4 Social Media Gaffes That Can Damage Your Job Chances

Marc Saltzman,

AARP

En español

Published January 23, 2023

Whether you’ve always wanted to have a long career or high inflation has affected your retirement plans, if you’ve decided to get a new part- or full-time job or contract work, don’t overlook your social media when updating your résumé and LinkedIn profile.

While what you post online wasn’t a consideration when job hunting 20 years ago, various surveys show that most potential employers are looking over your shoulder now at your Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, Twitter or other social media beyond LinkedIn — with or without your knowledge. Many companies today check your social media activity to get a sense of the kind of person you are even before they invite you for an interview.

So look for these red flags in past posts to clear them out before you embark on a job search.

1. Inappropriate comments, photos

We all have different senses of humor and opinions on what’s considered appropriate. But it’s always best to err on the side of caution publicly.

Obvious posting activity that could hurt your chances of getting hired includes insulting or harassing others, having sexist comments, sharing political views, using strong profanity or commenting negatively about someone’s race, religion, nationality or skin color. This is common sense.

Study the image you’re presenting. You might think it’s innocent, but a photo of you impersonating someone or poking fun at something can be incredibly offensive. Delete photos that would be unappealing to a potential employer, such as a vacation image of you less dressed and very tipsy.

Also be aware of any photos or videos of you partaking in illegal substances, including marijuana, even though pot is legal in 21 states and the District of Columbia as of January.

Shy away from politics. While you might be a proud Democrat or Republican, remember that not everyone has the same political views. You could be severely limiting your opportunities by posting a photo of yourself wearing a button, cap or T-shirt that suggests your political affiliation, and by all means, avoid revealing your political leanings in your profile picture.

2. Complaining about your job, boss

Your prospective boss, a hiring manager or someone in human resources might look to see what you’ve posted about your previous employer.

Did you have anything negative to say publicly about the company or brand? Or in a momentary lapse in judgment, did you write something snarky about your former boss that you forgot to take down?

Maybe you badmouthed a coworker or openly mocked your customers. In this case, remember the adage: The customer is always right. Remove the post immediately.

Employers want a team player, a professional, not someone who airs dirty laundry. This means give your social media activity a thorough audit, including older posts, comments, likes and photos.

3. Bad spelling, plagiarism

Poor spelling and grammar aren’t as easy to scrub off your timeline.

Details matter. You may not realize you’re mixing up “their,” “there” and “they’re.” If you’re lucky, a potential boss will be forgiving on leaving out punctuation or having miscellaneous typos.

A 2021 survey from Jobvite, an Indianapolis-based software provider for recruiting and hiring, found that 45 percent of recruiters consider it a turnoff to see a candidate use poor spelling and grammar. That was No. 1 of its Top 5 with references to marijuana, alcohol consumption, politics and pictures of body parts showing skin rounding out the list.

Informal acronyms don’t impress. Avoid using texting language in your social feeds. brb, be right back; icymi, in case you missed it; and smh, shaking my head, are fine in a text. But if you’re posting something, especially on a professional platform like LinkedIn, use more formal English. Otherwise, it could imply laziness.

Twitter is particularly tough, because you have a limited number of characters to use. But in the future if you have a longer statement to make, you can write what you want to say in a Word or other text document, take a screenshot and attach it to your tweet.

Remember that posting something someone else wrote to social media is acceptable only if you give credit. Passing off something as yours means you may be called out on it, and it could hurt your career. Cite the author, link to the article you’re quoting and attribute the photographer’s work you’re posting.

4. Oversharing

We all have friends who post everything on social media: their favorite latte foam art, a fun goat yoga class or every Pioneer Woman recipe ever published. Their minute-to-minute photo libraries of vacation advertise an empty house back home.

What does this have to do with a new job? Sometimes things shouldn’t be shared on social media, such as the amount of your bonus or information about a new marketing campaign not yet launched. You don’t want a potential employer to think you have a habit of posting private company business for others to see.

An acquaintance of mine once prematurely posted about a job just scored. The employer rescinded the offer after seeing the post because a confidentiality agreement was violated and the hire was deemed untrustworthy.

Face it. You don’t want to lose the job before your first day.

Start with a clean house

If you’re certain your social media posts are OK, go through them anyway to see if anything stands out. Try to look at your posts from the perspective of a recruiter or potential employer.

Facebook, the most popular social media platform in the U.S., offers easy ways to delete posts with a feature called Manage Activity. It simplifies the deletion of posted content, both in bulk and individually, all in one place.

And it allows you to archive posts as opposed to deleting them, should you not want the photo of you 20 years younger and 40 pounds lighter to go away forever. Think of it as being held in a digital purgatory, behind the scenes.

The deletion process varies on each social platform, so be sure to review previous activity on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and other channels you frequent.

Police your followers

A more aggressive approach is to tighten your social network reach to limit what your potential employer sees. Every social platform will let you shrink your circle of friends or followers, but don’t let that keep you from cleaning house. Someone still can take a screenshot or show your potential employer something you wrote.

When in doubt, ask a partner or a friend if something is suitable to keep on social media. A second opinion is never a bad idea.

%{postComment}%