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Degrees, jobs, career and… Facebook
Studying for an undergraduate degree at a top university is the first step towards a successful career, but will student sites like Facebook affect your chance of getting the job of your dreams? QS Top Universities investigates.
Life as a student studying for your undergraduate degree is all about research, assignments, career opportunities and fun. Part of the undergraduate student experience is student life itself and in this day and age the place to share those student experiences is on social media sites such as Facebook.
However, Facebook isn’t only for the undergraduate student community. Since its inception in November 2004, Facebook has gained 70 million registered users and is getting 25,000 new users every day. This membership includes not only fellow undergraduate students but also teachers, parents, corporate companies and employers. So is that photo album of your student antics during freshers week really the type of image you want to portray?
Media reports have highlighted the need for undergraduate students, revelling in the freedom that university study brings, to censor their Facebook accounts, or alternatively, to ensure that student antics captured on digital photos aren’t made public or available to potential employers.
But recent research reveals that Facebook users, and indeed undergraduate students, can breathe easy when job hunting. Apparently, three in four employers don’t use social networking sites as recruitment tools. A poll of more than 220 HR directors by Personnel Today magazine and law firm Charles Russell found that 73% of companies don’t check sites like Facebook during the hiring process.
The study found that charities and retail firms were the least likely to use such methods, with just eight per cent and seven per cent respectively checking Facebook or similar sites to research applicants. Employers in the media, professional services and finance were most likely to go online to check out candidates’ profiles, with more than 35% of HR bosses from these sectors admitting they do so. One respondent also claimed to use such sites to headhunt. “We use social networking sites a lot to recruit people for the organisation,” he said.
Julie Weston, HR director at the British Heart Foundation, warned that such sites were unreliable. “We would not use Facebook to check candidate information as the validity of the information is questionable. Also we believe it to be too intrusive to a candidate’s private life.”
Michael Powner, partner at law firm Charles Russell, who conducted the survey with Personnel Today, said: "From this research it is clear that very few employers are using these sites as the basis for their recruitment decisions.”
Students throughout the world’s top universities may all be breathing a collective sigh of relief upon reading the results of this research. Their Facebook profiles complete with photo albums, sheep throwing competitions and Harry Potter quizzes will be safely viewed by fellow freshers and not by potential employers.
But students shouldn’t discredit Facebook altogether in relation to job opportunities. It’s not called a social networking phenomenon for nothing. Wall to wall conversations, joining a group, or attending a Facebook event can put you in good stead for meeting a potential employer or having that initial conversation. You may even find the job of your dreams through a Facebook message! Just make sure you submit your CV and not your Facebook profile when you go for the job interview.
Notes: Additional information from Personnel Today, published by Reed Business Information UK (RBI UK).
Student Survival Guide