Social Media and Your Potential Employer

         

   

       It’s your worst nightmare. You apply for your dream job. This is the job that you were born to have! The interview went so well, that you just know you’re a shoe in. You wait and wait for a phone call, but one never comes. Come to find out, your future employer checked out your social media profiles and decide that you just “weren't right for the company.” Maybe that trip to the beach with college friends wasn't such a good thing to share pictures of. 

     It may a horrible thing to happen to you, but in reality, it’s the employers’ loss. A study conducted by North Carolina State University revealed that what could seem like bad traits to the employer could actually be just what they were looking for.

                There are five traits that social media can skew to the point that the possible employer may automatically disqualify you for a job. These traits are extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience.  While your employer may see your crazy weekends as something that shows how bad of an employee you may be, it’s actually showing you as being open to new experiences and being an extrovert. What they SHOULD be looking for are posts that badmouth people. That’s a big no no in the business world. The study shows that if a person bad mouths others online, it could be an indicator that they will criticize their peers and coworkers.  According to the study, people have actually been fired for badmouthing on Facebook. If you don’t badmouth people, it shows that you are conscientious and agreeable. It shows that you have a kind of willingness to achieve and conformity. These are things that your employer should love in a potential employee.

                On a personal note, I don’t believe that an employer should even check up on their current or potential employees. It’s someone’s private life. It’s really none of anyone’s business, unless you want to friend them. Plus, there are certain groups of people that do not have protections in the workplace. LGBT people have no protection in the workplace in West Virginia, among other states. The possible employer may not even see anything bad on the potential employee’s social media, but decide not to hire them based on sexual orientation. Although it may not be right, I’m sure that it happens all too often. They can find something else to say they didn't hire them for. Also, think about people and their political posts. They run rampant on Facebook. If the possible employer is a Republican and the possible employee is a Democrat, this may not mesh well and cause the candidate to lose the job opportunity. Again, this is not right. Someone’s political beliefs probably have nothing to do with their work ethic. I really can’t find any good argument on why they should be checking out social media. The only way I see a possible reason to look at social media is that the possible employee had a professional account. It would be a good way to show your skills. 

http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/cyber.2012.0163

http://mashable.com/2013/10/18/social-media-and-job-applicants/