Pre employment Screening Canada: How To Prepare Social Media Before Interview

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Reading Time: 4 mins

Getting ready for pre employment screening in Canada has always been a challenge for everyone. This is especially true if the role you’re applying for seems so ideal that you can expect more people to apply for it. More competitors, fewer chances of getting in.

As a job applicant, you always want to be that candidate who the recruiter will notice. You have to step up and think of better ways to catch the attention of the job hunter, and ultimately, get that dream job you’ve been aiming for.

Thankfully, new trends occur every time. This is also true in the world of job hunting. Many companies nowadays are venturing into pre Employment screening in Canada technique so they will be able to filter the applicants, saving them time, effort, and money.

One effective way companies do this is to perform a background check on the applicants based on their social media channels and accounts. In fact, more than 75% of hiring companies rely on social media whenever they screen applicants. In the last decade alone, there was a boom in social media. Various channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok have taken the world by storm.

This age of social media did not only affect a small pool of the world’s population; in fact, it’s amazing that even five-year-old kids, as well as our grannies, have at least one social media account. This amazing development has led companies to discover more about their applicants.

So as an applicant, what can you do to make yourself ready and prepared should the company perform a social media check on you? It would help if you did a social media assessment on yourself first. Your career is on the line, so might as well take the necessary steps to clean up your social media.

Review this checklist to gain tips on your job-hunting journey

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#1 Think before you click

It’s safe to assume that almost everything you do on social media is recorded. The websites you visit, the videos you watch, and the comments you leave are just some of the details that are documented.

This is why before you post something, make sure it will not, in any way, work against you. It’s always best to avoid posting and sharing negative content, especially if it puts your previous employers and colleagues in a bad light.

However, the good side is you can use social media platforms to inspire and spread helpful information. You can always show your personality through sensitive and non-divisive content that you post and share.

#2 Keep private things private.

Most social media channels give us the freedom to keep our audience limited. You can take advantage of this feature if you don’t want particular posts to have maximum exposure online.

On Twitter, for example, usually, users tweet to give opinions on several issues and share things on what they’re passionate about. If you want to keep your audience limited, you can always set your profile in private.

Take note, however, that social media intends to be a public space in general. If you set everything in private, then it would be extra difficult for the company to learn something about you. Worse, the organization you aim to be a member of will lose interest in hiring you, as you might appear dull and drear.

The trick is to learn what things to highlight online and publicly. LinkedIn, for one, is a great avenue to feature your key strengths and how you can be of service to the industry.

#3 Search for yourself online.

A search engine is a tool background checkers utilize to find further information about you. It’s helpful to run a check on yourself. Try to input your full name, nicknames, and usernames on the search bar and see the websites that will pop up. These pages might contain private personal information that you don’t want to be there. Do not forget to check the Images tab as well, as embarrassing decade-old photos of you may show.

Fortunately, you have the power to have these deleted online. All you have to do is contact the website and tell them the actions that need to be taken.

#4 Show your true self.

Recruiters appreciate the truth. They don’t expect you to be perfect in any sense, but it’s definitely a plus point if you don’t falsify anything about yourself, especially if they’re posted online.

While it helps that you look decent and professional on your social media profiles, it won’t hurt to show your quirks and personality through your channels.

#5 Deactivate unused accounts.

Old and unused accounts may contain outdated information about you. It’s best to cancel these accounts as early as possible. It is also advantageous to maintain only one account per social media platform.

#6 Inspect who you follow.

The pages you like and the organizations you follow tell something about who you are as a person. This is something many job hunters overlook. Take time to go over your following for evaluation. This is also your chance to unfollow accounts you’re not interested in anymore.

#7 Provide more ways on how to reach you.

This doesn’t mean that you should post your phone number. But if you have a blog, for example, you can link it to your other profiles. Just make sure that these additional resources of information work for you, of course.

Social media background checks are just a single part of the process. Some companies that do employment screening go beyond that. They even go into your credit standing, and public records, to name a few. It helps to prepare for such as well.

How you portray yourself on social media definitely contributes to your chances of landing a job. But as you take action on this part, make sure to strengthen your knowledge and skills that are relevant to the position you’re interested in.

Globeia provides quality pre employment screening in Canada with valuable results. We help companies and recruiters acquire top-notch talents in the most effective and efficient way possible. Please visit: www.globeia.ca