YOU HAVE:
2 friend requests
3 group invitations
1 job offer
You could one day sign into Facebook to find something like this on your feed. And although this isn't literally the case today, an article in the Economic Times suggests that social networking is becoming more and more important in the hunt for jobs.
Not sticking with Google and employment sites, young people are increasingly turning to Facebook and Twitter to chat about prospective employers online. Users get advice about recruitment processes and tips for interviews from peers, with about 30% of those students surveyed also chatted to current employees of the prospective company to see if the job lived up to its hype after the hiring process is done.
It's funny how things like this still surprise us. Before the Internet, you would not only check the classifieds for listings, but you naturally would talk to your friends and find out connections in order to stake out jobs. That hasn't changed. Social networking has just moved this strategizing to an online environment. On the other hand, there's always the possibility of first-hand interactions with people you've never met from places around the world, taking the job search to a whole new global level. The access to information is also much greater and more immediate, meaning that research can be a lot more thorough. Social networking, again, is in a no man's land between the familiar and the personal.
But while job-hunters are happy to research online, being offered jobs is a different story. Although businesses are beginning to hock jobs on Facebook and Twitter, surveys from the article present that 70% of students are against organisations using social networking sites to offer them jobs, saying that this is "exploiting" social media for their own ends. This suggests that Internet users want to use the web for their independent research to hunt their own jobs, not be caught with cloying advertisements. This also suggests a sense of sanctity of the social networking sites: that it's a place for people to interact with their peers, not for companies to intrude.
2 friend requests
3 group invitations
1 job offer
You could one day sign into Facebook to find something like this on your feed. And although this isn't literally the case today, an article in the Economic Times suggests that social networking is becoming more and more important in the hunt for jobs.
Not sticking with Google and employment sites, young people are increasingly turning to Facebook and Twitter to chat about prospective employers online. Users get advice about recruitment processes and tips for interviews from peers, with about 30% of those students surveyed also chatted to current employees of the prospective company to see if the job lived up to its hype after the hiring process is done.
It's funny how things like this still surprise us. Before the Internet, you would not only check the classifieds for listings, but you naturally would talk to your friends and find out connections in order to stake out jobs. That hasn't changed. Social networking has just moved this strategizing to an online environment. On the other hand, there's always the possibility of first-hand interactions with people you've never met from places around the world, taking the job search to a whole new global level. The access to information is also much greater and more immediate, meaning that research can be a lot more thorough. Social networking, again, is in a no man's land between the familiar and the personal.
But while job-hunters are happy to research online, being offered jobs is a different story. Although businesses are beginning to hock jobs on Facebook and Twitter, surveys from the article present that 70% of students are against organisations using social networking sites to offer them jobs, saying that this is "exploiting" social media for their own ends. This suggests that Internet users want to use the web for their independent research to hunt their own jobs, not be caught with cloying advertisements. This also suggests a sense of sanctity of the social networking sites: that it's a place for people to interact with their peers, not for companies to intrude.
Something this article doesn't cover, however, is something I talked about in an earlier blog post: what about employers finding their employees true "opinions" of their jobs? Could the free speech of the Internet, used for job researching, prove detrimental if current employees are a little too "honest" with their assessment of their job/employer?
What do you think about social networking and job hunting? Would you want to be offered a job online? Have you ever researched a job by using social networking sites?
What do you think about social networking and job hunting? Would you want to be offered a job online? Have you ever researched a job by using social networking sites?
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI think using social networking sites are an interesting way to offer a job but I think I would be a little bit sceptical. I think I am used to the traditional means of applying and going through the whole human interview stage. It would be pretty funny seeing a 'job offer' link come up on my homepage but as I said I would be weary to accept it. I think sns are useful for family and friends to keep in touch and advertising jobs would be effective as well as people do spend a lot of time on these sites so descriptions would be viewed but to actually offer a job is a quite a giant step. I have not researched a job using a social networking site unless I am looking for people who work for a certain company and the only way to find them is through searching the company. Job sites have been invented for a reason - let them do their jobs and keep facebook work-free - it is meant to be a happy and stress-free zone - the word job indicates stress and no fun so that popping up on my facebook would scare me away.
Lord, I hope this never happens. First, because I refuse to join Facebook. Second, because like what b.villarosa said, it would be mixing two necessarily separate worlds: your social life and your professional life. Don't most people post drunken photos and embarrassing stories on their accounts? Do they really want their future boss to see that?
ReplyDeleteRead the article "How Facebook Can Get You Fired": http://www.nowpublic.com/how_facebook_can_get_you_fired