Online reputation, employers and the rise of social media

           

The recruitment process has certainly evolved since Mrs Doubtfire last applied for a job.

When law student Katherine Buskariol,21, was preparing for her imminent clerkship applications, she decided that she would need to examine her online footprint with a fine-toothed comb.

She proceeded to delete a number of inappropriate status updates and photographs in the realisation that an increasing number of employers will now search potential employees on the internet before they decide to hire them.

“I believe that in the professional world, employers will look at that kind of stuff,” said Buskariol. “A photo or an inappropriate comment might be the difference.” 

Spokesman for SEEK Australia, Peter Osborne, concedes that this trend is becoming increasingly prevalent, revealing to the ABC in March that job recruiters ‘could be rejected’ if they have inappropriate content online:

"It is becoming more common for recruiters and prospective employers to use social and online media to check the profile and credentials of candidates - after all, the internet is a rich source of information," said Osborne.

Employment website ‘CareerBuilder’ commissioned a study earlier this year conducted by Harris Interactive and found that 37 percent of hiring managers use social networking sites to research applicants and a further 11 percent would consider to do so in the future. UK business psychology firm OPP conducted independent research and have argued that around 56% of employers check an applicant's Facebook, LinedIn and twitter. Of the 2,000 people surveyed by Harris Interactive, over 65 percent of that group using Facebook as their primary resource, 12 percents were specifically looking for reasons NOT to hire that person and 65 percent used the resource to see if the applicant "presents him- or herself professionally." 

These figures may appear inherently disconcerting  - but it is a reality that in the contemporary digital age, employers will now explore all avenues in order to assess the suitability of a potential employee.

In March 2012 Forbes.com revealed that an alarming number of employers in the US were even requesting  access to their applicants’ Facebook pages as a condition of employment. 

As a result, the U.S Senate introduced the 'Password Protection Act 2012.' This Act now prohibits an employer from:

“Forcing prospective or current employees to provide access to their own private account as a condition of employment and … from discriminating or retaliating against a prospective or current employee because that employee refuses to provide access to a password-protected account.”  

Although Peter Osborne argues that there have been no reported incidents of this occuring in Australia, it highlights the potential impact for social media to mould and shape contemporary employment and recruitment strategies.

Alex Stuart, Managing partner of Stuart Lawyers, concedes that he will always screen potential legal clerks and employers on LinkedIn prior to hiring them.

“Yes, we  definitely search linked in,” said Stuart. “We search it because it is a good tool; it helps us ascertain if they have any professional backgrounds.’

Although Katherine Buskariol may be conscious of the increasing tendency of employers to ‘screen’ potential candidates, the reality is that a number of students are still unaware of the potential impact a seemingly innocent (yet mildly inappropriate) post or an appearance on 'Embarrassingnightclubphotos.com' may have on their employment prospects.

http://www.embarrassingnightclubphotos.com/ This is why the ‘Traceable’ web feature will be so valuable for students; it will provide case studies, statistics and comprehensive interviews with employers and recruitment agencies to examine the potential impact of our online footprint. Through including a series of interviews, profiles, a 'How to' section and a number of informative and engaging videos such as the one below, 'Traceable' will explore how individuals can construct and project a positive identity through social media.

 I created a Facebook post early last week asking anyone to contact me if they had any adverse experiences with social media, specifically if social media had ever inhibited  their prospects of securing a job. An alarming number of people contacted me via personal message, sharing their personal experiences. Mike Taylor, 23, had reached the last interview stage with a high-profile firm when a recruitment agent notified him that they could not hire him on the basis of an inappropriate post and picture on Facebook. Alike many other students, he did not realise the implications of a slightly distasteful profile pricture.  

This ‘Facebook’ experiment was an extremely valuable one, for it reinforced the importance of  our web feature to students and potential employees. ‘Traceable’ will be interactive and engaging; it will include a forum thread in order to encourage two-way discussion, providing an opportunity for users to ask questions, share tips and stories concerning the management of their online reputation. 

How To Manage Facebook Privacy and Friend Lists

Managing your personal social media platforms is an important thing for any young adult coming into the workplace. So I have prepared a guide on exactly how to make your Facebook profile private and manage which content you want to share with which friends, to ensure it ready to be analysed by future employers. This is very important as increasingly employers are checking potential employees Facebook pages before they make the final decision on whether they get the job.

Before I started investigating for this blog, my profile was completely public, it was available for anyone with a facebook account to see. So my first step was to change this.

To change your privacy setting you first go to the tab in the right hand corner (next to the “Home” tab) and select “Privacy Settings.”

Then in “Privacy Settings” under “Control Your Default Privacy” change from “Public” to “Friends” or you can customise your settings. 

Now your profile can only be viewed by your “Friends” or the “Close Friends” that you choose to allow.

Next we learn to manage your friends’ lists so that you can pick and choose which friends are in which groups, and can view which content.

Facebook already has three groups made for you; “Close Friends,” “Acquaintances” and “Restricted.” You may wish to create more based on what you want certain people to be able to access. For example you may create a special folder for your boss or your mum so that you can control what aspects of your life through your Facebook page you wish to show to these particular people.

To get to these lists start on the “Home” page.

On the left hand side next to the “Friends” tab click “More.”

As I said there should already be the following lists there; “Close Friends,” “Acquaintances” and “Restricted,” and whatever groups you may have created.

You can either use the groups created for you or create some of your own. You do this by clicking on the “+ Create List” button to the top of the screen. You can simply name the list now, and add members later, once you have figured out all of the groups and the amount of access of each to your profile.

Once you have figured out your groups you may then click on each of the groups and edit them accordingly.

Click on “Manage List” in the top right hand corner of the screen. From here you may edit both what updates are shown to those in the list (“Choose Update Types”) and what friends you want in the list (“Edit List”).

In the restricted group they will only see what you make public, so this is a great place to put your boss or grandmother or anyone you wish to carefully monitor which content they see and don’t see. For example it may not be a good idea to make public those photos from a wild night on the town.            

Back to the “Privacy Settings” Page. Below the “Control Your Default Privacy” section there are further options to customise who can see what on your profile.

           

First in the “How You Connect” section, you can decide who can look you up using your email address or phone number, who can send you friend requests and who can send you messages. You may choose either “Everyone,” “Friends of Friends” or only “Friends.”

You may also edit the “Timeline and Tagging” section in the same way.

And the “Ads, Apps and Websites” section.

There is an option to “Limit The Audience for Old Posts on Your Timeline.”

“Blocked People and Apps” is where you can block friends, apps and events as well as another place you can add friends to your restricted list, without blocking them, as this way they will never know.

Finally you have the option to choose who sees what you post as you post it now that you have created these groups. Simply choose from the drop down menu to the left o the “Post” button.

           

You may also go next to each post you have posted on your timeline and change the particular audience you want to see it. You do this by clicking on the image directly after the post and choosing an audience from the drop down menu.

After my day of researching the privacy settings and friends lists of Facebook I can confidently say that my profile is a lot more private. I also have a better understanding of which friends I want to see which content on my Facebook and have grouped them accordingly. And most importantly I have learnt the importance of thinking and choosing carefully which friends see what posts and trying to keep my personal and professional life separate, especially as I begin my career. 

The business of reputation management

 In 1940, two brothers decided to open a restaurant that sold hot chips, hamburgers and drinks. Richard and Maurice McDonald’s idea wasn’t original; many people had done this before.

But why is it that 70 years on, their idea is now the world’s largest fast food chain, feeding 46 million people a day?

The answer is branding and reputation management.

Voltaire once said:

 “Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. 

The most original writers borrowed one from another.”

And neither is the idea of reputation management an original one. Ever since people have been providing products and services, there have always been those around to help manage their brand.

Reputation management lies at the heart of the success of businesses both big and small, including McDonalds.

Particularly in times of crisis, businesses are forced to go into full scale damage control mode in order to protect their reputation.

Take the Ribena crisis for example. As The Guardian reported:

“Two New Zealand schoolgirls humbled one of the world's biggest food and drugs companies after their school science experiment found that their ready-to-drink Ribena contained almost no trace of vitamin C.”

McDonald’s is also no stranger to this kind of scrutiny. The fast food chain has found itself in hot water many a times for advertising of their products as nutritionally good for you.

In circumstances such as these, the importance of reputation management is highlighted.

But being in the midst of the digital age has brought new challenges to the idea of reputation management.

70% of people have faith in consumer opinions posted online, a 2009 Nielsen study found.

This means that 70% of people will believe what is written about your business online. Whether the content is true or not, defamatory or not, or created by you or someone else, it will most likely be believed.

In light of this, managing reputation online has never been more important to the success of a business.

With so many blogs already devoted to online reputation management, how will we make our blog, Traceable, and our web feature different from all the other features out there on reputation management?

Firstly, there are not a lot of features aimed at students aged 16-25 years old. So we will aim our feature at this target user group as a means of helping them to learn about the potential pitfalls of using the internet and social media in particular.

In the digital age that we are in, learning how to shape, manage and mould one’s reputation is imperative to job prospects.

So showing this age group not only how to manage their own reputation, but how their potential employers manage the reputation of a business would be a different spin which we would put on the feature.

Breaking (a) Bad Online Reputation!

Have you ever Googled yourself?  Found that some of the search results are not that flattering?

I typed in ‘”Merissa Lennon” Australia’ in Google and found that a post a friend once jokingly made on a university event page about how I was “sahhh excited to get drunk” was one of the first results shown.

This is a very common story in the digital age. People use social media as a new platform for self expression and identity. However, the online footprint that is left behind can ruin job prospects and cause bad reputations.

You cannot ignore a bad reputation. Joan Jett is, unfortunately, wrong.

According to PCWorld, 70 percent of companies have rejected candidates based on their online reputation, but only 7 percent of Americans believe it affects their job search.

There is ignorance, especially with young media users, as to what damage a bad online identity can do to employment opportunities and future endeavors.

The feature, ‘Traceable’, will explore issues of online management, reputation, defamation and privacy.

Think bad online management is a myth? Ordinary people constantly have their online reputation damaged and struggle to have material removed.

Professionals and experts will be interviewed in the upcoming feature to provide detailed information on how to manage online identity and also comment on the increased blurring of boundaries between the public and private domains.

Don’t know how to manage your online reputation? The How To section will instruct young people and also parents on how to improve their online image and to manage their public and business reputation!

Although some features include ‘How to’ sections they aren’t yet specified to young people. Our feature will go beyond tracking your online presence, addressing the issues and connecting and creating content.

Technology features, like those on The Daily Recruiter are a great starting point for this type of feature. However, ours will go beyond the simple style used on this website and use graphics, video and links to better educate our audience. The Daily Recruiter does not have the same target audience, but it is reaching for the same goal.

The design on Mashable.com, is a great example of how I envision our information to look. It will capture and retain the attention of users accustomed to receiving information in a fast, easy and dynamic way.

Our content will examine online reputation management in a unique way. It will be entertaining and focus on the student relationship with the internet. Readers will be made aware of the dangers regarding this issue and will greater understand the importance and visibility of online relationships.

Have something to say on this issue? An online forum will enable two-way communication with our readers and on social media sites, like Twitter (follow me @MerissaLennon).

We will also get the insider business opinion by talking to specialised online management service companies like Engage.

Most people don’t realise how difficult it is to remove online content.

I was lucky. My discretion was a Facebook post which could easily be deleted. It is extremely hard to remove content from search engines, like Google, without having to directly ask the company.

The internet is a social experience. Users create and redistribute information via extended social networks. However the footprint that is left behind can have a disastrous effect on employment opportunity and identity.

By simply Googling ourselves, we are able to understand more about our identity, yet can uncover some things we would rather have kept private.

A bad reputation can have serious effects. I’m sure Lindsay Lohan wouldn’t be too happy to Google herself and find this one...

 

How to navigate through the law of the online?

There are three key legal issues that need to be explored when considering an individuals online reputation:

Issues of defamation impact our online participation in two distinct ways, when acting online we have a right not to be defamed and also a responsibility not to defame others.

Ownership and property rights, including issues of copyright, are often disputed or disconsidered online and many people are unaware when they are relinquishing the rights to their own material. And inversely, we often forget that material sourced from elsewhere and then republished on social media is still subject to standard laws of copyright and intellectual property protection.

Privacy is increasingly difficult to maintain as we put more and more of our lives online, the boundaries between the private and public spheres are being blurred and issues of online control and legal literacy are making it even more difficult for people to manage their online persona.

With people using platforms like Facebook and twitter as a mechanism for connection to those closest to them, it become difficult to comprehend that social media is a form of open publication. What people would have once said in conversation over coffee to a close friend, may now be posted on their Facebook wall. We have begun to broadcast everything; from life events to photos of dinner, and from our opinion on politics to our university timetable, everything is online. This means that there is a record of everything- every photo, comment, tweet and ‘like’ is archived.

Another problem is that the laws of defamation, contempt, intellectual property, confidentiality have always been applied to journalists and those acting as part of the traditional media. However, now that everyone has access to extensive content sharing these laws that originally only applied to those in the industry of publication now apply to everyone with access to a computer or smartphone and an internet connection.

For this reason, the complex laws which have been actively considered by working editors, journalists, writers and politicians now have to be understandable to everyone.

Julie Posetti, a journalist and assistant professor at the university of Canberra was recently tangled up in a twitter explosion and on a recent Radio National law report segment outlined the problem:

“ When we have situations where people who are very new to these mediums find themselves saying something they might say in their lounge room but publishing it broadly, and it might be terribly defamatory or terribly contemptuous. They find themselves at the other end of a threat from a big corporation or a powerful individual, what is the law going to do with that? We have a need for a lot more communication about these issues and a lot more education about these issues for the general public in particular”

It is not just the connection to the internet that is creating these problems, but also the changing way that it is being used. An Australian Law Reform Commission reporton Privacy Law and Practice, identified one of the key reasons for young peoples differing attitudes to privacy compared to older Australians was as a result of the online world, particularly online social networking,

“Until recently, the internet was primarily a source of information. Today, however, it is used as a means of communication and has beome an important part of social relations”

“One concern about social networking is that it often involves participants disclosing personal information to a worldwide audience. This concern is highlighted when children and young people disclose personal information when participating in online social networking, given their more limited capacity to understand the consequences of disclosure of personal information in an online environment.”.

This limited capacity to understand the potential dangers of online sharing is one aspect which we will be addressing. It needs to be acknowledged that to adequately inform oneself of all your rights and responsibilities online using the existing resources may be too greater task for young people.

A clear, concise presentation of information needs to be created. Making legislation accessible and understandable, using case studies to show clear connections of cause and effect, and how-to guides to simplify safety measures people should undertake.