That profile picture is the perfect mix of cute and hot. That cover photo points out that you have enough friends to more than fill up the entire length of my screen. That party last night is fully documented, as is the one the night before, along with some great selfies. You post funny things, sarcastic things, suggestive things — 10 likes is a bare minimum when you have something to say.
Your Facebook page, to be colloquial, is hopping.
Congrats, you have succeeded in becoming a Facebook success for your friends and classmates. But what about future employers? As a journalism major, I am plagued with strategies and tips to becoming a social media success; it’s pretty much my job. But social media doesn’t cease to be important if you are an engineer or a doctor — any student can be positively or negatively affected by his or her Facebook, Instagram or anything that he or she chooses to put online.
It’s no secret that employers now use Google to look up possible employees and that they have more methods than ever before to find out everything about you.
Don’t just laugh it off and hope they won’t notice the picture of you entitled “last night got crazy” or the album “Birthday Shenanigans.” They’ll find it. They will also notice the large number of pictures of you in skintight clothing as well as the prominence of red Solo cups.
I’m not saying don’t do these things — it is college for goodness sake. Let’s be honest, every employer probably had the same crazy college experience that you are having and loved every minute of it. However, I guarantee you that the person sitting across from you has exactly zero pictures of their first keg stand on their office walls.
In today’s modern world, having that picture on your Facebook wall is just as bad. So, what should you do?
First of all, don’t go totally invisible — selective privacy settings are your friend, as well as the “hide” button. Employers should be able to find you online and they should be able to see some pictures so they get an idea of who you are. That means that there should be more pictures of you that employers can find than simply “Me studying” and maybe a shot with your grandma. Put up pictures of your sorority philanthropy, your speech tournament and your classy night out at a restaurant with friends. You have a life, and they want to know what makes you awesome.
Second, we all know how to untag ourselves from ugly, derp pictures. So, keep it up — anything you wouldn’t want hanging on your office wall when you are CEO of a giant corporation needs to go. And don’t think you can keep that one picture up because really, that Solo cup next to you could belong to anyone, and come on, that look in your eyes is totally just the camera flash — you can appreciate it and show it to all of your friends privately so they still know how cool you are. Just don’t do show them on a public medium.
Finally, this applies to any medium — no obnoxious Twitter posts, no awkward Instagrams. It’s all viral and it’s all public; who wants to risk a dream job for an extra retweet or two?
One day you will be decorating that dream office, and you’ll thank yourself. Your Facebook page can be hopping, just not too high.
