If you’re like most people, you’ve grown accustomed to sharing personal information on your social media profiles. You might post status updates about your friends or show off photos of your most recent vacation. 

And while it might seem like nothing more than bragging, what you choose to share on your profile can have significant effects on your future employment prospects, which this article will discuss in detail.

People are constantly sharing information about themselves on social media, including their jobs, college degrees, politics, and more. It may seem harmless to tweet about your job or put the name of your alma mater on Facebook, but certain pieces of information can cause you to get denied for positions that you want, whether it’s an internship or a job you’re applying for directly after college. 

Here are some basic things you should know before you share your personal information on social media sites.

Don't Overshare

It's important to be careful with what you share on your social media profile. Just one post can jeopardize your future. For example, if you're going through a difficult break up and want to vent, think again before posting it on Facebook or other platforms. That information may be of interest to your current and potential employers and could potentially disqualify you from the job interview. 

In some cases, people are even denied employment because of their social media posts-even if they were posted years ago! If you don't want an employer to see something about yourself that is not relevant for the position, then don't post it. If you do post something that does not portray you in the best light, remove or edit the content so that it looks like anything but negative. 

The old adage What goes around comes around is never more true than when considering social media and how we portray ourselves online. We all have had those moments where we say things online that we would never say face to face. and make sure it isn't someone who will deem it unacceptable or unprofessional.

Keep Your Opinions to Yourself

If you have strong opinions, it might be best to keep them to yourself. We can't control what will happen with our posts in the future, so we need to be careful about what we share. 

It's important to consider who your audience is and how they might react to your opinions. If you don't want your opinion shared, it's best not to post it on social media. The internet has no limit on its reach. Even if you delete something that you posted, there are always people who may still have a copy of it stored somewhere. 

Our society doesn't take kindly to people expressing their opinions publicly and may even act violently when those opinions offend their beliefs or identity groups. Be mindful of what you say because words matter!

Be Wary of Who You Friend

The new generation of college students are coming into their own as a digital generation. They have grown up with the internet and social media, and these tools are now part of their everyday life. They have also grown up in an era of heightened security, terrorism, and privacy breaches. 

In this climate, students should be cognizant about who they friend on Facebook or follow on Twitter. A single post or tweet can jeopardize your future prospects if not considered carefully. Be wary of what you share on your profile—even when you think that it is private—because it could easily become public information. 

Don’t want to come across like a self-promoter? Fine! Keep it to yourself and only show off your personality through pictures or funny captions. And make sure you always keep your password hidden from friends, family members, roommates, significant others and acquaintances.

Check Your Privacy Settings

It's important to check your social media profile settings and privacy so you can decide what you want to share with the world. By checking your privacy settings, you'll be able to decide who gets to see what on your personal profile. 

The first setting is the privacy setting for posts. For this one, you'll get to choose whether or not anyone or just friends can see your posts. 

The next is for friend requests: if you only want friends adding each other as friends then set this option accordingly. Keep in mind that when someone requests a friendship with you, they might start seeing things that are posted on your profile that only friends should be able to view like private messages from other people or status updates from groups that only friends are in.

Use Caution with Geotagging

As a general rule, you should be careful about what you share on your social media profile. Do not use geotagging when posting a picture online. Geotagging posts can show your exact location, as well as the time that the post was published. 

This information can be misused by anyone who may have access to it. Protect yourself and make sure to always use caution with geotagging. Be cautious about how you share where you are at all times. Remember, just because people are friends doesn’t mean they are safe.

Don't Post Anything You Wouldn't Want Your Employer to See

There's nothing wrong with posting a picture of your night out at the bar on Facebook or Instagram, but you should be aware that this may not be looked upon favorably by potential employers. 

Some companies even use social media to screen applicants so take care to only post things you wouldn't want to see on a resume. The easiest way to protect yourself from having anything potentially embarrassing posted is to set your privacy settings and unfollow people who have different lifestyles than yours.

Keep Your Passwords Secure

Passwords are one of the most important pieces to your online security. With so many different services nowadays, it can be hard to remember all of them. To help keep things secure, use a password manager such as LastPass, 1Password or KeePass. 

These managers are easy to use and store all your passwords in one place for you so you don't have to worry about forgetting any. A strong password is also key.

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