Social Networks Can Cost You Your Job

Whether you are about to enter the job market for the first time after college graduation, or re-entering the job market again due to unemployment, your visibility online is more important than ever. There have been countless reports by major media outlets that state companies do advanced background checks for many positions, which include a social network scan. What exactly is a social network scan, and how can you make sure you don’t negative impact your search? Follow these four rules.

A “Social Network Scan” is a background check of your profiles on the major social sites. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc can all be viewable via a basic google search, if you don’t have certain privacy settings on. Even if the privacy settings are on, you still may give some recruiters or hiring managers more than they need to see or know about you on your personal pages. In order to make sure you are keeping yourself as marketable as possible, remember these four tips.

1. LinkedIn.com is your breathing resume.
LinkedIn is the most effective networking website for professionals. Used correctly, you can not only keep in touch with prior contacts, who can draft recommondations that will be listed on your page, but you can make future contacts with hiring managers before you actually apply for a position with a company. One former co-worker of mine researched an communications company she was looking to get on with, and was able to become friends with a recruiter there. The recruiter not only gave her some valuable insight about the position, but also assisted in getting her in touch with the local hiring manager.

2. Facebook should be for real friends.
I have heard people argue back and forth between if you should have co-workers as friends on your personal facebook page. My view is no. There should be seperation between your personal and work life, and while you may have nothing to hide, you should not want to have your life as an open book for all colleagues to see. Depending on the position you have(such as management), you may want to be very selective in who can view what.

3. MySpace should be retired.
In general, people tend to look at MySpace as “kiddie” at this point. The purpose it served has been replaced by Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

4. Twitter should be your personality.
Tweeting between friends or following celebrities twitter pages is the cool thing right now, and you should allow that account to be expressive of who you are. Of course, depending on your profession, you decide to create a twitter account strictly for your work, to stay in touch with clients or tweet industry info.

Tagged as: Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace, Twitter