Social Media & Your Job Search

I cannot stress enough the importance of scrubbing your social media presence before starting your job search. Here is a great example: earlier this year, a young lady applied to a position at StyleCareers.com. Her resume looked promising so I Googled her in preparation for a phone interview. This is what I found on one of her social media profiles:

IF U KNOW ME THEN U SHOULD ALREADY KNOW IM THAT DEAL… IF YOU DONT KNOW ME MY PICS SHOULD SAY ENOUGH… IM AT A POINT IN MY LIFE RIGHT NOW WHERE IM LIKE FUCK IT… IF I COME OFF TO YOU AS BEING A BITCH THEN FUCK YOU AND ERRYTHANG YOU GOT GOING ON… I AM A BITCH BUT WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME…LOL… BUT ANY WAYS I’M ON HERE TO WASTE TIME AT WORK..AND TRIP OFF THE CRAZY ASS PEOPLE THAT’S ON HERE… WELL ENOUGH SAID..FUCK OFF!!!!!!SMOOCHES

As an employer, I will often give a little leeway to saucy language in a social media profile. I cannot however, overlook someone who is announcing to the world that they are wasting time at work. Pictures are important too. You may have never posted a picture of yourself that was taken at a party but one of your friends may have and worse, they may have even tagged you. In summary, make sure to Google/Bing/Yahoo yourself before starting your job search. Look at text, images and video to make sure employers don’t see anything that could jeopardize your job search. Finally, review the privacy policies on all of your social networks; a few minutes reading the “fine print” can save you hours of headache.