We partnered up with CV-Library, the UK's leading independent job board and experts in recruitment to bring you social media tips that will help you land your perfect role. 

Nowadays, nearly everyone you meet has a social media profile - whether it’s for keeping in touch with family on Facebook, or sharing selfies on Instagram.

One area which social media is increasingly crossing over with is our professional lives. While it’s extremely beneficial to use social media throughout your career and particularly during your job hunt – for example, for researching companies or finding out about job opportunities – it’s important that you ensure your profiles are up to scratch, to avoid any small mistakes negatively influencing an employer’s perception of you.

Below, we explain how you can and why you need to cleanse your social media profiles before you kick-start your job search.

Review your photos

One of the main benefits of social media is the ability to share photos with your connections to highlight what you’ve been up to. However when it comes to your professional life, it’s best to carefully consider the images that you’re posting. While your selfies from a night-out may seem hilarious at the time, they could give off the wrong impression to recruiters.

Your main port of call will naturally be your profile photo. Ensure that any images associated with your account are inoffensive and don’t portray you in the wrong way. With platforms like Facebook, you can actually set your profile photos so that people cannot click through them, or are only able to view your current picture at the time.

Consider the content you share

As well as your photos, be wary of anything you write on your social media profiles. Twitter is great for sending out short, snappy updates, but anything overly opinionated could cause offense to those visiting your page.

Instead, why not post relevant articles associated with the industry that you’re working with.

Not only will this present you in a positive light, but it also shows that you are truly interested in the field that you work in, making you more appealing to potential employers. Of course, this isn’t suitable for every profession, or platform, but being wary of anything you like, share or comment on, can boost your chances of securing an interview.

Set your profile to private

When in doubt, you should always set your profiles to private. While it may reduce the amount of likes that you get on Instagram, it will drastically improve your chances of securing a great job!

There’s plenty of guidance online on how to do this if you’re not sure, and it helps to prevent anyone from seeing anything that you don’t want them to.

Google yourself

Not sure what forgotten images and updates might be out there? Give yourself a search on Google to see. This is the quickest way to find out what a potential employer may come across if they did the same thing. Perhaps you need to delete old profiles from platforms you no longer use? Alternatively, you may find that you actually come across quite well!

Perfect your professional profile

Platforms like LinkedIn are great for showcasing your professional experience.

Therefore, it’s important that you ensure your profile is up to date with the most relevant information.

Be sure to outline any key skills and use information from your CV and cover letter as a guide. Alongside this, try to share regular updates and connect with like-minded people.

Obviously you don’t want to go to overboard and it will vary from industry to industry, however, online networking is extremely important if you want to bag yourself a great job. 

Final thoughts

Overall, it’s extremely important to consider what potential employers may come across when they view your online profiles. Before you start submitting your CV anywhere or firing off job applications, make sure you cleanse your social media presence. Doing so will boost your chances of landing an interview and potentially, your ideal role.

CV-Library is the UK’s leading independent job board. For more expert advice on careers and the workplace, visit their Career Advice and  Recruitment Insight  pages.

Since you're here, why not check out our blog on '10 tips for  writing the best hospitality CV'