Attending a party and getting pictures clicked with a glass of beer in hand may not appear like a big deal for many out there. But, things may turn out to be disastrous if an employer creates a frivolous impression of the candidate in his/her mind. A time has come when a candidacy is judged through an online status; visible easily through a google search.

The hiring trends have changed and the companies are now keeping a stringent eye on the candidate’s online social profiles. Therefore, the need of the hour is to maintain a clean social presence and appropriate settings on pictures and other content that may not appeal to a hiring manager, in a positive way.

We all tend to make certain mistakes in our social media profiles that not only hurt our own societal image but can also show up a red flag to potential recruiters about our projected candidacy. Therefore, it is necessary that our online presence should be in sync with our real-self but in a cleaner way.While you are on a job hunt or working for some employer, playing wrongly with social profiles can deeply injure your brand image.

The perspective is explored now:

Social Media Sites: Influencing the Hiring Pattern

Face the fact right now! Recruiters are now putting in efforts to know you better even before meeting you in person. Social media sites are helping them in a big way to know you, as a job seeker in quiet a personal, yet professional way. Therefore, it becomes imperative for you to have your online presence look good and appealing from a professional’s point of view.

A report published in the first quarter of 2014 on Forbes reveals that using social media platforms inside companies will be increasingly important in 2014 and beyond. The year 2014 will be regarded as the year of social integration; wherein, social technologies will be combined with the recruitment, development and engagement practices.

With this fact revealed, social media platformscan be your best friend while on a job search; however, as they say “your best friend can be your worst enemy”, so don’t let an unprofessional online identity of yours interfere with a job hunt. It’s time to pull your socks and keep a stringent eye here.

Let us discuss some of the instances wherein, your social profile can play havoc on your job search efforts:

Social media giant, Facebook is fast becoming one of the favorite options for recruiters to understand the lifestyle and psychic of a candidate. The kind of pages you have liked, posts written or photos uploaded enough to give a basic idea about the inclinations you have towards different facets of life. You might have liked a rebellious fan page or have uploaded a provocative picture. These factors can leave an aggressive impression of yours in the recruiter’s mind and make him feel that you aren’t calm enough to handle the intricacies of the workplace environment.

Linkedin offers the feature of a camouflaged job search. This is the best portal for creating meaningful professional network, get recommended from your ex-colleagues and reach out to a range of professional and HR groups. However, this very site can zap out the positivity from your candidacy if you have not paid a little attention on attributes like headline that includes your expertise or groups you have joined. A confused and cluttered profile kills your candidacy.

Nowadays, almost 95% of the recruiters round the world are making use of Linkedin to fetch a better workforce and little errors can trim down your fortunes, for sure.

It’s a small world and anything you tweet on your profile may go around and reach someone who might be considering you for a brilliant career opportunity. Even any of your followers can be turn out to be a hiring manager later in your life. So make sure that your tweets aren’t aggressive, which may project you negatively. Tweeting something like “4 Beer bottles and Still Not Out” or following a person not relevant to your profile or future plans can have devastating effects on the job search. If not addressed correctly, such Twitter account can definitely leave you with nitpicks.

So what’s the remedy? Are we left with fears only? No! Here’s the remedy:

Countless Problems, One Solution

A breakthrough survey done by a globally recognized human capital solutions association, reveals that criteria like provocative/inappropriate photos, a post that bad mouths a previous employer and a racial comment on creed and gender are used by employers to keep candidates out of the running, if the all the criteria stand true. Therefore, there is just one remedy to this; keep your social profiles as flawless as you can. Facebook, Twitter or whatever, all the platforms should be applied with necessary settings so that only best and required information comes out.

Author Bio
Vineeta Tiwari is a professional writer and blogger, who follows and writes about global economy and gulf employment markets. She has been making use of her writing skills to carve a niche for herself in the communication domain for quite some time now. Follow her on twitter @vinita1204