Don’t tweet away your future

Sometimes, one of the most dangerous activities that we engage in during the day happens to be the one that we put the least thought into.

With that description maybe you’d think I mean driving – and that’s a good guess – but the activity I speak of is actually social media.

Every day you hear about the firing of an employee that didn’t think as hard as they should’ve before posting something online. Whether you’re bad-mouthing a former boss, being culturally insensitive or posting pictures of last weekend’s kegger while under 21.

There are countless ways to lose your job. As students, our work situations often aren’t as crucial as these adults’ situations are. While they’ve begun stable careers, we usually don’t see our current jobs as being the final destination. However, if we allow our situation’s perceived lack of seriousness translate into a lack of serious behavior online, we’ll never move on to the high-profile jobs we desire.

According to Careerbuilder.com, 43 percent of employers use social media to research job candidates, up from 39 percent in 2013 and 36 percent in 2012. Of these companies, 51 percent say they’ve found content that caused them not to hire the candidate, a number that has also increased from year to year: 43 percent in 2013 and 34 percent in 2012.

Other reports are yet even higher. Social media not only can get you fired, but can prevent you from obtaining the job in the first place.

Ask yourself, is there anything on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook that would cause an employer to doubt you while they’re considering your application? Would a quick look-over of your different pages reflect badly on the professional you consider yourself to be?

If the answer is yes, it’s time for a change. Your first line of defense is privacy settings. They don’t keep everyone out, but they’ll stop the bleeding temporarily. Once you’ve done that, you can clean up. Delete, delete, delete — that’s all that can be done.

Let’s be clear, even things that have been deleted can be found sometimes — yes, even with Snapchat — but unless you plan to run for public office or join the FBI, it’s highly unlikely someone digs that far. For our purposes, this will probably do. If you’re worried you’ve missed something but don’t know what, Google yourself and see what comes up. That’s where the employers will start.

After everything, the best defense we have is to simply remember that nothing online is private. The things you post while home alone are just as available publicly as if they were said on TV. There is no substitute for good judgment.

— levi.henrie@aggiemail.usu.edu