Cleaning up your social media before and after going on a job search

You have graduated from college and have a degree that should land you a great job that will grant you the income you need to start off in life, including retiring your student loan debt. Until recently the first step you would undertake would be to get your resume together, making sure that it lists not only your educational achievements but also whatever relevant work experience you have, including internships.

However, one more important task needs to be done even before you start to send out applications. You have to deal with your social media history. Remarkably, human resources managers look at a candidate’s social media to discover what sort of person he or she is and whether or not he or she is a good fit for the company. Your social media posts are part of your public face to the world, including potential employers.

You should go through your entire history and delete anything that might prove to be embarrassing. Videos of your behavior at a frat party would certainly be among those posts that you might want to consider memory holing. Look at the things you posted from the perspective of a hiring manager. Remove anything that said manager might find to be off-putting.

Good social media etiquette becomes really important after you land the job and start to work. Many people like to vent on their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts. This can become a problem if you get embroiled in a conflict at the office and decide to vent on social media. The good rule of thumb is to not bring the office to social media, especially anything negative. You can think that your boss is a tyrant or some of your co-workers are idiots. You should never say so on social media. Such behavior is often a career-limiting move and should be avoided at all costs.

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