Have you updated your Facebook status today? Commented on your friend’s profile, uploaded new pictures and videos to show to all your friends and family? What about that new group or event you just added? For most people Facebook helps you stay connected with the world with all the people in your life. So with all the benefits of Facebook, is there perhaps a downside to this great social networking site? Could Facebook get you more into a bind than you think?
Facebook as we know is one of the biggest social networking sites that help people unite and stay connected with all of their friends, family and other acquaintances in their lives. With more than 500 million active users, Facebook is now the place to be to connect with people throughout the world. Robin Heaton, a professor here at Salt Lake Community College, said, “I have found Facebook to be a great way to stay in touch with friends and family that live in different states and countries.”
With so many people these days on social networking sites, such as Facebook, more people are becoming increasingly more open as to what they post on their friends as well as their own personal profiles. Which brings out the question, with so many people being so open on Facebook, could it potentially get people into more of a dilemma than we think?
With the state that the economy is in, and has been for the last while, employers are receiving more and more applications and resumes from people who are in need of a job or just simply want to change jobs.
“From what I have heard from friends, colleagues and students, social network profiles can have a huge impact on whether or not an employer wants to hire someone. If a potential employee displays pictures of themselves engaging in questionable behavior (drinking, illegal drugs etc.) it can give the employer reason to not to hire them,” Heaton said.
We all know when that chance finally comes for us to have an interview; it is common knowledge that looking your best, dressing appropriate and professionally rather than your everyday street clothes will help you, but who and what a person is may not be reflected in your appearance.
“I find that once I narrow it down to a handful of great applicants that have the same qualifications I go to the social networks, generally Facebook, to see what type of person they really are as well as the type of life they live,” Blaine Anderson, owner of Bluehills Welding said. “Depending on what people post and upload on Facebook it can either get them the job or it can put them on the bottom of the list.”
SLCC student Carlina Anderson also added, “Personal lives always have a way of leaking back into the work place. Anyone can fake an interview by dressing up nicely, laughing and smiling all the way through. It’s really what you do when you think nobody is watching you that shows people who you really are. Facebook is an excellent way to give employers insight into your personal life if you put it in this public realm.”
So just as a reminder and as a general rule, if you wouldn’t show your Facebook page to your mom then you are probably running the risk of offending a potential employer as well.