Sometime soon, your Facebook profile is getting switched over to the Timeline format, whether you like it or not. Lots of people (not all 800 million of them, but a lot) are upset about it, but it’s only going to harm your job search if you ignore it.
More than 90% of recruiters and hiring managers use social media to screen candidates. It’s important to understand that and make it work for you.
With Timeline, the posts that readers used to have to dig to get to (and therefore probably didn’t) are now going to be much easier to see. So if you have posts from way back when that wouldn’t necessarily represent you well as a candidate, you’ve got to do something about them. Pictures, too. Delete, delete, delete–if necessary.
Facebook has always been great for your job search, but if you think about it, the Timeline feature turns it into more of a digital resume than ever before. Because, you know, it’s a sequential history of your life. (If your potential boss is really into it, he could compare the posts on your Timeline to dates on your resume.)
So what can you do (besides cleaning up past posts and checking your privacy settings) to make Facebook Timeline work for you in your job search?
- Pick a really good cover photo–it’s going to be splashed across the front of your timeline.
- Take advantage of the “Milestones and Experiences” section to add things like “I learned French” or “got an award for top performance”
- Use your ability to expand the information YOU think is important rather than letting Facebook do it for you.
- Add things from before you joined Facebook, with the correct date–like past jobs that were impressive.
You have the power to turn your Timeline into something that’s very attractive and appealing to potential employers.
Get Timeline questions answered here: 28 Essential Facebook Timeline Resources