Social media is a great thing in so many ways. It helps us keep up with friends and family in different states and different countries, it allows us to share those special life events with the people who matter and it makes tracking down those old friends and old love interests so much easier\u2026 When it comes to job hunting, however, there is a dark side to social media.<\/p>\n
More and more recruiters admit to checking potential candidates out online, and many say that they\u2019ve turned candidates down because of what they\u2019ve seen. Everything we post online leaves a trail, from flattering Instagram selfies to late night video shares on Facebook \u2013 if you don\u2019t have your privacy settings up at the maximum level, any ill-judged sharing may be seen by more than just your friends and family.<\/p>\n
So what things turn employers off, and could social media be costing you your dream job?<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Swearing<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 We\u2019re probably all guilty of letting a few swear words slip into a conversation among friends. Post them online, however, and they\u2019re there for everyone to see. Employers hate to see candidates casually dropping in bad language, so watch your mouth online.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0References to Drink or Drugs<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 If you\u2019ve had a \u2018good\u2019 weekend, it\u2019s perhaps not a wise move to let the rest of the world know about it. Who wants to hire someone who regularly posts photos of themselves and their friends getting hosed, or worse?<\/p>\n \u2022 Political Posts –\u00a0<\/b>Posting about your political beliefs may seem harmless and personal, yet taking a stand on controversial topics can be off putting for employers. Make sure to keep most of your opinions off of public pages where anyone can view them.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Poor Spelling and Grammar<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 You might not think it matters in the online world, but poor grammar and spelling in your posts could cost you in the real world. You should be as careful with language in your online activity as you would be writing a report at work.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Showing Off<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 If you like to use social media as a way of informing the world just how brilliant you are, be careful. Don\u2019t do too much showing off about your success at work\/success with the opposite sex\/your wonderful holiday\/your perfect home \u2013 all these things send recruiters running.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Vanity<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 We all love a good selfie. Or two. But perhaps some of us love them too much. If your social media feeds are a constant stream of beautiful pictures of yourself, potential employers will not be as impressed as your family and friends might be\u2026<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Inappropriate Images or Videos<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 They might seem funny to you and your friends \u2013 especially after a couple of drinks \u2013 but those silly (perhaps even verging on offensive) videos and memes might not be to everyone\u2019s tastes. Beware the content you share.<\/p>\n We\u2019re often fooled into thinking that what we do online has little or no impact on our offline lives. With so many people happy to over-share and forgetting that their privacy settings aren\u2019t in total lock-down to all but friends and family, it\u2019s little wonder potential employers satisfy their curiosity with a bit of internet \u2018research\u2019.<\/p>\n Always think twice before you post anything, and ask yourself if it\u2019s something you\u2019d be happy for the rest of the world to see. Here at Adzuna, we\u2019re all too aware of the power of the internet. It can do harm, but it can also do incredible good. Head online to\u00a0Adzuna\u00a0<\/a>to start the search for your dream job \u2013 just make sure you\u2019ve cleaned up your Facebook page and Twitter feed first!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social media is a great thing in so many ways. It helps us keep up with friends and family in different states and different countries, it allows us to share those special life events with the people who matter and it makes tracking down those old friends and old love interests so much easier\u2026 When Continued \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finding-a-job"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}