When we think of Facebook, we think of a place to connect with all of our 1000 'friends' (haha, good joke Kate). But it is becoming evident that Facebook is now being used for other purposes - namely, for smart, privacy-invading (some would say) employers to 'suss out' a job candidate before making a job offer. By default, our Facebook profile has become a place to market ourselves, or our own personal 'brand', to future employers.
However, like with any brand, we want to send a positive, endearing message to our target audience (future employers). Herein lies the issue for many of us. What exactly should we be revealing on our Facebook profile? Many people have come to the conclusion that any photos which display drinking alcohol and having a good time send an undesirable message to employers. As a result, I have a number of friends who have changed their names on Facebook to outwit their potential future employers from ever coming across these photos. One friend even changed their name from 'Amy Smith' (to respect her privacy, this is not her real name) to 'Amy Tryandfindmenowfutureemployers Smith'. I kid you not! I found this quite amusing. It demonstrates the great lengths we are going to to stop future employers from finding us online.
On the other hand, I was quite surprised to hear what a certain tutor of mine (who works in advertising) had to say on the issue. He said that when his company is looking to hire people, they go through their candidates' Facebook photos, and if there isn't a photo of them taking their top off, or equivalent, they won't even consider them for the job! Of course, he then realised that that was probably taking things a little too far, but essentially what he was trying to say was that he WANTS to see photos of job candidates having fun! After all, these are the people he's going to work with, and no-one wants to work with someone who's no fun!
But he also implied that it depends on what type of job you're going for. Generally speaking, a person who works in marketing or advertising needs to show signs of creativity and fun as these traits can be critical to coming up with innovative marketing ideas. Whereas, a person who works in accounting may not require these traits to the same degree. So does that mean that myself and my fellow budding marketers are safe to keep our real names on Facebook and show the world our drunken photos?? I'd like to think that perhaps this is the case! Of course, we have to proceed with caution, and I think that allowing the world to see us curled up next to a toilet, surrounded by suspicious chunky contents is probably stretching the limit just a tad.
Also, it's common knowledge that everyone has a Facebook profile these days (and if you don't, what the hell do you do with all that spare time?!). So if a potential employer tries to find you on Facebook but can't because you've changed your name, you have to wonder what they might think. Would this not potentially cause them to consider that you might be hiding your profile from them? And then, a more ominous question might follow - well then, what they hell are they hiding?! In effect, they might be more concerned about your character than if they'd just seen your photos in the first place!!
Soooo, after that essay (whoopsies!), what I really want to know is what you guys think? Do you think it IS safe for us 'marketers' to keep our real names and show who we really are on Facebook? And for those of you who HAVE changed your names on Facebook, what is your opinion? Have I changed your mind at all??
Good topic kate!! Don't think people should change the names,if businesses want to look at photos they should, thy do understand how everyone at uni is and most of them remember how they were. However talking to people at work a lot of them... also see it as " That girl only knows how to have fun when she's drunk"
ReplyDeleteShowing signs of creativity and fun, does not mean drunk pics!! I think all employers should be able to see how the future employees are. Good way to see if they 'fit the culture'
Doesn't it work both ways? Who wants to work for an employer that doesn't accept you the way you are? You'll get pretty sick of "pretending" to be someone you're not in your career.
ReplyDeleteI believe that any employer who shortlists based on perfectly clean FB profiles will end up with a very boring corporate culture. Accounting firm, anyone?
oooh all good points! yes i did realise the connection between drunk pictures and showing signs of creativity and fun was probably a slight stretch but im sure you catch my drift :) and yeh i agree about seeing if they fit the culture, seeing as that's so important these days!
ReplyDeleteI doubt I'll be changing mine. If they don't like me I'm sure I will find someone else who does! (maybe cleaning out horse stables instead of marketing but at least I can be myself!!)
ReplyDeleteMy last post was in response to Vikram, but yes Wags that is another good point! I definately don't want to have to pretend to be someone I'm not at work! So perhaps the efforts of these people who change their names/delete photos off Facebook are essentially pointless - eventually employers are going to work out who they really are!
ReplyDeleteSooner or later they will work out how you are, but they end up loosing a lot of money as first they hire you then realise how you are not the same person as even though you can pretend but you can only do it for so long
ReplyDeleteNot gonna lie, I have fb stalked many of the ppl I work with and clients as well.
ReplyDeleteWe live in an age where information is power and there's no bigger source of info that the internet. FB is the jewel in the crown of the internet as the largest database of personal information ever created!
I would think that as marketers we are always looking to know more about our customers. Aren't prospective employees the customers of recruiters?
Ah you're smart Cori. "Wanting to know more about customers/prospective employees" - a great way to justify it! haha
ReplyDeleteI only stalk the hot ones...
ReplyDeleteomg - who invited Cori to this party?
ReplyDeleteSo Cori, would drunk photos on a potential employee's FB profile deter you from employing them in a Marketing role? Or would it show the "human" side of them, hence increase their appeal?
(By the way, Kate - you might want to go into your Blogger settings and change your timezone to "GMT+10" so the times show correctly.)
ReplyDeletehaha yeh well you know oh.my.BLOG. is so hot right now! How could Cori resist?! So what's your response to Wags' question then, Cori?
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the tip Wags, the incorrect time was annoying me!
No they wouldn't deter me. What someone does in their own free time shouldn't factor in. In my humble opinion you hire someone based on their ability to do the job, not their ability to skull a pint in front of a camera.
ReplyDeleteThere is a very common rule when it comes to hiring candidates of similar quality... you will always end up hiring the one you like the most. Although Cori has given a idealistic view on the issue, truth of the matter is, that work is supposed to be fun and when would you ever hire someone that you don't actually like if there is an equally applicable candidate that you do connect with?
ReplyDeleteOn top of this, organisational culture is hugely important. I use to work for a company that had a brilliant young, vibrant culture, then hired a number of boring, very competitive mish mash people and blew the culture out of the water. Efficiency took a dive, profits dropped and the company went from trending upwards to a full throttle nose dive. Diversity is good, but you have to match a persons culture to the job.
The truth about employment is, you want to be hired for the person you are, not the person you are pretending to be.
I think Josh is being a bit broad. It's about using the information you have available to make a choice about someone's fit with your company.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that you hire the person you like the most but what I am saying is that you're not going to find that out through facebook. You're definitely not going to find out cultural fit through fb. While org culture is pivotal, your ability or potential ability to do the job is surely a hygiene factor.
So while I have checked out ppl's fb's to learn more about them, it wont tell you how suitable they are to a marketing job. It might for other jobs, e.g. bar tender, promotions model, digital strategist, but someone's fb photos aren't going to give me an accurate or complete picture of whether they fit into your corporate culture.
Great post Kate! I wonder where the inspiration for this topic came from, ha ha...
ReplyDeleteI think it's a fine line between hiding your personality and creating a strong 'brand image' for yourself. I too have friends who have changed their facebook profile surnames to their middle names, inserted witty middle names, created completely different aliases etc...
But on the topic of creating (or maintaining) a strong personal brand image on facebook, I think I agree with you. In my opinion, confidence is a personality trait that most prospective employers would find attractive in any candidate. It seems deceptive that a person would feel the need to hide themselves (or at least their online presence) from people who want to give them a job. And really, employment is a two-way street: the employee (prospective or not) must WANT to work for the employer just as much as the employer must WANT the employee to work for them. Personally, I wouldn't want to be employed by a company who would filter me out of the application process because of how I interact with my friends online.
I think the point about fitting corporate culture is important, however, it would seem that some companies are too backward-thinking to use facebook as insight into cultural 'fit', and so only use it to filter out anything but 'clean' profiles - as wags has highlighted.
Ponderous.
Not sure if this is relevant but I changed my name from Nikki to Nicola on facebook to sound more sophisticated if people looked at my site!! lol sad I know, but effective? yes!
ReplyDeleteOn another note photos are bad, but status updates are just as bad!
Exhibit A: "was gonna be such a good girl and drive, not drink tonight, but turns out im too much of an alco to resist a few drinkiessss..." Kate R (july 24) ;)
now ur potential employer thinks u have a drinking problem....classic K Rudd
<3
Why can't people just put their settings on private?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment James. I like you're thinking. Confidence is definately key, and Facebook can help to shine the light on that element of your personality through photos and even how you talk in your status updates. Of course, the job interview itself is much more important and provides a much richer understanding of what the candidate is like. But as both Cori and Josh have agreed, they will definately look at someone's Facebook profile to get a 'feel' for the person in the recruitment process. So Zac, we could in fact be 'under-selling' ourselves by setting our profiles to private...
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks Nikki, though I don't really have any potential employers on Facebook, other than my amazingly talented Monash graduate connections etc., you're really setting my blog up nicely to appeal to any potential employers who might come across this blog! haha.
Note to future employers: yes I like a few drinks. But don't we all? haha.
Impressed! :)
ReplyDelete