Imagine you’re walking down the road when you witness a person slipping on a banana peel. The first thought that to cross your mind would likely be” “I have to tweet about this” or “This is going to be my next Facebook status.” If you identify with this quirky behavior, join the club. However, stay alert. Do you know that prospective employers could be tracing you through your profiles on Facebook, Twitter and most of all LinkedIn?
A recent survey conducted by ‘Jobvite’- a recruitment platform shows that 92% recruiters plan to use social networking to find suitable employees. The annual Jobvite 2012 Social Recruiting Survey revealed that most recruiters loved the site LinkedIn. As many as 93% recruiters preferred using LinkedIn while 66% used Facebook and 54% were inclined towards Twitter.
This survey was conducted online this year and more than 800 recruiting professionals from the U.S. were part of the survey. Other interesting facts revealed by the survey are that 43% of recruiters who used social networking to hire, experienced an increase in candidate quality. Also, a whopping 73% said they had successfully hired someone through a social platform.
These figures are an indication of how much our lives are affected by social media sites. Imagine updating a funny albeit embarrassing picture on your Facebook profile and turning off a prospective employer by this display of mirth. One thing is for certain- uploading and updating must now be kept under check. Here are a few things that one must keep in mind to cast a positive impression on prospective employers:
- Clear your profiles: Try to delete any embarrassing pictures, videos or chats. Also, keep a check on the comments that you receive on your updates. If they reveal too much personal information, delete them.
- Provide accurate information: Provide accurate information about yourself on your profiles. Most sites have complete forms for academic information and work experience. Fill in the information correctly.
- Nasty tags: Many people love randomly tagging their entire friends list in funny/silly/random pictures. If you have friends like that then disable them from tagging you.
- Mind your words: Do not use abusive language in your exchanges over the social media. Who knows which of your updates is shared or re-tweeted by others? You definitely don’t want to come across as a swearing, bad mouthed person.
- Stay alert: Be aware of your followers, people in your friends list and people in your network. In your updates, come across as an intelligent person and try to impress those connected to you by your knowledge and not by your antics.
Knowing all of this, it’s important to start watching your action on social media. Stay cautious and stay aware of your virtual surroundings. If the internet makes it easier to find jobs, it’s important to make a presentable impression in the digital world.
