Teenagers today are renowned for the amount of time they spend on social media. Whether its Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or another social media platform, students are creating a profile and image of themselves.

Not all teenagers are aware of how this self-image can affect their employablity in the workplace.

“I don’t want to purposely seek out students’ profiles and judge someone in their teenage years because of peer pressure and other influences but it needs to be a good representation of themselves,” said Christa Fielder, Owner and Director of Hiawatha Day School.

Fielder employs high school students to work at Hiawatha Day School but first they must go through an extensive background check including full background checks through the State of Iowa and FBI. After these extensive background checks, students go through training classes to learn and make sure they are a good fit for the job.

The only time that social media influences a student’s job is when it is brought to Fielder’s attention by other kids or parents.

Todd Long, Store Manager at Fareway, said he doesn’t check for social media but it has been brought to his attention before. “I can’t go into specifics but social media can be an issue with high schoolers but it is not very often,” Long said.

Dave Austin employs nearly 70 students at a time and uses social media to filter applications. He looks at any social media platforms to see how students present themselves and has thrown applications away.

“Its not a regular occurrence (that employees have issues with social media), we don’t have to search for it, it finds its way to us via peers,” Austin said.

“As long as students represent themselves well in the workplace, social media shouldn’t be an issue but employees need to be conscious of it,” Fielder said.