New advice for job hunters
Filed under: consumer, cyber safety, Facebook, social media, Twitter
I hate updating my CV and generally procrastinate until a deadline looms. My problem lies in forgetting what I’ve done work-wise and instead remembering details not useful to anybody’s CV – especially mine! Now thanks to new Telstra research there’s something else I need to factor in when applying for jobs.
Telstra’s latest Cyber-Safety research reveals that more than a quarter of Australian bosses are starting to use social networking sites to screen job candidates, with almost half of these employers admitting to turning away prospects based on something they’ve seen on sites like Facebook or Twitter.
Integrating technology into the recruitment and selection process is not a new thing. For many years most vacancies have required a potential candidate to apply online. So it was only a matter of time before our online personal lives crossed over with our professional lives.
Employers now use social media to find top talent and candidates can stand out from others by showcasing their social media creativity. Although that doesn’t mean social networking sites are always used appropriately with bosses revealing the biggest faux pas their employees make on social networking sites include:
- Posting negative comments about their workplace
- Posting confidential information
- Posting or tagging inappropriate pictures on their profile
- Posting discriminatory comments
- Posting comments/photos/links during work hours
While these missteps put a smile on my face, it made me think of the many others that get circulated from time to time.
The thing that the research reinforced to me was that it’s easy for people to control their own digital reputation.
These Telstra tips will help you manage your Cyber CV:
- Check your social networking pages: Review your Facebook wall, Twitter feed and LinkedIn account and remove language or pictures that might upset, embarrass or offend other people.
- Use the right social media tool: Sites like Facebook and Google+ provide a good way to communicate socially, but can be open to a wide audience including friends of friends. A site like LinkedIn is a great way to share industry related information publicly to your professional network.
- Make privacy a priority: Review and use the privacy settings available to you – do you really want ‘friends of friends’ seeing photos of what you got up to on Saturday night?
- Stay current: Check your profiles are up-to-date and reflective of you as a person. Even if you’re not currently looking for work, social networking profiles are also used to find prospective employees and may land you your dream job.
- Do keep confidential information and derogatory comments to yourself: If you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, don’t say it online, including mumblings about your annoying boss. Always take disagreements offline where they can be more effectively communicated and resolved.
What do you think are the biggest cyber CV faux pas? Are you comfortable with the information your employer or a potential employer could find if they Googled you?
More information:
Other tips on how to manage your digital reputation can be found on Telstra’s Internet and Cyber-Safety site – a site recently awarded an Australia and New Zealand Internet Award for its useful content.
if you are stupid enough to have your facebook profile and inappropriate posts public for the world and prospective employers to see, you probably dont deserve the job you are applying for anyway.
wow, thats a terrible thing to say, what if your last job was in the Adult film industry?? and you’re looking for an out ??
that’s like a thought crime… ever read 1984 ???
What happened to honesty is the best policy ?
I’m not up with ‘social networking’ by choice!
As it is increasingly being used as a tool for potential employers, it can have it’s pros and cons. However, if I was not hired for not \showcasing my social media creativity\ on Facebook, or the like, then I would consider this as discrimination. And I would probably feel the same if something I posted also resulted in me not getting a job.
With this said, I do think that people need to be aware that once you put something out there on the WWW, you no longer have control of it.
Number one tip on the internet is to operate under a pseudonym.
Operate more then one pseudonym. One for family. One for friends. Make em unique, and if you make them a verb even better. Almost impossible to google a verb. A noun can be key word searched even easier.
This is a really great article.
Whatever happened to freedom of speech and the freedom to express yourself openly? This is political correctness gone mad and invasion of privacy. Social networking should be just that, social. What I do in my social life does not affect how I perform in my professional life. A photo of me singing karaoke with a few beers in me does not reflect how I behave in the workplace! And if I have my Facebook and Twitter accounts set to private, employers should not be able to view them.
The point about ensuring your privacy settings are up to date is the key. In the recent GASP Clothing fiasco the situation was made worse when people looked at the Operational manager’s public facebook page only to find status updates referring to fat customers in highly derogatory terms. A few hours later, his page became Private.
I have a policy of keeping my privacy settings as high as possible, and not accepting “friend requests” from any colleagues on FB UNLESS I socialise with them outside of work extensively (and no, I don’t count “after work drinks”). This policy has saved me much embarrassment.
The Best way to manage your Cyber CV is not to have one. i.e do not join Twitter or Facebook etc.
Finaly someone with common sense!