Social Networks As A Job Influencer Argumentative Essay Examples

What began as simple sharing of Facebook statuses and Twitter updates have given way to public Snapchats and Instagram stories in which we broadcast every little detail of our lives for everyone to see, including our current and future bosses. While this type of technology has the capacity to foster a greater sense of community and can aid in globalization and sharing of cultures, it also facilitates negative behavior that can paint a less than flattering picture of a job candidate. This paper aims to discuss the positive and negative ways social media can be used to influence job decisions in a potential candidate as well as answer the question of whether or not applicants should be judged on something so privately public.
Although addictive and slightly dangerous when factors such as cyber bullying and future employment are taken into account, social media has risen to become one of the most beneficial aspects of modern technology. People today are more connected than ever to not only their peers, but to the world and cultures distant to them. Social media has the ability to provide self-esteem boosting feedback, connect different cultures, allow users to share photos to family members and many other positive aspects. Profiles are a way to reveal who you are, what you like, what your hopes and what you stand for. Regarding the workplace, this specific factor can help a potential candidate in the job search.
Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter allow employers a deeper insight into the personality of a potential candidate that extends past the standard resume and cover letter. Through these sites, they are able to find out what an applicant likes, who they are influenced by, who they follow, what interests them both personally and professionally as well as little personality quirks that could indicate whether or not they would be a good fit for the current team of workers. In this regard, social media should be viewed as an essential tool used by recruiters to identify basic personality traits and interests in employees. As company culture becomes a bigger aspect of what draws millennials to a specific company, it could be assumed that a millennial job applicant will have thoroughly searched the company’s social media to look for certain indicators that they are the right fit as well. As long as social media is being used to judge a company or applicant (it is a two way street) solely based on personality fit, and things like work ethic and integrity, and not on anything private such as sexual orientation, religious beliefs, cultural customs, etc., it should be allowed to, and naturally will, influence decisions made on employment.
Every social media user signs a set of terms and conditions when signing up for a site which means that, legally, employers have the right to browse applicants based off of what they can find publicly available. In this regard, an employer browsing an applicant’s social media can be viewed as an extension of a standard background check, as they are not infringing on any legal rights and are only viewing what is available publicly. Then, it becomes more important that people seeking employment are simply smart about what they choose to post, both before and after looking for a new job. It is common knowledge that it reflects poorly on someone’s personality, character and judgment if they post public pictures of themselves engaging in illegal activity, saying inappropriate things or behaving in a manner that does not fall in line with the morals of a specific company. As a recruitment officer, it is important to ensure that the candidates you are screening do not, and will not, reflect poorly on the company’s culture. Social media users are well aware of this and should take responsibility for their actions and the things they choose to publicly post, knowing that it could and should affect a job decision.
As every user agrees to specific terms and conditions before utilizing and social media website, every user understands that anything they post could be seen by people making decisions about the type of person the user is. As this is widely understood in today’s technologically advanced society, users who choose to post content that could jeopardize a job position are essentially acting recklessly and employers should be able to judge the candidate on this based on lack of simple thought processes, self-respect and various other factors that come into question surrounding the personality of the candidate. The information that a candidate has chosen to keep private should have no bearing on how the applicant will perform in their job, just as the personal (sexual, religious, marital, etc.) have no bearing on job performance as well. It is a violation of personal privacy for companies to sift through and judge an applicant based on private information.
In conclusion, employers should be able to judge candidates based on public information found on social media profiles, but not on private information. If a candidate has taken the necessary precautions to protect their accounts and keep their shared information private only to be seen by those they choose, that should be respected. However, if a candidate has chosen to forego the right of privacy then employers are entitled to use public information to form an opinion surrounding the personality, work ethic and overall suitability for the job of the candidate. As everything is public in today’s digital age, it is near impossible as human beings to prevent being influenced by things you see on social media, and this includes applicants and employers. Once the culture of social media becomes associated with job influence, it seems likely that people will understand the importance of cultivating a genuine online presence for themselves through their social media outlets and begin to utilize that as a way to market themselves to employers.