Facebook is a great tool for connecting with friends new and old. It’s a place to share snapshots of your life and keep in touch with your social network. However, when you’re searching for a new job, your social profile – including your personal Facebook page – has the potential to push prospective employers away.

Think about it. Employers are looking for responsible, trustworthy, and mature individuals. They don’t want to hire someone who seems like they may be unfit to perform a certain job. And, let’s face it: occasionally a photo may appear on your personal Facebook page that may contradict your professional self. In other words, if certain photos or comments are taken out of context, they could hurt you in the long run – especially when you’re on the job market.

It’s a good idea to take a long, hard look at your Facebook profile when you’re searching for a job. Sometimes making just a few minor adjustments can make a world of difference.

Keep your photos professional.

Social media sharing has been commonplace for over a decade now. That means some people have over ten years worth of experiences documented in photos on their Facebook pages. While many of these photos may be completely innocent – wedding photos, graduation photos, vacation photos etc. – occasionally a photo may appear online that could damage how you appear to a potential employer. For example, you may want to consider removing party photos where alcoholic beverages are clearly in view. It’s up to you, but it never hurts to be pro-active.

Edit yourself.

Are your status updates and comments to friends full of grammatical errors, typos, and abbreviations? If so, you may want to delete them. Even though Facebook is a social site, it’s still a public record of who you are. You don’t want a potential employer to view your page and assume that you lack attention to detail, or basic reading and writing skills.

Take inventory of your friend list.

Do have a friend or acquaintance from your past that is constantly posting inappropriate content on your Facebook page? Maybe it’s time to delete that person. Your career is more important than potentially hurting someone’s feelings.

Looking for more tips on how to improve your job searching behaviour? A staffing agency can help. Get in touch with HCR today. We are a leading GTA and Southwestern Ontario staffing agency with offices in Toronto, Newmarket, Milton, and St. Thomas.



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