Curating Your Online Life: Social Media and the Job Seeker
In a remarkably short period of time, social media has changed just about every aspect of our lives. Many of those changes have been good; the ability to connect with distant friends and family and share what’s going on in your lives, to meet new people, and to promote businesses and brands. Needless to say, the proliferation of social media has also brought some negative changes to our world; particularly, the deepening divisions between people. The pandemic and its various impacts - masks and vaccines, especially - politics, and world events are all fertile ground for disagreement and debate.
The pros and cons of social media aside, it also is a consideration for job seekers - an increasingly important one. Our presence on social media has become part of our identity - at least our online identity. While it’s not universal, it’s becoming more common for recruiters and employers alike to check out the social media presence of candidates they’re considering. Whether right or wrong, it’s possible that a hiring manager could discount a candidate based on an opinion that disagrees (or is perceived to disagree) with a company value, on lifestyle choices (being perceived as a party hound and a heavy drinker, for example), or on something as harmless - and ubiquitous - as venting and complaining about your current or previous job. That being the case, if you’re in the market for a job (or might be at some point in the future), you’ve got to consider what they’d see.
Let’s look at the three most common personal social media platforms - Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook - and the ways to protect your online brand on each one.
This photo-sharing platform is the easiest to cover, so we’ll start here. Instagram has been around long enough - twelve years, believe it or not - that its first users (who were probably quite young at that point) are now well into their careers. The biggest risk with Instagram is photos that show aspects of your lifestyle that don’t reflect well on you at your current career stage. To be safe, there are two simple steps to take with this platform. First, set your account to ‘private’, so that anyone who wants to see the content you post must be a follower of yours. Since you’re at it, you may also want to take a look through your followers list to make sure that you still want to be connected to the ones who are already there. Then - if you’re in any doubt - simply scroll back and ‘curate’ your posts, deleting anything that you feel could come back to haunt you. If you don’t want to delete posts altogether, you can also set the privacy on individual posts so that only you can see them. That takes care of your own activity on Instagram, but there’s one last setting you should consider: making it so you have to approve being tagged in someone else’s photo.
Twitter has become known as a platform where differences of opinion can become heated, and the nature of the platform makes each user’s activity very public, by default and by design. This makes Twitter the social media platform where even innocuous opinions can be misconstrued or taken out of context, and blown out of proportion. If you tend to use Twitter as a platform for engaging in healthy debate, the good news is that it has no requirements for users to use their own name. You can therefore create a completely anonymous account to weigh in on politics or anything else (being mindful, of course, that it’s always possible - with enough knowledge and time - to trace an account back to its owner). If you’ve posted tweets in the past that you’re concerned about, there’s an easy fix. Set your account to ‘private’, and once again, only your followers will be able to read your posts - current and past. This covers both your original posts, as well as any replies to others. Other users will now need your approval to follow you and see what you’ve posted. Like Instagram, you may also want to review your current followers and trim that list down to people you know and trust.
Facebook is a somewhat more complicated platform to curate. Your own personal Facebook page is quick and easy. With one click in the privacy settings, you can make it so that only your direct connections on Facebook can see what you’ve posted on your page, ever. (Of course, it’s not a bad idea to take a run through your list of ‘friends’ to make sure that they are, indeed, still friends.)
Simple, right? Not so fast. Your privacy settings have no effect on things you’ve posted on other people’s pages, on business pages, or in groups. In those cases, what others can see depends on that page’s privacy settings. On a public page or group, for example, anyone can see every post and comment ever made. Facebook also doesn’t make it easy to view all of the comments and posts you’ve made on other pages, so - for better or for worse - consider what you’ve posted as being more or less permanent. With Facebook, then, the best approach is to let time take care of the past. The nature of the platform is that new content buries the old. Be aware, then, that some of your previous activity is visible, and from this point forward keep that in mind when posting anything new on any page other than your own.
When using any one of these platforms (or any others that are sure to follow), there’s one caveat to keep in mind: a screenshot is forever. Someone who’s connected with you can capture something you’ve posted, and if they do, that post is no longer assured to remain private. A hasty comment, later deleted, can still hurt you. So think before you post.
A job seeker on the market has always had employers and recruiters evaluating their presence. In the past, it was resumes and cover letters, and the third-party perspective of your references. Now, your digital footprint is a significant part of your identity. Maintaining control over that presence is crucial. (On that note, you may be wondering why LinkedIn isn’t mentioned here. The use of LinkedIn as a job seeker is less about editing what’s there and keeping it private, and more about building the kind of presence you want to project. For that reason, we’ll look at LinkedIn in a separate article later.)
I’ll leave you with one failsafe strategy for using social media - as a jobseeker or in life generally - that has become a bit cliche but no less true for it: In a world where you can choose to be anything, choose to be kind.
Practice Makes Perfect
When it comes to interviewing for jobs, do you see yourself as being good at it?
That’s sort of a trick question, because the truth is that nobody is inherently good or bad at interviewing (although it’s certainly true that some people are more comfortable in interviews than others). Mostly, it’s a learned skill. The good news is this: just like any other skill, it’s entirely possible to improve through practice.
Why Do I Need to Practice?
The irony about this particular skill is that we become really good at interviewing when we’re actively on the market. We attend one interview after another, honing our skills, then finally perfecting them … just in time for us to land a job. Then - happily employed once again - we fall out of practice, and go through the whole process again the next time we’re on the hunt for a job. (As an aside, this is a great reason to interview occasionally for jobs when you’re not actively looking. It keeps your skills sharp for the next time you really need them. And in the process, you just might unexpectedly stumble across your next great job.)
If you’ve got an important interview coming up, investing a bit of time and effort in preparing and practicing can help you get the outcome you’re hoping for.
How to Practice for a Job Interview
The first step in preparing for interviews is to think about the common questions you’re virtually certain to be asked. ‘Tell me about yourself’ is a common opener, so you’ll want to have a concise and compelling elevator pitch ready. Your strengths, your weaknesses. Your proudest accomplishments, and moments of failure. These questions are fairly ubiquitous, so it makes sense to think about your answers ahead of time and make note of the points you wish to make.
After preparing for these common questions, you could certainly try to figure out what other questions you might be asked. The problem is, there are literally thousands of possibilities.
Instead, forget about questions, and turn your attention to stories.
Whether a question you’re asked is a behavioral interview question or not, stories are the best way to describe your past performance and most effectively demonstrate your value as an employee. When thinking about the stories you could tell, there are four target areas to focus on.
The first two are achievements and accomplishments, and failures and missteps. Everyone has highs and lows in their career, and interviewers ask about them because they’re great ways of learning how you define and pursue success, and how you deal with and learn from failure when it happens. The next two areas to think about are difficult people, and difficult decisions and situations. These are important to interviewers because they demonstrate how you overcome obstacles (human or otherwise), and they also often speak to the way you solve problems and make decisions - important skills to any employer.
Questions about your work history often fall into those themes, no matter the specific wording. So, if you have a few stories reflecting each of those four areas, you’ll be able to ‘re-purpose’ them in response to a wide variety of questions.
When you’ve got your answers mapped out - your answers to common questions, and some good stories to tell - it’s time to practice.
It’s tempting to just think about your answers, maybe even rehearse them in your head. It may be uncomfortable, but resist that temptation. Speaking your answers aloud is much better. There are a number of ways you might approach this, depending on your situation.
At the very least, use your phone (or some other device) to record yourself. Listen to the recording, critique yourself (don’t forget to note the things you did well!), improve, and do it all over again.
You can take it one step further using video (and this is particularly helpful if you’re doing a lot of virtual interviews, as many of us are now). Use whatever hardware setup you usually use, and video yourself answering questions and telling your stories. With video, you can not only critique the content and delivery of your answers, you can also evaluate your body language and facial expressions. This is also a great time to practice maintaining eye contact with the camera (instead of watching yourself on the screen, a very hard habit to break).
If you want to go all in, you might consider looking for someone to do a mock interview with you. This doesn’t tend to work all that well with a friend, since it’s not a realistic representation of the real thing. It’s better to do this with someone who interviews and hires people as part of their work, and who doesn’t know you too well. (All that said, it’s still better to just apply and interview for jobs occasionally as mentioned above; there’s no substitute for the pressure and unpredictability of a real interview.)
Managing your Emotions
Unless you’re one of the very fortunate confident few, a job interview can be a very stressful experience. For the rest of us, managing this anxiety is an important part of being prepared for interviews.
This may seem a bit counter-intuitive, but once you’ve prepared and rehearsed, put it all aside and give your brain a rest. Overthinking can be just as harmful as under thinking. If you know you’re prone to anxiety and stress, meditation and deep breathing (regularly as part of a routine, and then especially just before an interview) can help calm the jitters. Don’t underestimate the power of visualisation, either. You may be skeptical, but picturing yourself being confident in the interview can really help boost your confidence when it comes to the main event.
Money on My Mind: How to ask for a pay rise
Money is on everyone’s minds these days. Our lives are costing us more; even though January’s year-over-year increase of 5.4% was likely an anomaly, 2022’s annual rate will likely be higher than the 2.6% we saw in 2021. Surveys report that UK employers are set to offer their employees an average 2.9% in 2022. The picture is rosier in some sectors; increases in the technology sector, for example, are nearer the 3% mark.
With all that in mind, are you thinking of asking for a pay rise? Or perhaps asking for a larger one that’s been offered?
It’s a discussion that very few people look forward to. Money is a difficult topic at the best of times for most of us. But with some planning and preparation, you can put yourself in a good position to negotiate.
Choose your Timing
What you’ll say is critical, of course. When you’ll say it is nearly as important. There are two aspects to consider when picking the right time to make your request.
The first is your own performance. To increase the odds of getting the increase you’re hoping for, make sure you’re asking at a time when your abilities in the job are clear, when you can show how you’ve gone above and beyond the minimum expectations, and when your tenure with the company (and the time since your last increase) is of an appropriate length.
It’s also important to consider timing from the organisational perspective. If the company is struggling financially, a request for a pay rise is not only unlikely to be successful, it also may be rubbing salt in a painful wound that your manager is already nursing. In this case, it may be better to hold off until the financial picture is rosier. If the company is doing well, it still pays to time your request with the annual budget cycle. If budgets have just been set for the year, your manager may not have as much flexibility as he or she would when the budgets are still being developed.
Plan Ahead
Before setting a meeting to talk about an increase, take some time to build your case.
The first step is to understand your value. You’ll want to go into the meeting with a range in mind; that’s the first question you’re likely to be asked in a negotiation, and you can’t be caught unprepared. Research salary ranges for your kind of job and company, and through that research determine your ‘bottom line’ – the number that you are determined to reach as a minimum – and an aspirational top figure to shoot for.
When determining your range, don’t overlook non-monetary aspects of compensation. If you’re not granted a salary increase – either at all, or at the level you’re hoping for – there may be other things you could propose as a compromise. You might consider a few more days of vacation time, for example, or perhaps more flexibility in remote or hybrid working arrangements. When it comes time to negotiate, having these cards in your back pocket can provide alternatives for your manager to consider other than a flat ‘no’.
Next, support your request with the business case. Although your own personal financial needs are likely foremost in your mind, the business case must be based on the value you bring to the company. In doing this, people tend to focus on their performance in the recent past. Certainly pointing out the ways in which you’ve been performing above expectation is important, but don’t only look to the rear-view mirror. A manager doesn’t necessarily want to pay you more for what you’ve already done. They’re more willing to pay for increased contributions and performance in the future. Consider and include a few forward-looking aspects as part of your business case.
Make your Pitch
When you’ve put together the aspects of your business case, it’s time to practice. Don’t plan to go into the meeting with a presentation, though; the meeting should be a conversation. The part to practice is your introduction, the first few things you plan to say. In addition to starting off with a well-structured intro with the key points you most want to make, this practice will help you move smoothly through the part of the meeting when you’re most likely to be anxious.
Finally, set the meeting. Don’t ambush your manager by walking into their office and expecting the meeting to take place then. Ask for the meeting ahead of time, being clear that you want to discuss your compensation. This will give your manager time to reflect and plan, which will make the meeting go much more smoothly.
Finish Strong
When planning for the meeting, plan also to be prepared for any outcome. If you’re granted the increase you were hoping for, that’s fantastic. Your manager may ask for some time to consider it, or they may say no. Be prepared with a ready response for any of these scenarios, and follow up points. If you weren’t granted the increase you wanted, for example, you should ask for feedback. What, specifically, can you do to demonstrate more value to the company and position yourself for an increase next time? If the ‘no’ was more about timing than it was about your own performance, when would it be appropriate to ask again?
Lastly, be ready to finish the meeting in an entirely professional manner. No matter the outcome, don’t apologize for asking. Compensation discussions are important in every employer-employee relationship; you never have to say sorry for making a well-supported request. Do say thank you, though, once again no matter the outcome. Show appreciation for your manager’s time and consideration (even if you’re feeling more disappointment than gratitude). Ending the discussion with consummate professionalism will leave a positive impression and pave the way for a more successful outcome the next time.
When Good Interviews Go Bad
Naturally, the goal for an interview is to find that one excellent candidate that knocks your socks off. But when you’ve been involved in hiring people for any length of time, it’s inevitable that you’ll see the opposite. Interviews with candidates that just … well, that simply don’t go well. Suffice it to say, when you’ve been in this kind of work for as long as we have, you begin to collect some stories.
We’d like to share with you a few of those stories here. To be clear, we’re not doing this to shame anyone. We’ve changed some details to protect the innocent. There’s a reason why we think you’ll find this both interesting (and possibly funny) but also constructive. It’s because smart people learn from their mistakes; truly wise people learn from the mistakes of others. Let’s see what we can learn from these mistakes.
The Small Talker
For everyone except extreme extroverts, meeting new people is an experience fraught with at least some anxiety. To quell this anxiety in business meetings, some people - often, those in sales - advise pointing out some personal object in the office as a means of making small talk. Sometimes, this works. Other times, not so well. One memorable candidate interviewing with me pointed out a few items of football memorabilia in the office, talking at length about his World Cup memories and a few of his favourite players over the years. It was fascinating, so I let him continue on (possibly for longer than I should have). It was only when he finally stopped for a breath and asked me a question about football that I told him I was only using one of my colleagues’ offices, and quite honestly had relatively little knowledge of the sport.
The takeaway? Making small talk is difficult, and finding something personal and important to your interviewer is certainly one strategy to make it easier. It’s perhaps a better strategy, though, to start with a question rather than a soliloquy.
The Accidental Host
I remember one particular instance where I was led down the hall as my host - already in interview mode - chatted about their day. They led me into the meeting room, sitting down in one of the chairs. There was only one problem: they had taken my chair. You see, this person had come to my office to be interviewed by me, and it was only by virtue of good luck that they had found the correct room. It was a somewhat awkward moment when I indicated that I really would like to sit by my notes, and asked him to take the other chair.
The lesson here: when meeting an interviewer at their place of work, you’re a guest. If you’re either highly dominant, or - conversely - highly uncomfortable meeting new people, it can be easy to forget this in your haste or your discomfort. When you’re waiting for your interviewer, take a few breaths. Slow your mind down. Remind yourself to be a gracious guest, deferring to the host to indicate when and where you should follow, and following their lead in the initial conversation.
The Hard-to-Get Player
It’s an effective negotiating tactic to show the other party that you have less interest in the outcome than they do (even if it’s not entirely true). And while it’s true that competing for a job is a form of negotiation, this tactic can be taken too far.
One candidate had clearly received the advice that it would best serve her to play hard-to-get. Granted, we found her, contacting her about an opportunity that could be a fit. From the start, it was challenging to find an interview time that worked for her hectic schedule (which might have been our first warning sign). During the interview, her body language and facial expression communicated what I can only describe as acute disinterest. At the end of the interview, she might as well have said, “I suppose I could make myself available for an interview … if I really must …”. Needless to say, she didn’t have to in the end.
The working relationship between a candidate and a recruiter isn’t a game. We treat candidates with the utmost respect, as equal partners in a business discussion, the objective of which is to determine whether a job is a good fit. The lesson here: we don’t play games; neither should you.
The Sour Grapes (of Wrath)
Speaking of respect, if we determine through the course of an interview that a candidate really isn’t a good fit for a job, we tend to let them know right then. It’s not fair to leave someone believing they might be in the running when they’re not. In most cases, candidates appreciate our openness, and are very happy to hear we’ll keep them in mind for other opportunities.
In one particular case, it was quite the reverse. We discovered through the interview that the candidate’s goals weren’t aligned with what the hiring company would offer, and we were upfront about that. The candidate reacted in dramatic fashion, angrily saying that they had never been interested in the job anyway, that they had only come in to be courteous, and that we had wasted their time.
I suspect that the takeaway here is fairly obvious, but I’ll point it out anyway. When a business discussion of any kind comes to a close that isn’t what you’d hoped for, it’s critical to respond professionally. That means being civil and courteous on the outside, no matter what you may be feeling inside. Particularly in this day and age, when everyone is so connected, it doesn’t pay to burn bridges.
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
How do you know it’s the right time to leave a job? Leaving the security and tenure of an established position, especially if you’ve been there for some time, is never (well, almost never) an easy decision, and it’s an important one. By definition, it sends your career in a different direction. It may also play a part in future interviews, when interviewers ask about the factors you considered when you chose to move along.
Bear in mind the truth of the adage, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. If you’re thinking of moving on, make sure you’ve done the self-reflection to be confident that the move you’re making is the right one.
To help make the best decision possible, there are two important questions to consider:
What are you trying to get away from?
What are you trying to move towards?
Most job changes are a combination of the two. There are undoubtedly certain things that you’re dissatisfied with in your current role, and you want to get away from those things in a new job. There are likely also things missing in your current job, and ideally a new job would include those aspects. Unless you take the time to understand your motivations for making a change, it’s highly likely you’ll continue to be dissatisfied, perhaps jumping from one company to another, never feeling that the role is a good fit.
All that said, there are a few reasons why people tend to choose to leave their job.
One of the most common reasons is a lack of appreciation.
For some people, it’s a question of money. You might feel that your company isn’t giving you the salary (or the increase) you deserve. Sometimes it’s not about the money. Most people work best when they’re given validation and recognition for the work they do, even a simple ‘thanks!’ or ‘good job!’. If you don’t receive this kind of recognition, or if your performance reviews are mediocre, it’s easy to feel unappreciated and undervalued.
In light of the questions above, the first step is to figure out what appreciation means to you. Once you know what that is, you then have the opportunity to seek it out. If you’re not making as much money as you believe you should, you might ask for more. There may also be things you can do (taking on additional projects, for example, or enrolling in additional training of some kind) to position yourself for a larger increase. If your last performance review was lukewarm, did you get feedback about how to improve, and did you act on that feedback? It’s human nature to seek appreciation. If you don’t feel valued where you work, it’s natural to start thinking about moving to another place where you are.
The second very common reason people move is a lack of opportunity. This also can mean a number of things. For some people, opportunity means career progression with increasingly senior titles and growing teams. For other people - particularly many in technical careers - it’s more about learning and development.
If you’re feeling stagnant, think about what’s missing for you. If you want to be promoted to higher levels of responsibility, have you demonstrated the kind of initiative that gets you noticed? Have you put your hand up for opportunities to demonstrate leadership, regardless of title? If the lack of opportunity for you is more about opportunities to learn and grow, perhaps consider narrowing your focus, determining a direction for your learning and even seeking out specific courses. Many companies are quite willing to support their employees’ learning, if the investment will pay off in increased performance and capability. It just might be a question of asking for it.
Once again, if you truly feel you’ve plateaued, with no opportunities to move ahead in your career, it’s quite normal to turn your eyes to other opportunities.
The third most common reason people tend to move on is bad culture and poor management. The sad truth is, some workplaces are truly awful. People may be verbally abusive. Some workplaces can be literally unsafe, with safety violations to which management turns a blind eye. If you have the misfortune of working in such a place, and you can’t resolve it through legal means or regulatory bodies, the right choice may be to move on. Perhaps even without another job to go to, if your financial circumstances permit. No one should be expected to stay in a job that risks their mental, emotional, or physical health.
Competing In Complex Times
Market conditions
The employment landscape for candidates has always been a moving target, but never more so than over the past several years. The job market in the mid 2010s was at least fairly clear: demand consistently outstripped supply by a wide margin. When the COVID pandemic first hit, things got muddier. The industry shed jobs, and many people – including engineers – were furloughed or made redundant. Postings vanished as the number of vacancies fell off a cliff. The demand for talented professionals rebounded fairly quickly, even as global uncertainty continued, and that trend continues to this day.
Today, the market is strong, but it’s complex. Usually, there’s either high demand on the employer side, or relatively plentiful supply of candidates. At the moment, it’s a combination of the two. There are still many people on the job market, a significant number of those since the onset of the pandemic. Unlike in a typical recession, however, vacancies exist and there is demand for high-performing talent. Compounding the normal dynamics of supply and demand is the so-called ‘Great Resignation’. Turnover rates are higher than usual, particularly amongst younger employees, as more people seek new jobs and in some cases even shift careers.
What to make of this complexity, then? In short, it’s critical for candidates to differentiate themselves. To land your next role and progress in your career, you must stand apart from the competition in a market that is ‘noisy’ and crowded.
Setting Yourself Apart
The first step is to sharpen your tools. In this market, your CV and cover letter must be top-notch to stand out. If you’re unsure, get some feedback from people around you. Friends and connections in hiring positions can help, and so can we. Connect with us at any time if you’d like some guidance and support in improving your documents.
When you’re applying for vacancies, it’s more important than ever to tailor your application to those specific roles. Read postings carefully for the skills the company is seeking, and take the time and effort to connect aspects of your experience and background to those specific skills. This can be done throughout your CV, of course, but your cover letters are a great opportunity to highlight those connections. We can’t stress this enough: there’s a lot of competition, so a ‘cookie-cutter’ application isn’t enough. Hiring managers and HR people are swamped with applications, so yours must stand out, making it as clear as possible why you should be interviewed and hired.
In today’s complex market, job postings can’t be the end of your search. Networking is critical. Whether you’re currently employed or not, it’s more important than ever to build and nurture your network of industry contacts. Of course, nothing is simple in the context of COVID, and networking is no exception. There are fewer opportunities for professionals to attend events and conferences, of course. This means using other tools at your disposal, such as LinkedIn and other networking sites. Industry associations have, in many cases, replaced in-person initiatives with virtual proxies. If you’re actively on the market – between jobs, for example – seek out these opportunities to get involved and connect with others. And, of course, don’t overlook the value of going ‘old school’. Email or pick up the phone, and just have conversations. Whether it’s an informal chat to catch up with a long-time colleague, or a more formal informational interview with a new connection, these conversations are a rich source of information that can lead you to your next opportunity.
There’s an important part of networking that is often overlooked. If you approach conversations thinking first about what’s in it for you, you’ll end up with less in the end. Instead, think about gathering information and learning, and about helping others. Networking is reciprocal, there’s give and take. Learning will give you insights and information you can pass on, and thinking about helping others gives you the opportunity to connect with even more new people.
In Closing ...
Today’s market is a complicated one. To succeed, make sure your tools are as sharp as they can be, then find – and create – opportunities to put them to work for you. Finally, one of the best ways to set yourself apart is to be well-represented. To have an advocate at your side, helping to connect you with opportunities. That’s where we come in. If you’re on the market, get in touch with us and we would be happy to discuss current opportunities.