How Social Media Can Help or Hurt Your Job Search
In 2018, American company CareerBuilder found that up to 70% of employers look at social media profiles to find out more about the people applying for their jobs. It found that what you put online can either help you get the job you want, or lose it for you.
Career coach Hallie Crawford told Glassdoor.com that looking at social media profiles helps employers see what people are like outside of the information on their job application.
Employers also look for things like bad language or drug use to help decide if they want to have you in their office. A study by the Society For Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that 36% of companies have decided not to give people jobs because of what they found out about them through online searches and social media.
On Facebook, Crawford said that employers will look at your "About Me" section to see if the information is the same as how you described yourself to them. They also look at your photos to see if you seem professional.
On Twitter, Crawford said that they will look at who you follow, and see if you are connected with other people in your industry. They will also want to see if you share information and news about your industry, if you're friendly to your followers, or if you just use Twitter to argue with people.
You could make your profiles private. However, being impossible to find online might also make employers worry. Job website Monster says that instead you should have private profiles but also public profiles that show you are professional.