Spruce Up Your Social Network Profiles Before Applying for a New Job to Boost Your Chances of Getting Hired [Jobs]

Most people (hopefully) know by now to keep their social networks clean, in case anyone from a potential employer to a Google-happy family member stumbles on your profile. However, your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn profile can actually be an asset in helping you stand out when you apply for a job, and sprucing it up a bit with a new photo, updated skills, and recent accomplishments can go a long way. Besides, you know the hiring manager is going to look at your profile before calling you anyway.

At this point we should expect potential employers to search for us at Facebook and LinkedIn before they contact us for an interview. It's not news that a hiring manager will review a candidate's resume and then try to dig them up on Facebook to see what kind of person they are before deciding whether they want to interview them. You can boost your odds of standing out in a positive way by sprucing up your profiles as well as your resume before you apply.

Wise Bread suggests, among other things, uploading a good-looking recent photo, tidying up personal details and making sure your privacy settings are the way you want them, and—especially at LinkedIn—editing your career goals, personal description, and any other old or out of date information. Request and offer recommendations from old coworkers if you can, and make sure your recent achievements and projects are included in your profile. Wise Bread has a number of other great suggestions, like researching the company culture and the interviewers specifically, so the whole list is worth a look.

Do you keep your social network profiles in shape for public viewing at all times, or does your LinkedIn profile need a brush-up? Perhaps you just lock yours down so it's not searchable and not public? Whatever you do, share your thoughts in the comments below.

Know a Company's Narrative Before Applying for a Job [Job Search]

A job itself is a broad idea. Being a developer or a chef or an engineer can mean different things at different companies. As a result, trying to figure out how you'd do a particular job well isn't specific enough. Willy Franzen, founder of job-finding site OneDayOneJob.com, believes that you need to understand what doing that job well entails at a specific company. That involves knowing the company's narrative, its opinions, and its place in the industry:

People lead with the job and I think that's totally wrong. You go to the job board and you find a job. It's medieval. If you don't understand what the company is and what they do, the job doesn't have meaning. It's just a piece of a puzzle. You have this little piece but you don't understand the context on how it fits in.

Instead of looking at a job posting and applying for it, take apart the details inside. Look at the company. Look at the name of the person who posted it. Is it a hiring manager or recruiter? Look at the news. What's happening with the company? What about the industry? There's so many plot and sub-plots here that you need to understand to be successful in that job.

If you're in the market for a new job, keep this in mind. It's not enough to simply consider how the job can be done well because positions will often be treated with relevant differences at different companies.

Willy Franzen: How The Internet Has Changed The Job Hunt | The 99 Percent