2008 Woodie Awards
Point / Counterpoint
Should employers use MySpace for hiring purposes?
Ta-Kara Roquemore, Colin Fraser
Issue date: 5/24/07 Section: Voices
POINT
Ta-Kara Roquemore
I didn’t agree with job recruiters browsing MySpace to find possible candidates, but now I see nothing wrong with it.
MySpace and similar social sites offer tools potential employers can use to open a window on what type of character a potential employee has and what sets him apart from the other candidates.
We live in a technology-based society. It’s okay to use every source available.
Recruiters are looking for potential employees who stand out. I don’t see looking a person up on MySpace as a way as judging a book by its cover; it’s a way of seeing what type of person will be representing the company.
It’s not like the employers are using MySpace to verify all the information on a transcript or resume. That’s what a reference list on a resume is for.
Jeff Flood, who works in WCC’s Employment Services Center helping students with their employability skills, does not use social websites himself, but he admits he can understand why recruiters might use them “looking for red flags” in someone’s profile.
“If I were an employer, I would rather take my impression from what I saw at someone’s interview,” he said, “To be safe, however, if [a person] is in doubt about any of his web profile contents, remove those contents.”
Nonetheless, MySpace offers recruiters not only pictures of a person’s life, but glimpses of his life in his own words in the form of a blog.
Postings on social sites are not typically work-related. However, that’s why it’s important people take advantage of the privacy settings offered on the website or only post comments and pictures that show them in a good light. Otherwise, everything is fair game for an employer looking up a job or internship seeker.
Technically, if a recruiter wants to check out a prospective employee he wouldn’t even have to log on to a social website: He can simply Google a name. Face it: The Internet is an open market. For employers MySpace is the beginning to finding an exceptional candidate. Nevertheless, MySpace can be the end of the road in a job search if the user has the wrong content.
COUNTERPOINT
Colin Fraser
There is a new form of job application. Yes, you hand in the forms and go to the interview, but there is a different test. It is a test of your “private” life. Employers can now go online and check out future employee’s Myspaces. This is an unfair and underhanded way of evaluating people. Job candidates should be judged by their credentials, not their social life.
People look at their Myspace pages as a place to communicate with friends and tell them what is happening with their life. There is an option to set the Myspace account to be viewable anyone or just friends. Many people choose to let it be open. Then, there social interactions are reveled to any passer by who wishes to take a glance.
Are there things that you would say in the company of friends that you wouldn’t say at the workplace or in formal company? Of course there are. On Myspace, one could put up pictures and make comments that would reflect the past or future times with these friends. Now that picture of you and a friend having a sword fight with a couple of sticks is twisted. It now means that you take life superficially and “horse around” maybe too often. Perhaps that picture shouldn’t have been up there in the first place.
What was previously innocent fun has turned a 180 and become grounds for judging one’s overall persona. It is less a matter of privacy and more one of time and circumstance. Is it right to judge a person’s eligibility for a job on the fact that their Myspace shows an image of them tipping over their buddy’s canoe? No, because it does not have anything to do with the skills needed to fulfill their job. If employers do this they might as well test athletic capability and computer gaming skills.
Employers have turned Myspace into a job application network. It is no longer a place to keep in touch with friends, but rather a resume. As the CEO of Sun Microsystems said, “You have zero privacy anyway, get over it.” Employers not only know who you are at work, but who you are at home.
Ta-Kara Roquemore
I didn’t agree with job recruiters browsing MySpace to find possible candidates, but now I see nothing wrong with it.
MySpace and similar social sites offer tools potential employers can use to open a window on what type of character a potential employee has and what sets him apart from the other candidates.
We live in a technology-based society. It’s okay to use every source available.
Recruiters are looking for potential employees who stand out. I don’t see looking a person up on MySpace as a way as judging a book by its cover; it’s a way of seeing what type of person will be representing the company.
It’s not like the employers are using MySpace to verify all the information on a transcript or resume. That’s what a reference list on a resume is for.
Jeff Flood, who works in WCC’s Employment Services Center helping students with their employability skills, does not use social websites himself, but he admits he can understand why recruiters might use them “looking for red flags” in someone’s profile.
“If I were an employer, I would rather take my impression from what I saw at someone’s interview,” he said, “To be safe, however, if [a person] is in doubt about any of his web profile contents, remove those contents.”
Nonetheless, MySpace offers recruiters not only pictures of a person’s life, but glimpses of his life in his own words in the form of a blog.
Postings on social sites are not typically work-related. However, that’s why it’s important people take advantage of the privacy settings offered on the website or only post comments and pictures that show them in a good light. Otherwise, everything is fair game for an employer looking up a job or internship seeker.
Technically, if a recruiter wants to check out a prospective employee he wouldn’t even have to log on to a social website: He can simply Google a name. Face it: The Internet is an open market. For employers MySpace is the beginning to finding an exceptional candidate. Nevertheless, MySpace can be the end of the road in a job search if the user has the wrong content.
COUNTERPOINT
Colin Fraser
There is a new form of job application. Yes, you hand in the forms and go to the interview, but there is a different test. It is a test of your “private” life. Employers can now go online and check out future employee’s Myspaces. This is an unfair and underhanded way of evaluating people. Job candidates should be judged by their credentials, not their social life.
People look at their Myspace pages as a place to communicate with friends and tell them what is happening with their life. There is an option to set the Myspace account to be viewable anyone or just friends. Many people choose to let it be open. Then, there social interactions are reveled to any passer by who wishes to take a glance.
Are there things that you would say in the company of friends that you wouldn’t say at the workplace or in formal company? Of course there are. On Myspace, one could put up pictures and make comments that would reflect the past or future times with these friends. Now that picture of you and a friend having a sword fight with a couple of sticks is twisted. It now means that you take life superficially and “horse around” maybe too often. Perhaps that picture shouldn’t have been up there in the first place.
What was previously innocent fun has turned a 180 and become grounds for judging one’s overall persona. It is less a matter of privacy and more one of time and circumstance. Is it right to judge a person’s eligibility for a job on the fact that their Myspace shows an image of them tipping over their buddy’s canoe? No, because it does not have anything to do with the skills needed to fulfill their job. If employers do this they might as well test athletic capability and computer gaming skills.
Employers have turned Myspace into a job application network. It is no longer a place to keep in touch with friends, but rather a resume. As the CEO of Sun Microsystems said, “You have zero privacy anyway, get over it.” Employers not only know who you are at work, but who you are at home.
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