Facebook is a very popular social network which can be used for many things besides keeping in contact with someone. It is now being used to find out about people before being hired. It can have a big impact on your chances of getting hired. This article is about how employers look at people’s Facebook to determine if they are going to hire someone or not. Some places with ask you to log into your Facebook to show them what you have on you page. Some people think they are safe even when their Facebook are on private but they aren’t. When you make a page you are giving your freedom away so people can view your pictures. In this article this company was going to hire this woman until they looked up her Facebook page and saw her provocative pictures. These pictures were of her half dressed. Should business use peoples Facebook’s to help them determine if this person should be hired? I believe that people’s lives outside of work are none of their companies business. If it affects the company then that is a different story. If a person has the right credentials and is a hard worker then it shouldn’t matter what they do outside of work. I do believe is certain jobs it does matter when you’re a face of organization and you are well known. The way you dress shouldn’t determine what kind of worker you are or if you should be hired or not. I don’t think it is right to use Facebook but companies do use it so people need to realize what they post will effect if they get hired or not. Some people just think by looking at how a person dresses they know what kind of worker they are. If a person is looking for a job it is important to have pictures that are appropriate. Everyone should be prepared for employers to be looking at your page. If getting a job is really important to you then you should be able to sacrifice some of your pictures to better your future.
Hope you enjoyed my post!
Veronica Nieves
Reference
Du, W. (2007, August 14). Job candidates getting tripped up by Facebook . MSNBC : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20202935/ns/business-school_inc_/t/job-candidates-getting-tripped-facebook/#.Ttb3NkfWi_I
I feel that it depends on what job and position you are going for. However, people (especially those within our generation) should recognize that when you put something out on the internet it is potentially out there for ALL to see.
ReplyDeleteI found a few articles that give tips on how to clean up one's online image:
http://www.fpcnational.com/Social-Networking-Damaging-Job-Search.html
http://collegeapps.about.com/od/theartofgettingaccepted/a/Facebook.htm
http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/content/stop-employers-digging-your-digital-dirt-10-ways-clean-your-act-now
For those that have done some REAL damage there are companies that help clean up one's web persona.
Using a more career-oriented social networking site, such as LinkedIn, could also be helpful for those who want to maintain a online presence, albeit a professional one.
As for myself, I limit most social networking sites to friends only,disable certain search features, use aliases, and usually do not link one site to another.