During the start of the COVID outbreak in 2020, stringent Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and movement restrictions were enforced on the people of this nation, in order to curb the spike of the transmission of the disease. At the time, people were confused on what this disease is all about and how it can affect their daily lives. Misha, a 23-year old student, was one of those people who were badly affected by this pandemic. She had to finished her final semester via online learning platforms and could not see her parents for months as she was stuck at her rental apartment in another state. She became restless, unhappy and isolated from the society.
Thus, when she sees that some of her friends are safe and happy at home with their own families, she becomes more frustrated. So, she starts to vent out in her own social media accounts, like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. She rants on her misery and how the situation of the pandemic affects her life. Most of her posts, stories and tweets are livid slurs at her friends, society and even the government.
Now, a year later, she has graduated and applied for her dream job at a prominent and multi-national agency in the media and communication discipline. She was mortified as her dream was shattered when the agency explained to her that she was not included in the shortlist of applicants because of her digital presence.
Sounds familiar?
This is a problem among young social media users today. We are unaware of how our posts on social media will affect our future career in life. With the emergence of social media platforms such as social networking sites, content communities, blogs and microblogging, we are comfortable in sharing about our daily lives online, perceiving it as our own diary in noting out our musings, happenings and even outbursts. Throughout the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, vlog, Tik Tok and more, we can see that youth love to share on their feelings, daily activities, outfits of the day, food they enjoy and more, leaving digital traces for anyone from all over the world to discover. In other words, we are not mindful on how our feed post such as captions, pictures or videos can consequently affect our professional future (Tufecki, 2008).
Do you know that employers are now cybervetting your digital presence on the internet in making their hiring decisions? Indeed they are!
Nowadays, most companies are Googling your name to find out more about you rather than just relying on your resume. This new recruitment practice has upset the traditional way of acquiring employees, distorting the boundaries amid professionalism and personal life (McCabe, 2017).
According to Flisfeder (2015), employers are now looking into your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to know more about you, whether you are fit for their organisation. This is part of their practice in screening out applicants. Sadly, 70% of employers are eliminating applicants that portray negative social media content (Swallow, 2011). Specifically, inappropriate posts comprise of offensive photos, excessive update on alcohol consumption, critics on employers, controversial dialogues on race, gender and religious issues and more (Career Builder, 2018; Cooley & Parks-Yancy, 2016).
So, how can you prevent this from happening?
You need to make sure that you attain a professional digital persona on social media, not only in your LinkedIn profile. When you portray different persona throughout different social media platforms (i.e. YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc), this approach can ultimately create the wrong image that might be perceived negatively by your prospective employers. You should craft your digital persona by consistently portraying one unique identity across the diverse platforms. Sell yourself with a professional storytelling to make your identity standout from other applicants that have the same talents, expertise and experiences (Kleppinger & Cain, 2015; Johnson, 2017). Not only that, you should also create content that can be seen relevant to the position or organisation that you applied for. So, what are you waiting for? Get to know how to brand yourself on social media today! Learn all about it with NETHICS to foster greater career opportunities for you.
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References
Career Builder. (2018). More than half of employers have found content on social media that caused them NOT to hire a candidate. Accessed from http://press.careerbuilder.com/2018-08-09-More-Than-Half-of-Employers-Have-Found-Content-on-Social-Media-That-Caused-Them-NOT-to-Hire-a-Candidate-According-to-Recent-CareerBuilder-Survey (Accessed on 8 September 2020)
Cooley, D., & Parks-Yancy, R. (2016). The impact of traditional and internet/social media screening mechanism on employers’ perceptions of job applicants. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 5(3), 151-186.
Flisfeder, M. (2015). The entrepreneurial subject and the objectivization of the self in social media. South Atlantic Quarterly, 114, 553-570.
Johnson, K. M. (2017). The importance of personal branding in social media: Educating students to create and manage their personal brand. International Journal of Education and Social Science, 4(1), 21-27.
Kleppinger, C. A., & Cain, J. (2015). Personal digital branding as a professional asset in the digital age. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2015, 79(6), 1-4.
McCabe, M. B. (2017). Social media marketing strategies for career advancement: An analysis of LinkedIn, Journal of Business and Behavioural Sciences, 29(1), 85-99.
Tufecki, Z. (2008). Can you see me now? Audience and disclosure regulation in online social network sites. Journal of Advertising Education, 28(1), 20-36.
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