6 Career-Killing Facebook Mistakes

Surveys suggest that as of 2010, approximately 30% of employers are using Facebook to screen potential employees - even more than those who check LinkedIn, a strictly professional social networking site. To avoid missing out on a career opportunity, avoid these common Facebook faux-pas.

It may go without saying, but prospective employers or clients don't want to see pictures of you chugging a bottle of wine or dressed up for a night at the bar. Beyond the pictures you wouldn't want your grandparents to see, seemingly innocent pictures of your personal life will likely not help to support the persona you want to present in your professional life.

It could be a full note about how much you hate your office, or how incompetent your boss is, or it could be as innocent as a status update about how your coworker always shows up late. While everyone complains about work sometimes, doing so in a public forum where it can be found by others is not the best career move. Although it may seem innocent, it's not the kind of impression that sits well with a potential boss - or a current one for that matter.

If your resume says you have a degree from Harvard, but your Facebook profile says you went to UCLA, you're likely to be immediately cut from the interview list. Even if the conflict doesn't leave you looking better on your resume, disparities will make you look careless at best and, at worst, your potential employer will assume you're a liar.

Everyone should know to avoid statuses like "Tom plans to call in sick tomorrow so he can get drunk on a Wednesday. Who cares that my big work project isn't done?" But you should also be aware of less flamboyant statuses like "Sarah is watching the gold medal hockey game online at her desk".

You can neither control what your friends post to your profile (although you can remove it once you see it), nor what they post to their own profiles or to those of mutual friends. If a potential client or employer sees those Friday night pictures your friend has tagged you in, it could reflect poorly on you. Take a look at everything connected to your profile, and keep an eye out for anything you wouldn't want to show your mother.

The best advice is to lock down your personal profile so that only friends you approve can see anything on that profile. Then, create a second, public profile on Facebook purely for professional use. This profile functions like an online resume, and should only contain information you'd be comfortable telling your potential employer face to face.