Facebook replaced MySpace as the top social networking site in the world. It’s one of the only places where you can chat with former high school and college friends, your aunts and uncles and people you never even met before. When it comes to applying for a new job, you need to go over your Facebook page with a fine tooth comb and remove anything that casts a negative light on you. Even if you set your profile to private, potential employers can still see pictures and other things you posted online.
Negative Pictures
You have complete control over the photos you post online. Facebook gives users the right to tag photos of their friends and family. Once someone tags you in an image, the image appears inside your pictures. If there are unflattering or negative images of you on your page, simply click on it and remove your name tag. You can also contact your friends and ask them to take down the photo permanently. Employers do not want to see pictures of you drunk and partying with your friends or pictures of you in weird costumes.
Unflattering Posts
Do you find yourself occasionally using profanity when posting status updates? Maybe you were upset at a friend, angry at your former employer or frustrated at the traffic on your way to work. Those posts can all reflect negatively on you. Even if you do not swear online, you might want to remove or delete posts that you made about other people and even other companies. You never know when the job you apply for has a connection to a company you made in the past. It’s better to be safe than to be sorry.
Private Content
No matter how hard you try to keep your private life off Facebook, you can easily slip up and post something better suited for private eyes. This might include a post you made after skipping work or school and pretending you were sick, or it might include rude and/or disparaging remarks you made about businesses, friends or people you know in real life. Employers can go back years and view posts made on your account since you started with Facebook. Even something minor or small might cause employers to ignore your application.
Does Facebook Really Matter?
When you read or hear about some stories from former employees, you’ll realize that Facebook really does matter. One woman lost her job after making a comment that others took as racist, and another man lost his job when photos surfaced on his Facebook page of him in compromising positions while in college. Employers use Facebook as a way to see what you are like in your personal life, which gives them an idea of how you might act as an employee. Check Jason Hanold’s Linkedin profile and profiles of other working professionals to learn more about how social networking can impact your chances of finding a great job.
How would you feel if a company rescinded a job offer after finding something negative on your Facebook page? This happens to workers nearly every day in the United States. Today is the perfect time to go over your profile and page to remove anything that might damage your chances of getting a new job.
This is excellent advice. I can’t grasp why so many people I know think that FB posts have no bearing on the rest of their life. It is a surprise when people use bad language in their blogs – there are so many other words to choose from.