Social media can be more haunting than a ghost for job seekers.

Maybe you enjoy sharing pictures  or posting statuses about your outings during the weekend on Facebook, Instagram and other social networking sites. Although it is fun to share these life events around the internet, young adults and potential job seekers should be extremely careful of their public displays on the web.  What is important to remember is that whatever is on the internet never really can be deleted. It is crucial to understand that what you write on Twitter and Facebook can come back to haunt you.

Tips to avoid potential mishaps:

1)      Make sure that you have adequate privacy settings on Facebook , Twitter and other social networking sites- By maximizing the security on these sites you can avoid having unwanted pictures, and posts surfacing the web. It would be ideal to restrict all photos that others tag of you set so only you can see them . On sites such a twitter, protecting your “tweets” is another way of avoiding privacy concerns .

2)      Sharing too much - It is extremely interesting that some people will not say certain things in everyday situations but they have no problem of saying it online.  Social networking sites are fun to share life events with “friends” on sites such as Facebook , but sharing too much can be extremely problematic. Maybe you wrote a status on Facebook about your boss and think just because you aren’t “friends” with them on Facebook they will not find out . Unfortunately that is not the case, you could have mutual friends in common that would have no problem telling your boss all the lovely things you said about him or her. 

Also, not everyone enjoys seeing pictures circling Facebook that show how much an individual had to drink on the weekend. Trying to limit how much you post on the internet is ideal for potential job seekers and can save you the headache in the long run.

3)      Be careful of not only how much you post but also what you post- Although social media is constantly used as a social outlet of expression , there should be a limit to how freely you post . Whether it be inappropriate language or pictures that you took on the weekend.  Even if you have adequate security settings potential employers can find loop holes of scanning for potential reasons not to hire you.  It might be a simple profile picture of a person drinking or attending a rave, but employers can make decisions based on an online persona.

These are just many out of several tips for using social media safely .  The more you post , the more you might regret. Seeing as 53% of employers check Facebook profiles, you want to eliminate any potential reasons why an employer might not hire you , be careful of the online persona you create.  There is nothing wrong with expressing yourself on Facebook or other social media sites, but in moderation. Not only is it important to be mindful of this when you are looking for a job, but also if you plan on keeping your job!