The importance of using your social networks as a resume and business card

The year is 2023. And I still hear people here and there all the time saying they don’t care about social media because it’s nonsense, distraction, stuff for idle people. It’s okay that, if used the wrong way, social networks can indeed be a big milkshake of trivia beaten with opinions based on voices in the head of those who post and creamy coverage of a great existential void. But they can be much, much more than that. And I’m here to tell you something that might be a little hard to hear.

What appears in your feed is a reflection of what you’re looking for. Doubt? So click on the magnifying glass on your Instagram and look what appears as a suggestion right there in the “explore” tab. Now ask your friend or your friend next door to do the same thing. You will realize that the suggestions that pop up for you are completely different. The algorithms, among other things, work to give you suggestions for content that may interest you. And on what basis do they make these suggestions? In what you consume. Basically, you are the one who trains the algorithm on what you will see in the app. That simple.

That said, complaining about what Instagram shows you as if you have no responsibility for it is the same as just complaining about the politicians we have, pretending that we didn’t elect these people ourselves, you know?! It is clear that platforms, in many cases, are problematic and processes always need to be discussed and updated. This is also the case with the Brazilian political system.

But can you understand that, deep down, it’s always in our hand? Those who complain about social networks are usually the ones who use them the most, are the most addicted and, almost always, just look for a silly meme on their cell phone screen or the endorsement of an extreme opinion without much foundation. I repeat… you only get what you tell the algorithm you “like”. Do you want it to be different? Just ask for other things. Want better politicians? Don’t always choose the same ones. It’s simplistic, but that’s kind of right there. Remembering here that the concept of better or worse is very personal. Think about it.

You can participate in this revolution by producing good content. And don’t give me this story that there’s nothing to say that nowadays it doesn’t work anymore. Looking at your networks is, for example, looking at a great opportunity to publicize what you do professionally, even if it is a function within a private company. There will always be someone who might be interested in this. There can always be a recruiter who has an eye on someone with your professional skills.

And it is like this mainly in Brazil. Because if we look at Latin America, we are the people who use social networks the most to look for a job. These are numbers from the consultancy Page Outsourcing, which analyzed more than 7300 candidates from six countries in our region. The people heard even understand that social media brings greater visibility to those who are looking to enter a selection process, but cases in which the feed reflects this interest are rare.

I had a chat with Thaís Pegoraro, a partner at Exec, one of the largest search and selection companies for top executives in the country, and she told me the following: “The headhunter, who is looking for these professionals in the market, does look at the their social networks. The problem is that most executives still don’t understand the importance of taking care of their own digital identity. They didn’t understand the impact this has on the community, on the ecosystem, so that they become a reference and authority on the subjects they dominate. The absolute majority have not yet realized that digital platforms are the perfect vehicle for their voice to be heard by the masses in a scalable way. And they just lose out on it.” If we’re talking about this behavior of senior executives, imagine with the people in lower positions?!

Yeah, but how to do that? In a simple, but boring way… seeing social media itself a bit like work too. Your feeds can actually be great resumes, where you can (and in my opinion should) post what you think about subjects in the area in which you work. I, for example, love to share my thoughts on communication on my Insta. This is increasingly reinforcing the image that people have of me as someone who talks about the area.

That’s how, for me, good influence is born. It is with this type of behavior that we can make social networks places with less dancing and more content that can bring people cool things. Nothing against dancing, I think it’s cool, it can’t be just that, you know?!

And why is it important to hit that key? Because as long as we continue to believe that social networks are for futile people, misinformation will continue to reign. I will give you a very clear example. I was recently diagnosed with severe ADHD and that made a lot of my many historical problems take on enormous meaning. For those who don’t know, ADHD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and it sucks to live with it.

I started studying the subject a lot and found out that there is a Brazilian Association for Attention Deficit. On their website there is a very interesting article about what communication we have been doing on social networks that worried me. A journal of psychiatry from Canada analyzed in detail the 100 most popular tiktok videos talking about ADHD. Of those 100, 52 had the wrong content… FIFTY-TWO!

They were posts from influencers, people who just thought they had the disorder or who simply talked about it, but there was no consistency on the subject. Do you understand the gravity of this? While those who really understand about the disorder may be thinking that social networks are nonsense, in the case of this subject, more than half of the posts are talking shit. There is absolutely no point in the specialist saying that he does not have the recognition he should and that people get the wrong information.

He needs to be on TikTok to fight this kind of misinformation. This is serious. Then I finish by asking you the following questions: do you have a highlight ball at the top of your Instagram feed saying who you are? What do you do for a living? What skills do you have? What do you like? It’s okay to treat your feed as a huge repository of random content without any coherence, maybe you think only your friends are seeing it.

But do the following exercise: show your feed to someone you just met and ask who you are. Do your posts tell a story that makes sense? Is it clear what your purpose in life is? What do you want to achieve personally or professionally?

If the answer is no, do you understand the chance you’re missing to show yourself even to those who can take you out of the job that maybe you no longer want? Do you understand that the way to get a better job, perhaps, already exists? The technology is there and has been for a while… each one uses it the way they want.