Intoxicated looks in party pictures posted on Facebook and angsty blogs and profane MySpace pages may come back to haunt you and your career! Yeep that is apparently true.
We do have to be careful with our online behaviour, control bad language, racist remarks and statements that might upset the majority of people. So basically, the question is what is if we are engaging in an online life, (i.e. virtual communities, networking sites), will that come back to haunt us??
According to statistics , while only 15 per cent of firms rejected employees strictly because of their online footprint, human resources managers were less forgiving. A quarter said they declined candidates because of what they found out online about the person. A fifth of employers have looked up prospective recruits online, with over half saying it affected their decision to hire the person, said respondents to the survey of 2,447 internet users and 600 companies, commissioned by business networking firm Viadeo .
My student colleauge Abeer Saalman is such a nice girl, commited to her studies and armed with all the positive aspects to make a career. In the online search of her name, it appears that she has witnessed a terrorist attack. The context in which her name is mentioned is not the most appealing one, should her future employers decide to "run a test on her".
I began to wonder how we can prevent misunderstanding and embaressment when recruiters start trawling through our Facebook accounts?
Will they decide against job applicants based on personal information showing what they saw as alcohol abuse or unethical activities? Intimate details are on display big time, thus inviting. It seems to be justified in a way to have concerns if the person you just interviewed for a serious job, is portrayed as a party animal in his profile.
On the other site, you have to be responsible with what you put online, pictures of someone lying passed out on the pavement seems to be a rather bad idea now, doesnt it? But what happens when your name is coincidentally out there, in refernce to negative things? Well, Nigel informs me there is not much you can do about it really.
Apart from that, my concern goes a bit further here: I believe we are touching on indiscretion in that context. Whether or not it's fair, people do it. Companies are looking up potential employees online and gain insight into your personal live, your hobbies and your leisure time, all well documented in pictures and colors. It's only just a few clicks away.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment