3 Social Media Tips To Help You Land A Healthcare Job

A 2016 CareerBuilder survey found that a full sixty percent of employers use social media networking sites to research job candidates and more than a quarter say they have reprimanded or fired an employee upon finding inappropriate content. Here's how the findings break out:

• Provocative or inappropriate photographs, videos or information – 46%
• Information about candidate drinking or using drugs – 43%
• Discriminatory comments related to race, religion, gender, etc. – 33%
• Candidate bad-mouthed previous company or fellow employee – 31%
• Poor communication skills – 29%

If you are seeking a healthcare job, the quality of your reputation is particularly important. The world holds you to a higher standard than your counterparts in most other businesses. Your treatment of confidentiality, safety and security, and even your capacity for compassion, are expected to be impeccable.

When employers check you out online, what are they seeing? Many people consider Facebook and Twitter a personal playground, a place where they can shed the professional mantle and be themselves. But social media is just the opportunity for employers to catch a glimpse into the real you. Are you ready for that?

The LeaderStat team has a few social media tips to offer:

1. Look at your photos through the eyes of a stranger

Toasting the bride-to-be with that mojito in Cozumel was memorable for you - and pretty harmless. But people tend to view strangers with critical eyes. Particularly when there are 25 good resumes, employers are just looking for reasons to whittle the list down. Party photos can offer them just that opportunity to toss your resume out the window.

2. Rethink the value of what you post

It's only human to want to shout out your joy in waving goodbye to the former president or your outrage over the new one, but based on the election results, you have just gotten on the bad side of half the employers checking you out. Publicize your politics, your pet peeves, your biases, your opinions on religion, and you run high risks. Calculate these carefully!

3. Consider what constant posting says about you

Cal Newport, an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University, recently wrote an article for the New York Times and said, “Consider that the ability to concentrate without distraction on hard tasks is becoming increasingly valuable in an increasingly complicated economy. Social media weakens this skill because it’s engineered to be addictive. The more you use social media in the way it’s designed to be used — persistently throughout your waking hours — the more your brain learns to crave a quick hit of stimulus at the slightest hint of boredom.” With this in mind, employers who see that you pay excessive attention to social media may well question how engaged you are in your career.

Looking for your next dream job? LeaderStat can help you make sure that what employers find online truly reflects you, as a senior living professional.