Facebook: Jobseekers Beware!

Last month a few of the ad club members attended a Social Media Club of Louisville meeting that touched on the issue of keeping your Facebook profile professional and clean. Believe it or not, a few days following this meeting, a Facebook friend of mine posted some "explicit" pictures of his ex-girlfriend whom he recently found out had cheated on him. As embarrassing as this might have been for the ex in question, my immediate thought was "why would he post something like that on HIS profile?"

The point is this, your Facebook profile is public, regardless of your privacy settings. Everything you post online is logged and archived in one manner or another. The single best rule to use when posting material online is "don't post anything you wouldn't want your mother or grandmother to see". Now I realize that some of us have "cooler" or more modern parents and grandparents than others do, but for this rule let's assume that your mother or grandmother wouldn't find nudity, beer bonging, or anything other "exciting college adventures" acceptable or entertaining. Truth is none of your future employees will view those types of pictures or comments as favorable – and there are cases where a single Facebook picture, wall post, or status update has caused applicants to not be hired for a job.

Here are a few simple reminders to consider when you are "Facebook-ing":

1. NEVER tell your Facebook friends how bad you hate your job, your boss, or the company for which you work. What does this say to your future employees? That one day they too can be bashed on your profile.
   
2. A picture DOES say a thousand words – and that picture of you doing the keg stand last spring break does not say "hire me because I am professional".
   
3. "Dude, we totally blacked out last night – have you found your car yet?" – This might seem like a humorous wall post between friends, but again all of your profile is public in one way or another and employers will not positively respond to this post.
   
4. Use Facebook as another personal branding medium. List your goals and strengths in the information section of your profile; make your status updates worth reading (i.e. not what you had for lunch or how hung-over you are from the night before); and monitor what your friends post on your wall. There is a delete button for everything that is posted to your profile and you have the absolute right to delete anything that doesn't show you in a positive, employable light.
   

Employers are checking Facebook, LinkedIn, and other Social Networking sites as they screen for potential employees. Don't let your profile be the reason that you don't get hired for your dream job.