Does Oversharing on Social Media Hurt Your Career?

     Social media can help you to build network and even helped you to find a job. But, sharing on your social media could become the double-edged sword when you overshare. What is exactly the perfect amount of information we can share? What kind of information that could concern recruiters in hiring us? Sometimes, you can get too much of a good thing. 

     Oversharing can lead to security problem and hurt your career path. But it’s not oversharing in a general meaning that will hurt your career. According to the Marketing Manager of a leading software company Bullhorn, company will take certain consideration when you overshare your innermost thoughts on political matters and/or throwing racial hate comments. You don’t want to be the one being skipped because of the inappropriate content slugging down your social media pages, right?

     According to CareerBuilder survey done in 2018, there are four categories posts on social media that could leave you with a bad impression:

• Inappropriate and/or provocative photographs
• Drinking habit and drug
• Discriminatory behavior 
• Criminal behavior 

     Posting above contents can ultimately impact your effort in finding a job.  It is important to know how to put yourself up in the middle of this “borderless” world. Everyone has their rights to express themselves. But, such liberty must be used wisely. It’s hard to undo what is already being exposed out there. Therefore, you need to realize that you got the chance to choose what kind of content you share to the public or your inner circle. It is important to have a deep concern on how your posts affect you and the people who reacted to your post.

     Social media can be a valuable tool for you to keep in touch with family, friends, and your loved ones. Maybe it will be difficult for us to separate social media from our daily lives at this time. However, what must be considered is how social media affects your life. Below are some tips for you while being active on your social media:

Be selective

     Deleting all posts you shared on social media or deactivating your social media account is not the solution to oversharing. Mark Jaffe, the President Director of Wyatt & Jaffe, mentioned that “The two pillars of wisdom are having something excruciatingly diabolically clever to say and pillar number two is not saying it.” Be selective in posting stuffs that could make yourself more favorable to the recruiters. Take some time to google yourself. Start to delete the inappropriate post, and post something that actually beneficial for yourself and people who reads your post.

Create your own boundary and filter

     Creating a boundary and filter are the next step you can do after you realize that you need to be more selective. Build your own boundaries to whom you wanted to share about your posts. Be aware of what kind of forums you want to associate yourself with. Filter what kind of information you want to share publicly and privately.  

Utilize private settings

     Privacy setting on social media platform is made for a reason. It allows you to create your own circle in sharing certain contents only to the people you can trust and have the same point of view with you. By utilizing the private settings, it will help you to organize the information you wanted people to see and not to see. Separate your private life and your social life would be a wise thing to do.