The days of keeping your personal and professional lives separate are a thing of the past thanks to social media. The two cannot independently exist without taking drastic measures -- and even then there are risks. Social media's (or SoMe) connection to personal and professional branding has been dominating headlines for awhile, and should be a reminder to job seekers in what continues to be a tight job market that they need to keep their online noses clean. Employers are using Google and social media sites to perform preliminary background checks on candidates before they step foot in the door for an interview. For that reason, your SoMe presence can kill the possibilities of landing a job.
The first--and most important--step toward repairing your SoMe identity is cleaning up your act. No one needs their dirty laundry hung out all over the virtual clothes lines for all the world to see. We owe it to ourselves to take a hard look at our online and real-world behavior and make choices that will not have long-term damaging affects on our lives and on our careers. What we do today can cause permanent online damage, similar to an impulsively-purchased bad tattoo. Despite our efforts to get it removed, the evidence of it can linger forever.
For some, this means...
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