In the highly interconnected world technology acts both as a helping hand as well as a detrimental force in the current job market.
I recently watched a video for my
class in which a women was fired for what she said over Facebook. I think it is
a fairly common occurrence for people to be overlooked or lose their jobs due
to detrimental things they post on Facebook. When Facebook first became a
phenomenon a lot people did not understand that the things they posted were out
there for the world to see. Many large companies have the ability to see your
social media sites and bashing the employer or company will not show you in a
flattering or professional light. We all leave a digital footprint whenever we
go online. It is all the data that we leave behind online. Everything we post
and write is saved into the giant network of the internet and nothing posted on
the internet ever really goes away. Things will follow you for years even after
being deleted and it is important to recognize that negative pictures or posts
will never entirely disappear. Not all social media site are as private as we believe
that they are. Many large companies either have the ability to override privacy
settings or require you to show them your social media sites. That is why it is
so important to monitor what you post if you work in a professional environment
or are looking for a job. In the video the women was
fired for the negative, angry posts she made about her employer. The same situation
applies to negative posts or comments made about fellow co-workers online.
There must exists a divide between the professional world and your private
world. It is not acceptable behavior in the current job world to be posting
negative things about one’s company or employers online, especially in sites
that have the capacity to become publicly accessed. The employer has every
right to few and make decisions based on Facebook posts. There is a law in
place which protects employees email but Facebook is fair game. In essence the
lesson to take from these women’s mistakes is to never post anything on social media
websites such as Facebook and Twitter that you are not comfortable with everyone seeing.
It is clear the
woman in the video did not think the comments she made on Facebook would get
her fired. If you were her friend and she told you what she was planning to
post before she actually made the post, what would your advice have been to
her? Why? I think that the women was largely
oblivious to the fact that her posts and complaints would get her fired. I do
not think she thought that her boss would ever see them and as a result she did
not hesitate in posting them. If I was her friend I would warn her against
posting anything negative on social media because it is out there for the
public to see. Those thoughts and feeling are personal and do not need to be
shared with the world over media outlets such as Facebook. As a college student
I am very careful about what I post online because things I post now may affect
me in the future when I am looking to apply for a job.
Watch the Video at....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ttx-ERwrh4&feature=youtu.be
