Biggest Social Media Mistakes that Can Get You Fired

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social media

There are many benefits of using social media such as connecting with friends and family who live far away or following the news and latest trends. However, if you misuse it, it can get you in trouble and destroy your whole career.

  • Making an Offensive Comment: Never post something racist, sexist or offensive. Remember, in 2013 Justine Sacco tweeted “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” before boarding a plane from New York to South Africa for her trip. By the time she landed in South Africa, she found out that she was already fired from her job at IAC. There are numerous examples similar to this one. Therefore, think twice before you post something to social media because it can go viral in seconds and can cost you your entire career.
  • Posting on a “Sick” Day: Everybody can have days that they don’t want to work and especially if the weather is nice, you may want to go to a park or a beach to relax and have some fun. Also, during the week when everybody is at work, these kinds of places are usually less crowded enabling you to enjoy your time more. Therefore, sometimes you may want to call in sick and skip work to go outside. However, the biggest mistake you can do is to take your pictures on a park, beach, etc. in your “sick” day and post them online instantly. Just hold off on them until the weekend and if you use your “sick” day with your friends, tell your friends not to tag you or not to post any pictures of you online. Otherwise, if your coworkers see that you are using your “sick” day having fun instead of spending at home resting, you may get the pink slip the next day.
  • Job Searching from Work: Don’t make your job search public. Don’t make your LinkedIn profile title “Open for new opportunities” or don’t tweet to headhunters. Keep your job search to yourself. At least, use direct messaging tools. Also, don’t search for a new job at work because IT may monitor your computer or one of your coworkers can accidentally see from your monitor that you are searching for a new job when s/he is passing by around your desk. Then, s/he can tell this news to your boss and your boss may think that you are not happy in your current job and may take steps to let you go immediately. No one likes an employee who is not committed to his/her employer.
Picture of Ceren Cubukcu

Ceren Cubukcu

Ceren Cubukcu is a top 5 bestselling author of Make Your American Dream A Reality: How to Find a Job as an International Student in the United States. She recently founded her consulting business to help more international students find jobs in the US in addition to her self-service digital event ticketing platform, Etkinlik Fabrikam (My Event Factory), to offer her webinars. 

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