We live in a time where almost everything revolves around social media. You can follow current events, get instant sports updates, scroll through @yungbenfranklin memes on Instagram (follow this account if you don’t already), or just see what people are up to. However, this can lead to many regrettable decisions on social media. More likely than not, we've all either seen or posted something on some form of social media that was a little questionable. Hopefully after reading this article you’ll be able to hide from your future employers...who will most likely be Goldman Sachs since this is Penn.
GO PRIVATE
Change your name. If you know you have photos or things that shouldn’t be seen but you don’t want to delete them, then change your name. Get creative here. Also, if you haven’t already, make your Twitter and Insta private. A 2014 survey from Jobvite.com showed that 93 percent of job recruiters are likely to scroll through an applicant’s social media pages. If your pages are public, this just makes their jobs so much easier.
EDIT YOUR PICTURES
Pretty self–explanatory. If you’re not 21, then don’t have alcohol in your pictures. Either put it behind your back or blur it out. We get it, you drink. But your potential employers probably won’t think you’re as cool as you think you are.
BE POSITIVE
As easy as it is to complain about how far DRL is or how crowded Houston is, just try to be positive in your social media posts. Contrary to popular belief, job recruiters who scroll through social media aren’t only looking for incriminating evidence. They are also trying to get an inside look as to what person you are. If you’re just constantly complaining and bad–mouthing other people, they’re probably not going to hire you.
POST WHEN YOU’RE SOBER
Just wait until the next morning to tweet about how dope the backlot party was, how good your Allegro's pizza was, etc. Nobody really wants to see your misspelled shenanigans on their Facebook feed, and it’s definitely not a good look for future employers.
DON’T BE CONTROVERSIAL
Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion and is allowed to post whatever they want to, but employers don’t want to see their applicants starting World War III with their posts. Just be cool.
EDIT YOUR TAGS
This is huge. Make it so that you have to accept requests for people to tag you in pictures. This prevents those horrendous 3 a.m. pictures from making it onto your profile. Even if you aren’t hiding from Goldman you should probably do this.
