Social Networks & Getting a Job - Is it Fair??

A social network is defined as a place where people create their own space, or homepage on which they write blogs, post pictures, videos, or music, share ideas, and link to other Web locations they find interesting. Blogging has become a popular tool for people to express themselves and put their ideas out there. Most people put a variety of thoughts and feelings such as how they feel about life, their friends, their employers, or pretty much any emotion that they are having. One of the most popular social networks is Facebook. Members put up information such as their school, work, and any personal information that they so choose. It is also possible to share pictures and to write to your friends. This is a great way to stay connected with your friends and family. While these forms of communication are changing how people interact, they are also causing some trouble. Many companies are now looking on your personal networks and using any “wrongs” about you during the screening process.

According to the article Employers Use Social Nets to Weed Out Applicants Gone Wild
by Chris Maxcer on TechNewsWorld.com, “there’s a 20% chance that your next employer is reading, judging, and possibly rejecting your professional persona based on the private one you tout online.” This is very scary thought. It would be difficult for anyone to get a job if any mistake or wild thing you’ve ever done is being observed and scrutinized by someone else. For the most part, how someone is in their private life and someone behaves at work are not related. Most people do not act at work the way they would having a drink with their friends.

The website states the 41 % of potential job candidates have information posted about drinking or drugs and 40 % have provocative or inappropriate photos or information. Those statistics are very high. Having things like this can prevent employers from hiring you. From the employer side, this is an excellent way to weed out and have some differentiation between your potential applicants. Most employers would rather have an employee who is not wild and seems responsible.

This is unfair for on the applicant side though. If you choose to do certain things, legal things, in your personal life and you do not bring that to work, it should not have an effect on your potential as an employee. What a person chooses to do in their personal time is their business as long as it does not interfere with their work life. There have also been many cases where employees from certain companies have had their own personal blogs. They have talked about their work, good and bad, but not mentioned names. Many of them have been fired for the content that is on their blog even if they are not linked back to a particular company. To me, I feel that this is very unfair. If you are online bashing your employer, that is one issue but if the company name is anonymous, it should not matter. Many people are solving this problem themselves by making sure their blogs and profiles are clean and employer friendly. It is also important to make your security settings stronger so that employers are not able to see your information.

Social networks have also been very beneficial for keeping employees in contact with each other. Employers are now using these sites for recruiting and communication with potential employees. This is a quick and efficient way to connect with your potential employees on their level. Even though there are downsides to having social networks, the benefits highly outweigh them. The trend is moving towards having more and more social networks. The way we communicate is only going to further evolve as we become more reliant on technology.

The following link is for the article that I found and it is very helpful. Take a look, it is very interesting. Let me know any thoughts.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/64505.html