How social media can hurt your career

Social media – love it or hate it, but the fact is it’s already a part of our life. From that Instagram-able lunch to Facebook live streams, minutes and snapshots of our life are captured, shared and sometimes, wedged between us and the job we so want to have. In the age of social media, the interview isn’t the be-all and end-all, and an interviewer can know all about you, for good or ill, before you’ve even stepped into the interview room. The problem with this phenomenon is that more than half of the young people who use social media more than ever before, don’t know employers look at candidates’ social media profiles and that social media activity could have a detrimental effect on their employment prospects. Below, we offer our top tips on making sure that social media doesn’t ruin your career before it starts.   

1. Presume everyone is connected

If your interviewer is connected to someone connected to you, they can see your posts if the mutual connection comments, or shares. Always treat social media channels as if they are fully accessible by anyone, including future employers.

2. Keep complaints off the web!

If you are having a bad day at work or disillusioned with your job, share that with your family and friends in real life situations (aka offline), never complain online where it can be found and used against you.

3. The Grandma test

Sweeps of social media have recently led to the very public suspension of Members of Parliament, so remember that once you’ve tweeted or (if your account is public) posted a photo to Facebook or Instagram, it’s in the public domain and may be something that you’ll regret further down the line. Our rule of thumb is Grandma. That’s right, Grandma is our benchmark – if your Grandma finds the post acceptable, chances are your current/future employers will too.

Now that you are aware of how social media can affect your career, don’t forget to tune in next week for our tips on how to make your online social profile works for you.