Advancing Career Opportunities in the Realm of the Internet

As everyone knows, the economy has been on quite a downward spiral in the past couple of years. Now with unemployment at an all-time high, job-seekers are taking advantage of new technology at the touch of their fingertips—the internet! I remember being in high school and wanting to work so badly, and when the time came to finally apply for a job I was told, “Oh, our applications are available online” or “Just email us a resume!” While these new capacities for transmitting career information are convenient, they have as many positives as setbacks.

I’ve noticed over the past couple of years that many of the online applications often include questions that rate your temperament (“Describe your worst experience with a customer,” “How often do you get angry?”). It can be assumed that these questions are included so that the employer can judge your customer service skills, but are some of these questions too personal? Many websites are available online where applicants can not only post their resumes online, but they can also submit job inquiries and edit online social-networking-style profiles (SNS).

This new era of SNS websites is career-oriented; these websites were created with the intention of bringing together professionals for an exchange of ideas. They also provide great job opportunities to those who are good at the networking game. This raises questions such as: Who uses career-based websites? For what reasons do they use these websites? Who is reviewing these profiles for the hiring process? And is it ethical that prospective employees can be judged by what is on their web profiles?

What I found is that people from all demographics are now taking advantage of social networking websites for job opportunities: the young, the old, the lower-middle-class, the upper- echelon, students, and seasoned professionals. An interesting study, which was conducted at an Indiana University recently, examined students’ use of social networking websites and implications in the work place. Each participant in this study was given a 15 question scaled survey inquiring why students use social SNS; the results concluded students use SNS not only for leisure and socialization (other factors included “widening perspective,” “for entertainment,” “job prospects,” and “sharing of opinions”) but also for “more meaningful and serious deliberations”(Agarwal and Mital, 2009). The study also found that there are significant differences in the usage of SNS based on demographics like age, usage of the internet, and gender. Psychological characteristics and degree of trust also affected this. What does that mean?

Well first off, respondents, who will be future employees/employers, appear more ready to adopt a “virtual professional culture.” This widening circle of interaction is also a strong precursor to better integration of ideas into the work environment and gives online users zeal to interact in their own work environments. This also means that because a high percentage of students use SNS, there is potential for employers to survey applicants discreetly and search out talent (Agarwal and Mital, 2009).

Some businesses are seeking “passive job-seekers” (individuals who are currently employed and not seeking a job) because of the sheer fact that they are stable and not attached to job placement agencies. Ecademy was the first business-oriented website introduced in 1998 in England where people could hook up with former classmates, network, and hopefully forge new career connections. Since then, websites like LinkedIn have as many as 24 million members exchanging their information (DeKay, 2009).

In one LinkedIn.com study, 200 members’ web profiles were examined to identify why one could contact them via the website; such reasons included: career opportunities, consulting offers, job inquiries, and business deals. Almost 95% of the people surveyed indicated at least one of the four reasons why they should be contacted which led researchers to the conclusion that a majority of the people on these websites are not truly “passive” job-seekers; rather, they want career advancement (Dekay, 2009)! (I can definitely attest to that because I, myself, have a LinkedIn page and while I do not peruse the website as often as I should, my mom recently received a job offer on a career-related website.)

The study’s findings were not surprising at all, as other websites such as Facebook and MySpace could easily be used to place work experience and skills if one wanted to. All social networking sites, aside from the few with privacy restrictions, are open to the general public, giving users the ability to post just about anything on them. Facebook, for instance, allows users to post education information, work experience, hobbies, and special interests. One can also post religious and organizational information, sexual preference, as well as a wide array of photos and widgets. Why would it be shocking at all that people are taking advantage of career- related sites to boost their opportunities and rub elbows with the job-elite? Why would it be a surprise that companies would use these same websites to evaluate their own employees or seek out potential job candidates?

With the readily-available employment information of job applicants at companies’ disposal, some privacy issues are raised. While viewing such sites is not illegal, employers could be in trouble if they reject people due to protected classifications (race, gender, sexual preference) and the researchers claim that employers need to document their actions online so that they cannot be sued for discrimination on this basis (Genova, 2009). It has been said that employers monitor workplace internet use in order to “catch abuses related to legal and proprietary information, as well as, to aid in increasing productivity,” and while this may be true, many people are still carelessly posting information that may not be seen as job-appropriate. California is one of the only states that protect employees’ privacy online (Genova, 2009).

Some companies are starting to welcome social networking though that appears to be few and far between because privacy issues such as this are still being surveyed. While social networking sites can be great for business, they can also ruin it if employees are reckless in what they openly post on their web profiles. In researching this topic, multiple ethical questions have been raised: should companies be allowed to view employees’ personal web profiles or should they be limited to job-related websites like LinkedIn? Should they be allowed to take actions against employees for what they have posted online (63% of employers rejected candidates due to what they had posted online)? Whose rights are/should be protected by the law, stalker or stalkee?

I think that SNS websites or career-placement sites or business-networking websites—whatever you would like to call them—show great potential for those seeking to build their careers; however, online users need to be cognizant of what they do post on their pages and the repercussions it can hold. Let’s face it, times are tough so why not seek new allies to advance yourself up the economic ladder, or at least stand comfortably on your step?

Works Cited

Agarwal, S., & Mital, M. (2009, March). An exploratory study of Indian University students’ use of social networking websites: Implications for the workplace. Business Communication Quarterly, 72(1), 105-110.

DeKay, S. (2009). Are business-oriented social networking websites useful resources for locating passive jobseekers? Results of a recent study. Business Communication Quarterly, 72(1), 101-105.

Genova, G. (2009). No place to play: Current employee privacy rights in social networking sites. Business Communication Quarterly, 72(1), 97-101.