Branding yourself is key in the process of growing up. I am talking about shaping your online presence, not the physical act of branding yourself. Social media brings you closer to your friends, but it's also a way for employers to get to know who you are. With that being said, it is key to keep your personal brand clean and classy.
In our generation, we put our whole lives on social media, which is not a bad thing at all! A cute Instagram picture or hilarious Snapchat story makes the day go by faster. It is so easy to post a picture from a party from the night before or a little bit of a revealing photo from the pool party at the District. Even though it is great to have all of your friends see how much fun you are having, employers will think the opposite.
An easy way to start cleaning up your social media is keeping an eye on the what you post. If you think your grandma wouldn't want to see it, then neither will an employer. I'm not here to be your mother, I just want everyone to get their dream job one day. And to receive that dream job of yours, you have to start with the small things ... like your social media presence.
A great way to start is by not using profanity in your posts. Using swear words shows negativity, and no employer would want a negative person to work for their company. Another way is to keep any underaged drinking out of the photos. Don't even try to blur out the cups or crop out the background. Employers can see right through that and could receive the wrong first impression about you. Finally, keep it classy. Bathing suit pictures are no problem, as long as you are keeping the picture cute and classy. An employer doesn't want to feel uncomfortable looking at your pictures or get to wrong image of you in their head.
With all of that being said, don't be discouraged from posting pictures that you enjoy, always keep in the back of your head that every post you make could mean the difference in getting or losing the job of a lifetime.
