Rightly or wrongly, more and more employers are searching Facebook for background information on candidates.

The most common red flags noted by employers were:-

• Racy Photos:
The semi porno shot needs to die. Half of surveyed managers found provocative or inappropriate photos and information about candidates by reviewing their social-media updates.

• Alcohol:
That album of your reckless and carefree holiday …Make this private. About 48 percent discovered information about the candidate drinking or using drugs on social-media sites.

• Crazy Ranting:
That nickname you call your workplace or boss should be nowhere to be found on your Twitter feed. One-third found applicants had bad-mouthed a previous employer.

• OMG i h8 inglish:
Thirty percent said the candidate had poor communication skills and appalling grammar

• Intolerance:
About 28 percent of managers spotted discriminatory comments about race, gender, and religion.

• Lies:
Did you really get degrees in Celtic languages and stem cell biology at Harvard? Just under one-fourth discovered candidates had misrepresented their qualifications through their online profiles.

So as long as you want to be employable, it would be wise to restrain your social-media posts so that they’re HR friendly. Most of your friends probably didn’t want to see those racy pics either.

 

This BLOG adapted form  Venessa Wong June 27, 2013

Venessa Wong is an associate editor for Bloomberg Businessweek.  Follow her on Twitter @venessawwong.