Delete FB?

Nurses Job Hunt

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Hi All,

I will be graduating in May with my BSN. I was wondering if I should delete my FB when I start applying to hospitals? I don't have any wild crazy pics on there or anything. Normal appropriate pics of myself, family and friends (sometimes at the bar though lol). I hardly post anything anymore unless it's about studying or the gym or stressed from school. I know employers are able to look at someone's fb. I heard the state of Maryland has banned employers from looking at people's fb. Is this true? Any thoughts would be appreciated

Thanks

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Hi All,

I will be graduating in May with my BSN. I was wondering if I should delete my FB when I start applying to hospitals? I don't have any wild crazy pics on there or anything. Normal appropriate pics of myself, family and friends (sometimes at the bar though lol). I hardly post anything anymore unless it's about studying or the gym or stressed from school. I know employers are able to look at someone's fb. I heard the state of Maryland has banned employers from looking at people's fb. Is this true? Any thoughts would be appreciated

Thanks

Hi, every nurse on my floor has a fb acc. manager included. not to mention the residents we work with. No doubt we are health care professionals , we are also 'human beings'. I personally think theres nothin wrong with a fb acc. esp if you have no 'crazy pics' ( depends too on what is the definition of crazy n who is asking) . But i will say this, set ur acc to private, make your name unsearchable, screen who reads ur posts n etc. That way you have total control of ur fb world and you shld be fine.

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There's also a reversible way of deactivating your account (or something like it). My cousin does it during exam times to remove the temptation of FB and then reactivates it afterwards. I wish I could tell you which option it is, but I've never done it myself, but know there's one.

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I think if you just make everything private(You should probably do this anyway!) you should be fine. :) Just make sure your profile picture is classy. :)

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Specializes in Medical Surgical Orthopedic.

I have one, but I would never comment about work or even nursing in general. I also avoid politics and religion. Now that I think about it, I haven't posted anything at all in the past year or two. I do "chat" with people on their posts, though.

ALSO ...Keeping your profile private is a good idea, but not a full-proof plan. I know someone who complained about a "***** doctor" on her facebook page, and one of her "friends" pulled the post up and showed it to the doctor. There were repercussions, and she still has no idea which "friend" it was.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

I don't think you need to delete it, but I do think you should take a few precautions:

1. Make the settings on your FB as private as you can.

2. Even after that, go through your FB and see if there is anything that isn't appropriate and delete it. Just because you have the settings to Private doesn't mean that friends will always honor your wishes (intentionally or otherwise).

3. Even with the privacy settings on high, get into the habit of watching what you post. A good rule of thumb is to never post anything that you wouldn't say directly to someone's face, or wouldn't mind being seen by your SO, parents and a whole room of 3rd graders. If you want a place to vent, set up an anonymous blog or Twitter account elsewhere using a disposable e-mail address.

4. Consider removing pictures of you as your profile pic and/or banner pic.

5. Consider who you friend, especially if it's random friend requests and/or people from your workplace. Not saying you should always refuse to friend these people, just consider the positives and negatives. Don't hesitate to make good use of the Lists features to control who sees what.

and last:

6. Set up a new FB account under your work/job hunting e-mail address. Leave it plain, nondescript, and keep all the privacy settings on High. That way, should a potential employer conduct a FB search, they'll probably land at that page first and see very little. That's what I've done.

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Specializes in ICU.

After reading a post on AN about how someone lost their job offer due to FB, I made the following changes on FB: changed my name slightly, changed my email address to one I will never let a recruiter see, removed all past employment history, changed my profile pic to an animal, and went through the privacy settings with a fine tooth comb. I was thinking of deleting my account temporarily but I really like to use it to connect with friends. So anyways, no one can find me now on FB unless they're already a friend of mine and that's just how I like it.

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Instead of going through all the trouble of going through your pictures, privacy settings, watching what you post etc. Just delete it. Isn't there a time frame where you can reactivate it? At least until you find a job.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

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Instead of going through all the trouble of going through your pictures, privacy settings, watching what you post etc. Just delete it. Isn't there a time frame where you can reactivate it? At least until you find a job.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

I would delete. I did the same thing.

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