Refused a job because of social media? - Does your online presence say more than your CV?

It is no secret that most companies use social media to research their candidates. This is a phenomenon that has only really happened over the past 5-7 years. Its sad to say, but gone are the days of your CV being all an employer wants to see before considering you for an interview. But is this ethical for businesses to do? How do you feel about it when applying for a job? And what can we do about it?

http://www.toprankblog.com

LinkedIn and Facebook are the highest targeted when companies are conducting their 'research'. But is it not debatable that these two sites, although both in the social media world, offer two completely different services. I feel it is time to remember that peoples lives are multifaceted but the two biggest spectrum's are our work lives and our personal lives.

But what about when we want to use social media to help use FIND a job? Bringing it a little closer to home; see below for stats regarding how we use social media to help us gain recruitment. The whole social media and recruitment relationship could be seen as a double-edged sword. We find employers looking at our profiles to be a little intrusive, yet from the results below, it seems when we want a job it is one of the first places we turn.

 

Image: http://blog.unum.co.uk

But where is the line drawn? Are there any clear guidelines to this seemingly pressing and current issue? Twitter allows us to tweet 24/7 and I feel is a site in the middle of the social media spectrum.

On one end, you have LinkedIn; a site purely designed for people in the business world to interact on social media - you will have a respectable photo and maybe a description of yourself and 'what you do'. A very straight edge account of yourself through the business lens.

Then you have Facebook... with a unashamed selfie for a profile picture and a cover photo of you with your mates on a night out (enough said there) - by and large it gives a different persona completely. This is the social you, this is you OUT of work, having fun and enjoying life. Should we be ashamed of this persona? Should we begin to live Jekyll and Hyde lifestyles online, in fear that we won't get a job?

This does seem a little ridiculous, and although some monitoring needs to be done all round, I feel the two should not really be linked. When we go to work we go as an employee, we know our role and we stick to the rules. When we are away from the workplace, I truly maintain that it is our business what we do.

Twitter, can be viewed either way and is potentially a low-risk site in this scenario, but just remember not to drink and rant on there - it is hard to remove once out there!

Sadly, regardless of my opinion, companies will continue to check out your online profiles to build a '360' view of your life, or how some might say - pry. And this cannot be stopped; if you really want to battle this, you can try to use privacy tools to keep yourself away from this intrusion - or use a different name. I am sure plenty of us have nothing to hide, but in case you are a little threatened by what potential employers can see of you online - keep a simple online persona and hope for the best.

How do you feel about employers using social media as part of recruitment?

Social Media Monitoring - The Employability Spectrum

Online image and how your portray yourself is becoming very important for your career path.

Social media is the new major internet craze ever since the dot-com bubble, whilst the latter ended with large number of companies going from boom to bust in the space of three years, the social media phenomenon has seen social networks with original concepts and ingenious ideas going from strength to strength. Social media is here to stay, but with its strong influence and stature, inevitably it will cause major changes in how businesses see and do things. How social media is affecting people's employability and job security will be the subject we will touching on today.



Social Media Monitoring Can Be Used Against You





Having unseemly pictures of yourself on social networks will not warm you towards recruiters.

When we talk about social media monitoring it means to monitor and measure the social activity of a company or an organisation, but in this case we will be looking at how companies and recruitment agencies use social media to review their employees' conduct, and how they are using job candidates' social activity to vet them through the recruitment process.

Social Media Monitoring Recruitment Process

In the past, when we talk about an individual's employability we will be looking at their knowledge, skills and abilities, but social media has become a tool to assessing a candidate's suitability for a given role. Instead of simply evaluating the curriculum vitae and cover letter for applicants, more and more recruiters are using Facebook to do a thorough research on individuals.




The infographic by Jobvite highlights recruiters' sentiments to a candidate's profile.

In the US there are worries from privacy advocates with employers demanding access to candidates' Facebook logins. There will always be a limitation of how far social media vetting can go, but without a doubt your social activity will be definitely scrutinised, so it is vital that individuals be careful of the negative social media footprints they leave behind.


Although privacy concerns remain on the top of many people's agenda, there are positives to it. Personal social media profiles can be used as an additional selling point to land a job, by giving a positive and social self, candidates can warm themselves to the recruiter and win some brownie points to land that important interview.




Social Media Monitoring Your Employees' Conduct


Not only are job prospects finding themselves under scrutiny, but current employees are being monitored as well. In May, a civil servant was sacked for using Facebook during office hours and in another incident after misuse of social media led to council staff being warned of future misconduct that would lead to severe penalties.


In most circumstances, employers do not intrude into the lives of their employees. However, if an employee commits an act that would damage the employer/company's reputation it would lead to the employee's position in the company untenable. Let's see some of the things we should best avoid.



Ranting about the company/superior/colleague/customers/partners/affiliates
Disclosing classified/confidential information of a third party
Racial Slurs/Profanity
Sexual/Violent Imagery
Party/Alcoholic Imagery


A wrong move can take you down the path of despair...being fired.


All employers and companies expect from their staff is to conduct themselves accordingly as expected of a professional. Even though people are out of the work place after working hours and should be allowed to do whatever they desire, they have to remember they remain a representative of their company. So long as they are under the payroll of the flagship, they belong as a part of that entity. There will be many questioning whether the line between work and personal life are becoming blurred, but in actuality the


line has never really existed.


What do you think?


Do you believe recruiters should evaluate candidates base on their social media footprints? Is there still a blurred line between work and personal life?
Feel free to share with us your thoughts.