Social media and mobile technology are driving the trends today, and that includes job/employment trends.
Using social media, you can now search for potential employers – who work for them? Is it fun working for them? What’s the execs like? What are the activities they are doing outside the office walls? What are their philanthropic activities? And finally, what job opportunities are available for social media users?
Knowing what to search – and how – can lead you to wealth of opportunities.
Fortunately (or unfortunately?) recruiters can also do exactly the same: Which Facebook users are graduates of XYZ university? How is their social life? Are they involved in non-academic activities? What are they tweeting/liking/following/reading/watching? How many connections/friends do they have? What are their opinions about trending news?
Yikes.
If your heart races and palm sweaty right now, well, you should: Recruiters are actively looking for job candidates on social media, and they ARE “spying” on your social media activities to see whether you are the best fit for the employers.
From the above, we now know that we can’t take social media lightly. Need some hard data? You got it.
Check these interesting stats:
Did you know that 1 in 10 job seekers is plainly rejected because of their social media use?
Did you know that 50 percent of job candidates were disregarded by employers because they posted provocative or inappropriate photos/information on their social media accounts.
One more: 33 percent of job applications were rejected because the job seekers were caught red handed badmouthed their previous employers on social media.
If you need more insights and tips, I have this very useful infographic published by Gumtree – check it out:
Using Social Media To Improve Your Job Search is an infographic that was produced by Gumtree
Takeaway
Well, now you know that you need to be careful with your posts. There is nothing wrong with posting fun, even crazy stuffs. In fact, those prove that you have a social life which will positively contribute your work life. However, you need to be more thoughtful of what status updates you are going to write; what tweets you retweet; what profile/page you follow or like.
To recap: In order to land that dream job of yours, you need to be mindful with your social media activities, fix/upgrade your social media profiles and get “testimonials” and recommendations from your previous employers/friends/colleagues. Woo recruiters with smart social media updates and involvement.
Good luck in your job search!