profiles, reputations and your (next) job
TRANSCRIPT
George Fiala Brainwerx Group Inc.
Profiles, Reputations and Your (next) Job.
Let's be clear about this, we all have public virtues and private vices. And I do mean all of us. If you look back at what you did 10, 20, 30 or more years ago, and look at what you are doing today, what would you think? Would the you of today, hire the you from that time? If all of that was posted on social media and (potentially) taken out of context? The picture below is a case in point. What's happening there? Does my dog have his head stuck in the peanut butter container, or is he simply licking out the peanut butter? Did I put that there and take the picture knowing he would respond like that? Did I do that to him on purpose? All of these things
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should cross your mind, but what you’re probably thinking is, haha, he has a peanut butter container on his face... dogs…
For the record, my daughter gave him the container, he loves peanut butter and he was getting the last bit of it, his head was not stuck. He continued playing with the container for another hour or so. Now, on to the reason for this article, social media today is both a great method of keeping in touch and up to date, it's also a huge pain in the ass. Why? Because it's being used for other purposes. Potential employers are looking at the profiles of prospective employees and looking at pictures of them at parties, on vacation and making decisions on lifestyle of that person based on those decisions. Not, usually, taking into account what they were like at that age (if we are discussing pictures on the FB accounts of someone that is in their late teens or in their twenties).To be realistic, we've all gone through those phases and, one hopes, come out the other end a mature adult that understands the meaning of work and commitment. Frankly, I don't see how one's vacation pictures and consuming alcohol makes a person NOT any of those things, but that is the nature of a society that is quick to judge on superficial issues.
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As I said in the opening, everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, has public virtues and private vices (just in case that wasn't clear before). Do I have an answer for the problem of prejudice and superficiality? Nope. Because that would involve a big shift in thinking on a scale that would be long and difficult.
Do I have a temporary solution? Maybe. To job applicants, yep, you have those images and possibly, just possibly, you may want to either put them as private, or delete them from your FB account. To employers, if you're looking at someones FB account (you know, the account that they've created for, and share with, friends), AND they're in their twenties or late teens, what do you expect? Honestly!? After that think about what you did at that age, before the advent of social media. Would your background stand up to the level of scrutiny you put on them?
LinkedIn is a business networking tool, that also acts as your online resume. On LinkedIn, one is expected to act and present in a professional manner. Your profile *is* your resume, not just to the potential employer today, but the potential employer 20 years from now (will LinkedIn still be here? I don't know, but certainly some variant of it will be). Your profile, your timeline, your articles, your posts and your likes, comments etc. will not go away. They'll always be there. The question is how do you want to present to the business world at large. Again, refer to my opening line. Think about this, when recruiters or anyone you speak to in business is finished speaking to you, or looking at your resume, they will look at your LI profile next. To get a better sense of what you would be like, in a business environment, to deal with.
Who are you following? Who are you communicating with? What are you posting? Again, what you post in a business account versus a personal account are different. Many of us have both.
Other Social Media
Tumblr, Pinterest, etc., what are you putting on there? What are your posts?
So, have a look at your FB, LI and maybe your twitter accounts (maybe others, if relevant), can they use a little tweak? And be really aware that when you are looking for a job, all of these accounts are open for viewing and open to (mis)interpretation. As an applicant, like it or not, look at your accounts from the standpoint of a (future) hiring manager. Think about the context and how anything can be viewed from multiple contexts. Some favourable, some not. But always remember, there is a big difference between everyones public virtues and their private vices.
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