These are 6 social media mistakes that will ruin your career

In this day and age, nearly everyone has a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account. People regularly share photos, status updates and information about their lives on the Internet. But could your everyday social media posts destroy your career?

Here are the five social media mistakes experts say you need to stop making:

1. Lying about your sick days:

“Posting pictures of yourself in a pub when you called in coughing and hacking, pretending to be sick is pretty much going to get you written up or fired,” warns Kimberli Taylor, a paralegal and office manager.

2. Nude photos:

Imagine your future employer seeing your nudes on social media! Well you will never get that job. Even vulgar posts can put you in trouble, like the case of the Kenya Airports Authority employee whose graphic post on Facebook could have been interpreted to reveal tendencies of a paedophile.

3. Lack of social media presence:

“The worst thing an applicant for a job on my team can do is NOT have any social presence. Are you hiding something? Just not that into other people? Not technically savvy? That’s what your absence is preaching,” says one senior manager.

4. Bashing your past employers:

The worst thing to find on a job applicant’s social media accounts is anything negative about a previous or current employer. So either stay positive or post nothing at all. Nothing is accomplished in posting negatively online.

5. Poor grammar:

“To me, poor grammar implies a complete lack of regard for detail,” said Jessica Green, founding director of Cursive PR .So, revise your posts before making them public.

Drinking and profanity: You can have a few unflattering photos on your social media, but not a profile picture of you doing a keg stand.