How to update your online presence in four days: Part one

Job Search Tips / April 14, 2016

Just for a second, pretend you’re a hospitality recruiter. You’re looking for entry-level employees for a brand-new hotel—so you start combing LinkedIn, looking on social media, and asking your connections for referrals.

You end up going with an awesome candidate who not only sent in a great application but also had a strong LinkedIn profile and personal site.

Although this scenario is imaginary, the importance of keeping your resume up-to-date everywhere is all too real. Recruiters look for you in a variety of places: simply keeping your PDF resume fresh isn’t enough if you want to stand out from the crowd.

Fortunately, you can get up-to-date in just four days. Take the weekend to complete part one of this guide.

Friday
Since you’re probably tired from the work week, we’re starting you off with a fairly easy task: Updating your Facebook profile.

While you’ve probably already untagged yourself from any unflattering shots, double-checking is always a good idea. Browse your photos and make sure none of them are unprofessional (read: no alcohol, drugs, excessive skin, vandalism… you get the gist.)

Next, you may want to change your privacy settings. Many users allow “friends of friends” to see their posts, but that increases the chance a recruiter or hiring manager can see your content—and you never know what could be taken the wrong way. Setting your privacy settings to “friends” only is your best bet.

Finally, use the “limit old posts” option. This means content on your timeline you’ve shared with friends of friends or Public will change to Friends. Again, better safe than sorry!

Now that you’ve crossed your t’s and dotted your i’s, add your Work and Education history. This info will help recruiters find you when they search Facebook for candidates.

If you want to go above and beyond, add career-related interests to your profile (like “travel,” if you work on cruise ships) and join groups relevant to your profession.

Saturday
It’s time to focus on your most important online account: LinkedIn. While applying to jobs through LinkedIn isn’t the best tactic, as employers usually receive hundreds and hundreds of applications for each position, LinkedIn is definitely a great place to supplement your resume and give recruiters a deeper understanding of your personality and strengths.

Before you do anything else, make sure you’ve included your most recent job. It sounds obvious—but many people forget to add it!

You should also make sure the accomplishments and responsibilities you’ve included under each former position really highlight what makes you a strong person in your current role. Let’s say you currently serve as a director of housekeeping; since keeping records is important, you should include your filing responsibilities under your previous job as a receptionist (even though organizing files might not have been your most important task.)

After you’ve finished, rewrite your summary. It should be a clear, engaging description of your current role and most impressive skills and career milestones. If you’re openly searching for a job, add “Currently seeking new opportunities in (field).” to the end.

In part two, we’ll explain how to use Sunday and Monday to revamp the other aspects of your online presence.