Career Tip: Online presence
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
As hard as it may be, do resist the urge to blast your boss/ colleagues/ the organization that you work for on social networking sites. Or talk about what a rotten day you had at work, and boy oh boy how your job sucks donkey balls. It will come back to you and you will be fired, and no you are not immune.
Further to this tip, if you are gainfully employed or would otherwise like to be, it is not a good idea to upload indecent pictures of your bored self at home, or on vacation, to your profile space, unless of course you are working in the industry. That’s what ole’ school albums are for. It is not not abnormal for hiring companies to search for any info on you on the web. Then there is this sneaky little “copy & paste”/ “drag & drop” function that turns any media even remotely scandalous, viral.
Entrepreneurs, this also applies to you. The customers and suppliers you hope to have a contract with are watching you.
Even if you set your profile to ‘private‘, don’t believe the hype. Social networking sites, or the good ole’ www on a whole ain’t that private. If you insist, do consider setting up two accounts, a more mainstream one under your full name and another under your ‘imaginary-me’ alias.
Having an online presence isn’t always bad, as a matter of fact it can work in your favour. A potential employer who comes across comments or articles written by you can instantly get a feel for anything from your views or your intellect to your character. Just as it can work against you, you can make it work in your favor. This does not mean that you have to suck up to everyone or agree with everything that is posted online. Just have constructive content, positive or negative, that is consistent with the image that you project professionally.
Noone said that this is right, but this is the world that we live in. If you choose to put yourself out there be prepared to be judged. After all we do prepare ourselves for a formal interview don’t we? Then consider your online presence an ‘informal’ interview.
If you don’t agree with this, take over the world and change it.
In the meantime, start cleaning.
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