Social media has many positive traits to offer but like everything else where there is the good the bad is closely behind. This article I found online is a prime example of social media can go seriously wrong, http://mashable.com/2009/08/10/social-media-misuse/. This article reported that 8% of US companies have reported that they have fired employees due to something involving social media sites. Whether we believe it is far or not, employers are researching what we are saying on these sites. The girl in the article is a prime example of what we may say on social media sites can backfire terribly. Many of us have become comfortable with these sites and use them to voice any and all opinions we may have. I’m sure we can all think of Facebook statuses or tweets we have posted or seen others post that have caused drama or negative reactions. We can't be too careful in what we are posting or what image we are painting of ourselves on these sites.
But on the other side I was surprised to learn while reading the article, 10 ways to use social media in your job hunt that 80% of employers look at LinkedIn for new hires. It is comforting to know that if we put in the time, effort and if utilized properly these sites could help us launch a career. I believe that social media offers too many positives to let us be discouraged by the negatives. It can be as simple as monitoring what we post to avoid any negative situation. I thought it was interesting that one site suggested making a professional Facebook site, but I don’t see how this would discourage employers from looking at our personal sites. As a result, we have pretty much established that we don’t believe social media isn’t going anywhere, so we need to learn how to make the best of it and utilize it to help not hinder us.
I, as well, was amazed at the turn-around rate of employers that utilized professional sites including LinkedIn. It is nice to know that there is a reward for the effot that is put forth in order to set you aside from your competition. My only concern is, once this trend becomes highly known, what new strategies will we need to come up with in order to continue setting ourselves apart.
ReplyDeleteIts hard to believe that less than ten years ago, it was common to do the simple practices of picking up an application and then returning it with a resume, and your were usually hired considering your benifts included in the two. To know that the majority of jobs are filled by word of mouth or personal networking really makes it a necessity to focus on your image to all. You had great points on painting an appropriate image for yourself!
Like you mentioned, employers are using social sites to research what we say. I work in retail, and not too long ago, we had a meeting about employees complaining about the store on social sites. Apparently there were a few employees that had done this, and we were told that this was a warning but if the corporate company saw these updates, they could terminate the offender. So this is something serious, and I can't stress enough how much people need to pay attention to it.
ReplyDeleteI am definitely thankful that all the hard work we are putting into our accounts like LinkedIn is being recognized. Possible future employers are reviewing these pages and taking notice of which candidates are actively using social media sites and which are not. Although some might be hesitant to use social media because of the negative connotations mentioned in some of the above articles, we cannot forget how beneficial these sites are for making connections and forging through new professional territories. Great job!
ReplyDeleteSocial Media does have an extreme amount of possibilities and they do out-weigh the negatives. LinkedIn is an excellant Social Media resource that does help hire many deserving people. Unfortunatly, some lose their jobs over background checks due to Social Media.
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