In this day and age, your chance of employment relies not only on your skills, professionalism and how well you ace your interview: it also relies on your digital image.
Having a “clean” digital presence is just as important these days as turning up to work in appropriate attire. There’s no point in being the squeaky clean employee when you’ve got photos of your crazy weekend all over your Facebook!
So, how do you clean up your digital image? First of all, search yourself online. What comes up? If there are less-than-desireable images or information, it’s time to look at your privacy settings. Increasing all your privacy settings across your social media sites is not only important for your own online safety, it’s a matter of professionalism. Photos or tagged events that portray you in an unprofessional manner aren’t doing you any favours on the job front. There’s no harm in trying to maintain some privacy in this very open era.
Next up: be cohesive! If you’ve listed your occupation on Facebook, make sure it matches your LinkedIn profile. If you’ve got tonnes of work experience under your belt, add them to both your resume and LinkedIn. It’s crucial to have the same information in the public domain as you give to you a potential employer, because a quick search on the Internet can either be detrimental or beneficial (we all prefer the latter!).
In terms of profile pictures, having your glamour shot on your professional network site is not the best option. It’s important to have an image that captures your personality (easier said than done!). Check out this article for tips on how to get that perfect profile picture.
Finally, think before you post. Do you really want the online world to know you about your late night antics, or about that work colleague you really can’t stand? Think about what you want to remain on your online profile forever verses what you can just rant about over your morning coffee tomorrow.
CSU Career Development Service helps students with their career choices and provides one-on-one appointments, resume reviews, help with job applications, career plans and interview skills. If you are looking for help with anything mentioned in this article or you just need to have a chat about jobs and graduate positions, email careers@csu.edu.au for an appointment with a Careers Development Officer or visit the website to find out more information.
