All of my interests, hates, hobbies and friendships are out on the World Wide Web among social networking media such as Twitter, Facebook and various gaming websites. I acknowledge that what I post online will probably be seen by my future employers.
That fact is the reason why it pains me to see what my fellow peers have been posting online. Blatant photos of partying and drinking, statuses filled with lewdness and grammatically incorrect syntax, and even completely biased and uneducated claims that make me physically cringe.
Whatever is posted does not disappear from the Internet easily, if at all. In fact, it is more likely that whatever is posted will propagate and spread out across other social mediums. This lack of concern for online professionalism is worrisome.
In 2009, a study was done at CareerBuilder with employers asking if they used Facebook or other forms of social media to background potential candidates for job positions. The results were unsettling, to say the least: 45 percent of employers researched their potential job candidates; an astounding jump from 22 percent in 2008.
If the trend is to be continued today, it is not hard to see that most, if not all employers, will perform background checks on the people they hope to hire. The same study showed that when employers were asked why they turned down a candidate, over half said if a candidate posted a provocative or inappropriate photograph or information, they were immediately disregarded for the job.
Other stipulations that caused employers to find another candidate included posting content about drug use, posting negative statuses about previous employers or co-workers, poor communication skills and discriminatory comments.
This lack of online professionalism needs to be addressed, and it can be done so in some very simple steps. First and most importantly, think before posting. While it may be tempting to call out others and vent frustrations in a public manner, refrain.
Instead, try to focus and post positive or constructive ideas to social media. If these frustrations need to be shared, consider private messaging others or creating a closed, private group to discuss claims. Try to keep the public sphere outside of the private sphere.
Other options include creating a second account solely for a professional purpose and using privacy settings to keep the personal profile completely hidden or, in extreme cases, removing yourself from the platform completely. We live in a world filled with social media. It is our responsibility to use these services intelligently and to consider our professional careers outside of college when posting and interacting with others online.