When Myspace and Facebook first emerged, I never worried about what pictures were posted of me or what comments were made on my page because I was a teenager and having a career was so far in the future I couldn’t even contemplate it. I was having a fun time and I didn’t care who saw it.
I wish I had known better.
What goes on the Internet never leaves the Internet, even after you have deleted a post or picture from your page. If an employer really wants to find it, they will. Best advice? Don’t post these in the first place! It will save you from having to worry about it in the future and having it cost you that dream job you worked so hard to get.
After reading this article on social media and how it can affect your job search, I now know what I need to clean up on my social media sites before I begin to network with potential employers.
There are five essential steps outlined in the article that give very good advice about cleaning up your social media behaviors.
- Watch out with who you are friends with- Friends can post really inappropriate things on your wall without asking you first. Make sure everyone knows not to do this and delete any unsavory material.
- If you make a site, use it!– An inactive site shows that you don’t know how to utilize social media and you didn’t finish what you started.
- Be discreet- If you are using social media to network, don’t let employers see your interactions with other potential job opportunities as they may lose interest in you.
- Don’t rely on your site– It is still important to utilize face-to-face interactions when networking for a job.
- Don’t get sucked in- A lot of time can be used up while social networking. You log on to check for notifications and three hours later you realize who are still surfing through profiles and forgot to do your homework!
If you feel like you are social media savy and are looking for a career, Mashable has many job listings that are updated often for you to look through!
And just for fun, here is a cool video about the impact of social media in the world as of 2011.
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