Careers Advice Blog

Can social media damage your career?

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Social media platforms allow you to project an image of yourself to your audience. The key to using these tools to further your career, rather than holding it back, is to make sure you are sending out a positive image.

While social media is often seen as a way to share your personal life and express yourself freely it is important to remember that any prospective boss is a few clicks away from reading that tweet about skiving off work to grab an ice cream last week or noticing the trend in hangover complaints on Friday mornings.

How you present yourself to an online audience may shape what a potential employer or new colleagues will think about you. Avoid having an online profile which, if pulled up accidentally while giving a presentation to your boss, would cause you to die on the spot from embarrassment.

Here are some obvious but easily overlooked rules for using social media without sabotaging your career prospects.

1. Don’t complain about your job

However tempting it might be to devise a vicious tweet about your supervisor, absolutely avoid posting complaints about your job, especially during the work day. Someone who is off-task and publicly denouncing their place of work and the people they work with is not an appealing employee to any company.

2. Careful of controversy

Be wary about any strongly worded opinion or stance on a controversial topic. Having a fierce debate in the comments section is potentially unwise as your words, feverishly typed in the passion of the moment, are now attached to your name in a public arena and will sit there forever unless you take them down.

3. Mind your photos

Think carefully about the photos you upload and the image that they create. Photos from parties which were perhaps a little less than classy should be kept in private albums or off Facebook entirely. If you wouldn’t want to see a photo printed out and stuck on your office door then don’t have it tagged with your name on Facebook. When it comes to choosing your profile picture on any social media platform recruiters advise you to have a good quality profile picture from the shoulders up, being mindful of what kind of first impression the photo will give to anyone who sees it.

4. Get your privacy settings right

Take the time to work out the privacy settings on Facebook instead of assuming that the basic parameters are right for you. There is no way to completely hide your profile anymore, but you can go through various details and mask them from prying eyes. When it comes to adding colleagues as friends it might be a good idea to create a separate list for them, which you can then exclude from any post which is sensitive or potentially unprofessional. Finding the line between personal and professional while online is becoming increasingly difficult and must be carefully monitored.

Remember that social media can be used as a means of networking with people in your industry, and for self promotion. Following people in your field who you admire, or tweeting about companies you are interested in working for can be a powerful way to get your foot in the door or gain valuable information and stay updated with their current projects. Having multiple social media platforms rather than focusing all your energies on Facebook gives you a wider net to work from. LinkedIn interest groups and expert twitter feeds are brilliant resources to explore.

Do you think social media can damage your career or is it mainly a positive thing? Let us know in the comments below.

Photo: mkhmarketing / Flickr

Megan BowerCan social media damage your career?

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