Privacy and online behavior may be of concern for job seekers as employers increasingly utilize social networking sites like Facebook in their recruitment and hiring process.
Trends in using social networking for recruitment have increased since the popularization of Facebook and other social networking sites. A 2012 survey done by the online recruitment company Jobvite, showed that 92 percent of job recruiters said they use, or plan to use, social networks for recruiting purposes.
Social Intelligence, an online company that claims to be the leading provider of social media screening utilizes “social media background checks” to research prospective employees’ entire social online presence and provides detailed reports of questionable findings to hiring managers. If you have partnered up with a staffing agency, you may ask them to conduct a social media background check on your potential employees.
(Kai Casey/CU Independent Photo Illustration)
According to Social Intelligence’s website, these social media employment screenings “enables employers to gain a deeper insight into both professional and personal characteristics of potential employees, identifying negative behaviors and activities to safeguard the organization as well as uncover positive attributes of candidates.”
The company claims to provide reports that filter out protected information that includes an individual’s race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age and disability status abiding by federal and state anti-discrimination law that the content of their Facebook does not hinder their chances of being hired once they have found employment opportunities.
According to Lisa Severy, director of career services at CU, social networking sites can be a great networking tool, but individuals need to maintain professional image online.
“Using a network of friends and friends’ friends to get the word out about your job search and what you’re looking for can be very helpful,” Severy said.
However, once a student has identified job opportunities, Severy said that it’s important to max out security settings and remove tags that you don’t want employers to see.
“It’s not enough to take off your own spring break pictures, you have to make sure photos you’re tagged in are gone too,” Severy said. “Best bet is not to post anything online you wouldn’t want your grandma to see.”
Shawna Simcik, president of business leadership at Innovative Career Consulting Inc. in Denver, spoke at CU last March about social media business trends called “You Can Run but You Can’t Hide.”
Simcik’s talk included ways to enhance personal branding, how to use social networking to find a job, how to use it appropriately once a job is secured, and the realities of employers using social networking sites in the hiring process.
Simcik encourages students to use Facebook to find jobs through family and friend networks but to realize that everything is public and even with the security settings at their highest information can still get out.
“Your friends and family can actually be your biggest champions and can refer you to other job openings or opportunities they might know of,” Simcik said. “The biggest issue [though] is on privacy. Even if you set your security settings to the highest level, which I absolutely encourage, whatever you post out there employers can actually seek out if they wanted to.”
Charlotte Coupe, a freshman sociology major, said that she takes online precautions when applying for jobs.
“I delete old pictures,” Coupe said. “If I’m applying for a job I make sure no red cups or alcoholic beverages are in the picture. I delete old friends that I don’t know well to make sure they’re not creepy.”
Jonathan Kasemir, a junior physics major, said he would change his Facebook account before considering applying for a job.
“Before I look at getting a serious job, I would go through and filter content in my Facebook and also up my security settings,” Kasemir said. “I wouldn’t necessarily filter friends but I may look at who may or may not be beneficial. “
Though industry professionals like Severy encourage students to take precautions about their online presence, not all students think employers monitoring Facebook is a serious threat to future employment.
Jacob Parelman, a junior psychology major, said that he thought social networking sites wouldn’t affect his employment.
“I have a Facebook and I also have a job,” Parelman said. “I don’t think [employers monitoring Facebook] is legitimate.”
Danielle Castagneri, a junior biochemistry major, said that she’s also not worried about employers monitoring her Facebook.
“I’m not worried because I’m pretty careful,” Castagneri said. “I monitor what I put on Facebook.”
Simcik suggests that employees retain the same qualities as if they were job searching even when they land a job because inappropriate online behavior could get them fired.
“If you’re talking bad about your current employer or you’re calling in sick but then you post a lovely picture of you at a party that [same] day, then [employers] can actually take action against you and you can end up fired, or unemployed,” Simcik said. “It’s important to keep an eye on what you post and what gets posted about you even when you get employed”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Lilli Dellheim at Lilli.dellheim@colorado.edu.
