Whether you are a high-schooler applying for universities or a final year who will be looking for a job, chances are you really need to take a hard look at your social media.
Not all universities and jobs will search you out online, but studies suggest as much as 45% of them will and what they find there could be the difference between you studying your elite course or finding work elsewhere. Because of this, there are numerous things every student needs to do to make their social media an asset rather than a weakness.
Make everything private
This is without a doubt the easiest thing you can do to ensure people you don’t want seeing your social media never get a peek at what you do with your life. Following this advice will give you the option to make your social media visible only to those who you have verified as safe. On Facebook, you can even make it so that only images and videos you actually like show up on your timeline, meaning that awkward night when you drank too much never has to be broadcast to everyone you know.
Scrub your profile
Even with safety protocols all activated it’s still possible that recruiters or university staff may be able to find more than you would like. You are now old enough to know that not everything you do should be online and shouldn’t be afraid to go back and delete content that no longer reflects who you are, or your dreams for the future. The simple rule is, if you wouldn’t want to see it on a billboard, you should probably delete it.
Be kind in your comments
Despite all the controls you have, you can have no say over who sees the comments you leave on other people’s photos. If you are going to leave a remark, make sure it’s kind – the job head-hunters may not share you and your friends’ sense of humour.
Get a good profile pic
You love that crazy photo of you, beer in hand throwing a rude sign at the camera, but recruiters hate it. It’s important that no matter whether you are on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn your photos should be clear, presentable and easy to see. That photo of you will tell those who want to know more than you imagine and can also ruin your reputation before you have even met anyone at an office.
Deactivate any accounts you don’t use
You know you have changed since that hopelessly romantic 12 year old who wrote your blog, but does the recruiter? Anything that a recruiter finds online will go in their pile of what they know about you, and they will assume if it’s still out there, then you want it to be. What if they think those angry blogs about death metal are how you feel now? The safest route is to make sure you shut down and delete any accounts you no longer use to make sure the current you isn’t being blocked from opportunities by the youth you used to be.
Check you who follow
This is an area that many forget to look at when doing a clean-up. Who you follow will tell a potential boss or university professor all about what you like and where you spend your time. Maybe you only follow the most offensive people on the internet ironically, or to be up on the latest memes, but this too reflects badly on your ability to be dedicated and professional and may exclude you from elite clubs and societies. Don’t flush your career away because you want to make fun of offensive podcasters online.
Ultimately, your social media profiles, like everything else online, will be much easier to manage if you live at The Fields. With always on WiFi you will have the ability to curate the perfect online presence as well as research for assignments 24/7 and this is only one of the many benefits of staying there. Right now The Fields is offering new tenants ZERO DEPOSIT for securing a flat for 2023, so if you intend living in Pretoria next year, why not take a look?
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