5 Smart Social Media Tips For Job Seekers

Social media can play a huge role in your career. Even if you don't use it to find work opportunities, potential employers will often look for you there. If they come across your page and it's full of profanity, awkward selfies, and inconsistency, it's likely they will move onto someone else. To avoid this, here are five social media tips for job seekers:

1. Clean It All Up

Before you start using social media to showcase your professional image, clean it up. You don't want to use profanity or post any pictures from last weekend's crazy party. It's also a good idea to remove anything that could be considered controversial, especially in regards to politics.

2. Keep Your Image Professional

Across all social media profiles, you want to keep a professional image. It's a good idea to use the same picture for every site, and this picture should look professional. Instead of using a dog-filter selfie, use a picture that shows how you would look if you were headed to a job interview.

3. Only Use Your Real Name

Using your real name instead of a nickname or fake name helps create your professional image and makes it easier for people to find you. If for some reason you can't use your real name, be sure to include it somewhere on your profile.

4. Bring All Your Social Media Accounts Together In One Place

If you have a personal website, you can include a link on all of your social media accounts. Otherwise, linking your accounts to a LinkedIn will work just fine. When you do this, it allows for job recruiters to see everything that you want them to see.

5. Avoid Using Social Media For Professional Communications

Using social media to find new professional connections and sharing your social media profiles with employers is a good way to use social media, but don't use social media to actually contact professionals. It comes off as unprofessional. For example, if you apply for a job at a company, don't later use Instagram to follow-up on the application.