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College Grads Are Finding Ways to Ditch Potential Employers On Social Sites

While Employers are discovering the benefits of using social media sites in their businesses, college students (the early adopters) are apparently shying away from them (at least they seem to be in their job searches).

 

As employers and recruiters are still discovering the remarkableness of sites like Twitter and Facebook, college students who were mainly using these sites as an avenue to share news, pictures, and the funniest video from last week’s frat party, are staying one step ahead of potential employers as these soon to be grads start searching for jobs.

More than 45 percent of employers and recruiters use Facebook or Twitter to screen job candidates, but college students are smart and are censoring their Facebook pages and their tweets. 

No, we’re not saying that they’re no longer posting hilarious videos and have instead converted all of their posts and tweets to be employer friendly—no, these soon to be graduates are simply changing their names.    

No, not legally.  They’re either purposely misspelling part of their name or using a variation of their name (i.e. using their middle name as their last name) in order to keep employers from finding them on social sites.  

A recent survey that was commission by Beyond.com and conducted by students of the Wharton Small Business Development Center asked college students if they were concerned that potential employers may discover their personal information on social networking sites.  And 51% said yes. Which is a shame given that these sites were originally designed to be used in a social setting (hence the name social).  

As a job seeker, if you have a Facebook or Twitter account, just be aware that there are potential employers out there scouring the internet trying to learn more about you.  If you want to be sure that they’ll only view you as a professional, there are a few options for you to consider:

 

1. Change your social media accounts to be employer friendly.
2. Change your name (be sure if you have a vanity URL, that you change that as well if your URL previously contained your name).
3. Change your privacy settings to ensure only your friends can access your pages.
4. Do something drastic and cancel your Facebook and Twitter accounts all together.
5. Use a service like Reputation Defender to help you clean up what’s been posted on the internet about you.
6. Create a LinkedIn profile and promote it on your resume.  There are also other professional sites out there to market yourself to employers. 

Hire the Right Candidates With Behavioral Interviewing

The success of any organization largely depends upon the knowledge, skills and dedication of its employees. Since the selection process for new employees relies primarily on the interview process, it is imperative that managers and interviewers become proficient at interviewing candidates.

Due to the ongoing struggle of finding the right candidates, many employers utilize behavioral interviewing to better gauge the potential of a candidate, especially those who have little or no traditional work experience. Behavioral interview questions allow organizations to effectively evaluate whether or not candidates can quickly and efficiently tackle issues and solve problems, communicate well with others, collaborate in a team-environment and demonstrate true initiative.  

There are many ways to approach and incorporate behavioral interviewing into the hiring process.  Sometimes the level of position or specialized skill sets required for a particular position can change the employer’s approach behavioral interviewing.  Some questions will be detailed and some will be more broadly-defined.  Located below are a few general behavioral interviewing questions which any employer can incorporate into their hiring process:

1. Provide an example of when you encountered conflict and how you resolved it.
2. Tell me about a time when you had to use your presentation skills to influence someone's opinion.
3. Give me an example of a time when you tried to accomplish something and failed.  What lesson did you learn? 
4. Describe a time when you anticipated potential problems and proactively developed preventive measures.
5. Give me an example of a time when you motivated others.

By incorporating behavioral interviewing, employers can make more effective and informed decisions to be sure that they are hiring the best employees for the position and the company.

At Beyond.com, we provide valuable career resources and articles across a variety of different topics, including interviewing techniques to assist hiring managers with their recruitment program.  We encourage you to visit our website at www.Beyond.com  to review our comprehensive list of resources.

Take Control of Your Online Reputation

When searching for a job, it is important to take a proactive approach to making a good name for yourself and getting your name out in there in the way that you want.  Fortunately there are many ways to take control of your online identity.  See below for helpful tips on how to manage your online reputation.

• Monitor Your Online Content.  The first step in managing your online reputation is to determine what type of information is available about you online.  There are many free tools, such as Google, Blog Control and Technorati, which can help you identify if any damaging information exists.  You may also want to consider performing a background check which allows you to dig deeper than an online search alone.
• Control the Message.  If you come across any negative or inaccurate information about yourself online, there are several ways to address this issue.  You can contact the publisher directly, set the record straight on your personal blog (if you have one), or you can flood the internet with positive web pages and social media profiles that will help push the negative content further down in search results.
• Choose the Right Social Networks.  Make sure you research all available social networking sites.  Although MySpace and Facebook are among the most popular social networks, it doesn’t necessarily mean that these sites are the best place to build a professional online presence.  There are many sites, such as LinkedIn, Twitter or Plaxo, which allow you to create a professional profile and network with contacts in your industry.  You should also consider creating an online career portfolio.
• Look to the Pros for Help.  Monitoring your online reputation can be frustrating and time-consuming, so you may want to consider enlisting a reputation management service.  There are many service providers that monitor and report what content is available about you online and help eliminate information that is inappropriate or inaccurate.  These companies can also help you create positive online content that ranks highly in search engines results, allowing you to better control the information that people will read about your online.

It is important to take the appropriate steps to protect and enhance your professional online image.  By understanding what information is available about you online, it allows you to better position yourself to potential employers.  In fact, your Google results could be the deciding factor on whether or not you are hired for your next job!

How to Create an Effective Job Advertisement

Employers should maximize their investment on their recruitment program by creating an effective job advertisement that is sure to both promote their company and attract high-quality candidates.  Although there is no one-size-fits-all recipe for a successful job posting, these simple tips can be leveraged to help compose an effective job ad:

• Communicate a mutually beneficial message. Tell job seekers about the opportunity, not just the position available. Cite unique selling points of the position – not just the salary and benefits - that may differentiate your position from the rest and make this opportunity an attractive opportunity. 

• Utilize well-known and familiar job titles. Include job titles that candidates will recognize so they can easily locate your position when performing a job search. Job seekers can be confused or mislead by job titles that are not clear, so it is best to be very specific so qualified candidates don’t skip over the job posting.  This simple trick can help to immediately increase the quality of your results.

Intern Your Way to Career Success

The thought of diving right into a career after college is enough to make even the most successful student anxious. An effective solution to this apprehension is to complete an internship.  Today, internships are much more than befriending the copy machine and making countless Starbucks runs. Employers today rely on interns, who are cost-effective and highly productive, to work on real projects around the office. If you are looking for a way to increase your marketability, internship experience is an essential qualification to land your first job after college.

Internships allow you to:

• Learn the ropes. Internships provide you with an inside perspective on your chosen field and help you reinforce your career decision before it’s too late. By working alongside professionals in your industry, it allows you to gain great insight into your career that can only be accessed through personal experiences.

It's Time To Invest in Yourself!

The job market is more competitive than ever.  While many job seekers are taking time to find their niche to stand out from fellow professionals, others are simply looking for ways to fill a gap in their resume.  In a way, uncertain times can offer opportunities that some wouldn’t take advantage of under normal circumstances.  Many professionals are not only becoming freelance consultants and starting their own businesses, but are even taking the steps towards continuing their education to invest in their future. 

If you have considered going back to school but put the idea out of your mind because of financial concerns, it is important that you know that even in a down economy there is financial assistance to be found.  If you are considering going back to school, take a moment to review the following ways to help you manage your student loans and avoid debt:

1. Seek Affordable Schools: There are a lot of schools out there that can be affordable choices. When determining which school you want to attend, keep in mind that state public universities with a good academic record will most likely be your best value.  Private schools can be much pricier and leave you with several dollars in loans to pay back upon graduation. 

2. Check Your Credit Score:  Before you apply for a student loan, get a free credit report to ensure that you do not encounter any surprises along the way.  By preparing ahead of time, you will increase your chances of securing the loan that you desire to invest in your future.

3. Research Your Loan Options:  The average student graduates school with $19,000 in student loans according to msn.com. Therefore, it is important that you do the right level of research to determine which type of loan has the best rate.  Be sure that you read all of the fine print as some student loans will only provide you with finances for a specific period of time. 

4. Create a Budget Plan:  When you receive your loan, make sure it will last you throughout the term of your education and is properly budgeted to pay for necessities, such as classes, books and even housing.  It is important to be realistic and not overextend yourself in order to prevent financial pressures in the months and years to come.

5. Maximize Your Income:  Even though you may be in school there are still ways to earn income. Consider part-time employment, internships, or co-op programs.  You can also consider night school, so that you have your daytime hours available for interviews and full time employment if the right job comes along.

While finances are a top concern when considering going back to school, remember that you are taking the time to invest in yourself, learn new skills and increase your market value to potential employers.

The Myths and Truths About Background Checks

The recent downturn in the economy has created an extremely competitive job market where employers are being extra careful of who they hire into their organization.  In fact, The Survey Group reported that more than 80 percent of employers do a background check on potential employees by performing some form of employee screening.  So, it’s a good idea that you understand the truth and myths surrounding background checks and what employers may learn about you. 

To ease your mind, here is an idea of what a potential employer can and cannot learn about you through a pre-employment background check. 

A potential employer will be able to access:

Get the Most for Your Money When Recruiting in a Down Economy

There is a wealth of qualified talent available during tight economic times, however this also means there is even more work required to find the best talent. So how do you find the best talent?  In a healthy economy, hiring managers spend the majority of their time searching for the best talent out of a thin candidate pool. However, during a recession, there is such large pool of highly qualified candidates looking for jobs that it can be nearly impossible to narrow it down.  To ensure their recruitment tactics are aligned with the current economic times, employers will need to find new ways to manage the recruitment process during an economic downturn.

I’ve put together a list of tips to help employers streamline their recruitment process to find quality talent during an economic recession:

Top Five Reasons to Advance Your Education

How much is a degree really worth?  According to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, college graduates with a Bachelor’s Degree earn an average of 39% more than professionals who have only obtained a high school diploma or equivalent.  Graduates with a Master’s Degree earn 48% more than high school graduates.   

Although the potential for a larger salary increase is reason enough to go back to school, there are many benefits to advancing your education.  Whether you are a high school graduate or a seasoned professional looking to advance in your career, continuing your education is well worth the investment.  Listed below are the top five reasons why you should consider continuing your education:

Relevant, Irrelevant and Provocative Interview Questions

There have been many articles written over the last few years on what is the best predictor of success in business.  The costs to a company in making a bad hiring decision are significant.  If a company hires a poor performing candidate, the company will see lower productivity from this employee and will have wasted the time and money to hire and train this resouce.  When the company replaces this employee, it will incur additional costs to replace him or her, which includes the fees to hire the employee, as well as the training costs.  So it is vitally important for companies to hire the best qualified candidates as possible. 

 

Typically, the recruiting process includes an interview between the candidate and the HR representative.  Following that interview, the hiring manager will interview the candidate to see if he or she is qualified.  During this process, many questions are asked by company and the jobseeker.  I have found that questions fall into three categories (the most relevant, irrelevant and provocative questions).