Pt 1: What Employers Look For on Social Media

Your online profile, well, it could make or break a job opportunity, but what are potential employers actually looking for when they Google your name? We welcome Debbie Carot back to the program with some insights on how to be recruitment ready online. Good morning to you.

Hi, Jill. Nice to see you again.

Nice to see you again as well. This is a great topic and I think, you know, it's something that should be on the forefront of people's mind when it comes to building their resume and applying for jobs. So what are recruiters looking for?

So, first of all, they are looking online. So don't fool yourself that you're not the average recruiter or Most recruiters, over 93%, in fact, say that they will Google a candidate before they interview them. So that's they are going to look at you. So just make that assumption.

That's a point of contact.

Absolutely. So what you need to do first and foremost is set up a Google alert on yourself to know what they're going to find. You don't want to be surprised in an interview and you want to make sure that everything that's out there is professional.

Okay. And when it comes to Googling, a variety of things can come up. So are recruiters looking at variety of social media outlets? What exactly are they looking for within that Google search?

So they are absolutely going to look at what comes up. The good news is they're not usually looking for dirt and they're not looking for bad things. They're looking to confirm your previous employment. They're trying to see if you have mutual connections so they can get a good solid reference for you. And they're looking if you would represent their brand well, because if you have an online professional image, it's going to help serve their brand well, too.

Okay. So that's something that you might want to consider when it comes to creating your online profile, which we'll get to in a little bit. But what happens if I have unflattering content online? What happens then?

And that's a common thing people look at today because you may do something a few years ago and not think about a job potential prospect down the road. So the first thing I encourage you to do is wherever the source of it is, is ask them to remove it. So if it's on Facebook, it's easy because you can usually untag yourself or you can flag it and they'll remove it for you. Most social media platforms have that media and some of those kind of things are a bit more challenging. But usually if you contact the source, they'll be pretty helpful.

And when it comes to those social media streams, what do you recommend for people who are looking for jobs? Should they make their accounts private or should they open that up a little bit?

Depends on what kind of job you're looking for. I encourage you, if you have nothing to hide, it's going to serve you well to have them open. So Twitter is a great one where you can come across as a thought leader, share your thoughts. In an industry, you can share relevant knowledge, that kind of thing. So that one helps. LinkedIn is really important. That's essentially your online resume. So make sure you've got a professional headshot that your objective and your whole profile represents the industry you're trying to get a job in. And then things like Facebook, that's really up to you if you want to keep that private. Many people prefer to keep that away from what prospective employers may see. If you do have it public, just make sure the information there or the photos that are there are appropriate.

Right. And then, you know, social media in some industries can work to your advantage.

Yeah, without a doubt. So even it's funny, but the number of people I've heard that have gotten jobs from things like YouTube and Snapchat, some of those things actually serve you really well. If you have a quick, funny little video or thought leader piece, those can actually go viral and serve you really well. More than one person I know has actually landed a great job, even at a VP level from things like that.

Is that right? Okay, interesting. So it's certainly a tool that can be used for or against. We do have a tweet that I want to bring up, and this is something that was trending online this morning. And this is potential pitfall. So tell us a little bit about. About this tweet involving skip the dishes.

Yeah. So there was a tweet, if you didn't see it, earlier this week, where a job candidates asked the question about what is the pay and benefits for this potential job? Unfortunately, the interviewer didn't take it very well. And what they said is, essentially your values don't align with ours because she was asking about money as opposed to cultural fit and that kind of thing, and they actually withdrew the offer for a second interview. So what she did is she went to social media, told the story, and obviously it went viral. Lots of people were weighing in in terms of I wouldn't want to work for someone like that, or she shouldn't be asking about money on the first interview. To make a long story short, skip the dishes actually took the high road, apologized, gave her a second interview and said they're going to make sure that they train their interviewers properly because the reality is is when you are going to work financial is very important.

Absolutely. So so you would side on on the case of the interviewee?

It depends. I mean I wouldn't go to social media if I had issue like that. I'd probably go the prospective employer first. But she did have a valid concern and she did absolutely end up in the right place. But really you've also got to remember if she doesn't get that job or her next position that tweet's going to live on forever. And so how would her next employer view her speaking about them like that?

Right. Okay. So that all goes into the perception and that goes into what takes place, the decision making process before you even get in the door and are able to make that first impression.