Employer Encourages Professional Social Media Content

To be a good copy writer at Lawrence & Schiller, Brett Summers cannot be at a loss for words.

"Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, you've got your Instagrams," Summers said.

The University of South Dakota graduate is not naming social media sites. He is listing synonyms for a résumé.

"You'd have your elevator speech. You'd get a chance to make that impression. Then you'd realize your first impression, they might've already had it because they searched it online," Summers said.

The days to make a first impression during a first meeting are long gone. Lawrence & Schiller company heads checked Summers out before he got hired.  A few years ago, he was a college student who made in through the first round of interviews.  He was in a group that was part of a little experiment.

"I took the 25 college students who made it through the first round of our interview process.  As a test, I went through to see how many that I could see their Facebook page and find out where they're from. Turned out all but one I could go to," Lawrence & Schiller Senior VP of Operations/Multimedia Mark Glissendorf said.

Photos of drinking too much or being passed out at parties, as seen on Twitter handles @yotespassedout and @jackspassedout, do not make great impressions on perspective employers.  What seems like private fun, can be a make or break situation for job seekers. 

Glissendorf said it is concerning to see students advertise behaviors that might cost them a job they were otherwise qualified for. In Lawrence & Schiller's case, the company has to maintain a certain image because it represents so many visible clients. The employees it hires have to be extensions of that image.

"If someone is fairly careless about what they put out in social media, that does raise a warning flag for us, yeah," Glissendorf said.

Summers said he did not think too much about what he was posting when he was a freshman and sophomore in college.  Later on, he realized putting limits on his online life would have less of a negative impact on his real life. No matter what your résumé says, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram often get the last word.

"You're almost building a brand for yourself," Summers said.