Social media is an amazing tool in changing the world, but however it changes the way that people communicate and live, do business or commerce, social media is initially aimed to represent individuals.
Nowadays, your Facebook profile or Twitter page may be prior to yourself to reach employer's office. It could be the substantial supplement to your resume, but could also overthrown employer's impression in just one minute. It's true that every Facebook page or Twitter page is a platform for an individual to express his/her mind and showcase life. But due to the overwhelming power that social media has obtained, any individual should consider more in using this tool.
Employers start to hire companies like Social Intelligence which basically run background check of people's Internet and social media history. With the report from social media background check companies, the employers may know much more than you've ever expected. Cases do exist that people flunked their social media sites, despite their biographical information, indication like personality, social responsibility, or other potential job qualifications can be found out by those companies or employers through photos, posts, video and comments on the Facebook or Twitter. Some candidates may complain about privacy offended and bottom line of this behavior, however it makes sense for either side. How can an employer have interest on a person with bottles of beer or a bunch of girls kissing and dancing in the photos on Facebook, even the resume describes him/herself as a well-behaved, positive and socially responsible person? A company would not like to hire anyone that may cause problems to the company. Whatever posted on social media sites could be reflection of an individual from your side and employers have no reason to disbelieve what they have seen. Therefore, be careful of what you post on your page, sometimes social media profile can replace yourself in the eyes of employers.
Resource:
http://gizmodo.com/5818774/this-is-a-social-media-background-check
That is a very prominent issue with social media. At the same time, even though I may be a bit naïve, I suppose that companies look for something more scandalous than a picture of someone holding a beer, or girls kissing each other. I believe companies are more interested in problematic statements about drug use, violence, and hate speech. Everybody has some skeletons in their closet, but we need to be wise about what we share and what we don’t.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you Diego, employers always want to dig to find whether the person will potentially cause problem to the company in legal or other side. Facts do exist that employer fired prospect job candidates when seeing rough and tumble pics because those can make direct impressions. If this is not what the employer likes, or she/he thinks this is a problem, then you can do nothing to argue. So be careful sharing your own life online.
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