Creating a professional presence on social media as a jobseeker

We all know the big social media channels – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, and TikTok – but not every platform is created equal when it comes to finding a job or being seen by employers. Facebook may be the most widely used social media channel, with over two billion active users, but recruiters are more likely to head to LinkedIn to find candidates.

 

Creating a professional presence on LinkedIn

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The aim of your LinkedIn profile is the same as your CV, to showcase who you are as a candidate. What are your skills? What qualifications do you have? What is your work history? It also expresses your personality, interests, and opinions. Here’s one thing to consider though. Your CV can be altered to suit each job you apply for. However, your LinkedIn profile must stand up to the scrutiny of recruiters who find you through a candidate search.

Your LinkedIn profile breaks down into the following:

• profile photo
• your name
• headline
• summary (about)
• work history
• education
• skills
• interests
• your LinkedIn activity, like posts and comments

As you can see, most of the above are sections that appear on your CV. While you could copy and paste straight from your CV to your LinkedIn profile, it’s worth considering how you can alter the text to appeal to a wider sweep of recruiters and jobs.

Your profile photo should always be up-to-date and relevant to the type of job you want to find. Most mobile phone cameras provide high quality photographs, so it’s perfectly acceptable to take your own photo or ask a friend or family member to take it for you. Well-lit head and shoulder shots are best with a neutral background.

Use the headline to state your current job and/or the type of position you’re looking for. You can expand on this in the summary.

Use keywords throughout your profile that match with the type of job you want to land and demonstrate your skills and experience. Try to use keywords that recruiters are likely to search for, such as marketing, manager, or graduate.

Don’t be afraid to express your personality in the wording you use, the posts you comment on, and the photo you use, but remember that the purpose of your LinkedIn presence is to attract recruiters and employers.

Keep your profile up-to-date. If you gain a new qualification, change job, take on new responsibilities at work, or decide to look for a different kind of position, alter your profile to reflect this change.

Don’t forget to build your professional network. Start with friends and colleagues, including past colleagues who may prove helpful or provide a reference. Follow companies you’d like to work for and professional groups that are relevant to your job search.

Finally, add your LinkedIn profile to your CV. If recruiters are going to look you up, you may as well direct them to the right place.

 

What about the other social media platforms?

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Most of your other social media accounts will be personal rather than work-related. However, these platforms can still provide job seeking opportunities as employers post their vacancies:

• in Facebook groups
• on their Facebook company pages
• in their company Twitter feed
• on their Instagram account
• as videos or static images on the company’s YouTube channel

The question is whether you want to shape these social media accounts around your personal life or keep them professional.

 

How to safeguard your personal presence online

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There are two scenarios where an employer or recruiter would search for you directly on social media. The first is that you’ve applied for a job with them. The second is that they’ve found you as part of a candidate search. Either way, you want to make sure that what they find improves your chances of being invited to interview, or at least that it doesn’t harm those chances. Here’s how to safeguard your personal presence on social media:

  Google yourself

First off, type your name in speech marks to reduce the number of search results, for instance, “John Shaw” or “Megan McDonald”. Where do you show up? It might be your social media accounts, job sites where you’ve uploaded your CV, professional sites, workplace websites, or news stories. Does anything appear that might negatively affect your appeal as a candidate?

  Consider your privacy settings

The appeal of having a personal account on Facebook is that you have some control over who sees your posts. This means that you can express opinions on the topics that matter to you, post photographs of social events and your dog, chat to friends and family, and have fun. Facebook privacy settings mean that you can post just for yourself, for friends, for a custom list of contacts, or for the world.

Other social media channels offer their own version of privacy control, for instance:

• Twitter allows you to tweet to everyone or to a chosen number of contacts (a circle)
• Instagram accounts can be set to private, and access only given to approved users
• YouTube videos can be public, private, or unlisted

If you don’t want to limit what you post on your personal social media accounts, consider restricting access to certain posts or the entire account.

  Delete, delete, delete

If you decide to keep any aspect of your social media accounts public and searchable by an employer, it may be wise to check that there are no posts or photos that could damage your professional reputation.

 

Final Thoughts

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Everything and everyone are searchable nowadays. Recruiters and employers have been quick to turn this factor to their advantage in seeking out new candidates. It therefore makes sense to polish your social media presence so that it showcases your talent.