1 in 10 young adults lose jobs because of social media posts

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.

It also doesn’t help that young people that nearly half of all Americans don’t believe they are prepared for a job in the real world — even after receiving a college degree.

Given the harm that your posts can cause to your career, cleaning up your Facebook and Twitter may be a good idea. One easy way to do that is with the online app FireMe!, which reviews Twitter posts for inappropriate comment.

On Device surveyed 6,000 young adults between the ages of 16 and 34 from the United Kingdom, the United States, Nigeria, India, Brazil and China via the mobile Internet. Interestingly, young adults in China were the most likely to say that their social media posts cost them job opportunities, while those in Brazil were the least likely to report that.

Additional questions about social media were asked of 17,657 young adults between 16-34.