Post smart! People are watching
Posting your wild night out on Instagram seemed like a great idea – until you got a call the next morning from your work saying you’ve been fired.
When social media first launched, it was just a place to share photos, thoughts and jokes and whatever you posted was only seen by your friends and family.
Today social media is considered extension of our personal and professional lives, and what you post online can have consequences that can affect you in many ways.
You want your online profile to match how you are in person. If you are passionate about something and you are always talking about it to your employer but they never see anything about it on your social media, they might start questioning you about it.
Building trust is a huge factor if you want future opportunities and if an employer starts to question you, it can lead to missed opportunities.
Statistics are showing that more employers are evaluating their current and potential employees based on their social media profiles.
“If I’m hiring someone with two or three years’ experience, and I Google them and see them doing a keg stand two or three weeks ago, that’s going to be a turn-off,” said Kevin Nichols, vice president of Stark & Associates, an Internet marketing company.
According to CareerBuilder.com, social media posts are one of the most common reasons why people weren’t hired.
Candidates posted provocative photographs, content about them drinking or using drugs or bad-mouthing previous employers, co-workers or clients.
Before you interview at a job, you should clean up all your profiles by deleting images and any content that could portray a negative image to your potential employer. Also, don’t forget that others can see who you are friends with so be careful about who you accept.
There are upsides of having a social media presence though. Your online profile can be a reason for companies to hire you because of the positive content displayed on them.
CareerBuilder listed several reasons why a company may hire you because of your online profile. A candidate’s profile gave a good feel for their personality, showed creativity, had good references and detailed professional qualifications.
It’s also a way to stay connected with your employers and coworkers, which gives you an overall better working relationship with them. As long as you take advantage of the platform and be careful of the consequences that can occur with it, social media is a great tool.
Just be smart with it, because people are watching you.
-Rohin Saini
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