Pacific Pharmacist Career Pathways
Supported by the Office of Student Affairs
Using social media to hire and fire
Have you ever typed your name on google? If you haven't you should do it. Find out how much dirt you have left all over the internet. That is, incriminating photos or not very nice post updates. Clean up as much as you can! All of that will live on one or more of your social networking profiles. As recruiters increasingly turn to social media during the hiring process, the answer could very well be yes. A 2009 survey conducted by CareerBuilder found that more than half of those employers found content that caused them not to hire the candidate.
Basic rules for ensuring social media success when job seeking:
Keep it clean. Make sure your privacy settings are in place and sanitize your social media platforms to ensure that you remove embarrassing posts, or pictures. After that, keep up the good behavior. Make sure you do not use profanity or have grammatical or punctuation errors on your posts.
Create solid LinkedIn presence: Make sure you are up to date and active on LinkedIn and any other networks relevant to your field. Have an up-to-date profile and complete with a professional photo of yourself.
Create expert content: A great way to build up a strong online profile is by creating quality content. Write blogs and articles to establish yourself as a credible and knowledgeable source in your field. The ability to convey a message in a compelling way indicates an aptitude for being articulate. In the age of screenshots, the delete button is not sufficient in managing your reputation. Your online activity should coincide with your career goals and values.
Bottom Line:
Gone are the days when spricing up your resume was enough. Today, recruiters have much more information about you at their disposal so make sure you polish up your resume and your social media presence.