Social media bears employment impact

Social Media has had many positive impacts on our society, but it has also had negative impacts on people today. People have been able to learn about activities or events happening in other parts of the country or the world, which is a positive.  Another positive is in the schools, technology and social media is a great tool for communication with students. With the help of mobile technology and social media, we are able to talk to our friends and relatives who are living far from us. On the other hand, with mobile technology and social media people are able to post whatever they want whenever they want. Employers should be able to determine job status based on what people have posted on social media.

Many high school and college students post pictures or videos of them doing activities that they want people to see, regardless if it is right or wrong, legal or illegal.  Many students have jobs and with technology, bosses are able to see if employees are posting during a work shift  or what is being posted while not at work, because of this students can get in trouble or fired.

“We have had clients choose not to interview candidates based on what they see on the candidate’s public Facebook page or on other websites,” Stacy Pursell, president and executive search consultant at The Pursell Group, said. “A candidate … posted drinking pictures and our client decided not to interview her based on those pictures. Another candidate had pictures of her scantily clothed. Even though our client did multiple interviews with her and liked her, once the client saw those pictures, they declined to make her a job offer.”

If employees are working at their job and are posting inappropriate posts while at work or even when not at work, they are still representing their employer.  Now with social media bosses are able to see what is going on in people’s personal lives, as well as  investigate into their friends sites. Even if the employee does not post it but their friend posts it, it is still visible to their employer. In addition, management is able to see the employee’s history of posts and that may factor into the decision to hire them for their company.

“Tools such as Facebook and Twitter enable employers to get a glimpse of who candidates are outside the confines of a resume or cover letter,” said Rosemary Haefner, CareerBuilder’s chief human resources officer.

On Facebook and Twitter, complaining about customers happens and if the boss sees that their employees are engaging in this behavior, their job could be at risk.  Even if the customer doesn’t see the post, it is not good public relations if any customers can see the employee posting complaints about customers. It may seem like it is a good idea to not have any social media accounts at all, but that isn’t always the case either.  Forty one percent of the managers surveyed say they’re less likely to interview someone they can’t find online. Being private is not always the answer either.

“People’s social media should not be private from your employers because employers want responsible and mature workers, and what one posts on social media says a lot about a person and employers should take that into consideration,” junior Andria Hanson said.

If there is a posting of someone doing something illegal or inappropriate while they are employed, the employer may choose to terminate their employment, rather than put them on a warning or probation. If they see it happen more than once, their employment may be terminated and they will become jobless because their boss will realize it is more than an accident but it is poor decision making. When using social media there are no room for mistakes and careful consideration should be given before actually posting.

“Students are negatively impacted by social media and what others think of them because they get immediate feedback without a filter. Instead of growing up and getting to know ourselves through experience, students have become dependent on others to judge their self worth. Likewise we can make judgments about others or hardly know as much information and feedback is present,” Dusty Dennis, special education teacher said.

Posting on social media is not entirely bad, but carefully consider before making a post. Current or future employers may be watching and it does paint a picture of the type a person outside of a work environment.