By Josephine Stacey

 

 

Social media is now playing a huge part in how a person lives their life. The number of people stuck to their mobiles and checking for the latest update in news, fashion and gossip is at a record high. Facebook alone pulls in a huge amount of users, with 1.01 billion daily active users for September 2015.

 

The great thing about social media is connecting with the friends and family you haven’t seen in a while and keeping the world up-to-date on the goings-on in your life. Conversely, it also means that everyone can see what you have to say – even with privacy settings – and that, in this day and age, can be dangerous.

 

Even with your profile on lockdown, those who want to see your details can find a way to access the personal information you have shared. So, in the world of work, those potential employers can find out a lot about you before you have even set foot in an interview room.

 

We sat down with Douglas Stafford’s Head of Client Relations, Madeline Cook, to get her views of social media and how your profile affects your professionalism.

 

Does a potential employee’s social media presence affect your decision about hiring them?

It does have an influence with potential employees if they are saying negative things about a business or the company they work for. Regardless of how people feel about whom they work for, how people portray themselves on social media says a lot about them. If you were a company who would look at somebody’s social media before hiring, I think that would have an impact.

 

Why is a person’s online profile so important when it comes to their professional image?

I think LinkedIn, in particular, is important because that is where clients can view your personal profile. LinkedIn is [the social media platform] that is looked at a lot and I feel that if you are associating yourself to a business, that business has to be comfortable with how that person is portraying themselves. Even something like a profile picture, which doesn’t seem important to many, can affect the way someone could view you.

 

Are there any no-nos on social media?

Don’t be derogatory about who you work for, you don’t know who could view what you are saying. People get frustrated and have bad days, but that’s just the way of the world – not everyone is going to love what they do twenty-four-seven. It is better to keep it to yourself rather than ranting about it on social media.

 

Did you know that one in five bosses have rejected a job application after checking somebody’s social media sites?

 

If you want advice about social media in the workplace, you can visit the site below:

 

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3376