Is Your LinkedIn Profile Hurting Your Job Search?

At a recent Vistage meeting of about 20 CEOs we were discussing using social media as a way to find people.  One of the CEOs indicated it is also a great way to eliminate people.

I wasn’t overly surprised to learn that many hadn’t thought about social media for hiring, but I was surprised to learn that many don’t use it as a screening tool. Obviously, after hearing the story from the one CEO, most will reconsider.

The CEO stated that they had been in the process of interviewing a candidate for a sales position, and like most hiring processes, it takes a couple of weeks to get through all of the interviews. Over this couple of weeks the company started tracking this person’s tweets on Twitter and looked up the candidate’s profile picture.

OOPS a major faux pas.

Apparently as it was relayed in the meeting, this person’s picture was – let’s just say not professional, and the tweets were completely inappropriate as viewed by the company. The language was foul, the topics discussed rather vulgar, and for a professional sales person raised a lot of red flags.

The company was afraid of a sexual harassment lawsuit and how this candidate would communicate with employees and customers. Not to mention what customers would think if they saw this person’s profile picture and followed them on Twitter.

Social media is a double-edged sword. I follow Twitter on a regular basis, and I am surprised at how many people looking for a job use inappropriate language, brag about being lazy, tweet about how glad they are about not working, or demonstrate a lack of willingness to be employed. They come across as wanting a job but not willing to work. This is not what a future employer is seeking.

Take care to ensure that you manage your LinkedIn profile properly and professionally during your job search. Others are watching and listening to you.

If this was helpful to you, it will probably be helpful to others. Please consider passing it on so they too can benefit. You might add it to your Facebook page, update it on your LinkedIn status, or email it to friends or to your network. We all need to help out. One tip can make a huge difference to someone.

GET A FREE LINKEDIN PROFILE ASSESSMENT. On March 26th we are offering a webinar on, “How To Find Your Next Job Using LinkedIn.” We will tell you the number one reason  so many recruiters view your profile and never call you. THIS IS NOT A JOKE OR HYPE. It is a fact that most candidates never think of. CLICK HERE to learn more about how to get your FREE profile assessment and the webinar.

Join our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group and stay connected with the other 4600+ members. CLICK HERE to join.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

3 Comments

• 

  By Gini Dietrich, March 15, 2010 @ 12:10 pm

  Brad,

  Like you and Barry, I speak to the Vistage network, as well. And I’m always surprised to learn that most members aren’t using social media at all for hiring.

  My favorite use of LinkedIn, in particular, is to look to see which connections we have in common with a candidate. Then we call those as references instead of relying on the references the candidate left with us. We always find much more that way and it’s allowed us to make much more educated decisions.

  Gini
  http://twitter.com/ginidietrich
• 

  By bradremillard, March 15, 2010 @ 2:10 pm

  Gini;
  You are so right. I have given up being surprised.
• 

  By TalentTalks, March 17, 2010 @ 5:00 pm

  So true! I can’t believe how many people are being so careless or clueless about their online presence. Not just the obvious issues as you described, but simple things like not proofreading or editing errors in their profile or messages. Totally unacceptable and inexcusable… KB

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