I attended a seminar today about job searching and social media management. The most valuable part was the communications with other participants.
Many people are afraid of social media to the point where they are argumentative refusing to accept the fact that employers are using social media as a first and primary source to fill open jobs. Others in the groups were looking for convincing that they should use social media professionally, one participant was a conspiracy theorist, and the rest of us just did not understand the negative attitude surrounding social media.
You have to look at who is writing to understand my point of view and where it comes from. My close friends will testify that my father is a video game addict from the early Scott Adams games on the TRS80 and all of the generations of adventure games before the age of 7. My mother, in her late 70's, calls me on Skype with her iPad to give me grief in video shaking her fist because she needs an item in Café World or Farmville, or maybe get stuck on a puzzle and hold the ipad up to the laptop so I can see her dilemma. I remember they had a problem with programming their 3D television and my mother is holding the skype camera to the television so I can troubleshoot and walk my dad through it. I recently threw a party at the Asbury Park Pinball Museum and we could not find my Dad because he was all hunched over the machine playing the game with the fierce intensity of a teenager. Needless to say, I was nurtured in an environment where technology played a role watching the evolution of technology from the first Magnavox Odyessy video game system to the evolution of current technology. Needless to say, I am comfortable with technology and look for effective ways to use that technology.
You have to look at who is writing to understand my point of view and where it comes from. My close friends will testify that my father is a video game addict from the early Scott Adams games on the TRS80 and all of the generations of adventure games before the age of 7. My mother, in her late 70's, calls me on Skype with her iPad to give me grief in video shaking her fist because she needs an item in Café World or Farmville, or maybe get stuck on a puzzle and hold the ipad up to the laptop so I can see her dilemma. I remember they had a problem with programming their 3D television and my mother is holding the skype camera to the television so I can troubleshoot and walk my dad through it. I recently threw a party at the Asbury Park Pinball Museum and we could not find my Dad because he was all hunched over the machine playing the game with the fierce intensity of a teenager. Needless to say, I was nurtured in an environment where technology played a role watching the evolution of technology from the first Magnavox Odyessy video game system to the evolution of current technology. Needless to say, I am comfortable with technology and look for effective ways to use that technology.
One of the participants argued social media is a waste of time, claiming there were no jobs posted on social media sites. I would have loved to challenge that idea to determine if she was just not understanding how it all works or if it was a preconceived notion. The jobs are out there and success is happening. In a Management Thesis I wrote for school, a credit union conducts all of their hiring by sending announcements and asking for referrals to their employees and customer base through social media.
One of other points that stuck was a comparison made of social media being like “the Wild West” and perceived as “the enemy”. I disagree that social media is "the enemy", but I do agree this is like the wild west because employers are using social media not only for finding viable candidates, but determining the candidates skills and compatibility. The laws in place protecting employees and candidates are obsolete and do not address new technologies.
Third party companies who traditionally conducted criminal background and credit checks are now conducting social media background checks going back seven years. The Federal Trade Commission lumped this in with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Social media researchers are looking for volunteerism, professional activities and affiliations, leadership ability demonstrated through industry influence, communication skills, as well as education, honors, or awards. The list is not limited there because specific industries may have specific qualifiers and it will take a little legwork to learn what those qualifiers are. Ultimately, this will help you determine how to manage your social media content to attract new professional connections, job opportunities, and continual collaboration.
The disqualifiers are pretty standard looking for undesirable behavior such as speaking bad about your employer, disclosing employers proprietary information, discussion of illegal drug use or excessive alcohol use, excessive ranting and raving has been described as a disqualifier because it reflects the candidate has a bad temper and poor judgment. They also look for inappropriate sexual content, racist or anti-social behavior, dishonesty and other industry specific traits.
There are some key questions that have arisen in the past few weeks as people have reported that employers are demanding social media passwords. People refusing full access to their social media sites have terminated or disqualified for jobs. This brings up a lot of legal issues which I will save for another blog post as this unfolds a little more.
Another concern is the violation of Equal Opportunity laws that prohibit discrimination against employees for race, color, religion, marital status, disability, or sexual orientation. Questions normally prohibited during the interview process are facts that can easily be determined from a social media profile. There are no specific protections when it comes to social media. Law suits have already been filed and we are in a time where there will be growing pains as the use of social media for background screening is ironed out.
This is the “wild west” of the internet, but I believe by harnessing the knowledge and focusing efforts we can ultimately achieve more.
Feel free to follow me:
Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/manageyourcareer
Twitter: grinwithin
If social media is the cheapest avenue for employers to search for candidates, what will happen to recruiters/head-hunters?
ReplyDeleteWhy are placement agencies contracted for sourcing needs? Very simply, the employer wants to outsource that function. With the advancement of social media, I would not be surprised if staffing agencies developed a new product for their clients managing their social media needs.
ReplyDelete