Social Media: Three Do’s and Don’ts

Posted on Wednesday, August 31st, 2016

Always be aware of what you post on social media

Always be aware of what you post on social media

In case you haven’t heard, employers will regularly Google potential employees before they come in for an interview. Since you most likely generate the most online activity in your name via your social media accounts, these accounts are most likely to be the top results.

What this means is that you should strive to always remain professional (even on your personal social media accounts) so that potential employers don’t get a bad first impression of you via your online activity.

Here are three Do’s and Don’ts to help you maintain professional social media accounts:

Do’s

Audit yourself

Do you have posts, pictures, or connections, that could put you in a bad light? Take an afternoon and try to go through all of your social media activity from the past year or so. Delete anything that you wouldn’t want your potential employer to see. A good rule of thumb is to not post anything you wouldn’t want to explain to your grandmother.

Use correct grammar

If your social media posts are full of spelling errors and incorrect grammar, your potential employer will just assume that that’s how you write in the workplace too.

While shorthand is commonplace on channels such as Twitter (due to the character limit), try to avoid using this all the time, write in full and complete sentences wherever possible.

Interact with people in your industry

Social media is an amazing tool to use for networking and professional interactions. Be sure to do the following things to get noticed by people you should be interacting with:

  • Comment on organizations’ content that you like
  • Follow people in your industry
  • Share content related to your industry

Don’ts

Don’t use foul language

Your social media is a personal reflection of you. If you post content using foul language, your potential employer might assume that that’s how you speak in the workplace as well. That kind of language is generally not acceptable in a workplace.

Post content that is questionable

After you have audited yourself (see above), do not continue to post unprofessional content;

  • Anything negative about your current employer
  • Any personal conversations, issues or drama
  • Photos showing where you are inebriated or doing something illegal
  • Provocative photographs of you or anyone else
  • Personal opinions that could be seen as inflammatory or polarizing

Share content from questionable sources

Be sure to double-check the source of everything that you share before posting it to ensure that the source is credible and that the information is accurate.

For more professional tips & tricks, be sure to check back on our blog at https://www.algonquincollege.com/coop/category/blog/

For more information about co-op at Algonquin College, please visit our website at https://www.algonquincollege.com/coop/, connect with us at coop@algonquincollege.com or call us at 613-727-4723 Ext.7623


Comments

Comments are closed.