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Job Applicants and Work-Related Social Media Experience
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Job Applicants and Work-Related Social Media Experience
Discuss your job search, the interviewing process, creating the right resume, how the HR profession's changes require new job-search approaches and related topics.
Hello! I am Virginia Hemby, a Professor at Middle Tennessee State University. Many of you have read questions from me in the past and have provided me with a great deal of valuable insight and informa
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Forums » Topic Forums » HR Career Forum » Job Applicants and Work-Related Social Media Experience
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Job Applicants and Work-Related Social Media Experience
posted at 5/31/2011 10:23 AM EDT
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Posts: 17
First: 11/1/2006 Last: 6/9/2011 |
Hello! I am Virginia Hemby, a Professor at Middle Tennessee State University. Many of you have read questions from me in the past and have provided me with a great deal of valuable insight and information. I am once again asking you for assistance. I recently read a tweet containing a link to a blog with the title "Recruiters: Should job applicants mention using Social Media?" As part of the blog posting, a job seeker had shared some feedback received from a recruiter (and I quote but with some grammatical and punctuation corrections included):
"Remove all of your personal speaking, writing, blogging, and social media (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, SlideShare links, etc.) items from your resume. Companies don't give a crap about that; they only care what you will do for them. Those items are red flags, letting the company know that you will request to be out of the office speaking or on Twitter all day and that you will not be helping to solve their day-to-day problems (i.e., tactical work)." The author of the blog had some recruiters chime in with comments--all of whom seemed to be in agreement with the original recruiter's advice. The author went further in questioning whether recruiters had a negative perception of social media as being only personal content while, in fact, the applicant in this story creates business-oriented content on both the individual's blog and Twitter feed. As a further thought, the author asked if the applicant did not have any social media accounts/presence but DID have a business newsletter that he/she maintained that was geared toward CMOs and brand managers--and that had approximately 50,000 subscribers--should the applicant mention that fact on his/her resume? I found this discussion very interesting because I teach Business Communication to College of Business majors--many of whom are marketing, public relations, etc., oriented and who view the use of social media as marketing or sales tools. If these students are using their skills to create marketing and sales plans for businesses (whether hired full time or as a consultant), should they include this information on their resumes? I just finished reading the article "HR Tech Goes Social" by Michelle Rafter (Workforce Management) and found her discussion interesting--more companies are allowing employees to tweet, follow and link for work, etc., and the HR software vendors are jumping on board to include those social media functions in their products. Of course, Ms. Rafter did mention that social media and socially enabled HR tools are in the early stages, BUT if companies are moving in the direction of social HR software and the use of social media in general, what does this mean to applicants who have legitimate, business-related social media experience--and do they include this information on resumes? If you have some time and can participate in this discussion, I would be so appreciative. I know you are busy, and I always try to pick and choose carefully what topics about which I wish to consult you, but I feel this topic has a great deal of merit--for you, for me, and for my students. I aim to teach current trends as they relate to business communication and to office management (which includes some HR topics as well), and you all are my resource for this information. Thank you for your assistance! Virginia |
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Job Applicants and Work-Related Social Media Experience
posted at 5/31/2011 11:46 AM EDT
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Posts: 2442
First: 2/12/2000 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Great post and question. At a high level, social networking tools used for business purposes should be left in resumes, as long as it shows a DIRECT TIE to productivity.
Hiring companies are normally only interested in an affirmative answer to either of the two questions. Can you make me money? Can you save me money? If an applicant can show how these new age tools can positively impact the answer to those two questions, then yes, they should be included. What companies do not want to do is hire folks that will be "distracted" by social networking to the detriment of their primary job goals. So "If these students are using their skills to create marketing and sales plans for businesses (whether hired full time or as a consultant), should they include this information on their resumes? " Yes but only if they are going into exactly this type of marketing and sales positions. So it comes down to having "the author asked if the applicant did not have any social media accounts/presence but DID have a business newsletter that he/she maintained that was geared toward CMOs and brand managers--and that had approximately 50,000 subscribers--should the applicant mention that fact on his/her resume" Probably not. It would be hard to convince someone that this will not be a time stealer from the primary job don't you think? One also has to keep in mind that the hiring authority may not be doing any of these activities so they will immediately have a negative bias towards these activities. Thus the reaction and advice of the recruiters you noted above. We already know that many employees are spending a lot of work time each day on the internet or texting and normally this is not for business. Maintaining any blog, even a business related blog takes a lot of time and energy. If this activity is not what the employer wants, is not an activity that the employer expects the new hire to spend their time on then we have a conflict that will not have a good outcome. So to summarize, employers are interested in those tools that will make them money or save them money. Being able to convice a hiring authority that social networking can do that is a heavy burden and perhaps one that is not a winning strategy at this point in time. (unless of course you are going to work for google, yahoo, etc.) |
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Job Applicants and Work-Related Social Media Experience
posted at 5/31/2011 4:47 PM EDT
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Posts: 562
First: 11/12/2009 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I agree with howard's thoughtful and extensive reply. I know that there have been studies in the federal government that show that the biggest non-productive activity at work is time spent on social networking sites (Congressional debate actually probably ranks higher, but no one expects Congress to be productive anyway).
So social networking in anything other than a non-business context is definitely out from a resume unless the applicant is applying to a company doing social network marketing, marketing analytics, or is involved in the internet marketing space (ex, Google). Using social networking to maintain contact with clients would be a great thing to put on a resume for a sales professional. But someone looking for a manufacturing management job who has "over 25,000 friends on Facebook"? I'll pass on that applicant. |
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Job Applicants and Work-Related Social Media Experience
posted at 6/1/2011 8:05 AM EDT
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Posts: 2
First: 3/31/2011 Last: 6/1/2011 |
This is Workforce Management Senior Editor Ed Frauenheim jumping in here. Interesting question about acknowledging or even touting social media use in applying for jobs. My own sense is that increasingly companies are going to expect or ask employees to speak on the company's behalf through social media (see our story on that subject here: http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/software-technology/companies-look-capitalize-viral-voices/index.php.
In addition, we want to give you a heads up that our upcoming June issue (print edition out June 6) discusses the related issue of social media "portability." That is, as companies are rushing into the worlds of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, some are discovering sticky issues when employees engaged in corporate social media activity depart. Thanks for contributing to the conversations! Ed |
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Job Applicants and Work-Related Social Media Experience
posted at 6/1/2011 12:42 PM EDT
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
Not a fan of social media myself but the word on the street is that it isn't going to go away and that it is evolving into a business tool. The advice I have seen is for companies to embrace new technologies and harness their capacity to increase productivity. The skeptic side of me thinks that is propaganda from vendors, but I don't get the attraction. I am still amazed that I use e-mail everyday.
Anyway, if it were me and I were skilled at social media, I might include it on my resume but only among other skills and I would probably stick to calling it "social media" and not all the other names. |
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Job Applicants and Work-Related Social Media Experience
posted at 6/1/2011 2:10 PM EDT
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Posts: 1103
First: 3/16/2007 Last: 8/19/2011 |
I have seen a significant uptick in requests for social media expertise (meaning demonstrable experience that achieved business results) for recruiting and business development roles. No one wants to hear "I know how to do it" what they want is "this is how I did it and this is the result."
Of course we still have the matter of using social media to screen candidates. That will be an interesting topic for sometime. I am also finding some resistance, interestingly from generations younger than we Boomers, in the use of social media for these things. |
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Job Applicants and Work-Related Social Media Experience
posted at 6/1/2011 4:39 PM EDT
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Posts: 17
First: 11/1/2006 Last: 6/9/2011 |
You folks are great! Thank you for contributing. I also appreciate the "heads up" about the June issue. I look forward to reading it. I hope that if you all think of anything further to add to the social media discussion here that you will do so. I am always interested in your feedback.
Our new Business Communication textbook that we will begin using this fall has an entire chapter dedicated to technology tools (social networking tools) and how to be effective in communicating in business settings with those tools. The author talks about the need for organizations to develop and implement policies regarding writing for company blogs, wikis, email, etc. But the authors also give students superb examples of "good" and "bad" texts, emails, blogs, etc., so they might better visualize professionalism in written communication--regardless of the forum (or medium/channel). I also just finished reading the text, Why Digital Writing is Important. That textbook grew out of a research study in which data indicated that teachers in the elementary and secondary areas need to be teaching students to connect writing in all areas to academic writing. The explanation is that students should be aware that whatever they write and in whatever forum they write it is the equivalent of academic writing. Apparently students have a "disconnect" between writing for social networks and writing an academic paper. That disconnect leads them to use shortcuts, brief forms, slang, no punctuation, no structure, etc., in their writing for blogs, texts, emails, etc., and those actions filter over into their academic writing. The push toward reconciling writing to being an "across-the-board" skill (or across-the-curriculum) is vital to future successes of these students. As a writing professor, I can definitely see that disconnect in students' writing. I actually had a student draft a cover message and use the "u" as the word "you" and "r" for the word "are"--he saw nothing wrong with his writing. So, this example certainly supports the need to teach digital writing skills and to help students connect those skills to professional writing skills. So, while students perhaps should not include information about social networking experience (from a business perspective or otherwise) on their resumes, we will be teaching them the "how to" side of using these tools. Do any of you use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc., for company purposes? Advertising? Marketing? Southwest Airlines, for example, uses Facebook to push out information about events, awards, etc. The company also uses Facebook to respond to customer complaints. As do numerous other organizations. I have "friended" ASTD, Brainline, Southwest Airlines, John Grisham, Jane Bozarth, Social Media for Trainers, Workplace Bullying Institute, etc., on my Facebook account and learn many important facts--or receive links to sites that have facts or information that is invaluable to me for inclusion in my classes. The same is true of Twitter and LinkedIn. One of the most recent bits of information I have acquired is that companies are starting to search for employees who have exceptional communication skills (writing in particular) to assume the job of managing social network activities for their organizations. Anything like that happening within your organizations? Thanks again for your input! Virginia |
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Job Applicants and Work-Related Social Media Experience
posted at 6/2/2011 5:23 AM EDT
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
We are looking into adding classes in how to use social media along with our other computer education courses like Excel, Word, search engines etc.
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on academic writing, languages evolve. Do you think that in 100 years "r" and "u" will replace the words we use now? |
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Job Applicants and Work-Related Social Media Experience
posted at 6/2/2011 6:15 AM EDT
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Posts: 2442
First: 2/12/2000 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Call me "old school" but I am very concerned that most of the Business "Social Networking" at this point is not really adding any value or productivity compared to the time investment.
At a macro level we are merely talking about another form of communciation. Sure we can replace most email and IMs with twitters etc. Is doing this in another format a productivity gain in business? Maybe but not much. You still have to compose a business note and distribute it to the proper audience. Most of the new tools seem to be aimed at very large audiences and most business notes have very small audiences so there appears to be a disconnect to me. Can this and should this replace the phone call? Not in my opinion. There is nothing like a live chat to fully understand meaning and nuance and the written word, no matter the format can be easily understood. So if its really important, call me......... |
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Job Applicants and Work-Related Social Media Experience
posted at 6/2/2011 6:39 AM EDT
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Posts: 562
First: 11/12/2009 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I've used Facebook and LinkedIn in recruiting efforts to source some difficult to find candidates. LinkedIn works well for this and I have had some luck with Facebook. The latter, though, is very much a 2 edged sword. While you can find candidates with the potential skill sets you need, you often find that you're getting info that you'd rather not know about their personal lives. |
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