“Gone are the days when job applicants scrambled to update their privacy settings and delete compromising photos of party nights from their social accounts before a job interview. Now, some Generation Zers are using social media as a tool to differentiate themselves from other candidates, using platforms as an additional way to introduce themselves, their talents and their values to future employers. They are even using social media to create their resumes.

In fact, not having social media, or it being too hard to find, might hurt your chances of landing the position you’re vying for. 2022 research revealed that in a large-scale experiment, candidates having “information available on social media through hashtags and liked pages can have a crucial effect on a candidate’s chances of obtaining a good rating” from the employer. The report adds that “candidates with no social media profile receive even lower ratings than candidates with mental health problems”—those individuals received “lower ratings by an amount equivalent to the effect of having three years on-the-job experience.” However, “unappealing social media content [led] to the strongest reduction in ratings, equivalent to the value of nine years of on-the-job experience.” So social presence was essential, but it had to be appealing to be beneficial.”