As social media continues to grow and becomes more popular every day. Many people fail to understand that social media is more than just a place for entertainment and funny memes.
If you are an employee, one of the things you should understand is that hiring managers and managers of organisations are frequently monitoring the activities of their employees online. Embassies of major Western Countries also review the social media presence of visa applicants before they grant access into their countries.
If you like your job, and wish to continue on the career path that you are currently on. Avoid these mistakes when using social media.
1. Logging on During Work Hours
Unless you’re working in the social media side of a company or a business it’s highly recommended you avoid logging on to your personal profiles throughout the day. The majority of people have several different social media accounts and have notifications popping up throughout the day. Look at it from your employers perspective. Your employer pays you to do your job and being seen using social media during the day could very easily cost you that job. Check your notifications during your allocated break times.
2. Posting Tasteless Comments (Trolling)
Any comments posted with the intention of offending another person or group could cost you your job. Posting distasteful comments and updates on social media can reflect badly on you as a professional and can result in a poor reflection of the company. Actions like this can really land you in hot water with the HR department. Your employer is not going to want the negative backlash of employing someone that spends their free time causing harm or offence to anyone else online. Always be cautious of how opinionated you are while engaging in activity online, refrain from posting anything malicious or discriminating or sharing posts of the same nature.
3. Complaining about Your Boss
Putting negative energy related to your workplace on display on your social accounts is never a good idea. Definitely not recommended if you have something negative to say about your manager or your employer. Yes, you can have high security on your social media accounts but that’s not to say that a colleague won’t see it and forward it on to him/her.
These sort of things have a way of following you throughout your career. A potential employer in the future might see a post that you made while working an old job and decide that you are not worth hiring since you’ve badmouthed your employer in the past.
4. Sharing Confidential Information
Most companies nowadays will have you sign a contract before you commence working there, this signature implies that you acknowledge that you cannot disclose any confidential information outside of the work place. It’s particularly important to keep private matters off of social media, this includes positive news and information. It can be difficult to not share good news about your company but the majority of companies like to announce their news publicly themselves, in order to generate a some publicity or marketing. Announcing private information on your personal accounts before the business has an opportunity to announce the news can get you in a lot of trouble.
5. Posting Inappropriate Photos
We are all entitles to a night out. It’s human nature. However, it’s important to bare in mind, particularly on work nights out to avoid posting inappropriate posts and photos. It may seem just like harmless fun at the moment in time but it could show you in an negative light to your employer. Even reposting and sharing visual content of your friends/colleagues drunken antics could be cause an issue to arise between you and your employer.
6. Announcing that you are searching for a new job
Unless your colleagues and employer are aware of you embarking on a job hunt, like in an instance of redundancy or you’re in your final weeks of a temporary contract, it’s not recommended to go on social media announcing your job search. If your employer becomes aware of your plan to leave the company, they are in a position to find a replacement for you immediately. You could find yourself being replaced before you’ve even found yourself in a new job.
6 Social Media Mistakes that Could Damage Your Career
As social media continues to grow and becomes more popular every day. Many people fail to understand that social media is more than just a place for entertainment and funny memes.
If you are an employee, one of the things you should understand is that hiring managers and managers of organisations are frequently monitoring the activities of their employees online. Embassies of major Western Countries also review the social media presence of visa applicants before they grant access into their countries.
If you like your job, and wish to continue on the career path that you are currently on. Avoid these mistakes when using social media.
1. Logging on During Work Hours
Unless you’re working in the social media side of a company or a business it’s highly recommended you avoid logging on to your personal profiles throughout the day. The majority of people have several different social media accounts and have notifications popping up throughout the day. Look at it from your employers perspective. Your employer pays you to do your job and being seen using social media during the day could very easily cost you that job. Check your notifications during your allocated break times.
2. Posting Tasteless Comments (Trolling)
Any comments posted with the intention of offending another person or group could cost you your job. Posting distasteful comments and updates on social media can reflect badly on you as a professional and can result in a poor reflection of the company. Actions like this can really land you in hot water with the HR department. Your employer is not going to want the negative backlash of employing someone that spends their free time causing harm or offence to anyone else online. Always be cautious of how opinionated you are while engaging in activity online, refrain from posting anything malicious or discriminating or sharing posts of the same nature.
3. Complaining about Your Boss
Putting negative energy related to your workplace on display on your social accounts is never a good idea. Definitely not recommended if you have something negative to say about your manager or your employer. Yes, you can have high security on your social media accounts but that’s not to say that a colleague won’t see it and forward it on to him/her.
These sort of things have a way of following you throughout your career. A potential employer in the future might see a post that you made while working an old job and decide that you are not worth hiring since you’ve badmouthed your employer in the past.
4. Sharing Confidential Information
Most companies nowadays will have you sign a contract before you commence working there, this signature implies that you acknowledge that you cannot disclose any confidential information outside of the work place. It’s particularly important to keep private matters off of social media, this includes positive news and information. It can be difficult to not share good news about your company but the majority of companies like to announce their news publicly themselves, in order to generate a some publicity or marketing. Announcing private information on your personal accounts before the business has an opportunity to announce the news can get you in a lot of trouble.
5. Posting Inappropriate Photos
We are all entitles to a night out. It’s human nature. However, it’s important to bare in mind, particularly on work nights out to avoid posting inappropriate posts and photos. It may seem just like harmless fun at the moment in time but it could show you in an negative light to your employer. Even reposting and sharing visual content of your friends/colleagues drunken antics could be cause an issue to arise between you and your employer.
6. Announcing that you are searching for a new job
Unless your colleagues and employer are aware of you embarking on a job hunt, like in an instance of redundancy or you’re in your final weeks of a temporary contract, it’s not recommended to go on social media announcing your job search. If your employer becomes aware of your plan to leave the company, they are in a position to find a replacement for you immediately. You could find yourself being replaced before you’ve even found yourself in a new job.