You know the moment before going to a job interview, when you want to make sure you are well put together, you have practiced interview questions and feel like you "look the part"? Well now thanks to Facebook, and other social media sites, we are expected to make sure we are always in that composure. The Web is the new reference check. Not only are we required to provide references, employers are now taking it upon themselves to "check up on us". A new expectation in an employer-employee relationship is to filter your Facebook appropriately and double check your Google Juice! Employers are turning to the internet to find out as much as they can about you before hiring you as well as once you're hired; your reputation reflects their reputation. Inappropriate wall posts from friends, pictures, and statuses could all jeopardize your career. Employers aren't the only ones, as many students fear this reference check as they apply for co-op or teacher's college. I know I've had many friends change their names on Facebook for the time being in hopes that they can bypass being screened online. However I'm not sure if this avoidance is what is best for this emerging change in our relationship with prospective employers. As one of my fellow classmates wrote in her blog, during a resume workshop they informed her that prospective employers actually want to see your presence online. They want you to be established in our new culture of Facebook and Twitter and want your online presence to show your passion in your career choice. This provides us with tools to enhance our attractiveness to an employer. It's convenient and easy and shifts the power into our hands rather than solely in the hands of past employers.
Here is a great video that looks into the privacy issues of Employers looking up our background information online. In the video some give their opinion of whether employers should be allowed and I think one lady says it best as she agrees that employers should be able to look because "it is like leaving your diary on a public bench". If we are willing to be that honest and open with Facebook (which millions have access too) then I feel there is no reason Employers shouldn't check up on our "Google Juice" as well. What do you think?
As I have mentioned it is not only employers who are using the Web as a reference check. Here is a great example of Prosecutors checked up on a young girl's MySpace page and sent her to prison for 2 years.
Another scary, yet real example of the repercussions of your Facebook status, is that my boyfriend is now just about to enter his clinical placement for his post grad degree in Diagnostic Cardiac Sonography (Ultrasound of the heart), before going into their placement they were sent information about being aware of their professionalism and social media. The main message was to make them aware that the medical profession is a privilege to be a part of and no laughing matter so make sure you act appropriately online. Then they provide a story of how a past student who was 3 weeks from completing his placement a co-worker noticed something on his Facebook. His friends thought it would be a joke, and without him knowing changed his profile placing an offensive statement about specific female anatomy under his education title. With that his career was called into question. My point here is to make people aware of and strongly urge them to realize the change in relationships that has been made by us engaging in social media.
No comments:
Post a Comment