Current conclusions regarding social media

Social media is a fascinating subject. There are numerous websites, blogs, journals and other resources in the online community to discover information regarding social media and its relatively recent impact on organizations, employees and online presence. At the beginning of this study, I began by asking myself several questions:

How and to what extent do HR departments and professionals screen employees before hiring by searching and examining their online presence?

Preliminary conclusions: I have spoken to about 10 different employers by mouth and Twitter… about half said they check out social networks either before or after an interview. Depending on my time, it might be interesting to look at several different fields to see if this changes. I have found multiple articles on online presence, but not published data on specifically on how often it is used by employers to screen.

Additional conclusions:

Thanks to Lindsay Olsen at the Ladders.com, I was able to find some interesting statistics regarding this:

• 22% of hiring managers use social networks to research profiles (+11% from 2006)
• 34% of hiring managers dismissed a candidate based on what they found (out of the 22%)
• 24% of hiring managers found information that was used to hire a candidate
• 77% of recruiters use search engines to learn more about candidates
• 35% have eliminated a candidate from consideration based on the information uncovered online
• 16% of executives found information they fear if seen could eliminate them from consideration of a new job.

Googling a candidate’s name to see what comes up in the search was one of the most frequent items that I came across in researching this question. Job seekers should occasionally Google their own name to monitor what “surfaces” when this is done. If anything negative is found, the candidate should contact the website and ask that it be removed.

What do they look for?

Preliminary conclusions: The employers that I talked to said that they look at the information posted by the potential employee, pictures, and content to judge professionalism.

Additional conclusions: Lindsay Olsen’s information shared some highlights on this as well:

• 41% of candidates posted information about them drinking or using drugs
• 40% of candidates posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information
• 29% of candidates had poor communication skills
• 48% of candidate backgrounds supported their qualifications for the job
• 43% of candidates had great communication skills
• 40% of candidates were a good fit for the company’s culture.

How many business organizations and what kinds of business organizations practice this?

Conclusions: This is one area that never quite developed. I did not come across many defining lines among industries that said this industry participates, this one doesn’t. This leads me to believe that all industries are in some way, shape, or form, jumping on the social media bandwagon. Because the involvement of social media is so great, I would imagine that it is affecting all industries.

How can social media be used as a tool to enhance one’s job application, professional career and networking abilities?

Conclusions: Absolutely! By engaging in the constructive use of social media, one can put themselves at an advantage by learning how to communicate in new, innovative ways. With work and diligence, these skills can be honed and can greatly enhance networking abilities and career advancement. In addition there are new positions being created everyday to engage and manage social media as well as develop new social media communities. Because of the social media boom, or what is also referred to as the development of Web 2.0, the nature of business and organizational communication is changing. By being familiar and skilled at working with social media, professionals are able to tackle a new way to communication with consumers and clients.

What does a professional online presence consist of?

Preliminary conclusions:
    Establishing a professional, clean, online presence can make one more versatile in the job market for several reasons. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, PROpen Mic and LinkedIn offer the opportunity to connect with professionals in your field. You can also connect visually through friends and friends of friends, one can ask questions, learn about job openings, etc.

Having recently joined Twitter, I have seen many job openings posted just since I joined. On Twitter, the content of postings has a lot to do with how the site functions as a tool. If one posts, say, what they’ve eaten, where they’ve gone, or some other unnecessary detail. This isn’t really using Twitter to an advantage. However, by responding with educated thoughts, a user can offer succinct opinions and share valuable information with a easily reachable target audience. The user can also “follow” other users and gain information this way. Many users post articles and information about topics relevant to a field, and users can also search by keyword.

I have not found very much information on Facebook as a professional tool, but have heard more about it as a tool to “research” potential employees. Although users can join groups associated with their company, post job history and education info, and publicly advertise, I have found that it is used more as a friendly social networking site and less used for professional networking. LinkedIn, however, is primarily for posting professional information. Users of  LinkedIn can connect with other users resulting in a professional network that can be reviewed visually. On Facebook, one can create groups to separate different types of “friends”, but those “friends” can be from any area of one’s life.

Also in researching these sites, I found the site called VisualCV.com where one can publish their Resume or C.V. as well as work samples, visual images, audio and video samples, etc. All of these components are linked on a site with a personalized web address which can be published on various social networks and exists online for employers to review. Personally, I think it’s brilliant and competitive and should be a requirement of colleges and universities. Documents from many programs can be uploaded to an online portfolio, and the visual CV can be linked to a number of different social networking sites including Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, and Twitter. It can also be downloaded and exported as a PDF to be printed or e-mailed. According to their website:

“A VisualCV is an Internet-based, multimedia resume that provides a comprehensive picture of you professionally and allows you to stand out from the crowd.”

Additional conclusions: When I initially began this project, I pictured online presence as an entirely personal thing. However, when I began researching, I realized (as more of a “Duh!” moment than an “Aha!” one) that businesses and organizations are also striving to develop effective, successful online presences as well. There are lots of websites out there with encouraging lists, tips, and recommendations on how to develop and maintain an effective online presence. Some common themes I found are:

• Work at it. Establishing profiles, developing websites, maintaining blogs, tweeting, and posting are not a onetime deal. They are in constant need of updating and management.
• Analyze and appeal to your audience. Without losing the essence of what you and/or your organization represent, appeal to your audience through words and visuals, by promoting other professionals like you , and staying on top of new information that affects your career and industry.
• Stay positive. This rule applies especially to job seekers and potential new employees. Blogging about employers- especially negatively is dangerous territory. The only people who get away with this are those that already get paid to do so.

In addition to the themes above, I have also published multiple blog posts regarding the development of online presence. One of my favorites is the 19 Presence Management Chores You COULD Do Every Day by Chris Brogan, which I plan to begin working on starting tomorrow.

 What are the effects of social media as a screening tool on college students and recent graduates?

Preliminary conclusions: Social Media is a quickly growing industry and there are professionals needed to run it and keep companies current on the various social networks and social media sites. Many companies have hired professionals simply to improve their online presence. Since they basically offer a way to conduct free advertising, companies can harness this by appointing a position to use social media to their benefit. Potential employers who are competing in a technical, global market realize this. By enhancing your abilities to use social media, and knowing how to effectively use it, one can boost their job application and resume.

Social Media is also being referred to by some as a “bandwagon”, but it does have its advantages. I can definitely see how it could be huge cost in inefficiency by being abused by employees who have access to it during the day. It also has the capability to hurt one’s reputation by the “wrong” material being posted. However, I feel that if it is used wisely, it offers potential employees, current employees, and companies a great way to expand their outreach and receive feedback in a global economy.

Additional conclusions: According to an article by Dan Schawbel in Business Week Online, “72% of companies plan to invest more in recruiting through social networks”. This means that recent college graduates should be actively developing their online presence, monitoring their current one, and deleting all of those party pictures from Facebook, or at least making them visible only to select persons. I saw an article on TechCrunch yesterday where Facebook is now the 4^th largest site in the world having grown in the last year by 157%! Amazing. I can remember in about 2004? 2005? When I was first hearing about it. In the month of June alone, it had 77 million unique visitors. Schawbel also offers tips to job seekers regarding each of the major social networking sites, and the tips seem to be geared towards younger users.

In addition to those initial questions, I looked at and blogged about research regarding:

1. Social media as an HR tool, how it is used in employee recruiting and its impact on hiring and firing practices.
2. The development and establishment of social media policy in the corporate environment
3. The developing and changing role of social media in public relations
4. Professional online identities and personal branding, as well as online branding for organizations

The amount of information that I have reviewed over the last five weeks is enough to make one’s head spin, and I feel like I have only scratched the surface. There is still so much more information out there; I look forward to my continued learning about social media and its impact on society.

A breif tutorial in online reputation management

I ran across this slideshow on Slideshare, yet another social media outlet. It presents some tips and tricks for navigating through the social media and social network world as well as managing your online reputation.

It also contains several statistics regarding hiring/firing pracitces and what employers look for. It is definitely worth taking a few minutes to view.

Sweeping Your Online Presence – Personal Online Reputation Management for the Job Search

View more presentations from PRjobs.

Classifieds are out; social media is in

Business Week Online featured an article by Dan Schawbel in which he declares that “LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and blogging are much better tools for finding jobs that speak to your passions than job boards and corporate Web sites”. The original article can be found here.

The article presents a staggering statistic regarding employee recruitment; “72% of companies plan to invest more in recruiting through social networks”. To give an idea of how many professionals are currently using social networking, as of the publication of the article, LinkedIn has “more than 40 million professional member profiles across all industries”. Also, “with 250 million users, Facebook is the largest social network and is home to both corporate recruiters and headhunters”. Schawbel describes one user that “landed his current job as a sales associate for EMC without even submitting his resume”. He goes on to describe how potential employees can use each of these three social media to their advantage in finding a job “faster than the competition.”

When using social networking for professional advancement, Schawbel offers several tips including:

• LinkedIn
  • “Construct a flawless profile that will impress recruiters”.
  • Use your professional headline “to position yourself for the job you want, not the job you have.
  • “Obtain your unique LinkedIn URL so that it appears as http://linkein.com/in/yourfullname”

    **this is called a vanity URL, which many social networking sites are using because it comes up faster in search engines.

• Blogging
  • “Recruiters can gain a better understanding of an individual based on a blog, compared to a resume that has the same boring standard fields, such as experience and education.”
  • Blogging gives hiring managers an idea of how an applicant “may fit into an organization’s culture and the specific role that needs to be filled”.
  • “To be a successful blogger, passion, hard work, integrity, and the ability to take criticism are required”.
• Twitter
  • A potential employee can post their resume “on Twitter using twtjobs.com”.
  • “You can search for jobs by going to twitterjobsearch.com”.
  • Because of the restrictions placed on Twitter users, Schawbel suggests that users “go to twitbacks.com and create a custom background, which can include more of your information to paint a stronger portrait of your personal brand.
  • “Focus your tweets on your expertise instead of randomly tweeting about anything that comes to your mind, so you can become the go-to source for information on that topic”.
  • “Follow people in your field, especially those employed at companies that you want to work for”.
• Facebook
  • “Hide those party pictures and set privacy settings”.
  • “Get your custom URL by going to facebook.com/usernames and selecting facebook.com/yourfullname”.
  • “Status updates can be a job-seeking tool”…”as a way of networking old contacts without harassing them”.

With applicable tips and good advice, this article is like a mini-guide for social media and job hunting. Schawbel calls social media “the great equalizer” because it gives job seekers the ability to “connect directly with hiring managers who work for companies you have genuine interest in instead of applying mindlessly through job boards”.

Johnny Taylor Jr. on Social Media

Johnny Taylor Jr. is the President and CEO of RushmoreDrive.com. He was recently featured on Human Resources iQ in an interview regarding Social Media in Human Resources. The full interview can be found here. Taylor explains that “more and more recruiters are using these sites to obtain a better understanding of the personality and lifestyle of potential job candidates that could positively or negatively influence their position in the organization”.

One of the first questions asks whether an “employer’s use of social media…as a recruiting strategy” is a violation of privacy. I completely agree with Taylor in his position on this, which is that people create their own accounts and post their own content freely. If someone chooses to make information available online to the public, this public includes potential employers. This is why social media users should be conscious of what they are posting online and why online presence has become an issue for discussion.

Taylor describes what human resource professionals are looking for on social media sites. “Employers are trying to increase our chances of finding the right ‘fit’ in our organization (fitness meaning technical credentials and cultural/values fit)”. While there are definitely aspects of one’s life that should not be used as criteria for employment, employers and recruiters can sometimes form opinions of a potential employee depending on what they choose to post online.

The interviewer also asked Taylor, “How much of an influence do these social networking sites have on an employer’s decision to hire job candidates?” Taylor states that although “human resources departments aren’t surfing social networks as a common part of their recruitment process”, they “are increasingly turning to them (especially for new college graduates)”. He does explain that “it’s not at all uncommon for applicants and employers to conduct a quick Google search on someone in advance of an interview”. He also explains that information found by recruiters on social networks is not the only information used in the hiring process.

Taylor finishes off the interview by advising applicants to “assume your parents access your social network every day – so no lies, compromising pictures, etc.” This seems like sound advice to me; however, my entire family- including my in-laws are on facebook, so I am already practicing this.