Social Networking May Hurt Your Chances for Employment
What you do and what you have done in your lifetime always reflects either positively or negatively on your employment prospects. For example: If you were top in your class at college and helped to turn a failing business around, the next company you seek employment from will look back at this and allow these accomplishments to bode well in your favor.
Contrarily, if you were convicted of a crime or were in charge when a company fell into the tank, this can be used against you. This is what we have to face in the marketplace. Our past is never far behind us, and with today’s widespread social media, your past and personality are more accessible than ever.
We all know that most employers have used background checks for their potential employees for a long time, and some have even delved into the personal lives of employees using Google searches. But some companies today are taking it above and beyond and are checking social media.
Social Media Implications on Potential Employment
Social Intelligence, a new web service, works by using your name and subsequently checks every nook and cranny of the Internet, scraping the bottom of the barrel in order to find your social media posts. If you’re a blogger, if you frequent a forum, if you have a social networking account or participate actively in social media whatsoever, there is a good chance that Social Intelligence will find your information, and it will be thoroughly looked over. The service gathers up your material, assembles it into a report, and then probes around looking for information.
Luckily, the service is on the hunt for good information as well as bad, so if you have some charitable work in your past or if you’re a good, stand-out citizen, it will reflect positively on you. But if you have any racial remarks, any offensive material, any mentions of criminality or drugs, or even any sexually explicit material on the 'Net, you will most likely be passed over or, if already employed, possibly terminated.
Chief Executive of Social Intelligence, Max Drucker, states that this service is not a detective service. According to Drucker, “All we assemble is what is publicly available on the Internet.” For those of you thinking your privacy is protected against such probes, think again. The Federal Trade Commission has investigated Social Intelligence and found that the service is in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, meaning simply that if you put it on the ‘Net, they have a right to pull it off.
To date, the service has kept a few people from finding employment. After Social Intelligence found a sexually explicit photo of a woman, she was passed over for a hospital position. And after a man was found to be involved with the Facebook group “This is America. I shouldn’t have to press 1 for English,” this applicant was passed over after being deemed racist. According to Drucker, the service does not probe into details about a person’s religion, race, disability, or marital status, and that the reports compiled only assess risk and will not include information protected by federal law.
However, there are many people skeptical about such a service, stating that it does open the door a bit wider for employees who are looking for certain “types” to employ. To date, this particular service has complied fully with the law, but we will have to wait and see how widespread its reach becomes in the future and how many employees are being passed over due to their usage of social media outlets.
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- Networking for Success
- 2011 Employment Outlook
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- 10 Tips for working with a recruiter to find employment
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