Align ALL your online profiles to your professional target and not just your LinkedIn or your Résumé.
As the human race moves miles ahead in its tech breakthroughs, we must acknowledge that hiring is getting smarter and recruiters are equipped with AI and tools that can scan the internet and pull out your social information.
More employers are moving towards AI in recruitment, to avoid human biases and also to ease their processes. Some widely used platforms are psicotec.com , crystalknows, belong.co etc. Some Application Tracking Systems (ATS) and Resume Parsing platforms come with inbuilt social data curation and analysis tool.
Any information on a public platform that negates or contradicts your claims or positioning will weaken your chances to be shortlisted.
Sometimes an awkward Facebook picture or comment or video that contains misogyny, sexism, racism, hate speech, bigotry on Twitter or any other online platform can turn things sour for you, raising possible red flags to employers who are more and more inclined to practice anti-discrimination policy and your comment can act as an automatic culture mismatch, leading to rejection.
Badmouthing past employers or bosses also can be taken as negative in your online presence score.
In a survey by career builder, it is said that 60% of companies scan your social presence before they hire you. Companies also use external agencies to identify red flags when they hire, especially at a senior level. Europe’s data protection law has clarified that employers can conduct social media checks if they have a legal ground and this has a bearing on job performance.
Background verification now involves online presence check, along with education, employment, criminal, residence check etc.
In a globalized organization that offers onsite or secondment opportunities for employees, this check is even more vital before processing the Visa or the other country accepting an immigrant as an employee or even on an onsite contract.
We have seen instances recently where famous politicians holding ranks and positions in government bodies being held guilty for an old tweet that was misogynistic or sexist by nature.
Day by day your online presence keeps increasing even if you do not engage online, with your profiles being tagged or mentioned in comments. No wonder it’s called the worldwide WEB
Social media has turned around job markets and recruitment techniques in more ways than one can imagine. A key competency for a recruiter today is to able to hire using the social media platform.
So here’s what you need to do to stay clean and relevant in the job market in 2020:
– You need to spend some time going through all your online profiles and sanitizing them with unwanted information.
– Do a vanity search by typing your name on Google to see and cleanse unwanted outcomes.
– Sign up to Google alerts with your name so that every time something with your name is mentioned on the net you will receive an alert to act on.
-Your brand includes everything online and public about you, so make sure there’s nothing you don’t want new connections to see.
– If needed, do not hesitate to make personal profiles private and delete accounts or profiles that you do not use.
– Be careful what permissions you are giving to apps and other sites.
– Control profile tagging by deactivating auto-tagging in the platform’s settings.
-Write articles that show your knowledge in your respective industry.
– Engage by liking or commenting on the latest relevant content on the internet.
– Do not wash dirty linen in public after a bad work day or a fight with the boss or even a breakup.
-Think about how you can be found or headhunted on the internet.
-Think of your online presence as – how you plate a dish for your guest or how you dress for an interview, show similar care to your own brand online.
– Display some community service or voluntary work online.
– If all this is too overwhelming for you, use an online presence service with a professional.
Consider the above steps not to murk your reputation online, as the next big thing in hiring is going to be data-driven and AI-enabled.