Social media has become a neccesity more than a luxury. At this day and age, anyone can have access to the internet at the tip of their fingers. As much as it’s a great thing to helps us connect to people easier, and also makes it easier to look for a job, it works both ways. Remember, the world wide web is a small place and everything you say or do can be used against you. Take precautions and follow these top 5 social media don’ts as these were reasons that people have been previously fired for!
1. Don’t Complain About Your Job
You’ve had a horrible day at work and your boss was being tough on you, so instead of just letting it slide you decide to rant on Facebook. The world is a really small place to be honest, and you’ll never know who’s on your list that may know your boss or even worse, you have colleagues on Facebook. Most companies these days have social media policies, so in order to avoid any form of ill feelings and not stir up drama in the office, avoid ranting about your boss, working hours or even people you work with.
2. Don’t Post Crude/Racist Remarks
We’re all about freedom of speech, but insensitive remarks can spark drama anywhere including the workplace. Try to keep things online politically correct and keep all the nasty thoughts in your head, well, in your head. Remember, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.
3. Never Complain of Boredom
Especially if you are at work! Your employer may take this as a personal insult as they can take it in a negative way and assume that you are not interested in working for them and aren’t happy with the job. Also, saying your bored indicates that they aren’t giving you enough work and your boss may just increase your workload. Either one of these senarios, you won’t really be happy with. Avoid complaining about anything work related on social media, keep it for when you speak to a good friend or someone you can confide in.
4. Don’t Fake an Emergency to Party
You had an event you really, really (really!) wanted to go for, but you were working on that day and you decided to fake a family emergency so you can go for the event instead. Everyone does it as some point of time (Let’s be completely honest here!). However, here is where the social media blunders seem to take place. You have your boss and colleagues on your Facebook and someone uploads a picture of you partying it up and also checks you in, in Foursquare. Your best bet at this point (and if you know things like these are prone to happen) is to either a) Not lie to begin with, or b) keep your colleagues on a blocked list to avoid being fired the next day.
5. Don’t Forget to Set Privacy Settings
This could cause more than just minimal damage, from people creating fake accounts of you and stealing your pictures for some twisted reason, to your status and rants appearing when your name is Google’d. Most companies run a background check also known as Googling their employees or people who’ve signed up for the job. Always be wary of what you say on the world wide web. Just to double check, Google yourself and check from an employers point of view.
