So you’ve scored your dream job… your first day went well, and you can just see yourself being best buds with everyone in no time!

Time to add your manager and work colleagues to Facebook right…..???

I’ll be honest in saying I did just that! And for me all is well. Why? Because I am aware of my personal brand and I don’t post anything incriminating on my page.

Now, in my case this could also be because I am a bit of a nanna… I would never be caught staying out until the wee hours of the morning on a week night, I tend not to wear anything too risqué and generally don’t tend to get up to too much mischief. But, it is worth noting that if you are going to add people from work to your Facebook then you may need to sensor what you post on your page.

With this mind I thought I’d share with you a few ways that “Friending” your boss could go wrong!

1. Calling in sick and then posting a status update of you with your bestie at the beach! – This one blows my mind for obvious reasons!
2. Posting numerous updates about your weekend activities on Facebook. Checking in to nightclubs in the wee hours of the morning and then…. Calling in sick on Monday morning. Really? Managers are not silly – they know that you’re wrecked from the weekend. Now you might think… “What I do in my own time is my own business”. While that may be the case, it is reasonable for a manager to expect you to look after yourself to ensure that you can work at the highest level every single day. If you’re out partying every single weekend (and they can see it on Facebook) when you’re not performing, they are likely to put it down to the fact that you are run down from partying – true story!
3. Whining on Facebook about any of the following things; how crap your job is, what a bad day you had at work, the long hours you’ve had to work etc. What you need to realise is that your boss essentially wants to believe that you enjoy/love your work. You will win no brownie points for this. These days it seems to be cool to complain about work on social media. It’s like a competition to see who is the most hard done by. I have to tell you… managers are not impressed by this.

So, with this in mind, before you post anything to Facebook ask yourself the following questions;
• Would my manager perceive this post negatively? Could they possibly feel that it will affect my performance?
• What am I hoping to achieve from this post and do I need to do this so publicly? E.g. Whining about work on Facebook will not rectify any issues that you’re having. Everyone likes to have a whine about work from time to time, but do it at home, or in private.

I have to admit – I do think that these points are fairly self-explanatory. You might even say that it’s common sense to avoid the above. Why then… do we seem to come across these mistakes so frequently? Clearly, as they say, common sense is not so common.