It's generally a good policy to keep our personal lives separate from our work lives, but with the popularity of social media, sometimes that can be hard. While we have the freedom to make our own choices off-the-clock, when those choices are documented publically on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, they can cause problems for us in the workplace. This lesson will talk about how our online reputation can help or hurt us as we seek to grow in our careers.
Have you ever Googled your name? It might sound invasive, but other people have probably searched for your name too. Surveys have reported that while only 11% of employers used social media to screen candidates in 2006, the number has shot up to over 70% in recent years. Social media screening is now a significant part of the job application process, and you must be proactive about your online presence. But it isn't just employers looking for job applicants online; college admissions committees have also adopted the strategy.
Your online identity is often the first impression new people get of you. To leverage that in our favor, we must be conscious of what they see.
We can't always control the information that makes it to the internet. When you searched yourself, you may have found sites run by government agencies, former employers, schools and universities, media outlets, and more. While you might not be able to keep potential employers from finding everything online, you should be aware of what's searchable so you can address it in an interview, if necessary.
But in addition to what other people publish about you online, you should also take time to examine what you are sharing about yourself.
Knowing that employers might look at your social media profiles when you apply for a job, it can be tempting to delete everything. But deleting everything actually puts you at a disadvantage; when you remove your own voice from the equation, all that's left is what others have shared.
It might seem counterintuitive, but it's often a better idea to build up a brand that represents you as you want to be seen by others. By sharing a cohesive message on multiple platforms, you have the chance to set the first impression you want, regardless of who is looking. The steps below will help you rebrand your online identity.
Part of establishing your online identity is deciding how exactly you want people to see you. Once you definitively choose what persona you want to portray, you can align your profiles to represent it.
Now that you have a list of five words that describe how you want employers to see you, you can build up your online brand to make it match. While we tend to focus primarily on our professional profiles, like LinkedIn or other business profiles or sites, aligning professional and personal profiles will make your message stronger.
Professionally
With professional sites, it's important to portray yourself in the role you want, not necessarily the role you have. Be careful! This doesn't mean you should portray yourself as the CEO of a company where you've worked as a technician, but you should think about prioritizing your relevant experience.
You should also consider building your network around others in the field you want to be in. Connect with people who work in similar roles and fields to the one you want to find your way into. Look particularly for people who represent the five words you want to be seen as from the last activity. By interacting with them, you'll learn about your intended career and you'll also show prospective employers that you're already a part of the professional community.
Personally
For your personal profiles, you don't necessarily need to share a whole bunch of professional content on the page where your aunts and uncles usually come to see pictures of your dog. Your personal profiles can still represent your personal life. That being said, prospective employers might still come across your personal profiles if they search for you. Make sure that nothing on your personal profiles contradicts the image that you are trying to portray professionally.
Once you've decided on your brand, you should delete any old content that doesn't align. Watch the video below to learn about a few places old content can lurk.
Once you've deleted everything from your profile that doesn't match up with your new brand, it's likely that your profiles might be looking a little sparse. Manufacturing new content to fill the gaps can be incredibly time consuming, and often comes off forced. Instead, consider documenting aspects of your life that fit the new brand. Here are a few quick ways you can document your skills.