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CAREER FAIR
Secrets to social media success SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 |
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As the world continues to advance in technology, the rise of social media has skyrocketed alongside it. Social media’s simple accessibility makes it a breeding ground for inappropriate and nonwork friendly content. In turn, many employers have begun checking out their job applicants’ and current employees’ online profiles to ensure they are “keeping things PG.” According to Mary Doyle, a field experience coordinator for the College of Education, inappropriate online profiles
could cost a teacher applicant their job. “Since I work with future teachers, I know that mentor teachers, administrators, students, staff and even parents are ‘looking up’ students on social media,” Doyle said. “A negative impression can make a big difference and cause loss of opportunities and recommendations.” Although it may seem like an invasion of privacy, having clean online profiles and social media can give a job applicant a leg up above others when searching for a job. Doyle said to
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delete any pictures or posts on social media that involve inappropriate, offensive or discriminatory language, and those that implicate evidence of drinking or drug abuse. Employers want to see that their potential employees are ethical and have good values, both online and offline. Doyle encourages every student to give their online profiles a good look-over to ensure they are comfortable with future employers seeing anything and everything they post. Although privacy settings are something that can be set fairly high to elim-
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inate a lot of this privacy invasion, Doyle made it clear that it’s better to delete the inappropriate posts than to rely on your privacy settings. “Certainly check your privacy settings and protect as much as possible, but to be aware that even then, things get out,” Doyle said. Although there are plenty of things employers are hoping not to see on their future employees’ social medias, according to Doyle, they’re always on the lookout to get impressed as well. Adding things that reflect community service involvement,
highlight skills, talents, work ethic and responsibility can make your profile look clean, and add something above and beyond your resume. There are also many different resume-building and professional networking sites available to students and employers. The largest of these is LinkedIn, especially popular in the business world. Using these resources and guidelines, students can craft a social media presence that, as the saying goes, even their grandmother would be proud of.