SITE IS “TOO CASUAL” FOR PROFESSIONAL INTERACTION, SAY YOUNG JOBSEEKERS
Job-hunting graduates have sent a clear message to big-name employers that they don’t think Facebook is an appropriate forum for applicants and recruiters to interact. Instead, they still prefer to receive information about jobs and careers via email.
The survey of nearly 1,500 students and graduates by careers website targetjobs.co.uk found that only 20% were strongly in favour of recruiters using social media, with three quarters saying email was still the best way to reach them. The snub will come as a shock to the recruitment world, which is busy working out ways to engage young jobseekers with their brands through Facebook. As one of the respondents put it:
“I think Facebook is used too casually for it to be involved in future careers. In my opinion, a site/blog specifically for employment information would be better, so one’s social life and working life are kept more separate.”
Others said:
“Personally, I think that the best thing to do is to send emails with updating information rather than communicating through the social networks; sometimes social networks are not just about work and you need to separate your private space from the professional. I think it’s too much to combine everything together.”
And:
“Social media is VERY diverse and different people can use the same site for different things. I prefer to use Facebook for private and social interest/networking and LinkedIn/Twitter for professional interest and networking. I don’t mix the two functions.”
Of the respondents who said they were ‘neutral’ about employers using social media (over half), the majority said they don’t mind engaging with employers (for example reading a company’s Facebook profile page) but would prefer not to interact (say by answering or asking questions). Students and graduates also had concerns about companies using Facebook to spy on them. They were not confident that their privacy settings were watertight – which made them nervous about interacting with employers directly. As one put it:
“I think interacting with potential employers over LinkedIn is fine because it is your projection of your professional self; however, the platforms of such social networking sites as Facebook would seem a bit intimidating as you would be unsure of how aware the company is of your personal life.”
The response is illuminating for recruiters, who have been investing heavily in encouraging greater participation among young jobseekers, but finding it an uphill struggle. The survey also found that companies which bombard young jobseekers with updates and newsletters risk alienating them. The majority of students and graduates prefer only to be contacted a couple of times a week.
*DO FACEBOOK AND JOB-HUNTING SIMPLY NOT MIX?
How do you like to receive information about jobs and careers? Should recruiters stick to emailing you about jobs – and leave Facebook to you your friends? Would you be nervous about interacting with an employer on Facebook? Why?
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I think you’ll find most professional recruiters use Linkedin – with some success.
Even twitter is a bit iffy for me (although I’m a bit of a luddite). I just keep a twitter & linkedin profile for job searches but I will absolutely never add my employer or communicate with them on facebook.
@Jacob
Can i ask why you feel so strongly that you’d never use Facebook to communicate with an employer?
I prefer to keep those two areas of my online life separate to be honest. I have two email accounts, one for job alerts and applications and one for other stuff. I would consider Linkedin though. I go on facebook to relax and chat to friends and I worry that having work related things might mean I’m sort of mentally at work 24/7.
Tanya,
Pretty much what Catherine said above, whilst work is life in a way- I like to keep my office life specifically separate. Despite receiving an annual salary, my work is paid hourly according to our time-sheets, none of which involves home.
Secondly, I once had an employer demand that I put status updates related to the company online. I’m cool with giving free advertising to stuff we do that I like, but certainly not on demand on a page I mainly use to chat to friends on.
Also, like a lot of recent grads, my job pays the bills and all but is hardly the greatest thing since sliced bread meaning that I do moonlight a fair amount doing stuff that I enjoy but won’t pay sky-high London rent and it’s always better to keep that stuff apart.
And finally, just generally I can’t stand the way that we all have to be super-slickers whose every meeting is in fact a networking opportunity, whose basic interaction with others whether it online or offline is basically a brand statement for whoever we do admin for on weekdays.
Here here!! I can’t understand why employers can’t accept the concept of a social network being somewhere I can interact with my friends! Apart from the slightly unpleasant concept of your future boss “stalking” you, I look at job hunting as a professional process which is simply not compatible with facebook!
Interesting findings. Careers Advisers get asked about this a fair bit – we advise students to check their privacy settings carefully but, particularly on Facebook where they introduce changes so frequently, it’s understable that people are concerned they won’t be watertight.
Personally I’ve always been confused why employers, who often go to great lenghths to collect lots of personal data via seperate ‘Equal Opportunities Monitoring Forms’ to avoid any risk of discrimination, then go and seek out a candidate’s Facebook profile which is likely to instantly reveal age, race, gender, marital status etc etc.
I’d be interested to know what GF users think of Careers Services having a Facebook presence. Many do already. Is this a useful way to raise awareness of our services or another annoying intrusion into a social space?