Update: Check this out. (AMBL)
This article caught my attention not only because it deals with social media, but more specifically because it is targeted towards job hunting/recruiting, which is either a big aspect of all of our lives or soon will be.
It also touches upon our class discussion today - how employers do "background checks" on potential employees through their social networks and weed out those who portray an image that could damage the company's reputation or does not uphold the company standards.
An interesting up and coming trend the article talks about is the use of "video interviews." While I do agree that a video interview can save a company time and money in travel and lodging costs, I'm not sure that this method will give employers (and even potential employees) the same sense of character and chemistry that an in-person interview would. People may not conduct themselves in the same manner as they would face to face, being that even though they can see each other, it is still mediated communication. You might not get the same sense of how the person acts under pressure and/or if they get very nervous you may miss some indicators such as perspiration or trembling hands. But, as with all other technology, it seems inevitable that it will take off.
There are some job site names dropped throughout the article if anyone is looking around!
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3 comments:
In response to Kristyn-Ann's post regarding the article about company's seeking out candidates Facebook profiles in evaluating them as future employees --I think this is acceptable. The internet provides all of us with unlimited opportunites to conduct research and entertain ourselves through various types of outlets: social networks, online shopping, watching videos, etc. The online world has become the technological marketplace of our future. Marketing companies now, more than ever have the skills and resources to be able to conduct market research on consumers and to market to them based on interests, and behaviors while on the net. Some of us will be working in the field of Marketing following graduation and the companies we will be working for will most likely be having us conduct similar marketing research prodcedures. It is essential to business and the world of maketing, to know your consumers and what their interests and hobbies are and what they are going to be spending money on in the future.
I realize that there are privacy issues here- to protect us as citizens and to secure our transactions online. I believe that companies are absolutely responsibile to abide by the privacy laws of the internet. http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/210798.pdf
The information that we are providing on social networking sites such as facebook and myspace do protect our privacy as we allow, but we as consumers should also be aware that this information is technically "public" and although we are restricing our privacy settings to "Friends Only" it doesn't necessrily mean that your "Friend" is the only one viewing your profile-- they have the freedom to showcase your account to anyone they please.
Thus, the responsibility is left up to us as consumers to protect the personal information that we wish to kept private to ourselves, and not to the rest of the online world....
I think its completely understandable why companies look at their candidates online at their social networks if its available. I think that it should not be the only thing they look at but it does hold some weight to what person is like and tells a little about their personality. It doesnt mean it tells all, so a employer should get a sense of the person and see how it applies to them in a corporate world or in their business itself.
I do think it's appropriate for a employers to do some research on people's social networking site. I do feel though that after an employer views a person's social networking site, that he/she let the person know they did. Given them the chance to discuss and talk about the behavior in the site, especially if its not appropriate.
When it comes to interviewing people through video, I believe is wrong. Every day we are loosing one-on-one human contact. There are no more personal letters, since we now have emails. No more phone calls since we can just text each other, and no more making a friend in the streets or at school since we have MySpace and Facebook to make new friends. And now the only time we have to interact and present ourselves and who we are to a stranger on a one-on-one human contact, is going to be taken away by having interviews through videos instead of in person.
Come on now, we wont only have to worry that our shirt and tie matches, and that we are looking presentable; we will now have to worry if the video was clear enough and if we put some effort on to making it artistic or better than the other person applying for the job.
What is this world coming too!
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