Nearly 1 in 2 Companies Now Screen Social Media

This news coming from Mashable:

This according to research firm Harris Interactive, who was commissioned by CareerBuilder.com and surveyed 2,667 HR professionals, finding that 45% of them use social networking sites to research job candidates, with an additional 11% planning to implement social media screening in the very near future.

According to the study, “thirty-five percent of employers reported they have found content on social networking sites that caused them not to hire the candidate.” The big lessons you can learn are quite obvious, but bear repeating. Provocative photos and info are a bad idea (53% of employers won’t hire you), shared content with booze and drugs is also highly dangerous (44% dismissed candidates for this reason), and bad-mouthing former employers is very risky behavior (35% reported this a the main reason they didn’t hire a candidate).

We also think it interesting that emoticons, those friendly smiley faces you see everywhere, are actually big no-nos in direct communication. 14% of surveyed employers disregard candidates for that single lapse in judgment alone.

Though this may seem as a big downer for those of us who are oversharers, the reality is that there’s still opportunity to use your social presence to land that job. The survey also found that, “eighteen percent of employers reported they have found content on social networking sites that caused them to hire the candidate.”

That’s not good news for most of us who use social networking a lot in our social lives. The key, though, is to make sure that if any content on your blog or Twitter or Facebook account makes you pause when you think whether a potential employer would be upset by it, it’s best to take it down (or, really, never put it up in the first place). There’s no reason to take a chance that some picture you took 5 years ago and posted to Facebook is going to come back to bite you in the butt.

From the Human Resources side, it is important to scan social media to see what your potential candidates are up to. You may see something that makes you feel very comfortable about hiring a potential candidate, but, more likely, you can find warning signs that maybe the person you are about to hire would not be a good fit for your company. If there are signs out there on the internet that a candidate may expose you to future lawsuits, it would almost be negligent not to have done the due dilligence beforehand. And would’t you like to know, the day after an interview, if the young man/woman you just interviewed posted something like this as their status message: “Had interveew yesterday. HR person aws lame! May take job for money but dont want it.”

Yeah…I think that would be worth finding out before you bring the person in.

Now That Was Quick...

On Monday afternoon, I did an orientation for a new employee who had started that morning. The employee started in a senior position, requiring at least a decade of experience. He spent all of Monday in training and setting up his computer and was set to start the actual work of the job yesterday.

 

This morning, he didn’t show up for work. His manager e-mailed him repeatedly, hoping to reach him on his Blackberry. Finally, worried that something was wrong, the manager called the new employee to see what happened.

 

The employee let the manager know, on that phone call, that he had quit. He said he left his Blackberry at his desk the night before and couldn’t continue to do the job because of the commute.

 

And that was it. One day on the job. Quit. No notice. No resignation. No showing up to let people know or calling to let them know. Just didn’t show up.

 

Amazing.

 

 

Astronology - Labor Day..Is It Just Another Holiday?

Astronology Volume X Issue 13   August 25, 2009 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software.   Fact or Fiction?   Recycling one aluminum can equate to enough energy for a few hours of television.   Fact!!   According to Carl Zimrig's book, Cash for Your Trash, "Recycling one aluminum can saves enoughenergy to run a television for three hours."  What are your favorite shows to watch during those "found" 3 hours?   The Astron Road Show   Summer may be waning, but the Astron Road Show is still in high gear!  The Astron team will be making several stops in September.   First up is September 9th.  National Directors Michael Maciekowich and Jennifer Loftus will jointly present at the HR Alliance event in New York City.  The topic for the evening is "When the Money Runs Out: Retaining and Motivating Long Term Employees Without Increasing Pay."  The session will be a combination of trend discussion and interactive problem solving. Then, on September 11th, Jennifer travels to Norfolk, VA to present to the Norfolk Consortium on trends in public vs. private sector total compensation.  If you are in the area please let Jennifer know if you'd like to attend.  She'd be happy to have you as her guest!   Continuing the tour, on September 15th, Jennifer gives a joint presentation with Charlene Rossback of St. Francis Hospital (Roslyn, NY) entitled "It's More than Base Pay: Total Compensation Practices of Employers of Choice."  The presentation caps off a day of learning at the annual AHHRA Fall conference. More Road Show stops are on the way...we'll update you in the September 8th issue of Astronology!   Labor Day...Just Another Holiday? Every year, near the end of August, many prepare for the federal holiday of Labor Day on the first Monday of September. A lot of people consider Labor Day the close of summer. Many look forward to the last summer barbeque, time spent with family and friends, and also the Labor Day sales! Interestingly, the origins of the Labor Day holiday are not always discussed. In this edition of Astronology we will crack open the history books to discover the origins of the federal holiday of Labor Day....more   Have a Question? If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us!  Simply reply to this e-mail.  See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology. Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting?  Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues.  For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.   The Fine Print We hold your e-mail address in trust.  Astron Solutions promises never to share or rent your personal information.  We also promise never to send you frivolous e-mails and will allow you to leave our list, at your option, at any time. To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail. Copyright 2009, Astron Solutions, LLC ISSN Number 1549-0467 Quick Links Client List Meet the Astron Team Contact Us   World of HR Blog Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions. More