Are you a fan of social networking sites? Do you have a thriving social life on Facebook, and a huge following on Twitter? Then, do you know that what you do online can seriously affect your job search and career advancement?
When used wisely and well, social networking can do your career a world of good, especially if you are in a field where developing a network and building contacts is of vital importance to you. But what you say and do online can adversely affect you in ways you might not even have imagined.
Studies have shown that apart from the customary background checks, nearly 25% of employers are looking up their present and future employees on Google to see what they are up to in the virtual world. Your resume might be perfect and impressive, your credentials might be rock-solid, but if a potential employer stumbles upon photos of you at a wild night at the beach, you might have to say goodbye to your dream job.
You might argue that what you do away from the job is your personal affair. But the fact is that it is online, and free for anybody to view. And if a prospective employer is concerned about the respectability of his company, and wants to check out what kind of a person you are in your personal life, then nobody can stop him.
Even seemingly harmless status updates like, “Gosh, I’m so tired. Is this week never going to end?” might be construed as dissatisfaction with the job, and lack of motivation. You never really know how your statements can be perceived.
Even blogs can get you into trouble. You might write under an assumed name, and might not even mention the name of your company, but just one jealous co-worker who knows about your blog might prove to be your undoing.
“Never!” you might say. “My co-workers are my friends! They’d never give me away!” But how do you know? This is a dog-eat-dog world, and the competition is fierce. Who can say who might turn against you?
This doesn’t mean that you must go off social networking. There are just a few things you must keep in mind.
- Make all your details private, so that only friends can see what you post. There are privacy options on networking sites for a reason. Make use of them. But do remember that these settings are not foolproof.
- Take care when adding co-workers or bosses to your friends’ list. Make sure you know whom to add and whom not to. Sites like Google Plus offer the option of adding different people to different circles. This could be made use of to your advantage.
- Make friends with only people you know.
- Be totally aware of what you post. Before making any update to your status, see if it is completely harmless. Ensure that it does not tarnish your image in any way, or embarrass you.
- When you update or upload something, think of its long term consequences.
- Keep pictures to a minimum, especially those that portray you in an unprofessional way.
- Be mindful of what you “Like” on sites. Photos, videos or links that you choose to “Like” may portray you as racist, sexist or even childish.
- When you comment on other people’s walls, or blogs, be aware that these might be shared, and might be public.
- If you have a blog in your own name, never, ever, write anything about your job or your company, or your work, or anything related to it. If you write under a pseudonym, then you can be more relaxed, but even then, don’t put up pictures, and make sure that your co-workers don’t know about your blog. There have been innumerable instances of people being fired by what they wrote on their blogs.
- A person is known by the company he keeps. So make sure that you know who you are linking up with, or following.
If all these warnings puts you off, relax. All you need is to use your judgement. In fact, if your bosses or co-workers are on your friends’ lists, then you can easily engineer your status updates to portray you in a constantly positive light. You can use your own name to maintain blogs or sites online where you can show prospective employers by your writing and comments and observations that you are in touch with the latest in the field. Do see that you don’t plagiarize, though.
The internet can be your greatest friend, or it can be your nemesis. It is by your actions and judgement that you can make it what you want it to be.
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