Social Media Blunders that Will Hurt a Young Doc's Career

Social media has become part of the every day life for most people. Whether it's Facebook, Instagram, twitter, LinkedIn or snapchat, it's where we communicate with friends, family, our potential patients/clients/customers and so we end up sharing a lot on these platforms. It's also where job recruiters, employers and, yes patients/clients/customers go to find you for whatever their reason.  So, when does sharing become too much? 

People are always watching and yes, while some may be inspired, motivated some are also judging, so it goes without saying that you must think twice about your content before you place it on the internet.  According to a research study 78% of job recruiters check search engines for backgrounds on candidates and about 63% check social media sites. 

 

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Here's a short list of NOT To-Do's on Social Media for young professionals:

1. Badmouthing Employer and Coworkers

This is an absolute no-no! Gossiping about your co-workers, employer or company is a major turn off to potential employers and clients. A 2004 career builder survey found that 36% of hiring managers have passed on a candidate for this very reason. The logic is simple, putting down your company in the public sphere reflects poorly on you and shows that you may not be a team player. A simple tweet #myjobsucks #hatethisjob #crazycoworker may do a lot more harm than you can imagine. 

2. Spelling and Grammar Mistakes

Employers are looking to hire well educated, well spoken, detail oriented people to join their team. Having spelling or grammatical errors indicate that you are either ignorant, haphazard or not very well educated. According to a jobvite survey, 66% of recruiters have rejected a candidate due to improper use or poor grasp of the English language. 

3. Questionable Content

Recruiters look at everything. Be wary of the use of profanity, illegal drug references and sexual posts. Pictures with your friends out for a drink or a dinner date is quite normal and won't hurt but be mindful of pictures you or your friends may post (where you are tagged) in compromising situations. Go through your social media page(s) imagining that you are your boss or recruiter and ask yourself "based on my pictures/posts would I give me an interview?"  Also consider googling yourself from time to time to see what pops up.

4. Getting Too Personal

Sharing certain personal information online can sometimes come back to bite you. Think religion, politics, or any hot topic these days, like pregnancy and abortion. Voicing certain religious or political views can come across as biased. For example, a Carnegie mellon study that analyzed how hiring behavior is affected by what employers find online about candidates discovered significant discrimination against Muslim applicants versus Christian applicants.  Similarly, a study done by Rice University found that pregnant job candidates receive more interpersonal discrimination from employers. Even though employers cannot legally preclude people for that reason, they can simply give you a s tock reason for not hiring you. So sadly, try to keep that info to yourself until you have secured your position.

5. Being a Bully

Be Kind. Do not make offensive remarks whether about race, religion, political stance or anything for that matter. Don't be a troll. Enough Said. 

 

Source: LearnVest