5 ways social media can cost you a great new job
(MoneyWatch) By making networking easier and displaying tech skills, social media can be a vital part of your job search. For instance, you can develop digital relationships with a company you want to work for on Twitter or publicize your professional portfolio through your blog and Facebook. But social media can also sabotage your chance of getting a great, new gig. Here are five sneaky ways Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and the like can ruin your chances of job search success.
This is Part 2 in a series on Job Interview Disasters. Please read Part 1, "Skype Disasters: 4 ways to ruin an online job interview"and check back Monday for Part 3, "5 Mistakes 90 Percent of Gen Yers Make In Job Interviews."
Complaining about customers or your boss
It can be tempting to share a bad day at the office with friends, but save work rants for offline. Expect that future potential employers (not to mention your current boss) may see anything you post. "If this behavior was noticed by a recruiter, they will view this as someone who doesn't care about their job and won't consider you for the position," says Heather R. Huhman, founder of Come Recommended, a digital and career consulting firm.
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Posting confidential information
On a similar note, how you handle privileged information in your current job gives a window to how you might handle it in your next position. "Not only might you be breaking the law, but you're showing potential employers you can and will put them in jeopardy," says Nathan Parcells, co-founder and CMO of InternMatch, an online platform that matches college students with employers.
Being on Twitter 24/7
Unless your job requires you to maintain your company's feed, you shouldn't be live-tweeting your day. "This can be a red flag to recruiters. They will start thinking you spend all of your time on social media," says Huhman. If you're tweeting for fun during work hours, this indicates that you're unprofessional. And if you're tweeting all day about your job search, it can also show that you don't know one of the most important rules of social media -- that quality should be valued over quantity.
Linking to dubious sources
If your industry values thorough research and reporting, linking to places like Wikipedia can lower your credibility, says Parcells: "You might make things worse for your job search if you consistently link information to sources that aren't legitimate."
Padding your profiles
If you wouldn't call yourself a "marketing guru" on your resume, don't do it on your Twitter bio, says Huhman: " If you claim yourself to be an expert, you better be able to support your title with experience, knowledge and skills when you enter the interview."