Be careful what you post on Facebook or Pinterest — those pictures of you drunk at a club last weekend may cost you more than just your dignity.
A recent survey by On Device Research found that 1 in 10 people between the ages of 16 and 34 have lost job opportunities because of posts they made or posts made about them on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
“If getting a job wasn’t hard enough in this tough economic climate, young people are getting rejected from employment because of their social media profiles,” Sarah Quinn, On Device Research’s marketing manager, said in a statement.
She added that what is more troubling is that young people don’t seem to be very concerned about it. Despite the risk of losing a job opportunity, a majority of those surveyed said that the risk wasn’t enough of a deterrent to keep them off social media.
In fact, it only made them more likely to tailor the content on their Facebook and Twitter profiles to what their friends would want to read – and not their future employers.
“Better education of the impact of social media is needed to ensure young people are not making it even harder for them selves to get on the career ladder,” Quinn added.
