How to Clean Up Your Social Networks for Employers

The Digital Essentials, Part 3

Developing a robust digital strategy is both a challenge and an opportunity. Part 3 of the Digital Essentials guide series explores five of the essential technology-driven experiences customers expect, which you may be missing or not fully utilizing.

Get the Guide

The days of cover letters are coming to an end now that 77% of all recruiters are using social media to search out new talent, with 94% of them turning to LinkedIn. Luckily, you’ve separated your favorite drinking buddies Facebook and Twitter from your angelic persona on LinkedIn. Alas, you’ve successfully created two different identities of yourself for potential employers. Well done… or not. If you think LinkedIn is the only social network companies use to screen candidates, wise up kid. 69% of employers have rejected candidates based on their activity online, before even reviewing their [traditional] resume. Michael Page breaks down the top reasons you could be shooting yourself in the foot when it comes to landing your dream job:

 
That being said, it’s time to clean up your profile. And no, it doesn’t have to include decoding Facebook’s extremely vague privacy settings to change the permissions of who can see an overly-political rant you just had to get off your chest.
There’s good news though! A new Facebook and Twitter app called “Social Sweepster” combs through your social accounts and flags posts that could hinder your job search (like those photos from spring break your frat brothers tagged you in). Just connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts to begin a scan (the app can flag posts as early as 2005, so it could take over an hour). After the scan is completed, it will resurface some cringe-worthy content that could be the difference between finding a job and spending the rest of your 20’s living in your parents’ basement. Social Sweepster detects key words such as beer, pub, bar, shots, smoke and other foul language that would make your grandma blush.
It will then give you three options:

1. Delete the post on your profile directly from the app
2. Search Google to see if it appears somewhere else on the web
3. Give feedback; which will ultimately help the app determine other inappropriate material it should be looking for.

The Social Sweepster app is currently in beta, but you can sign up for free to get an invitation code. Until then, do yourself a favor and clean up your social channels, be more candid with your explicit thoughts and make the most out of your LinkedIn profile.