Comments on: Employers ‘unfriend’ job seekers who use Facebook

By: Rahmadhita

Rahmadhita — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:35:51 +0000

Social Networking Media is emerging as the media can we use for our purposes. Each person has different interests. Let alone to find a job, to look for any potential partner, someone can use Social Networking Media. So the presence of an innovation in the midst of life we’ll always be accompanied with the advantages and disadvantages for our lives.

By: Ken Cantin

Ken Cantin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:18:51 +0000

@ Matt, i agree with you and before i present candidates to employers i also check for any open sites. On several occasions i have had them either clean it up or make it private before submitting them. In my world it reflects on me also.

The only point i don’t agree with in this article is that linkedin is rolled up with all the other sites. I use LinkedIn everyday and have never seen inappropriate content on there.

By: Rosanne Gain, Gain-Stovall, Inc.

Rosanne Gain, Gain-Stovall, Inc. — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:48:44 +0000

Rebecca, your piece is very timely and is well documented with credible sources. i plan to share it on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
In an article I recently wrote, “Five things I learned from social media,” this particular entry seems to best fit your article:
“It is best to exercise discretion –
Don’t be fooled by the seeming anonymity of the social media platform and share things with your list of contacts you wouldn’t share with them in person. Just as a diamond is forever,” your indiscretions online are like a cyber tattoo – nearly impossible to erase.”

By: Anon

Anon — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:48:28 +0000

“And only 18 percent of human resource professionals surveyed offered a position to a prospective employee due to a candidate’s display of professionalism on a social networking site.”

I’d be willing to wager that this is more due to only 18% of job seekers displaying professionalism on their social networking sites than it is to a trend in HR professionals behavior. As Ken says above, don’t put your face and name next to something on the Internet if you mind who sees it. Social networking ought to be raising the bar of integrity by shedding light on more areas of a person’s life. I suppose in a generation or so we’ll begin to really see the effects.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:00:08 +0000

As an employer I always look at Facebook and Myspace before hiring someone. Those sites can tell you a lot about a person that an interview may not be able to unearth.

By: Ken Cantin

Ken Cantin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:15:04 +0000

If you make any of the social sites like twitter or facebook open for public viewing and have inappropriate content on them then that is your fault. LinkedIn should never have bad content on it it is strictly for industry contacts. All can be very useful tools for a job search but cant be depended on as the one and only avenue. If you do make these public where a potential employer might see them then they should be cleaned up and written to impress more than your drinking buddy.