Social Media and Discrimination?

Published 27 August 2009 by Andrea

It surprises me that there hasn't been an uproar of discrimination cases throughout the world with employers using social media sites to "filter" and "assess" candidates prior to interview.

Most employers although using facebook as an attraction method, are also using it to filter their candidates prior to even their initial stages of an interview and why shouldn't they? Facebook and other social media sites provide direct representations of who their candidates are in public without the veneer of an interview room and a high quality suit. In saying that, some people have their facebook photo public in their birthday suit? Should this define how and who we recruit? When did the line become so fuzzy between personal life and professional?

Essentially the line now almost doesn't exist. Most employers now provide lifestyles and workplaces that offer a significant work life balance. This doesn't necessarily mean you're home by 6pm every day, but have the ability to work around your lifetimes and cycles. What this also means though, is that slowly but surely, your personal life..is your professional life.

You've gone from being 2 different people - one at home, one at work - to offering both personas in one location..a one stop shop! Although this is a positive solution for most companies and employees the line is fuzzy and acceptance and understanding become two different things. Although it's acceptable to be yourself and provide a more personal work environment. It's not okay to sit back in your undies in the boardroom and hog the WII.

Social Media and Gen Y has bridged the gap between personal and professional life, but candidates have yet to understand and nor do employers for that matter, the consequences. Unlike a paper trail that can be eliminated and reworded, the internet has provided a platform for an eternal memory bank of stupidity and photo proven actions. The future only shows more significant interaction without education on the uses of the opportunities. They just move and happen and evolve too quickly. In time we will see how this affects our student recruitment and whether it turns into "us" or "them" or whether we have to all live "peacefully" together...

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