you must address as a potential employee. Skipping the most important details on social media websites that are geared toward your career could hurt your efforts to find a new job. Including inappropriate content on your personal social media profiles could also hold you back, so the best time to evaluate what you are sharing via social media is before you start looking for a job. Here are some tips that will guide you in your efforts to tweak your social media accounts when searching for work.

Start With LinkedIn

Since LinkedIn is a social media website that is dedicated to professional networking, it is the best place to start. If you have yet to create a LinkedIn profile, now is the time. If you already have one, it is important to evaluate each section of your profile to ensure that information is current. You could be passed over by a recruiter because your information does not include job skills that you have recently acquired, and finding a job in a competitive market is a matter of marketing yourself.

Pretend You Are the Employer

When you are going through your personal social media profiles, look at your posts through the eyes of an employer. When recruiters check out your personal profiles like Facebook and Twitter, they are looking for behavior that could affect your performance as an employee. Pictures or posts that hint at alcohol and drug use could easily cause a recruiter to move on to another candidate, so be sure to take any partying pictures down. Revealing photographs may also be construed as inappropriate.

Another characteristic that recruiters are looking for on your social media profiles is a negative attitude. Read your posts through the eyes of the employer to determine whether they may be turned off by your attitude. Negative posts about past employers will stand out as a red flag, as will any discriminatory posts.

Stay Relevant

Using social media to post about the industry you would like to work in may seem unusual, but recruiters are using Twitter and other social media websites to find candidates now more than ever. If you want recruiters to come to you, make it known that you have a genuine interest in the field. Not only can you craft your posts to be relevant to your industry, but you can also use Twitter to follow companies you want to work for to gain visibility.