Top Mistakes that Job Seekers Make on Social Media

According to a recent Jobvite survey, a growing number of employers are successfully hiring candidates through social media. Not surprisingly, LinkedIn attracted the highest usage with 79% of employers hiring employees through the platform, whereas 26% of employers have used Facebook to hire, followed by 14% for Twitter.

The days of posting inappropriate photos taken at a New Year’s Eve party or mentioning your annoying boss on any of your social media accounts are long gone. Now that 73% of recruiters and employers are using these powerful tools to their advantage, as job seeker you may want to think twice before clicking ‘Post’.

To make the transition into executing a more professional social media presence a bit easier, we have compiled a list of the top mistakes that job seekers tend to make:

Profanity – if you are the type of person to use quite a bit of Rated-R language online, then you are more than capable of doing so in person.

Spelling and grammar – it’s one thing to make a mistake every once in a while. However, a prospective employer will think twice if he/she sees that you keep making the same spelling or grammatical errors continuously – especially the dreaded your vs you’re!

Offensive or questionable content – references to illegal drugs, guns, photos displaying sexual content, and discriminatory comments are the type of posts that will cause an employer to question the character of a potential candidate. Do not make this mistake.

Alcohol and partying – a tricky one for social media, as many users post their foodie photos and weekend parties. Avoid those 3am party posts and when in doubt, refrain from posting.

Badmouthing your company, boss, or coworkers – need we say more? Take it from us. Practicing the attitude of gratitude with a great deal of patience and determination will get you far.

Job seekers should consider all their social channels as possibilities for finding employment, and each should be tailored to reflect the professional. Many job seekers consider LinkedIn the only profile that matters, but employers are looking for well-rounded candidates, and can easily find potential employees through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Maybe now is the time to clean-sweep your social media profiles. Below are some helpful articles to get you started:

Facebook’s Privacy Settings Finally Make Sense — For a Reason

10 Social Media Blunders That Cost a Millennial a Job — or Worse

7 things you should never do on Twitter

Employers Share Most Unusual Things They Found on Candidates’ Social Media Profiles

9 Ways for Jobseekers to Clean up Their Social Media