Like seriously why is everyone looking for social media presence along side resumes these days?
Do recruiters depend on it that much?
Example: I'm not a social media person, I love one-to-one interactions with people in my life, Quit using Facebook in 2015 which was the only social thing I used then.
Currently I only use WhatsApp which suits my definition of connecting with people.
But OMG, every job application page now has a required field for social media handles.
Top comments (6)
They don't want you to be on social media, they want to check out what kind of person you are. They are vetting you to see if you are a good fit for the company and whether you have any views that are unpopular.
Don't forget that tweets from 10 years ago can take down celebrities, that idea has spread to companies now.
So if you told a risqué joke when you were 14 on social media as you didn't know any better, you sure as hell should delete it before someone finds it!
Obviously there are exceptions like a job in marketing where it would be expected that you have some form of social media presence, for everything else it is just checking up on you!
Here is the case I have nothing there but the fields are required.
Then just type "I don't have one" and see if that works, or "IDontHaveOne"...eventually you will get past their validation (which is probably non existent).
Or just contact the recruiter and explain.
Better yet, get on LinkedIn, find someone at the company and contact them explaining. (Yes I know, social media to counter needing social media, but LinkedIn is one of the places I can say is worth being on, at least while job hunting)
Or just pick up the phone! 🤯🤯 That is something people seem to forget, you can call people!
Who knows you might be able to spin it to a positive if you phrase it carefully and can judge the other person. If someone told me "I am not on social media as I do not think it is a positive influence overall" I would certainly listen!
As for making it a required field...the only other thing I can think is they are using "AI" for the first stage of validation on applicants as there are a number of services will do sentiment analysis of social media posts for job applicants as part of an automated filtering process etc.
Either way, my advice (as I am stone faced and heartless!) is to either find a workaround or play the game and engage in social media while you are job hunting, either way take action!
Good luck with the job hunt, everything crossed for you 🤞🤞
Valid point, but tweets 5-10 years old shouldn't be taken so seriously, person evolves with time, I think different now than how I used to think 5 or 10 years ago.
Oh you want to apply logic? People who try and attack you for a 10 year old comment or tweet don’t believe people can change. You are 100% right they shouldnt be taken seriously but sadly they are. Protect yourself from idiots, they seem to have loud voices!
I think back to 2015, social media was the sleeper move to securing better jobs because you were able to acquire a higher authority over a tech domain due to sheer popularity amongst the platform. At one time having a Linkedin profile meant you were more effective at job hunting than the traditionalist that simply submitted resumes.
But I think it's starting to become a cliché that an applicant simply has to have a social media profile. Almost to the point that HR departments are making this a standard process (even if means exploiting the candidate)
It's one of the reasons why I deleted my Linkedin profile after several years of building it up. It's no longer a way to get your resume in front employers that are looking to hire good talent but, a way to enforce a universal political agenda of said organizations. See who falls in line or not.
I think the next edge in this era now is being able to build your own platform and using that as way to attract potential employers to hire you. The development industry may not be getting saturated with workers but the amount of mediocre talent has increased enough that it's hard to stand out in social media.
At least with your own online real estate, you're not fighting against moderation rules that aim to keep people the same. And being able to build a solid platform that has a homegrown aesthetic appeal is going to command a higher authority that was once achieved in the heyday of social media.
When you ever have to put in your social media profile in the job app online, you can alway put your about me page from your web site ;)