The advancement of technology in the 21st century has brought about social media that allows people to share any form of content quickly, efficiently and in real-time on the public without any form of interception or censorship by the government or any second user.
Despite positive impacts brought by social media in this modern world of technology, social media has gravely brought undesirable consequences to job seekers as they lose job opportunities as a result of what they share publicly on different social media sites.
Social media users need to think immensely before they publicly or privately post, like or share content on any social media site as what they share can negatively affect their future. In this modern world of technology, social media is now being used as a research tool on job candidates by employers to shortlist the right applicants for specified job opportunities before conducting interviews. People should make sure that their actions on social media are well thought out so that they positively reflect on their personalities as career-minded individuals.
According to a survey recently done by Career Builder on over 2,000 hiring managers and human resource professionals, they discovered that 51% of employers who did their due diligence and used social media to research a candidate had not hired candidates due to the content on their social media pages.
Some examples of reasons that they chose not to hire candidates included: the candidate posting inappropriate or provocative pictures or content (46%), evidence of drinking or drug use (41%), discriminatory posts (28%), and inappropriate screen names (21%). In the same study, they also revealed that 33% of employers found information that made them more likely to hire a candidate.
Some of the most common reasons that employers chose to hire candidates based on their social media pages included: the candidate’s profile conveying a professional image, the candidate’s profile portraying an individual that would be a match for the company’s culture, and the candidate appears to be well rounded.
Social media improve one’s life in so many ways and gives people the freedom to share thoughts with thousands of people around the world. Still, freedom comes with responsibility, and when an individual post the wrong stuff, it can affect one’s future and personal reputation.
Comments