This is the time of year when college graduates are pounding the pavements in hopes of finding a job. Facebook has been their friend, part of their daily lives for keeping in touch, posting status updates, photos, and personal information.
Social media sites such as Facebook are an important part of an individual’s job search strategy. It is an excellent tool for networking, finding job opportunities, letting people know about your skills and expertise and researching companies. From the company’s perspective, it is a way for hiring managers to look up future employees. So how can you clean up your Facebook so it’s appropriate for your new audience? Here are a few suggestions.
- Photos: Get rid of those photos that show you drinking at college parties or in some other compromising situation. Sure we all know that you had fun in college but this is not what you want a prospective employer to remember about you. You want them to see you as a professional. Play it safe, do not have any questionable pictures of you online.
- Status/Comments: Make sure these are appropriate. Employers can see what you are posting. If there are any that are questionable, delete them. Do not complain about current or previous employers, colleagues or friends. This is a public forum and you do not want to leave someone with a negative impression. This also applies to comments people put on your wall and what you put on others.
- Info Page: Listing your hobbies and interests is a great perk and allows people to get a more personal sense of who your are and what excites you. Just make sure it is appropriate – e.g if online gambling is your thing, I would leave that out. It should be appropriate for your audience. You may want to avoid controversial topics such as political and religious issues.
- Privatize Everything: Facebook gives you the opportunity to privatize everything so that you have control over who sees what you are posting on your profile. Take advantage of this feature and safeguard your information.
While Facebook is a great tool for job search and can get your message out, it is important to utilize good judgement when using it. Make sure it is giving the right message to potential employers by keeping it clean!!
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Stay tuned for how to use Linked In effectively in your job search!
Find out what's happening in Port Washingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Cathy Rimsky
Career Coach and Facilitator of PW Job Club
