Facebook, career prospects and consequences

There is no doubt that Facebook offers excellent social networking opportunities. But if you are searching for a career and the tricky employers might 'Google' your name, then you may be in trouble. Your open statements, opinions, casual sayings, etc might block you from a possible career opportunity for which you are otherwise the most qualified.

Many companies--including Cisco ( CSCO - news - people ), IBM ( IBM - news - people ), GM, Wal-Mart ( WMT - news - people ) and Intel ( INTC - news - people )--have formal social-networking policies. Of U.S. companies with at least 1,000 employees, 10% have disciplined their ranks for running afoul of the rules during the last 12 months, according to Proofpoint, an e-mail security and data-loss-prevention firm in Sunnyvale, Calif. Eight percent of those firms fired at least one employee for egregious violations.

Here are some possible mistakes that you may want to avoid:

• Do not post inappropriate pictures to your profile
• If you are already employed, do not neither complain about your current job nor your boss
• Do not post anything that conflict with information given in your resume
• Always watch what others post to your Wall

See Facebook and Career related videos

How Facebook Mistakes Cause Job Interviews To Go Terribly Wrong - Huizenga Business School


Employee fired over Facebook comments, be ware of Employers monitoring your Internet Usage