Facebook is a popular social networking website with millions of users. Chances are, if you’re reading this right now, you most likely have a Facebook account as well. While Facebook (or MySpace, Google+, etc.) allows you to stay in touch with people you know and even network with people you don’t know, your profile may be keeping you from being hired or keeping your job.
“Anywhere from 18 percent to 63 percent of employers review social media sites to assess job candidates.”
(source)
So what are you doing to protect yourself from yourself?
Here is a list of suggestions to help you keep your personal information private, and protect your job:
1. Learn and use privacy settings
Every social networking site that I am aware of uses has some system for privacy settings. Learn it. Use it. Love it. Yes, it may take 15-20 minutes to read the FAQ, but it’s worth your time. If your profile is private, employers will not be able to look at your information. But, beware of unflattering profile pictures—on most sites you can see a person’s name and profile picture even if the rest of the information is hidden. No amount of privacy will help if your potential employer can see a photo of you drinking heavily or even doing drugs.
2. Don’t “friend” your boss or co-workers
Benjamin Franklin once said: “Three people can keep a secret—if two of them are dead.” The same goes for the internet and coworkers. Sure, your boss may not be able to see your profile, but how do you know that your coworkers won’t let your boss in on your Facebook posts about how you hate your job? Also, Murphy’s Law tells us that if something can go wrong, it will. What happens when you forget to change the privacy settings on that status update about flying to Vegas for the weekend when you told your boss you were going to your grandmother’s funeral? Of course, statuses like these indicate a bigger problem (such as lying to your boss), but you can see why it’s a not a good idea to friend the people you work with.
Need another reason? You can’t control what your friends write. Your posts may be perfectly innocent and politically correct, but it only takes one friend with a strange sense of humor to take you down with them. I learned this from personal experience. I posted a harmless status update: “I just ate lunch two hours ago and I’m hungry again. How is that possible?” My wonderful brother then replied, “r u smoking weed again? I thought rehab worked 4 u last time.” Luckily my Facebook friends are actually people who know me well enough that they realized it was a joke, but your boss and coworkers may be more skeptical (and your friends may write something much worse!)
3. Screen your pictures…all of them
If some of you are like me, you’ve had your Facebook page since 2005 and have hundreds of photos on your profile. Go ahead and look at your pictures and make sure that they still represent the person you want to be known as. Those “keg party” pictures may have made you feel cool in college, but they are inappropriate now that you are a graduate looking for a job.
Also, make sure you change your “tag” settings so you have to approve when other people tag you in a photo. That ensures that you stay in control of what other people can see (at least with your name attached to it, anyway).
4. Screen your status updates
This part will probably be time consuming, but it’s important. You may have hated your job as a waitress and complained about it everyday online, but 3 years later, these complaints may scare away a potential employer. Sure, it was years ago, but the employer probably won’t think about that.
Also be mindful of the contents of your status updates. Do you post discriminatory comments, or confidential information from a prior job, or brag about your drug use/alcohol use/partying?
5. Make sure that public information is accurate
In a study by Reppler.com, of those employers who admitted that they rejected a job applicant because of social media, 13% of those employers did so because the applicant lied about their qualifications. This tip is actually simple: If you went to XYZ tech, don’t say that you went to Harvard.
The Bottom Line:
While Facebook can be a great tool for expressing yourself and keeping in touch, it can really hurt you. If you plan on using Facebook as a job networking tool, you should create a second profile for business contacts and only post “work-safe” information. An even better option is to save Facebook for personal contacts and use LinkedIn for business networking.
What are your thoughts on social networking sites and employment? Have you ever been burned because of Facebook? Or has a social networking site ever helped you get a job?
Tags: etiquette, monitor online reputation, online personality, online reputation, privacy settings, social networking
