Sticks and Stones…Social Media Could Hurt You
By now, you have probably used Facebook, Twitter or YouTube at one time or another. Many people freely use these social media platforms without even realizing they could create serious repercussions when it comes to them trying to get a job.
You might be wondering how this is possible if your employer doesn’t know the URLs to your social media accounts. Thanks to Google, they won’t have much of a problem finding you on these platforms because all they have to do is type your name into the Google search engine and it will likely bring up your social media address information.
So, for example, if you made YouTube videos where you preach hateful remarks towards a particular religion or political issues, then your employer will find that video for sure. Social media allows employers to discover what kind of person you really are in your personal life, or at least who you are on line. If you portray yourself inappropriately on social media then it will make employers not want to hire you. They will be too afraid that you will bring your abusive or irresponsible behavior into the workplace.
You might be wondering, “Aren’t there privacy laws that prevent employers from not hiring me because of my social media content?” Well no, because social media is considered public content. This is another thing that many people don’t realize when they sign up for a social media account. In the terms of service, which no one usually reads, people are agreeing that their content is public information and anything they post is the property of the social media host. Therefore, the content you create on these platforms is not yours after it is published. That means it can all be used against you in real life settings, such as the workplace.
Now if you find yourself in a predicament because you already posted nasty things on your social media accounts, then the best thing you can do is delete all of your social media profiles. Or at the very least, delete the published comments or posts that you made which could be used against you. Chances are if you made too many of them then you will have to delete your entire account and start a new one. Even then, it will take weeks for that information to crawl off of the Google search engine. But after it is done, you should recreate your profiles with nice content that makes you indirectly look attractive to employers.
The bottom line? We live in the digital age, you have to assume that if you do it or say it someone may take a picture, tweet it, post it or tag you in it, so it may be time to decide if your dream job is worth that crazy night in Sin City.
Questions about your company’s actions? Contact UELG TODAY
Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Chinnapong