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Why you’re not getting any calls about your resume

Twitter and Facebook can easily blow up in a company's face.

Hunting for a job? Want to move up the corporate ladder? Before you send resumes or press your suit, clean up your social media profile. Those drunk party photos from your university days? Trash them. Hilarious jokes that could possibly be misconstrued? Delete, delete.

If you wouldn’t say it to the hiring manager during an interview, you don't want it appearing anywhere near your name online. And if your account isn't locked down, it’s fair game for recruiters and anybody else looking to snoop into your life.

Do employers Google applicants?

Short answer: Duh. “It is very easy to do a Google search on a name, and all sorts of information and hits can come up, says Christian Codrington, Human Resources Management Association in Vancouver. But he cautions that the information may not always be reliable.

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“I think most employers want to avoid false decisions, i.e. either false negatives or positives,” he explained. An employer could be impressed by a candidate’s online activity, “but the reality is that we don’t know that that individual is responsible for the blog post.”

“Despite the warnings about your digital footprint, it’s still very much one element of a hiring decision, not any more highly weighted than another,” says Codrington.

Yes, employers are looking at you online

A study by recruiting firm jobvite.com found that 93 per cent of recruiters check out candidates online, and “55% of recruiters have reconsidered a candidate based on their social profile.”

An informal poll of a secret Facebook group (more about that in a minute) was an eye-opener. While not a scientific survey, a number of professionals involved in hiring check Twitter and Facebook for red flags: racism, sexism and homophobia, complaints about former employers, poor spelling and grammar, and they generally look at how the person may fit in the office. The one exception was a government employee whose department doesn’t check candidates’ online profiles during the interviewing process.

In one example, a candidate for a high-paying, full-time job was the frontrunner for the job after her interview, but she was passed over in favour of the second-choice candidate when the human resources team discovered that her Twitter account was a flurry of complaints about her former employer. It doesn’t matter if her beefs were legitimate or not; why would a company hire someone with such poor judgement?

So I should be boring online?

You can have personality, but know how to keep the personal stuff in check. On Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you can lock down your profile so that only friends can see everything. Spend a few minutes getting to know the privacy options in each one.

Remember that if you’re making comments anywhere online, those can be searchable too. Closed and secret Facebook groups offer more protection - but only if you can trust all the members in the group.

Another option is to create two online personas - a clean one under your real name, and another just for friends and family - or even better, just save the risqué jokes for face-to-face meetings.

Personal foul

These rules aren’t just for office workers. Larry Nance Jr., a Los Angeles Lakers rookie, found out the hard way when a 2012 tweet about Kobe Bryant’s sexual assault charge surfaced during the NBA draft. Nance tweeted that he hoped Bryant could keep his hands to himself, and then adding #rapist in case anyone missed the point. What surely seemed principled three years ago was suddenly very awkward for Nance. However his famous new teammate was a good sport about the tweet, saying it is “water under the bridge.”

What next...

What if it’s too late for careful planning, and you let everybody know how much fun you were having in your wild and carefree youth? Here’s what you need to do (after admitting that your parents and teachers were right):

First, your Facebook profile... Set your privacy settings to friends only (Go to Settings/Privacy). Also, click “no” on “Do you want other search engines to link to your timeline?” to help keep your profile private.

If your Facebook friends are practical jokers, you probably want to review posts and tags before others can see them, and limit who can view photos of you.

Facebook groups have varying privacy settings. Large corporations, media and businesses will usually be open, so any comments you post on these pages is searchable.

On Twitter, delete any posts that may be objectionable. You can also make your profile private, so it’s only visible to people who have access granted by you. However, if you want to show that you’re mature, professional and a good employee, keep it clean and let potential employers see what industry-related activities you’ve been up to. This can be a good place to show off your social media savvy.

Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest also have privacy settings, check them out and lock them down.

Mistaken identity

According to the Pew Research Center, 74 per cent of online adults use social media, with Facebook the most popular by far at 71 per cent.

Use a clear, professional-looking photo of yourself on your profile to make sure potential employers don’t mistake you for anyone else.

Social Media and your workplace

Once you land a job, you still have to stay on your toes. Employers are increasingly aware of what their employees are doing online.

Employers need to investigate potential social media violations of company policy, first making sure to clarify their policies and making sure everyone knows what’s acceptable, especially in grey areas, says Codrington.

“The lines between work and play are getting blurred. If a senior leader feels something is inappropriate, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s grounds for dismissal.”

Does your company have a social media policy? Have you heard of anyone being disciplined or fired for speaking their mind online? Tell us in the comments.