You should never apply to a job without ensuring your online presence is appropriate and ready. Now a day’s employers will look at the online version of people before they start interviews. You need to ensure how they see you online will solidify their impression of you as someone they would hire. More often than not, your online present is a digital representation of your professional self. If you have minimal to no previous experience in working on computers it might be best to take an introductions to computers course to help you develop your skillset.
Here are 5 must do things before applying for a job:
Is your LinkedIn profile updated?
If you have not check out your LinkedIn profile for some time, then most likely it needs updating. Rewrite your summary so it includes your recent career objectives and get people to provide you with some recommendations that will reflect the jobs you are looking for. Include your new accomplishments. Get a professional photo taken of you also if you have not got one already.
Update your social media
Log on to your social media and ensure you have a current photo of yourself and an updated profile blurb. Try and make your profile reflect your professional and employability skills but without having it read out like a job application. If you have unwanted pics or posts that are not appropriate for an employer to see delete them now.
Do a google search
Most potential employers will google you. You need to get there first. The top results should be links to your profile pages and reflections of your personality and work. If you have a professional blog, you need to have it appear within the first five links and ensure it clearly shows as your work. If Google shows negative results you can use a reputation changer which will remove your negative refences and other mistakes you wish were gone.
Get your personal life out of focus
While most of us have personal blogs, Facebook and Instagram you should be using avatars for these personal sites, so your name is only associated with your professional work. This will keep your personal life out of the focus. Is you use an avatar then ensure that you disassociate it with things you don’t want employers to see? If you are on dating sites, pen pal sites or diet sites use unrelated handles to keep these from your employer.
Write a blog about your industry
It is easy to get published among the online magazines blog sections. You can write a post about your thoughts on the industry trends or discoveries you may have made. Try and get these published among the blog sites and magazines that your industry will read. Ensure you stay positive and write only positive things about your industry. This can work as an audition for future work.
Researching the company
Once you have read through the job posting thoroughly you should do some research on the company itself. Check out their website and go through their career page. Read any blogs or their company news section. This will give you a better understanding of the company and what they do so if you are asked anything about the company in the interview stage you can answer with the correct answers. This shows dedication to the company before you have even started. Most people don’t realise that dedication to the company starts before the interview stage.
There are quite a few things to do before starting a new job. You need to take each step seriously so that it benefits you mentally!
