Nowadays, one of the requirements for finding a job, especially out of college, seems to be maintaining a social media presence and paying attention to how you present yourself on social media. I know many people who have separate Facebook accounts: one with their real name that potential employers can easily look up, where they make sure they are maintaining an appropriate, professional profile, and another account where they use a nickname and are more open for their own personal enjoyment. LinkedIn has also become increasingly popular, seemingly out of nowhere, and has become another platform college students feel obligated to join. But not everyone has all these forms of social media, and that should not put them at a disadvantage when applying for jobs. Maintaining an active social media profile should not be an employer’s main concern when looking for job candidates. The way a person presents themselves in person and the relevant past experience they can demonstrate on a resume is, in my opinion, far more important.
First of all, social media presence does not necessarily reflect one’s work ethic and skill set, yet many employers try and search for prospective employees on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Everyone has a private life, and they should not have to be obligated to share this information in their professional life. People are not one-dimensional and everyone is going to have a different “persona” when they are at work versus when they are with their family or friends. There needs to be a clearer separation between one’s social life and one’s work life, which tend to be intrinsically pretty separate for most people.
Additionally, I do not believe that LinkedIn is really as useful as the hype surrounding it purports it to be. I do not know anyone personally who has gotten a job because of their LinkedIn profile. I went to a club meeting once where a professional in a communications career talked about her experiences, and when asked about LinkedIn, she felt that it was honestly not that useful and she only made one because everyone else makes one. LinkedIn seems to be a thing people do just because others do it, but gain no real benefit from using it. Information on a resume from past job experiences and references can give employers a more useful idea of an employee’s job history and experience.
I also know plenty of people who do not have any form of social media. This is a personal choice and should not limit their prospects of finding a job. Not everyone wants to put their personal information and pictures out on the Internet where, even though there are privacy settings, anyone could end up seeing them. There’s no reason why companies should find it odd or concerning that a potential employee does not have a social media profile if their resume clearly demonstrates their competence for the job. People post personal things on their social media profiles, related to political beliefs, ideologies and other topics they feel strongly about. If the person doing the hiring browses through a potential employee’s profile and does not agree with certain beliefs he sees the potential employee voicing, he could become biased against hiring the person. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, which are not related to how good of an employee they will be.
Essentially, I feel that the importance of social media presence in helping to find a job has been way overblown. Employers need to respect the privacy of people they are hiring and understand that there is a difference between one’s social and professional life. The way a person represents themselves in person will tell an employer much more about who they are as a person and help them to determine if they will be the right fit for the company.
Madison is a sophomore majoring in English and communication arts. Please send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
