Even if you regularly use one of the social media platforms, you do not usually think of that as a window of job opportunities. However, the data on this matter speak for themselves. According to a 2018 CareerBuilder survey, as much as 70 percent of employers use social media to screen candidates during the hiring process.
In this article we will dig into this topic together with two successful young men. Their professions stand side by side with the development of technology, above all that of social media.
A TV host and an entrepreneur share their views about how and to what extent is social media having an impact on prospects for employment nowadays. Speaking from experience, they share perspectives on how a social media profile is assessed in one’s chances of being hired.
New dilemma; what to post, not if to post at all
There are cases when a created image on social media prior to the job interview might not turn out well. Yet, sometimes it does. The results of this may differ from case to case, still both scenarios lead us to the exact same conclusion: the relevance of social media in the hiring process is worth delving into.
This article sheds light on how social media slowly but surely is becoming an acceptable method for recruitment. Discussion will follow on what we should take into account when looking for a correlation between these two elements, and how all this affects how one’s skills are assessed in the job market.
This impact is a relatively new, ongoing trend that is worth discussing.
Social Media Screenings and Privacy
Even though this is not the primary focus of this piece, this topic’s connection with the issue of privacy rights should be mentioned.
We should note that everything we post publicly employers or potential employers can easily check. Nonetheless, businesses and companies should be careful not to violate data protection laws when using personal social media accounts for this purpose.
Keeping a very high-quality profile today is a must, in order to get the job we want
Shpend Lipa, TV host at Kosovar Television T7, believes that social media plays a very crucial part when it comes to employment.
“No matter how good we can appear in the CV or during the interview. Still, the employer usually searches us on social media.”
Nevertheless, Lipa shares with Youth Time the dual nature of this.
“Social media today is definitely the best ‘mirror’, at the same time the weakest or most non-original one. Our social media accounts are what we want others to see. Based on this, it is often common for us to witness exactly the opposite of what we see in these accounts.”
Taking into account that the nature of his work favors an updated social media profile, Lipa makes sure that his social media profile looks professional, and on the other hand cheerful enough.
“I always make sure to highlight my best work, my best pictures. I believe that is what all of us do in social media. However, as I said in the beginning, we just show what we want others to see. Keeping a very high quality profile today is a must, in order for us to get the job we want.”
Young, yet among the most successful TV hosts in the country, Lipa concludes that if it was not for social media presence, his journey, like that of many others, would definitely be at least a bit paler.
There are no borders, social media unites us
Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities in the four corners of the world. Hence, from Southeast Europe, we will travel to a whole new continent. Let us see how hiring process depends on social media profiles in a part of Africa.
Adiel Mwimi, a Tanzanian designer and entrepreneur, begins his conversation with Youth Time by mentioning that social media in the eastern part of Africa is something that began spreading approximately one and half decades ago.
Taking into account all of his experience, he considers that it has had an enormous impact in the hiring process. According to him, the three following represent the relation between these two components.
- Helping companies to get qualified staff
Through social media, companies have succeeded in seeing larger numbers of people who are qualified for the job. People read or post their CV online and get to understand what qualifications the company needs to apply for the job. When called for the interview you find that people from the same field appear. But they differ in the levels of their qualifications. So this becomes an advantage to the company to pick the best qualified.
- Reaching a wider audience
Before social media, it was hard for jobs adverts to reach out to big population groups. And it was obvious it had to go to newspapers, postal mails and other means like posters which also took so much time to reach out to the target group. Social media has increased the reach, one advert can cross borders and reach thousands of people. And due to the demand for jobs from unemployed or employed who need to change, people get information quickly in big numbers and start applying.
- Increase the competition
This has positive and negative aspects; the advantage goes to companies when they receive a lot of applications that help them to get the best employees. But applicants find it hard for them. They feel social media put them into a bad place due to the increase in the number of applicants, which they believe is not a good thing because it increases the number of people they will be competing with as they wish only a few people could show up to interview.
Mwimi lists Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn among the most used online platforms for this purpose.
“Social media is a market tool which helps companies and people to stay in touch. We do not apply a special policy about social media.” he concludes. Mwimi also notes that the country’s national authorities have already taken action toward condemning cyber-crime.
We could agree that the performance at your next job interview may be impacted by your social media profile. While deciding how often or what to post on social media, it is important not to fall into the trap of another social media related phenomenon – the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).
We thoroughly discussed this topic in the two pieces you can read below:
From Fear to Joy of Missing Out: FOMO vs YOMO
Title photo: Photos: Shutterstock / creative work: Martina Advaney
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