Social Media Tells Who You Are Before You Can

How many times have you heard that whatever you post on any social media is available on the internet forever? We were always warned that whatever we post on social media had the power to either block us from a job opportunity or could get us fired. In today's media cultured world, employers go through job applicants' social networks, specifically Facebook and Twitter to discover what kind of person they are attempting to hire. So, what could your Facebook or Twitter tell the employer about you? Are the findings accurate portrayals of yourself? What are the differences between good traits and bad ones?

Employers typically look through social media to discover five traits: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience. Unbeknownst to me, most researchers believe that there is no direct link between conscientiousness and the amount of drug and alcohol pictures posted on social media. Although after reading the article, "What Social Media Can (Really) Tell You About Job Applicants",I still believe that these pictures have no business being on a Twitter feed or a Facebook page, these pictures show employers a sign of extroversion. 

One of the commonly mistaken traits that are perceived falsely by employers is extroversion. The authors of the article gave an example explaining that the people most desirable to hire in sales and marketing positions are extroverts. Extroverts tend to post or write about drug or alcohol related activities often. Lead Author and Ph.D. student at NCSU, Will Stoughton concluded, "If employers plan to keep using social media to screen job applicants, this study indicates [that] they may want to focus on eliminating candidates who badmouth others - not necessarily those who post about drinking beer".

Do you feel that it is ok to have pictures of alcohol and drugs on your Facebook? Would you feel nervous if the employer pulled the information from your Twitter in a job interview? Despite the article's example, I would. 

Check out the article here:
http://on.mash.to/177zagd