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More Employers Are Using Social Media in Screening Job Candidates

I often discuss how employers are using social media in screening job candidates and how job seekers need to be proactive in building a strong personal brand on social media in order to secure a job offer. Today, I am sharing two additional MSNBC News video with you.

According to Video I, a survey by Microsoft suggests that 80% employers are screening job candidates on social media. Such number was just 11% in my February’sdiscussion (which was reported in the HR Magazine by the Society for Human Resource Management). Not surprisingly, employers are looking for candidates’ pictures, comments, group affiliations, status updates, and who their friends are on social networking sites. Another interesting finding revealed by a study conducted at Columbia University, 100% of the students being surveyed made mistakes about social networking sites’ privacy settings. My advice to students has always been like this: nothing is really “private” on the Internet, no matter what privacy setting a student turns on.

Video II offers some advices for those who are looking for a job on social media. I believe that we discussed almost every piece of the key information revealed in this video before. So, are you ready to look for a job on social media?

For more discussions of using social media in job search, please check out the following discussion:
Privacy vs. Efficacy: Which One Would You Choose? (Using Facebook in Job Search)
One Has No Choice But to Manage His/Her Online Image
Background Check on Social Media: Now Is a Serious Business
Using Facebook for Background Check
Social Media and Job Search I
Social Media and Job Search II
Personal Brand and Social Media
Managing Your Online Reputation
Ways to Clean Up a Person’s Negative Online Reputation

Video I: Employers Increasingly Trolling Web to Screen Candidates

Video II: How to Use Twitter to Help Land a Job

Comments

  1. After reading Professor Kwok’s blog post, “More Employers Are Using Social Media in Screening Job Candidates,” I found the videos and information made my stomach turn. Being an avid Facbeook and Twitter account user, I don’t believe I would want my potential Boss to view either of my social media outlets. Although it is out of my control, the article allows me to rethink what I post and who gets to see it. I immediately went onto my accounts and checked/changed my privacy settings to protect my pages. Also, with the essentially “new” Facebook, I feel as if I should go through all of my friends and get rid of people I don’t know or who I haven’t spoken to in years- why allow them into your life if you don’t even speak? It is scary how much a person can find out about you through these social media sources. Luckily, I have a few years until I would be applying for a job, and then I figure I might as well just delete my accounts. Why risk my chance at a potential job opportunity because of a picture at a party or a status update? Our generation is completely enthralled in social media; we spend most of our time on them and talking about them. So it had to be assumed that employers would catch on and want to know more about us. The moral of the story is you have to be aware of what you post on the Internet because it never goes away. And to be mindful of whom you’re giving information on your personal life to.

    -Kaitlin C.

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  2. Being a senior looking for jobs this is a post that concerns me and my fellow graduates. I think often times as noted people do not think before they post comments, pictures or videos and it can end up back-firing on them. Prof. Kwok mentions how important it is to remember that no matter what privacy settings or other options a student chooses they are in fact not actually private. After watching/reading this blog post I asked my father who is the CEO of his company. He has admitted to not only having to fire someone over the usage of facebook and other social media outlets during work hours, but also looking into perspective employees who they might like but question at the same time. I do not think people realize how easily there information can be accessed outside of what they post on their resume. This blog post is extremely relevant to me and my friends and I found it very interesting and a good reminder of how careful I need to be!

    Sarah Rosencrans

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  3. As i commented before on the social media use of employers towards their perspective employees, this is something job seekers really need to take seriously. A few years ago, when the social media world was just developing, this was not quite the potent issue that it is now. You could handle yourself on a social media site differently. Now, every post, photo tagged, video uploaded, and status liked is tracked instantly, and with the new layout of facebook it is even easier to track the person's activity. It is something that really needs to be considered, but as I always think, you shouldn't have anything to hide if you are doing things you are supposed to be doing in an appropriate manner. For example, if you hate the Hilton Hotels and posted it on your status once, maybe it's not the best place to apply.

    Having not used twitter much, I am not as familiar, but I do know that it is also instantaneous and practically "same-time" when you post it. Many people now, have it on their mobile devices, making it easier and that much more irresistible to update a unnecessary status or upload a dumb photo.

    As an employee seeking a new job, you need to show extreme caution over what is posted, but realize that is is permanent, and no matter how private you set things, they can still be found. With employers, it is a very personalized way to find more out about the perspective employer before they set foot into your office; which sometimes could skew results, so they need to be careful too.

    -Haleigh Schoeneck

    ReplyDelete
  4. As a senior searching for jobs, I realized that more and more employers are more likely to go on facebook and look through the information for their prospective employees. Before facebook was widely used, it was mainly geared towards college students that allow them to connect with friends. As facebook is getting more popular, people outside of the college realm are beginning to use facebok as well. I noticed that employers would look through their future employee’s facebook because they ask people to “like” their fan page. It never occurred to me my freshmen and sophomore years that whatever is up on the Internet will never remain private. There are probably inappropriate pictures that you may have taken down years ago but if someone else saved the picture and re-uploads them then those pictures will continue circling the Internet. I agree that anything that is posted on the Internet will never remain private and people should be more conscious of what they post on their facebooks. Also creating another name or changing your official name on facebook might be beneficial.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It was really interesting to see this blog because I recently had a conversation my brother about employers screening social media networks during the job recruitment process. My brother was recently interviewing people for work and was told by his superiors that either he or HR had to screen facebook and other sites before making a decision. This conversation along with the videos in the article make me very apprehensive about facebook now. I was never the biggest fan of facebook, but the idea that even the most innocent comments or pictures could somehow jeopardize employment is extremely scary. Also, the idea that even things that are no longer on your facebook, whether its pictures or your account all together, can still be accessed somehow. It is very clear now that anything posted on the internet is no longer private and people should be much more conscious about what they are putting online.

    ReplyDelete

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