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Students Are Risking Future Employment with Social Networking
By: Liz Segrist - The Daily Gamecock
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September , 2008
How would your grandmother feel if she accessed your Facebook account?
That's the question poised by Allison Sturdivant, the Career Center's administration coordinator for fairs and employer relations, as a test of whether or not one's Facebook account is ready for a potential employer.
Sturdivant said she understands the appeal of Facebook for students, but there are negative aspects to it.
"I respect the fact that students utilize Facebook for so many different things," she said. "However, I think the thing that surprises students is that number one, employers are interested in looking at their Facebook accounts and, number two, that they can access them."
However, she said it can be used as a positive marketing tool as well.
"You could showcase fields and use it for networking purposes," she said. "It's not all bad, but students just need to understand that employers are interested and they are looking at Facebook accounts."
Nekki Shutt, an employment lawyer at Callison, Tighe and Robinson law firm in Columbia, said companies look at these sites.
"As an employer and an employee, my advice is that any employee needs to be careful what they put on their Facebook profile," Shutt said. "Larger and more sophisticated employers are using groups like MySpace and Facebook as a screening tool."
Anne Orange, the Career Center librarian, said she thinks students should just get rid of Facebook when they're job hunting.
"I'd say don't put those things on the site," Orange said. "And sometimes you put things out on the Web and it's hard to get rid of it, so it's best to not put them up in the beginning. If they find those sights and there's something negative there, that's it, that's a career stopper right there."
Jeff Dernagozzi, mechanical engineering director at GMK Associates, said he sees Facebook as a positive asset.
"It's a good networking tool. I see it being the future communication hub," he said.
Dernagozzi said he does not rely on Facebook when he hires people.
"I do not personally look up their Facebook if I'm going to hire them until I get to know them," he said.
But Dernagozzi said people should be careful on what they put on Facebook.
"Don't put anything on Facebook that you wouldn't want people to see," he said.
Shutt said social networking groups like Facebook and MySpace cross the line between what is private and what is public information and that the definition of privacy is being challenged.
"It's a whole new world having access to private information. There is no expectation of privacy," Shutt said. "The question is: is your profile information private information?"
Shutt said since the Internet is universal and your name can appear in any Google search, then one's profile information isn't private because, "It's fair game."
Sturdivant said it's very easy for companies to access one's account because now they can create their own accounts.
"Even though you might take down questionable images, you need to check your friends' Facebook accounts because they might think it's funny to show their friends in a certain light," Sturdivant said.
Sturdivant said it's important for students to understand that if they disable certain photos on their Facebook, they can still be obtained on the Web.
"Most of those companies maintain an archive and they're uploaded every night so the image never goes away," she said. "They're actually companies that students can employ to clean-up Web sites and bad cyber histories."
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