By Jessica Micmohen 
Everyone knows social media is the place to attract attention for your business, but the kind of attention people want varies. For instance, some people want clicks, likes, and shares while others want their content to go viral. Some seek an increase in brand awareness while others want to spread an important message through community engagement.
All of the above are essential components for marketing, but social media is also a good place to leverage to land a job. It’s also the first place many employers look when checking out a person’s application or resume. If you’re in the market for a job, social media can be your downfall or your best leverage.
Recruiters are already using social media to make decisions
It’s no secret that recruiters and hiring managers look at a candidate’s social media accounts. According to Time.com, a Jobvite survey revealed 55% of hiring managers reconsidered a candidate due to what they found on social media.
For a better chance of being hired, spiff up your social media presence to reflect your skills and show a personality people want to hire.
Some social media platforms support the creation of resumes
Some social media platforms are augmenting their software to support portfolio/resume creation. For instance, Instagram allows people to create image resumes, something beneficial to anyone in a design or creative field. Also, some recruiters view a candidate’s Instagram posts as an informal portfolio.
If you’re on Instagram, consider that each post is a piece of a portfolio trail. When job hunting, be intentional with what you post. If your profession can’t be represented in images, post memes of inspirational quotes and avoid the lolcats and lolcow memes.
If your talent be reflected in what you publish, you have an advantage
When building your web assets and online portfolios, do whatever you can to have your marketable skills reflected in the design. For example, a graphic artist can choose to use a standard website template or they can work with a programmer to design their own custom layout with impressive graphics. Doing this makes their website a complete representation of what’s possible for their clients.
If you’re a content writer, make sure your public Facebook posts reflect your writing abilities. Most people slack off on social media and resort to abbreviations and acronyms, but you don’t have to. In fact, if you take the time to write well in a place where nobody does, you’ll be a breath of fresh air.
If you’re in marketing, write creative posts as a spoof on real advertisements using your marketing skills. Sell the joke, not the product. Humor is a guaranteed attractor.
Clean up your website because it’s going to be discovered
If your website address is linked in any of your social media profiles, recruiters and hiring managers will check it out. If you linked someone else’s website to be funny, they’re going to think it’s yours. If you linked your real website but it’s not safe for work, take it offline and remove the links from your social media profiles. Your potential boss probably knows how to pull up an archived copy of your website from the Way Back Machine. Don’t give them the URL.
Redesign your website to high standards
Poorly designed websites belonging to plumbers and electricians are easily forgiven. Many technical people don’t have the skills to create a perfect website, and it doesn’t reflect on their abilities to perform their trade. If a plumber can unclog a toilet, who cares if they can’t build a website?
The same can’t be said for other professions where a website’s design directly influences the perception of that person’s abilities.
For instance, have you ever landed on a website advertising web design services, but noticed they were using a free template that comes with every WordPress installation? Or, maybe you encountered PHP errors and broken links that made you think twice about contacting them for a quote.
Even though content marketers aren’t website developers, their websites do impact the perception of their skills. For example, content writers need to have perfect typography, grammar, and spelling. If the website’s CSS doesn’t look good, their content won’t look good.
Show more than your talent
Regardless of your talent, recruiters want people who can work well with others and maintain a positive attitude. “Someone that I like and want to be around for 40 hours a week might be more likely to catch recruiters’ attention than someone who hasn’t quite nailed that personal-branding equilibrium,” former recruiter Ariel Lopez told Fast Company.
Once you’ve displayed your talent, invest a little time to get your social media accounts to reflect a personal brand you can be proud of, and that recruiters will know is genuine.
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Digital Editor