Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and many other social networking sites have made the world a socially global village where you can connect with anyone across the world without physically moving an inch. Even search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing have made searching someone online a matter of few clicks. A majority of employers, recruiters and hiring teams have leveraged the power of internet and incorporated Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn search in their regular recruiting process to judge a candidate’s profile. This has made it indispensable for the job seekers to have a noticeable presence on these sites. The online presence can have a strong effect on the impression a job seeker casts on his/her potential employer. This calls for an immediate need to manage the online presence across all the different online channels for success in job hunting. That said; here are some ways to manage your online presence smartly as a job seeker.
Google Yourself And Clean Up Results You Don’t Like
The search engine giant Google is used by a majority of recruiters to run a quick search for the candidates. As Google personalizes search results according to your activity, you need to log out of your Google account before performing your name search. First of all, you need to make sure that you are Google-able, i.e., you are easily shown on the first page Google results when you search your name. However, if you do find your profile on Google search you need to ensure that there is no bad stuff showing up that could cast a bad impression on your recruiter. You need to clean up the results that could be a cause of embarrassment. You can contact Google webmasters to get the information removed or use the ‘erase URL tool’ to get an embarrassing image removed from Google.
Professionalize Your Facebook
Facebook has become a go-to tool for most of the recruiters. They don’t mind investing few of their minutes to run a quick Facebook search of the candidates they like. You need to make sure that your Facebook profile also casts a good impression on the recruiter. If you want the recruiter to be able to find you on Facebook, make your profile ‘public’ so your name returns your profile as a result. However while making your profile public you also need to ensure that your Facebook is not filled with trashy pictures and posts that could weaken your job prospects. You need to start using the ‘privacy settings’ option on Facebook to change the privacy of every post that you’ve made on your profile. Save only the ones that you feel can have a good impression and erase out all the bad stuff.
Update Your LinkedIn Profile
Another important social networking site that a majority of recruiters turn to is LinkedIn. If you do not have a LinkedIn profile, create one right away to get serious about your job search. If you do have one, make sure that it is up to date. Complete your profile and make sure that all your achievements are jotted down in your profile. Once you have updated your LinkedIn profile, you need to start connecting with different recruiters and hiring teams so that they know more about you before you meet them for the interview.
Build Your Personal Website And Keep It Updated
In today’s world, a website has become crucial to strengthen your web presence, especially if you are searching for a job. It might seem like a huge task, but with so many software present online, creating a website has become quite easy. You can take help from WordPress, Squarespace, Tumblr, etc., to build your own website. Once you’ve created your personal website, make sure to keep it updated. Add regular content on these pages to boost your visibility on search engines.
Optimize Your Visibility
Just having an online presence is not sufficient in today’s competitive world. You need to optimize your visibility to ensure that it works in your favor. Your profile on LinkedIn should be fully updated so that any recruiter connected to you there has full knowledge of your professional career. You can also include your employment history on other social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Other ways to optimize your visibility online are optimizing the personal website with SEO, posting blogs on different platforms, sharing content by industry influencers, retweeting the posts etc.
Online presence is crucial in today’s world to gain a competitive edge over others. By following the aforementioned ways, you can easily have a stronger web presence.
All the best for your job search!
ADD COMMENT