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social networking today - no job tomorrow?

imagine you have applied for a job. would you be happy for your future employer to look at your social networking profile? no? well, be careful when you post online.

the things we say and show are public and usually remain online for a long time. so when we apply to university or for a job, it is usually very easy for the university or company to find out lots of information about us from our activity on social media. in some cases, this can be a positive thing. but in others it may go against us. it all depends on how we look after our online identity or profile.

a survey in the us discovered that 43% of all companies use social networking sites to investigate job candidates. in 51% of these cases, the company has found information that has made them decide not to give the person the job. there are a number of different reasons why companies decided to reject the candidate after looking at their social networking profile. typical reasons were:

the candidate posted inappropriate photos or information (46%)
there was information about inappropriate behavior (41%)
the candidate said something bad or inappropriate about their previous employer (36%)
the candidate had poor communication skills (32%)
the candidate made discriminatory comments (28%)
it became clear that the candidate had lied about their qualifications (25%)

however, some employers (33%) also noted that they found information on social media sites that made a candidate more attractive or helped them to decide to offer the candidate the job. they mentioned these aspects as positive:

the candidate gave a professional image (43%)
their online profile helped to get a good impression of their personality (46%)
the candidate showed that they had a good variety of interests (40%)
the information confirmed that they had the qualifications mentioned in their application (45%)
the candidate was creative (36%)
the candidate showed great communication skills (40%)
other people made very positive comments about the candidate (30%)

the research suggests that companies are using social media to get an idea of candidates' behaviour and personality outside of the interview. that means that your social media profile needs to send out the right message.

answer the following questions. write down five combinations of numbers and letters with a comma

example answer: 1a, 2b, 3c, 4a, 5b

1. how many us companies investigate a candidate's social media profile?

a. almost half of all companies

b. more than half of all companies

2. is it more common for this investigation to have a positive or negative consequence for the candidate?

a. negative consequence for the candidate is more common.

b. positive consequence for the candidate is more common.

3. what is the most common problem with a candidate's social media profile?

a. it became clear that the candidate had lied about their qualifications.

b. the candidate posted inappropriate photos or information.

c. the candidate made discriminatory comments.

4. according to the text, in what different ways can your social media profile help you to get a job?

a. you can find and start following an account dedicated to job-hunting and set up job alerts.

b. you can read comments of people who share their experiences working for different companies.

c. you can create a positive and professional image.

5. what is the basic message of the text?

a. you should delete inappropriate photos and comments you have posted before you go on the job interview.

b. you can actually tune up your social network profile to make it look attractive.

c. you shouldn’t use your real name on the internet because it can be used to track your social activity.