The Intern Overview: Part 5
Being an intern can be confusing, especially in a world of social media. Let me explain…
I recently came across an article titled “Facebook Got Me Fired” and being somewhat new to the professional workforce the titled got my attention. The article talked about an intern that requested time off (on Halloween) due to a family emergency, however later that evening a picture emerged on Facebook of said intern at a Halloween party obviously not tending to a family emergency—long story short, the intern was fired. That got me thinking—1. I would NEVER do such a thing and 2. I wonder how much of my Facebook account is exposed to the world.
After all, the days of Facebook being a college thing are long gone, in fact according to Boston University Professor Kabrina Chang, 72 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds have a Facebook page and 40 percent of people over 40 do too.
So in this week’s post I wanted to focus on how an intern’s Facebook page can come back to bite them. While my Facebook page was created for a fun social reason, I am coming to the realization that it might be time to start pulling on the reins and increasing my privacy settings—this must be what it’s like to become an adult—when Facebook goes from fun to…less fun.
When transitioning into becoming a candidate in the job market, I always knew it was sort of an unwritten code that you should either disable your Facebook account or at the very least make sure it is on the most private settings possible, but honestly I didn’t think I was there yet, but Miss Halloween has me thinking otherwise.
Chang also reported that 85 percent of businesses do not have policies for guiding employee online behavior. But think of it this way, if you are an intern—someone has given you the opportunity to join their organization, learn their business, and represent their brand—so do you think your manager or their clients really want to see pictures of you at a party?
So all of you interns out there, be smart about what you post (if you don’t want your Mom to see it you probably don’t want your boss to see it either) and show your superiors why you should hold a position in their firm. And as for you managers of interns out there, let your mentees in on the secret of the privacy settings on Facebook, after all—you don’t just have to teach us how to file, pull data, and make coffee. Who knows, this whole Facebook thing might be the most useful piece of information we take away from the job.
