I observed an interesting discussion between an HR Director and his team yesterday on the ethics and legal consequences of looking at social media pages of candidates as a part of employee selection. The discussion arose from the article in the Young Island Blog I had pointed out earlier.

Facebook was a particular area of discussion simply because many people are more relaxed over the content they post on their Facebook pages. Specifically, some employers are requesting applicants to provide access to their social media accounts as a condition of employment.

Prove they weren’t discriminated against
His comment to the team was, “I’m waiting for the first gay, Muslim or another religion where the candidate hears about an employer accessing their Facebook activity, then not getting the job and making the
employer prove in court that they were not discriminating against their sexual
orientation or religious beliefs when they failed to get the job”.

Examination question
Although this topic has been discussed ast great length on-line and in the media I’m not sure that there’s been a satisfactory conclusion. Doubtless it’s a question in some HR or Law examinations. Certainly the more I’ve thought about it the more complex the answer seems to be.

Any thoughts?

It’s tragic that at the start of the summer, nearly one million 16 to 24-year-olds in England were out of a job, not in education, nor in training. Known as Neets, this group seems to be growing and growing and doesn’t include school leavers this year, according to the latest official figures and reported by the BBC.

The BBC highlights Jordan Millward a 24 year old from Stoke-on-Trent who has two degrees, a 2:1 in politics, and a 2:2 in law, as well as a post-graduate law diploma.
He says “I’ve had no replies to more than 100 applications to different law firms looking for both jobs and work experience I’ve made over the last year, and only two interviews from the 90 plus applications I’ve made over the last two months”.

Little advice from Universities
Why is finding a job so difficult for this group? In discussions with students at my local University it seems that there is very little practical advice is given on how to find a job. I’m told that there is the “odd talk” about developing a CV (Resume) but very little else! Doesn’t this place too many in the area of “working it out for themselves”.

More practical help could and should be given! For instance, why is it that most students know how to use social media to find friends and entertainment at the weekend but they find it difficult to use when looking for a job? Why is it that so few place their details, qualifications and interests on the business pages of LinkedIn, Facebook or other SM sites?

Meet the employer
Perhaps organisations such as the IOD (Institute of Directors), Chambers of Commerce, FSB (Federation of Small business) could help more by regularly offering FREE places at their events for graduates or students to meet people in business and thus potential employers.

A small contribution of my own is given below:

Questions you should ask the interviewer

If you’ve been listening to the news on the BBC today you will have heard that there are 27 Graduates after every job available. It’s daunting to think that almost whatever job we apply for there will be people just as qualified, sometimes better, going for the same job.

So how do we make ourselves stand out from the crowd at an interview and particularly if we don’t have much employment experience behind us?

• Consider the gap year (if you had one or are about to have one) and leverage learning points from that time. Employers are all to willing to listen to “gap year adventures”  as long as they bring to the job some enthusiasm, experience of overcoming problems and a wider focus on the world.
• If you find yourself with time to spare, how can you fill it doing something worthwhile that delivers leadership skills, care skills and so on. Running a youth football team or other charitable work could be something you would find interesting.
• Offering your services to a national or local politician as a researcher or office worker. Who knows, you might get a job out of it.

Make sure that these experiences are added onto your on-line resume (CV) as soon as you start so as to keep people in touch with what you are doing. 

The competition for jobs is going to get hotter as more people are laid-off. Maximising your time looking for jobs is essential.

Here’s a tip

Bookmark helpful articles on job search topics to read when needed. I would recommend creating lists for the following categories:

• Creating the resume (CV)
• Interview questions and technique
• Cover letters
• Creating your Personal brand
• Personal website creation
• Social networking
• Job search strategies.

Have an interview tomorrow?
Now you have an entire library of interview and tips.

Some more tips on using Linkedin, Twitter and other Social media sites to find that job

UsingSocial media to find that job

A number of my friends in my network are asking me for tips on using social media to find jobs. Here’s the first

A number of my friends and clients are excited at the work I’ve done on “finding a dream job using Social media”. The work is almost done now and will be available very soon on my personal website and well as Assimilating-Talent.

My team also wants to share it with everyone on it’s own specific site, which sounds awesome!
So watch out for news