Nowadays, it’s a fact that social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram can help boost your career, connect you with recruiters, and elevate your job search.
However, it can also cause harm to your reputation since everyone now has an online presence.
While your accounts on social media are personally yours, your potential employers might be doing some background checks before hiring you and if they find something unpleasant, you might ruin your chances of being hired.
As such, here are some things that you should consider when it comes to keeping your ‘online resume’ as attractive as possible.
Posting controversial and negative content
Posting controversial content will more likely ruin your reputation, as you’ll be viewed as being negative.
In addition, prospective employers would not want to hire employees who are discriminatory towards race, gender or religion.
However, if you do have very strong positions on certain issues that you believe in, it’s probably wise to post them on your private social media account; one that can only be seen by your nearest and dearest, and not by the whole world.
Sharing confidential information
When posting things online, there should be a clear boundary as to what is personal and public.
Apart from details about your personal information, revealing private details about your company online is also hazardous.
For instance, if you reveal information about your company that has not been made public yet, you’re not only making yourself look like an untrustworthy staff member, you’re jeopardising the company’s reputation as well.
Leaving offensive comments
This year, a Malaysian medical student was suspended over his sexist comments on social media, hence showing how quickly things can escalate and ruin a career.
As with the earlier point above, while all are entitled to their own opinions, such comments can be harmful for the working environment.
So if you’re planning on commenting something that could be construed as offensive, it’s better to think about how it will affect your career, as such comments can (and often do) affect careers, nowadays.
Complaining about previous or current job
Working can be tough, and it is understandable that you might want to let some steam off once in a while.
However, depending on what you post on social media about your current or previous job, it can sometimes land you in trouble.
If you are connected with colleagues or even clients on social media, chances are they will be able to see what you post online, and worse, they can take a screenshot of it even if you’ve deleted the post.
This is a weekly column by SarawakYES! – an initiative driven by Faradale Media-M Sdn Bhd and supported by Angkatan Zaman Mansang (AZAM) Sarawak – to provide advice and stories on the topics of education and careers to support Sarawakians seeking to achieve their dreams. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
This article first appeared on The Borneo Post, published in the print version on Saturday, June 1, 2019.
Photo by Tracy Le Blanc from Pexels.
