Head over to Google or your favorite search engine and search for your name. Take note of what appears on the first page of search results. Next, look at your status updates. If you do not want certain status updates to be public, you can change your settings by clicking on the inverted triangle and changing the post to "Friends."
Facebook has a reputation for changing privacy setting criteria. You can change privacy settings for "Who can see my stuff," "Who can contact me" and "Who can look me up.“ You can also prevent your profile from showing up in search engine results by removing that criteria. "Job seekers think that their profiles on platforms like Facebook are private and that hiring managers can't find them.
"Oversharing and acting unprofessional is also a common mistake many job seekers make," Morton says. "As a rule of thumb, if you wouldn’t show it [to] your grandmother or put it on your résumé, you shouldn’t put it on social media.“ Avoid using profanity, sharing provocative or inappropriate photos or speaking negatively about your current or past employer.
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Facebook isn't a job board, but you can use its Groups feature to find people posting jobs in your field and geographic area. Chris Russell, recruiter and founder of CareerCloud, recommends searching Facebook by using your city and the word "jobs" to find groups that share job leads.
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If you are going to become more active on Facebook for your job search, one way to enhance your profile is to add past work history and professionals skills to the "About" sections of your profile.
Have you stayed connected with your college classmates? What about other alumni? Be sure you've added your college and even high school information if you want others to know what schools you attended. Consider joining Facebook groups for alumni as well. Participate in discussions in groups or communities by your occupation, and "like" a company's page or join its career group to interact with employees managing those accounts.
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"By failing to have an active digital presence, job seekers miss opportunities to build up their professional profiles and find job opportunities their competition is likely taking advantage of," Morton says. Socially savvy job seekers will have an advantage over those who are not active. Your connections with people on these networks could potentially turn into a new job if you use them appropriately.