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Students and social networking sites

USI students are more likely than not to maintain profiles on social networking sites such as Facebook or Myspace where they blog, join groups, post pictures, upload and download music and videos, email, and instant message with each other.
While students consider these sites semi-private places where they interact with friends, career services professionals are learning that employers search social networking sites to learn more about prospective employees. Phil Parker, director of Career Services and Placement attended the Midwest Association of Colleges and Employers in Cleveland, Ohio, in July. “There were at least two breakout sessions that dealt with the social network situation as it relates to students’ career development and employment,” he said. “The National Association of Colleges and Employers has been providing us information about the issue, namely through surveying the employer members of the association.” A recent survey of National Association of Colleges and Employers members showed that as many as 26 percent of the association’s employer members had reviewed job candidate profiles on social networking sites. “The services sector, such as accounting and consulting firms, were most likely to have done this since the image their employees project has a direct bearing on client relationships,” Parker said. Career services colleagues at the conference told of students who were screened out of the hiring process at some companies. “Those companies had not just checked to see if profiles were posted on Facebook, but actually did Google searches to find blogs and other Internet information that may provide insight into whether there’s a fit between prospective hires and the company culture,” Parker said. And inappropriate content or images on students’ online profiles can affect more than their future job prospects. Parker has heard of episodes at more than one academic institution in which student athletes were reprimanded over inappropriate photographs in the profiles they posted. “There are a couple of other aspects students should consider,” Parker said. “First, students may err in providing too much personal information in their profile, including addresses, which could present a safety issue. Second, some comments and photographs students post may bring to the forefront behavior that runs counter to their school’s policies, particularly in regards to alcohol use and on-campus visitors. Quite frankly, all three of these issues can affect their futures.” He doesn’t think students will delete their profiles altogether, but suggests they use them more wisely. “This is a generation of students that is accustomed to all manner of electronic communication and it is an inherent part of their daily lives. I don’t see as feasible that students cease using social networking sites. What is feasible is that we as career services professionals and higher education professionals use this as an education opportunity – informing students of the appropriate and safe use of these sites.” Career Services and Placement plans to incorporate information into its programming as staff meet with students this fall. “We have discussed, as a department, what we have learned from and shared with our colleagues at conferences and how we will present this to students – information about profiles that employers may deem inappropriate or that don’t project the image they view as a fit with their corporate culture.” But students should carefully consider what they post online before they begin to pursue employment, Parker said. “Students would do well to realize that while they may ‘clean up’ their profiles in time for the job search, there’s no guarantee that old information won’t surface and that information may well become more public than they ever thought for years to come.”
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