George Fiala discusses how potential employers are increasingly looking at applicants' social media profiles to make hiring decisions. They may judge candidates based on pictures from their teenage or college years without considering how much people can mature. He advises job seekers to make their more unprofessional Facebook content private or delete it. LinkedIn should be used professionally as it serves as an online resume. People should be aware that past social media posts may affect future job opportunities and represent them to potential employers for years.

1. George Fiala
Brainwerx Group Inc.
Profiles, Reputations and Your (next) Job.
Let's be clear about this, we all have public virtues and private vices. And I do mean all of us. If
you look back at what you did 10, 20, 30 or more years ago, and look at what you are doing
today, what would you think? Would the you of today, hire the you from that time? If all of that
was posted on social media and (potentially) taken out of context? The picture below is a case
in point. What's happening there? Does my dog have his head stuck in the peanut butter
container, or is he simply licking out the peanut butter? Did I put that there and take the picture
knowing he would respond like that? Did I do that to him on purpose? All of these things
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2. should cross your mind, but what you’re probably thinking is, haha, he has a peanut butter
container on his face... dogs…
For the record, my daughter gave him the container, he loves peanut butter and he was getting
the last bit of it, his head was not stuck. He continued playing with the container for another
hour or so. Now, on to the reason for this article, social media today is both a great method of
keeping in touch and up to date, it's also a huge pain in the ass. Why? Because it's being used
for other purposes. Potential employers are looking at the profiles of prospective employees
and looking at pictures of them at parties, on vacation and making decisions on lifestyle of that
person based on those decisions. Not, usually, taking into account what they were like at that
age (if we are discussing pictures on the FB accounts of someone that is in their late teens or
in their twenties).To be realistic, we've all gone through those phases and, one hopes, come
out the other end a mature adult that understands the meaning of work and commitment.
Frankly, I don't see how one's vacation pictures and consuming alcohol makes a person NOT
any of those things, but that is the nature of a society that is quick to judge on superficial
issues.
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3. As I said in the opening, everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, has public virtues and private
vices (just in case that wasn't clear before). Do I have an answer for the problem of prejudice
and superficiality? Nope. Because that would involve a big shift in thinking on a scale that
would be long and difficult.
Facebook
Do I have a temporary solution? Maybe. To job applicants, yep, you have those images and
possibly, just possibly, you may want to either put them as private, or delete them from your FB
account. To employers, if you're looking at someones FB account (you know, the account that
they've created for, and share with, friends), AND they're in their twenties or late teens, what do
you expect? Honestly!? After that think about what you did at that age, before the advent of
social media. Would your background stand up to the level of scrutiny you put on them?
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a business networking tool, that also acts as your online resume. On LinkedIn, one
is expected to act and present in a professional manner. Your profile *is* your resume, not just
to the potential employer today, but the potential employer 20 years from now (will LinkedIn still
be here? I don't know, but certainly some variant of it will be). Your profile, your timeline, your
articles, your posts and your likes, comments etc. will not go away. They'll always be there. The
question is how do you want to present to the business world at large. Again, refer to my
opening line. Think about this, when recruiters or anyone you speak to in business is finished
speaking to you, or looking at your resume, they will look at your LI profile next. To get a better
sense of what you would be like, in a business environment, to deal with.
Twitter
Who are you following? Who are you communicating with? What are you posting? Again, what
you post in a business account versus a personal account are different. Many of us have both.
Other Social Media
Tumblr, Pinterest, etc., what are you putting on there? What are your posts?
So, have a look at your FB, LI and maybe your twitter accounts (maybe others, if relevant), can
they use a little tweak? And be really aware that when you are looking for a job, all of these
accounts are open for viewing and open to (mis)interpretation. As an applicant, like it or not,
look at your accounts from the standpoint of a (future) hiring manager. Think about the context
and how anything can be viewed from multiple contexts. Some favourable, some not. But
always remember, there is a big difference between everyones public virtues and their private
vices.
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