Adulting, Blog, Finances

Signs Social Media is Blocking You from Jobs

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More and more often these days, it seems finding a decent job out of school is kin to finding a needle in a haystack in the middle of Neiman Marcus. There isn’t even a haystack to search. So what happens when you find a great position, or even more than one and the only feedback you get is, “We just don’t think we are the right fit, but we wish you luck in your job search,” and you’re stuck trying to figure out what exactly didn’t fit? Assuming all of the qualifications were there, and the interview went well, you may want to reevaluate your presence online. Here are some key signs that social media is preventing you from getting hired:

  • All of your accounts are public and uncensored.
  • Your accounts that are private are uncensored, meaning you haven’t untagged or deleted that picture of you from that party 6 years ago that you hoped and prayed your family would never see.
  • Your posts are strongly politically fueled, to the point of coming across as combative. Opinions are good, everyone has one. But, everyone has one, even your potential employer.
  • Your posts don’t accurately reflect your depth. i.e. 100 selfies back-to-back, or photos/tweets making fun of others. Hopefully, those are inaccurate little peeks into who you are, but your potential employer has no way of discerning that.
  • Your posts too accurately reflect who you are. There is a such thing as TMI, especially online. I’ve seen so many times, “If you don’t like what I post, then don’t read it.” Well, I don’t have to, but your future employer may choose to in order to see who you are outside of a formal interview.

Take a second and review every account you have on social media and see if any of these points may apply. Even if your account is private, there are other ways for your information to be accessed. Always remember that just because you didn’t post it, doesn’t mean it can’t be found. Untagging yourself is great, but if it’s bad enough, you may need to ask your friend to delete the post entirely. Clean it up, put yourself back out there, and go get that dream job like the boss you are. Check out Using Social Media to Get Hired for more basic tips.

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