Networking sites affect hiring

Jared A. Sutton, Staff Writer
Published On: 10/ 6/2008

Eric Woods, a freshman at UAB’s School of Engineering, believes that one’s online social profile, composed of various candid pictures, insights into personal feelings, and even such humorous applications as “Send Me a Drink,” should be disregarded when a person is being considered for a job.

In the golden age of online social networks like Facebook, Friendster and MySpace, Woods says, “I believe that what goes on in a private setting is totally different than what goes on in a workplace or similar environment; missing an opportunity due to what is on someone’s [site] is unfair.”

Unfortunately for Eric, it seems that fewer and fewer companies are in agreement with his opinion when looking for up-and-coming graduates to employ. According to survey numbers provided at MyCareer.com, 77 percent of employment recruiters conduct Internet searches on job seekers, while up to 35 percent reject job seekers based on what they find.

Whitney Wilson, a Career Services coordinator in the business wing of UAB’s Business–Engineering Complex, found this percentage to be fairly reasonable.

While she couldn’t provide the names of any specific corporations who she knew made Internet profiling an active part of their applicant policy, she did note, “There are a lot of companies that come back to tell us that they take those things into account.”

This number also seems to reflect the current trend in an equally important recruiter/applicant process — college admissions.

Kaplan, Inc., who specializes in standardized test preparation and the college admissions process, in September released a survey of 320 admissions officers on the impact of applicants’ online presence on acceptance/rejection decisions. The survey found that one of every 10 officers had visited their applicants’ social networking sites, with a negative impact resulting 13 percent more often than a positive impression.

Michael Lebeau, assistant director of UAB’s Career Services program, delivered a lecture on the potentially devastating impact of a negative online presence during the freshman orientation session over the summer. During the lecture, he challenged freshmen, if they wished to gain and maintain a solid job after leaving UAB, to monitor the images and words that become associated with their names. Lebeau floated such ideas as the creation of an online alias to provide a necessary distance between one’s true identity and an online presence that could become injurious.

Jessica Whitaker, a UAB freshman in the School of Health Professions, understood what Lebeau was getting at.
“Although using personal networking sites as a basis for job qualification may seem an invasion of privacy, teenagers as well as adults should know that using these sites invites this attention,” she said.
Whitaker is resigned to the fact that privacy on the Internet isn’t realistic.

“Everything uploaded becomes public use and can become public knowledge at the click of a button,” Whitaker said.
 

Email: jsutton@uab.edu