Socialize

Power, Responsibility, and How We Use Social Media

 

The world of hiring has drastically changed with the incredible technological, social, and cultural growth over the past several decades.  Whereas once securing a job was contingent upon a refined resume and strong interview, now there is a pressure to effectively curate one’s online impression.

 

According to a survey conducted by CareerBuilder, up to 70% of employers screen potential candidates through social media.  Now users have to consider before posting anything online that there is a good chance a future employer will see this information.

 

But what are they looking for?  In an article published by Workopolis, there are three things recruiters look for in a candidate’s social media: their fit with the corporate culture, their qualifications, and their creativity.  Naturally, employers look for these qualities throughout the recruiting process.  However, now social media, whether we like it or not, compliment or detract from what we put on our resumes.

 

It is not so different from the way we date and how social media has come to affect that.  Before agreeing to go out on a date with someone, it is not uncommon to lurk them.  We look at their interests, friends, and online behavior as well as getting a better sense of their appearance.  And these can win you over or instantly deter you.

 

Workopolis continues to demonstrate the qualities that deter employers when they survey your social media.  Some are fairly obvious, such as reference to illegal drugs, use of profanity, or images of you consuming alcohol.  Others, such as improper use of grammar, are far more common mistakes we can make in our postings.

 

Facebook began as a platform to connect college students with one another before growing into the empire that it is today.  Since, our uses of social media have changed.  Whereas once these platforms were a place for social interaction, how they connect you to family and employers, leading many to drastically alter how they post.  But if we are constantly tailoring how we come across on social media to be as professional as possible, is it still social?

 

Some platforms have adapted to this concern.  Many accounts can be made private.  Some platforms, such as Snapchat, thrive in being fleeting, with posts expiring once opened and notification settings that discourage users from holding on to content any longer.

 

So one possible solution is to live a double life: maintain a professional, public presence while still enjoying a private, more social one.  However, this still leads to risks of content accidentally crossing over in undesirable ways.

 

In an op-ed written for The New York Times, Cal Newport reflects on his complete withdrawal from the online social sphere.  He sees a clear danger in relying on social media, writing, “In a capitalist economy, the market rewards things that are rare and valuable.”  He extends this logic to the breakneck pace of social media.  As it functions now, social media poses the idea that “if you engage in enough of this low-value activity, it will somehow add up to something of high value in your career is the same dubious alchemy that forms the core of most snake oil and flimflam in business.”

 

I see a central fallacy in Newport’s argument.  He assumes that posts are almost universally “low-value.”  He writes “any 16-year-old with a smartphone can invent a hashtag or repost a viral article.”  While this is common on platforms such as Twitter or Facebook, this can hardly be used to categorize all styles of content.  

 

Social Media has drastically changed how we measure success in many industries.  Cinema, for example, measures it success in just how many views a trailer receives in 24 hours or how many people tweet about it just as much as it looks at its own box office gross.  Social media has the power to shape business.

 

As users, we should not ignore that power.  Sure, we shouldn’t rely on our online impression entirely in order to secure a job.  At the end of the day, there is a good chance you will have to go into an office and interact with colleagues in person.  The weight of your personality, work ethic, and experience has not been diminished.  Rather, social media is just another component.  Instead of seeing it as a series of pitfalls, perhaps we should be using it to show what we are capable of.

 

 

Works Cited

 

Newport, Cal. “Quit Social Media. Your Career May Depend on It.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Nov. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/jobs/quit-social-media-your-career-may-depend-on-it.html?_r=0.

 

Salm, Lauren. “70% Of Employers Are Snooping Candidates' Social Media Profiles.” CareerBuilder, 15 June 2017, www.careerbuilder.com/advice/social-media-survey-2017.

 

Workopolis. “The Top Three Things That Employers Want to See in Your Social Media Profiles.” Workopolis, 6 July 2016, careers.workopolis.com/advice/the-three-things-that-employers-want-to-find-out-about-you-online/.

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Reflection: After this semester, I have found myself grappling with this issue still.  For example, I found myself creating a "finsta" which refers to a private Instagram account shared only with a close circle.  I think the idea of having one account encompass one's identity is fairly limiting, and that the creation of multiple such accounts, while complicated, allows for the existence of multiple facets of identy to exist in both public and private spaces.