Be Careful What You Say on Your Social Network: You Can't ‘UNSAY’ it!

nAll too often we think of ourselves as living unfettered lives in a society that endorses free speech and self-expression.

To a large extent, that’s true. But when it comes to finding a job, our personal and professional sides can sometimes collide.  This is true whether you’re discussing a particularly dubious party you attended, or making off color political jokes. It’s a virtual certainty that someone, somewhere is going to take exception to what you’ve said. And, wouldn’t it be a shame if that someone was your soon-to-be employer? 

What once was unthinkable in the corporate world has now become commonplace. And that is, employers and recruiting departments as a matter of course, will Google a candidate that they’re looking to hire.  You’d better hope that your internet record will withstand this kind of scrutiny because if they stumble upon evidence of your blogging activity that isn’t in keeping with social decorum, you may be in trouble when it comes to a new position.

Suffice it to say that IBM or Microsoft probably won’t be terribly enthusiastic about your professional credentials when that come across that photo of you high-fiving it with a bunch of friends who are parading in front of the camera lense in their underwear--or worse!  Another killer for your new job is when an HR director finds that you've engaged in racial slurs or jokes that are in poor taste.

Regretfully for you, it’s almost impossible to ‘un-write’ what you’ve posted. Not only do you have to manage your job search these days, but you also have to manage your whole on-line image. The proliferation of web content AND the increasingly savvy managers who are using it as a qualification tool means that you can no longer count on anonymity. In a word, you don’t control what you put out there.

SO, protect yourself by following these tips.
1)    Write everything as though your boss is going to read it! This means no dubious language or jokes at the expense of others.  Questionable photos, bad language and off-color jokes are no-no’s because they will all serve as a reflection of your character.

2) You may want to find a network that allows you to set up a profile and designate it as ‘private.’ That way, it can only be viewed only by those friends you choose.
3) Because you can’t control what others may say on your site, you should   consider using a feature to block comments. Again, EVERYTHING on the Internet is archived and could pop up at the most unfortunate time!

4) Just as you should check your credit record periodically, you should also check your own profile to see what shows up.  Google your name: you might just be surprised to see what you discover!