These days social media and job search go hand in hand. Of course the age old knock on the door and “are you hiring?” scenario is still out there but many people favor job search via networking and making use of online job search sites.
Over the years networking platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have become a must for job seekers. If you aren’t on the web, at times it’s almost impossible to secure a job. However, some people seem to keep forgetting that social media if not utilized properly can hurt your job search and can lead to job loss. We came across one and had to share it.
Please take a look at the image below,
The image above clearly shows the implications if you use social media platforms the wrong way. Of course, when you have a Facebook account it’s your personal account. However, it depends how you are using it. Are you using it to simply connect with your friends and family or are you using it to connect with professionals? Before you go ahead and utilize the power of free speech on Facebook or any other social media platforms make sure you watch what you are saying. Social media has given us tremendous amount of power in terms of job search but it has also made everything we do much more vulnerable. The saying “choose your words carefully” might be true now than ever before.
Just make sure before you publish anything on twitter, facebook, linkedin or anywhere else, you haven’t friended one of your colleagues or bosses before you make a rude remark about them. And even if they are not your friends, there are still ways things can get out, so at times it’s best to keep it yourself. Just cause social media is about transparency doesn’t mean you have to be transparent in everything you do. Transparency comes with a cost, in some case it’s you giving your own privacy and in some case losing a job, just like the one above.
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He is a wanker, and she hated the job. What can you do but move on.
[...] of the most dramatic tales that surfaced this month was the unnamed woman in the UK who was fired after she insulted her boss and wrote “OMG I HATE MY JOB!!” in a Facebook status [...]
Could this also have something to do with the wildly untended “friends” list that most people maintain on their facebook accounts? If you don’t like the person, never speak to the person, or wouldn’t want them reading every thought that pops into your head, then don’t add them! You can always go through your account and weed out those people that are just not relevant at all or that you regret adding. Guess what, they will probably never notice they are gone.
And here’s a big Facebook rule: Never, ever add your boss. Ever.
hahahahahhahahahahahah!!!!!
dumb bitch
AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Epic fail! What a dumb bitch!
she said he was a perv. she never said he wasn’t gay. and he’s clearly a wanker. and she hated doing the job. what’s the big fucking tragedy?
[...] recent news of a woman who got fired over her Facebook updates just goes to show how important it is to choose your words wisely on the web. Although we find [...]
[...] to lose a job via Facebook in 140 characters or [...]
I’m looking for the boss’ performance review saying “Look Joe/Bob/Steve/Whatever, we don’t terminate people’s employment (with expletives) in a fit of pique on the internet. We have procedures, rational reasons, exit procedures, an employment brand, and a policy of courtesy in business under all circumstances. You don’t seem to have been trained in any of them.”
An organizational investigation into the reasons for this, and a system-wide solution, should then follow.
wow! that sucks for her.
This is not the first time I have heard about stuff like this. Still, it does amaze me that some people think that their bosses or even potential employers, will not search around on the ‘Net to see if a person has a presence out there.
wow! that sucks…
Social Media can help you both side, to get job or to loose your job.
But in this time this is extensive stupidity i have ever seen…
Ahahaahahaaha! What a loser!
It’s so loser!
Yeah so she also made a screenshot of herself making an ass of herself and posted it on the web!!! yeah whatever!!! Load of fake crap
@ Gale Force: having 2 weeks left on a trail period in a job means you can be let go with no reason, there is no proceedure required as you are working on a trail basis.
Its embarrassing to write stuff about someone forgetting that they can see it, but that hardly makes the boss’s behavior professional. He seems to have no sense of boundaries about where he is a boss and where he isn’t. Stalking her online to see what she says in an off-duty place like facebook and then firing her? Harassing and psycho. Pretty much the wanker she said he was.
@Pam- actually she does have a lawsuit. Her post gave no personal identifying information to the casual viewer. It was no different than a conversation with friends in that regard.
Her boss was the one that personally identified her by posting on her page and potentially hampering her future employment prospects. He also said several things that not only demean her character, but demonstrate a propensity towards aggressive behaviour when displeased with the actions of an employee. He also illustrates a strong inability to separate personal time from company time. If her behaviour was worth a sacking, why isn’t his? They behaved the same…is this what lead her to her posting?
she certainly has a potential suit, and the more i think about it, I hope she files one.
Lol it’s funny seeing how people are defending this girl. So her boss is “clearly a wanker”. Err…why? She was being a bitch (if only by posting her rage on Facebook), and he reacted. And he’s “stalking her online…harrassing and psycho”? Err… no. Did you even LOOK at the picture? They were Facebook friends – her profile update would have come right up on his Facebook wall. He couldn’t help seeing her update.
And anyone who thinks that after what she wrote, she shouldn’t have been fired…especially if she was only there on a trial basis… words fail me.
[...] woman who takes to her facebook page to complain about her boss and forgets he is a friend on [...]
Lol this is very true. You will use your job if you use social networking platforms the wrong way.
@brad – its idiots like you sticking up for tossers that make living in this country so frustrating. Her comments show a total lack of interest in her job, a total lack of professionality and a total lack of respect for other people. Her future employment prospects are damaged by her attitude, not by the posting from her boss. Hopefully all this has made her wake up and realise what an arse she is. But I doubt it since there are always dickheads like you around to take her side.
The link between her and this company will be obvious since her full name will be on Facebook. His posting was just as private as anything else on her page so he is not making matters worse. And if he had overheard a similar conversation with a friend he would probably have come to the same conclusion.
[...] source [...]
She hated her job, hated her boss, he fired her. He made the decision for her rightly so.
[...] How to Lose a Job Via Facebook in 140 Characters or Less [...]
[...] you look (even here at Ars), there are articles about people making poor decisions about what kinds of info and how much to share on sites like Facebook. The Internet is no longer a [...]
This also goes for putting personal stuff about past relationships and all the gory details. A new BF/GF can easily learn things they are not supposed to know!
In America is totally against the law for employers to search information about people looking into social networks besides the fact that they are open and accesible to eveybody.
People be aware of that.
Good on him! I am taking his side. Under UK law he is well in his rights to terminate her employment within the first 6 months for any reason providing it is in the inital contract. It is a given T&C in the UK for any company.
Serves her right!
so the dream job did not turn out exactly as you thought it would? welcome to real world… she got what she deserved because social networks can be abused to make somebody look bad.
You are not supposed to really like your boss. You should respect him or find another job.
At this point people should be smart enough to realize that if they can find out information about others online, things can also easily be discovered about them. Dont make obvious complaints about your company, boss or coworkers online. Despite what you may think, the internet isnt privacy protected.
the sick part is that job and personal life outside job should be separate in my opinion. so sad that business decide to given in their emotion just because they got insulted and fired people over social media that was meant for people to express themself.
there seriously should have law ban companies from fired people over internet that have absolute no affect on the job.
maybe the business were frighten of people’s freedom of speech would hurt their coperation (I spell last one wrong but you get the idea)
[...] on Facebook for defaming her employer. The woman, whose identity was blacked out on internet blog Applicant, reportedly vented her frustrations about her boss and workplace on her Facebook status, according [...]
Wow, that’s brutal. Serves her right though…
Shopped
I’m a believer in venting, free speech, etc., but I also believe in common sense. Making a superior at work your FB friend and then typing this, knowing it will come up on his wall!? An invitation to trouble, even if she weren’t fired. Working in a toxic environment t would have made her “s— job” only more problematic.
She has a lot to learn. Hopefully this experience will have taught her something about professionalism. If there really was a problem at her job she could have hinted at it on her FB page and maybe got advice from her friends about how to deal with it without completely alienating her boss, who was clearly already unhappy with her performance in any case.
Who gives exit interviews to people that were fired for cause? Particularly disrespect. Sounds like an invitation for a postal incident or at the very least a disruption in the office.
She’s not happy, let her go be unhappy somewhere else.
Where I live in the USA, we don’t need a reason to fire anyone. In fact, did it 2 days ago to an employee.
@Ozzy: That doesn’t stop them from doing it, though.
Fact is, even if you don’t friend any professionals on Facebook, it is still possible for companies to get permission to look at your profile. Even if you have a limited profile set, if you’re tagged in a friends’ album and that album is set to “anyone,” that potential or current employer can see those pictures of you doing a naked kegstand.
You can be paranoid-safe by never putting anything objectionable on your social networking sites. I prefer to just keep Facebook for talking with friends; if you need a professional network, there’s an app for that.
[...] http://applicant.com/how-to-lose-a-job-via-facebook-in-140-characaters-or-less/ « ä»Šæ™šç…®å¥½æ˜Žå¤©çš„é¥ [...]
People who have 857 “Friends” on FaceBook do not really have 857 “Friends”, they have 857 “Acquaintances”. “Friends” are people that would drive over to your house and give you a lift, someone who would help you move out of your flat. “Acquaintances” are someone you said “Hi” to, and that was only because you were socially obligated to do so. An acquaintance is, at the closest possible link, a “friend of a friend”.
If you add that many people to your FaceBook, you are clearly an attention whore.
Anyways, for mature adults, FaceBook is more like a coffeeshop than a livingroom; kids are misunderstanding and misapplying social concepts (as is common with youth: inexperienced). No wonder this girl has no clue about work, she believes she has a clue about many things, but again, she does not have experience. Well, she got a big experience in this event!
[...] If you hate your job, find a better one; don’t whine online. See “How To Lose a Job Via Facebook In 140 Characters or Less.” [...]
[...] involving the company. In this brave new world, you might catch the boss in an online rant or a disgruntled employee venting about his or her biggest gripes and frustrations. Look for anything that will give you the inside track on what makes the organization tick, also [...]
The Untended friends list is not the problem. I know a political party executive who almost got booted because he posted an FB status which implies his Party president is a moron.
I wasn’t on his friend list. Neither was the newscaster who read the status on radio.
[...] How To Lose a Job via FaceBook [...]
Come on everybody! I bet 10% of the population actually likes thier job….
Behold the price (and pain) of stupidity.
she sounds like your typical lazy retarded chav – soon to be knocked up by some guy she doesn’t even know the name of and then sponge off welfare. people working hard paying her taxes to be a bad mother and a whore. thank god the guy fired her. lets hope she kills herself so she won’t give birth to her devil spawn. the guy is not a wanker – he has reacted with quite a bit of restraint actually – doubt ANY one of you would be that calm. i love how she flatters herself by claiming that he’s a perv. she got OWNED!! probably a fat lazy slutty cow!!
by the way – those of you agreeing with her that he is a wanker – you’re in a minority. just read through most of the comments here and almost everyone agrees – she’s a dumb, fat, lazy whore!