In this age, building up your personal brand and elevating your career has become a lot easier thanks to networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. However, the line between what is and what isn’t acceptable to post in these social media platforms has gone blurry. To name a few, we’ve listed down five of the common, but deadly mistakes that a professional can commit in the digital realm.
- Complaining About Your Job, Boss or Colleagues. This may seem like a no-brainer, but sharing any negative feedback about your current job, your boss or even your colleagues is a number one no-no. Always expect that your current, or even your future employers will raise a red flag at the slightest complaint that they’ll see in your social media accounts. In fact, even the simple ‘bored at work’ comment can be already be a negative way of branding yourself in the industry.
- Posting Too Much Party Pictures. There’s nothing wrong in posting fun photos from your night out with friends, but if you’re flooding your Facebook timeline and Instagram feed with photos that look like an outtake reel of The Hangover, then that’s going to be a problem. Your current and prospective employers will surely find a stream of your party photos a complete turn-off. So tone down uploading your party pics for a bit because you certainly wouldn’t want to be seen as a party animal job candidate.
- Going on a Venting Spree. While it’s tempting to go on a complaining tirade, you certainly wouldn’t want the negatives to outweigh the positive aspects of your online personality. So always keep your emotions in check, take a deep breath and think before you start posting any bad vibes that could reflect badly on you in the future.
- Aggressively Networking for a Job Interview. Twitter and LinkedIn are the top two tools that you can use to network with other professionals in the industry, but understand that there’s a big difference between ‘networking’ and ‘harassing’. Repeatedly sending interview requests to your potential employers won’t help you land a job, and it also comes off as unprofessional. Instead, use your social media to seek some good advice and not to beg for a job.
- Referencing Illegal Activities. Just like number one, this is another no-brainer. Photo or not, or simply anything that you wouldn’t say or do in front of a police officer shouldn’t be broadcasted on social media. Doing so can be the quickest way to sabotage not just your career, but your entire life as well.
Social media is indeed the best way to build up your personal branding and propel your career. So ensure that you avoid the aforementioned social media mistakes to preserve not just your good online personality, but your career as well.
