Survey Results: Social Networking in the Workplace
Results from a new Vault survey. Questions include:
+ Have you ever looked up potential hires on Facebook, MySpace or other social networking web sites?
+ Would something that you perceive as negative in a social networking web site profile affect your decision to hire a job candidate?
+ When you are in the midst of a job search and sending out resumes, do you think that potential employers might look up your profile?
and many others.
Quick comment:
What might be the most interesting part of the survey (and not noted) are how many companies/potential employers go back to verify (both good and bad), using other primary, secondary, and tertiary sources along with what they find on a social network? Or, are you as good (or bad) as what’s written on a social network page (be in yours or someone with a similar sounding name or background)…period.
It’s easy to create a profile for the same or a very similar sounding name. It’s even easier to develop a profile with the exact job requirements included in the job listing. What, if anything, are the large social networks (since they now have many more uses than to just “make friends”) doing to keep similar names yet different people under control. In other words, where does name/authority control fit in with social networks? Are these and can these systems be easily and quickly gamed? When it comes to people verification, we always talk about using a variety of sources. Is this being done by those posting jobs on the Internet?