Important Notice— Our url is 
Social media has become an integral player in hiring top-notch talent. According to a survey by CareerBuilder, 70% of companies use social media to screen prospective candidates. Sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, & Twitter allow recruiters to gather more information about the applicants besides the cover letter & resume. These web portals also streamline the process of job hunting. In this blog, we will learn about social media mistakes and tips for getting hired.
Social media presence can bring some wonderful job opportunities or block your way to success, depending on how well you manage it.Key ways Employers are using Social Media for Hiring
Social media recruiting is not novel anymore. It is an effective source for identifying, attracting, engaging, and hiring candidates. With the rise in hiring and turnover costs, employers actively research candidates through multiple online channels to ensure they have all the skills, personality traits, and qualifications needed for the vacancy. Social media gives a true insight into the candidate and help recruiters understand their professional expectations.
Companies deploy social media platforms as a recruiting tool for the following reasons:
- To find qualified candidates
- Evaluate the candidate’s personality
- Cultivate interest of premier talent in their job opening
- Build the company’s online presence across different social networks
- Listing job opening positions
- Background verification or screening of applicants
- Directly connect with both active & passive job seekers
- Quicker hiring than traditional recruitment
- Comparatively cheaper & cost-effective method of hiring
Top Social Media Mistakes You Must Avoid To Get Hired
Each time you upload a picture, status, or story on your social media account, you leave an online footprint. Your digital footprint matters much, especially when most employers use social media for screening.
Though companies use social sites to ease hiring decisions, most employers are disappointed due to the red flags they observe on the candidate’s profile.
Posting objectionable or inappropriate content
Self-assessment is really important when it comes to sharing something on social media. Everything you post online reflects on you as an individual, so closely analyze your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. Scrutinize your profiles from a recruiter’s perspective. If you find any inappropriate image, video, or status, consider it a red flag. You should delete, un-tag, and hide inappropriate content from your social accounts, as many employers claim they have rejected 75% of applicants for this reason.
Boasting and lying about qualifications
You may get into trouble if there is a huge difference between the education qualifications & professional achievements displayed on your social media and those written on your resume. Employers discreetly verify the work experience & education history by evaluating the social media accounts of candidates. Thus, be cautious of committing such a blunder.
Discriminatory Comments
In today’s corporate realm, organizations embrace diversity and make hires solely on the basis of merit. Companies are drawn to candidates open to working with people of distinct castes, races, gender, & culture. So, an employer can turn down your job application if you have made or liked any derogatory and discriminatory comment on your social media profile.Bad-mouthed about the previous employer or coworkers
Nobody wants to hire an individual who makes negative remarks about his former employer or colleague, specifically on social media where a large network of people can view it. This showcases disloyal behavior and results in the rejection of the candidate.
Poor Grammar and Spelling Mistakes
It is one of the biggest social media mistakes that job seekers commit, and employers never fail to notice. You may have been using tons of slang and abbreviations on your social accounts, but from a professional outlook, it seems undesirable. Excessive grammatical and spelling errors on your profile create a poor impression. For instance, writing you in place of “you’re” can suggest your negligent attribute. The recruiting managers may also regard it as a reflection of how you perform routine tasks and may not hire you.
No Profile Picture
Recruiters may fail to notice an account with no profile picture. Since hiring agents scroll through hundreds of profiles daily, your use of background images might be enough to prompt the interest of employers.
Lack of Impactful Profile Summary
Your LinkedIn profile should precisely describe your skills, qualifications, experience, and what you can bring to an organization in one go. A haphazard profile won’t help you get a job, so make it more compelling by using first-person pronounces, descriptive words, logos of your former companies, job title, relevant keywords, etc. Consider your LinkedIn account as your virtual resume to drive more jobs.
Being too active or not active at all
Are you always online, or has it been years since you last checked your social accounts? In either of the cases, you can lose your prospective job. Recruiters usually keep track of your online activities. If you are always posting, commenting, tweeting, and sharing posts online, it shows you don’t have any other work in real. So, you have to maintain the right balance between your work and online activities.
Boost your Social Media Presence for more Job Opportunities
Nearly 47% of employers say they are less likely to screen job applicants if they can’t find them on social media. Thus, it is essential to improve your social media presence.
How to build a credible presence online? Here are a few things you can do:
- Complete and update your profiles
- Add links to your work samples
- Enlarge connections with LinkedIn’s Recommendations
- Be more engaging and active on social media
- Create your personal blog or online professional portfolio
- Share informative material
Most used social media platforms to search for & recruit candidates
The above social media platforms remain the most popular choice of recruiters to hire candidates. So, it is of utmost importance to have active accounts on these platforms.
Conclusion
A solid online presence can help you get remarkable employment opportunities. The hiring managers look for several red flags in social media profiles before giving a job offer. Hence, it is indispensable for you to ensure that the information on your social profile is valid & matches your resume.
Reform your social media presence and delete inappropriate, derogatory photos and posts to attract potential employers. For further interview preparation, contact our staffing experts.
Anytime you want to upgrade your skills and need a helping hand to enter or reenter the tech workforce with high-demand tech skills, reach out to us. Since 2010 we have helped 1000’s of jobseekers achieve success in the technology sector. SynergisticIT’s career-oriented training programs guarantee fast-paced, quality tech education, preparing you with top-notch skills for coveted tech roles in the industry. Reach out to us. SynergisticIT– Home of the Best Data Scientists and Software Programmers in the Bay Area!