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Taylor Hockley
06/19/2014
It 2050
How facebook contributes to whether yoo get the job or not.
In this day and age more and more social media is popping up. Their is Facebok,
Instagram, Twitter, ect.. People uploading there ever thought and pictures for just about anyone
to see. It is a common fact, or I think it is, that just because you have something hidden that does
not mean someone can not look at it or find it. In many instances Empyloeres are now looking at
you social media in order to better asses your persnality and the type of person you portray.
"More employers are using Facebook content to evaluate employee characteristics (such as
personality) that might influence job performance" (Karl & Peluchette, 2009)
"The popular media has reported an increase in the use of social networking sites (SNSs)
such as Facebook by hiring managers and human resource professionals attempting to find more
detailed information about job applicants." (Brown& Vaughn 2011). Our social networking sites
have a lot to say about us. Not only that but our peers do as well. "Others judgments of
characteristics or attributes of an individual based on information obtained from SNSs may be
accurate. (Brown& Vaughn 2011). So, your friend leaving a post on your wall saying "Dude we
were so hammered last night and blah blah blah." Would not be a good look if, lets say, you were
applying for a job as a teacher. "Potential discrimination may result through employers access to
publicly available pictures, videos, biographical information. (Brown& Vaughn 2011).
There has been a lot of research done on the use of your SNS and the affects of you
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getting a job. "Four dominant thematic employer preferences (importance of online personal
appearance/portrayal, lifestyle image, wall posts likes and interests and privacy settings). "
(Vanessa A. De La Llama, Isabel Trueba, Carola Voges, Claudia Barreto, David J. Park 2012)
There was a test conducted by: Sophie Lundberg Danica Ivancevich, Patrick
Smith, and Leilani Goodmon, where participants were shown three real Facebook profiles that
varied in the amount of inappropriate content (drinking, use of profanity, etc.) and were asked to
rate them on the levels of the big five personality characteristics for each of the Facebook users.
Overall, participants were able to asses the personality of the professional; Facebook user
compared to the moderate professional Facebook user. Even the slightest negative comment on
Facebook could be a risk. Therefore an employer should not solely base a potential employee's
personality on a social networking site alone, as it can often be misleading. (Lundberg,
Ivancevich, Smith, Goodmon)
References
Brown, Victoria, and Daly E. Daly E,. (2011) "The Writing on the (Facebook) Wall: The Use of
Social Networking Sites in Hiring Decisions." Journal of Business & Psychology.
Goodmon, Leilani B., Smith, Partick, Ivancevich, Danica, and Lundberg, Solfie. (2014) "Actions
Speak Louder than Personality: Effects of Facebook Content on Personality Perceptions."
American Journal of Psychology
De la Llama, Vanessa, Trueba Isabel, Voges Carola, Barreto, Claudia, Park, David. (2012)
At Face(book) value: uses of Facebook in hiring processes and the role of identity in
social networks. International Journal of Work innovation


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