Be Careful What You Post Online, Career Advice

Take this advice about posting in your personal life. While these social tools can be powerful forces in networking, they can also blow up in your face when not handled with care. I’ve taken careful steps to separate out my professional life from my social life. Especially since many family members are using social network sites, its important to not let things that happen in my real social life, extend to these places, because then everyone who knows me will know everything about me. Take a look at an article giving some good advice on the topic.

From Reuters: By David Gregorio

NEW YORK – People concerned about their careers should be extra careful about what they post on the Internet during a recession, career counselors say.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and other venues present numerous opportunities to sabotage your hunt for a job or promotion at a time when employers can afford to be picky.

“With social media, you can be vapid, boring and annoying with alarming frequency,” Patricia Vaccarino, owner of a Seattle public relations firm, warned clients in a newsletter.

Vaccarino said many of her Facebook friends have posted “in great detail about their colonoscopies, dead teeth pulled, dead dogs, flatulence, adult acne, marital breakups, battles with mental illnesses and drinking problems.”

If this information can make friends cringe, she added, imagine the impression it would make on a potential employer.

He said the blunders can be roadblocks to being hired, regardless of the candidate’s ability to perform the basic functions of the job.

Hiring people with that kind of public record online may even put a company in legal jeopardy.

“If there is ever a problem with drug use or the harassment of coworkers the company could be liable,” he told Reuters.

In some U.S. states, hiring or promoting people who have exhibited drug use or racist or sexist attitudes “could constitute negligent hiring or negligent retention,” according to Weyerhauser.

Even innocuous postings can cause problems.

He cited the example of the single mother raising four children who posts about her day-to-day life, which might convince an employer that she is too tired and overburdened to be considered for a promotion that might require more time and energy.

Weyerhauser had one final tip. He urges job hunters to think about their email address.

“Nothing gives one more cause for pause than receiving a resume from an email address like ‘BigGoofyRuthie@xxxxxx.com’,” he said.

@Reuters