Is social media stopping you from getting your dream job

Wednesday March 2011, 10:53:04

Is social media stopping you from getting your dream job? Jeff Goodwin the managing director at Internet Marketing Scotland discusses social media and the probability, of it helping you or hindering you when applying for a job.
As the unemployment rate continues to climb, when applying for a job we need to give ourselves the best opportunity possible. I wanted to take a look at social media and ask the “very important question”; Can social media help or hinder you in finding the dream job?
Social media sites have massive traffic:
• Facebook 500 million users • Bebo 31 million • Myspace 125 million users (Depending on source of information)


So it's safe to say there’s a lot of information on people out there in cyberspace. Every day we write about our daily lives on social network sites and other social networking platforms like myspace and bebo, not realising that this very content may hinder our chance of finding work.

Reports in the US have revealed recently that people are not only losing their jobs over their exploits on social networks, but that employers are not offering jobs to people based on what they find on personal blogs and social networks. Sounds unfair, but the truth is: We make our information readily accessible to anyone who knows our name.
As more social networking sites services come online and more of our day to day lives are expressed online, more research by potential employers will occur. The things you say on Facebook, Twitter or any other open social networking platform is being searched by potential employers.
A lot of people will complain about employers doing this kind of search, but let's face it, it's no different than the typical credit checks, reference checks and background searches that companies perform before taking on someone. It's so much easier for companies to find out more about people by simply searching their name online.
Some people will argue that what they do outside of work is no reflection on what you do when you're at work. But this isn't strictly true. Your professional life is also closely connected to what you do in your personal life.
Most companies want to hire an all round decent individual, someone who is mature and good at what they do. Whether they admit it or not, companies don't want to hire people who "got wasted at the weekend". Or if you make racist or sectarian comments on your Facebook profile, they may think that you're more likely to make those same comments in the workplace, which can lead to a lawsuit.
Let's be honest here, not everyone loves their job, but ranting on Facebook won't make any difference. In fact it's more likely to get you sacked.

There is a flip side to this argument. You may be a really well educated all round individual with a passion for a specific topic (In my case: SEO search engine optimisation). If you blog about your passion and potential employers see this, you're more likely to get a job.
The truth is: Your potential employers are likely to take what they find as the real you. Pictures of you getting drunk or videos of you falling around don't go down well with potential employers.
I hope this discussion will prove useful for you in the future, for more information on Internet Marketing Scotland who is one of Scotland’s leading internet marketing company’s based in Glasgow, Scotland Contact them below.

Jeff Goodwin at Internet Marketing Scotland. Please contact him for a free, no-obligation consultation at jeff@internetmarketingscotland.com or call 0141 551 1238. His company’s website is http://www.internetmarketingscotland.com