Job Proofing your Twitter, make it unsearchable

Twitter has been around since 2006 and if you have been active on it since the beginning, or throughout high school and college it might be holding you back for passing employment screens. We are going to walk you through job proofing your Twitter. Even if temporarily it should help you get the job you are after.

Naturally an often asked question of job seekers is “Can I make Twitter unsearchable?”  If you are asking this question you probably already have some Tweets that you don’t want recruiters, or your new boss reading.  If this is the case you’ll have your work cut out for you, as Twitter is the one social network that has really set itself up as being a very open network.

You can delete Tweets you are ashamed of from Twitter but as with everything on the internet there are a couple of catches.

For instance Twitter and the United States Library of Congress have an agreement to save every public Tweet, so you may not be able to delete old Tweets completely from existence.  If you just need to delete one or two Tweets that you need to get rid of read the Twitter guide on that here.  One of the other areas that you may need to worry about is that Google has taken quite a liking to Twitter as have Bing so your individual Tweets may also be found in these respective search caches.  You can find a guide to delete your Tweets that show up in Google caches.

If by chance you are worried about more than a Tweet here or there, and maybe are a frequent Tweeter you may need a bigger tool.  You want to consider what I’d describe as the nuclear option you can have the service Tweet Delete mass delete all of your old Tweets.

The only way to completely protect your Twitter is to have an account that is private.  These Tweets can only be read by followers that you approve of.  Here is yet another one of those catches though.  While you can change your Twitter account to private instead of public it will not retroactively switch your old public Tweets to be private, those are still going to be floating out there in public (read more about that on the Twitter site here)

The best strategy for job proofing your Tweeter is maintain a fun account, that you use in a private protected way to share private conversations with your friends and family something you can get silly with. Twitter can be somewhat anonymous so you can have fun without major consequences.  You could also keep a public profile but keep an anonymous name to be silly with.

In the job search you would be well suited to lock down your real name as a Twitter handle to help with your web presence.  This strategy is good because if you use Twitter constructively you will rank high in Google searches and employers can find you through another avenue.

Then leverage this positive Twitter account into relationships you build with companies, recruiters, and offer valuable information that you would be proud to share with the world.

You should follow recruiters, corporate career accounts, and follow companies official Twitter accounts to get a leg up on other job applicants. Share information and have conversations to fast track your job placement.

Companies like FCA @FCA_NACareers formerly Chrysler have active career accounts with thousands of Tweets.

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If you are just starting out with Twitter you will be pleased to know that your friends at Career Purgatory have taken a lot of work out of Twitter for you.  We have a list of corporate career Twitter accounts, recruiters, and politicians.

Don’t be afraid to follow us on Twitter! @CareerPurgatory