You think your Facebook page doesn’t matter, but if you are applying for a job with me, it sure does. The 1st thing I do when I get an application for employment is google search, 2nd is Facebook. I want to see who you are and what you present to the world. That is the real question with your social profiles as a professional, how do you want the world to see you?
If you think people separate the you that shows up and speaks well, from the selfie obsessed keg standing you on social, you are sadly mistaken. I don’t know a person that hires not looking into social feeds, primarily Facebook. I don’t post anything that I would be afraid a potential client or recruiter would see. I am fine with judgments that may or may not come due to what I put out into the digital space.
Lots of people talk about the need to be their most authentic self. More and more people are taking a position where they don’t want to deviate from who they are to just land a job. These people want to be fully accepted without having to compromise. You are being fully accepted, you just may not be employed because of it.
Why would I want to hire a person who posts pics of drunken nights out 5 to 6 days a week and is always talking about living for the weekend? I have seen it all from racist, sexists, homophobic, extreme political views… I really don’t get how people think nobody of importance will see this? I am not discriminating due to your beliefs either. I am not hiring people that have extreme situations that have the potential to distract beyond a reasonable level from the job available.
I have an applicant today that I am taking a pass on because her feed is mostly selfies of her cleavage and the rest are drunken concerts. I can’t have that working for me in my Children’s Clothing business. Decent pay and hours now unavailable for this candidate because of Facebook.
Here is the thing with being who you think you are; it is not an excuse to be counter productive. You can be whoever you are, just do it in context. If your personal habits are extreme and you don’t allow that to negatively impact your ability to work – put your profile on private! If you really want to get a professional position, represent yourself as professional. Be yourself within the context that will get you to where you want to be in life.
The best advice I can give anyone is; act as if you live in a transparent world. The deeper we get into tech advancements, the more people will know about each other. Get in the habit of living according to what you want now. There will be no hiding your habits as the tech makes everything we do and everywhere we go known. Just look at the phone you have and the credit card you use. Both are emitting your location 24/7. The question of “if” the cloud will be hacked has changed to the inevitable “when”. At some point we will all have access to everything.
Employers are watching. Potential clients are watching. Everyone is watching. Put yourself out into the world in a way that will bring back the attention you want.
Brian Wright