Employers Look to Facebook for Job Recruits

Companies are starting to view Facebook as a legitimate option to find new employees, as LinkedIn and more traditional job boards face unexpected competition from the mammoth social network.

According to analysts, companies now drift to Facebook because the social network boasts 750 million users, many of whom are potential employees. Employers are no longer looking to spend hundreds of dollars to put up job postings on paid websites or in newspapers when they can reach millions of people for free by advertising jobs on their Facebook pages.

LinkedIn is still the dominant form of social networking for professional businesses, but more employers have found Facebook’s larger user base and more personal profile system invaluable when looking for job candidates.

Houston-based environmental services company Waste Management, for example, says the majority of traffic to its career website comes from those who have clicked over from Facebook. The company now adds videos of current employees to its page, and uses recruiters to speak more directly with Facebook members in its attempt to hire 1,500 new employees.

But Facebook can also be a doubled-edged sword when it comes to looking for employment. The Federal Trade Commission recently set a standard when it gave the Social Intelligence Corp the green light to screen job applicants based on their Facebook and Twitter postings. The SIC is now able to keep track of negative findings about a person’s Facebook activity, such as joining a racist social networking group, and keep it on file for up to seven years.

Employers who don’t go through the trouble of getting background checks that have information collected from the SIC are still likely to check up on potential employees’ Facebook profiles. Even if a user’s profile is set to “private,” a simple Google search could bring up the applicant’s Facebook pages, showing applicants’ “Liked” pages, personal information and photos.

People looking for a job can now go to more employers’ Facebook pages to inquire about or apply for a position, but they may want to double check their own pages first.

This post originally appeared at Mobiledia.

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Facebook: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Facebook: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Aug. 8, 2011 (Washington, D.C.) — Facebook, texting, and instant messaging have positive and negative psychological impacts on kids, teens, and young adults, according to a leading researcher on social networking.

Although teens that frequently use Facebook often show more narcissistic tendencies, for example, they also may be more empathetic than teens who don’t, says Larry D. Rosen, PhD, professor of psychology at California State University in Dominguez Hills.

And although social networking can distract youngsters from studying, it also offers teens and young adults an appealing tool for communication, he tells WebMD.

To concerned parents, Rosen says, “Don’t try to secretly monitor or restrain you children’s keystrokes. How long do you think it will take them to find a workaround?”

Instead, talk to them about new technologies, he says. “You can learn from your kids, and they will feel reinforced,” he says.

At the American Psychological Association meeting here, Rosen outlined his team’s computer-based surveys into the risks and benefits of social networking.

Such surveys only show an association between social networking and psychological tendencies, not cause and effect. And you don’t know which came first: the psychological traits or the social networking.

First, the Pros

In one new survey of 1,200 teens and young adults, the more time spent on Facebook and instant messaging, the greater their online and real-world empathy, or ability to understand and relate to others’ feelings.

David Carlson, PhD, an Oklahoma City psychologist who heard Rosen’s talk, tells WebMD he has no doubt that social messaging leads to real-life empathy.

“I see a lot of kids reaching out to friends, showing a lot of caring, online. And that translates to offline,” he says.

Another positive: “Facebook help teens to express who they are,” Rosen says.

Preliminary results from two recent surveys involving 3,702 people of all ages suggest that people aged 32 and younger use Facebook as a communication tool, much like texting and phone calls, he says.

Online social networking can also make it easier for shy kids and teens to socialize by reaching out to others from a smart device rather than in person, Rosen says.

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