Wolfe 1

Matthew Wolfe
Dr. McLaughlin
WR13300
11/10/14
Social Media and Employment: Why Students Should Think Before They Press Send
Nowadays, everybody has a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and maybe even all
three. A typical college student will use at least one of these sites at least once a day,
and most likely more. Why not, then, use these sites to help with the ultimate goal of
most students college experience, which is to graduate with a job lined up? I plan on
studying the hiring practices of major companies to discover just how much social
media affects a recent college graduates application, and how this applicants specific
postings can either help or hurt their case for the job. I will use statistics and
professional opinions to prove that college students can and should use social media to
help them get a job in the future, and at the bare minimum, not post anything that can
negatively impact their employability.
Before we begin to talk about how social media can impact an applicants case,
we have to talk about the argument of whether or not a company should be able to look
into their prospective employees social media accounts. There are two sides to this
specific question; those who believe it should be legal, and those who believe it should
be illegal. The first of this argument believes that looking into a prospective employees
social media should be legal. This side claims that it is not an invasion of privacy,
because the owner of the account freely provides this information on the internet for
anyone to view. Also, this side would say that if the potential applicant prominently

Wolfe 2
displays racist, violent, or other illegal or generally unintelligent behavior on their social
media accounts is more likely to repeat those behaviors at the job they are applying for,
which justifies the checking in the first place. If someone repeatedly posts pictures of
themselves drinking or smoking marijuana or breaking the law, an employer would
rather pick a candidate who is equally qualified but does not brag about how they break
the law. If a company fails to catch a significant character flaw using conventional
interview and application techniques, checking the applicants social media page could
be used as a sort of safety net to help prevent a negligible hiring. Negligible hiring is
defined as, A tort that allows third parties to hold employers responsible for the harmful
acts of their employees (Peebles). This basically means that if an employee harms
someone on the job, and the employer could have known that they were likely to
perform such behaviors, the employer could be found partially responsible. This
suggests that it is almost the responsibility of employer to check online for a possible
violent or illegal past of any applicants. Indeed, Katherine Peebles, the Senior Notes
Editor of the William and Mary Law Review, tells us, Case law indicates that if an
employer fails to conduct an Internet search prior to hiring a job candidate and doing the
search would have revealed that the applicant had dangerous proclivities, the employer
could be held liable if the employee later injures someone (Negligent Hiring). The
simple fact is that checking employees social media can help to prevent the hiring of
bad employees. Police departments are using this technique to weed out corrections
officers with gang-related affiliations (McCullagh). These police departments would
argue that this helps to keep both the officers and the criminals safe, because if an
officer is a member of one gang, and the criminal is a member of the other, it would be

Wolfe 3
very easy for someone to get hurt. In most cases, social media checks help both the
company and the public, because potential employees who are unsafe or unfit are
sorted out.
The other side of this argument believes that the company should not be able to
consider an applicants social media because it is an invasion of privacy, and it does not
matter what an applicant would do outside work as long as they are a good fit for the
position. If the applicant is properly qualified and would perform the job well, there
should be no outside reason that should bar them from getting the job. This type of
researching may also be against the sites terms of service. Facebook bans use of their
website for commercial purposes or gains without the users consent (Terms). This
side of the argument also cites the fact that employers are not legally allowed to ask
about a potential candidate's religion, marital status or sexual orientation (Noguchi).
When an employer searches for this candidate on social media or the internet, however,
this information becomes readily available. Therefore, just as asking for this information
should be illegal, searching for it on the internet should be as well. Proponents of this
point also argue that gathering of information online can lead to unfair discrimination.
Alessandro Acquisti, a professor of information technology and public policy at Carnegie
Mellon University, set up multiple different fake identities that were identically qualified,
and only identified their religion on social media. According to Acquisti, those who
self-identified online as Muslim averaged 17 percent fewer callbacks nationally
(Acquisti). Although it is doubtful that the employers specifically and maliciously
discriminated against these candidates because of their religion, the fact that those who
identify as Muslim received 17 percent less callbacks nationally proves that there is

Wolfe 4
some sort of discrimination happening, even if it is unintentional. Being denied a job
because of sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs is illegal. However,
companies used to be able to ask for this information on applications, and it was very
difficult to prove that an applicant was denied a job just because of these
characteristics. Therefore, it was made illegal for companies to even know these
characteristics before the decision was made to hire a candidate. People who think that
social media researching should be illegal believe that companies are learning these
characteristics through social media, and discriminating unfairly because of it. Again, it
would be nearly impossible to prove that companies are discriminating using social
media, so social media researching should just be outlawed to completely cut off all
contact with this information. If social media researching is banned, this side of the
argument believes that it would sharply reduce discrimination, and even the playing field
between those who want to apply for the same job.
Personally, I believe that potential employers should not be able to use social
media to check up on a job applicant, for two reasons. Number one, I believe that if
someone can do their job well, then what happens outside of work is unimportant.
Second, I believe that it is a violation of privacy, and also employers can find information
that they arent legally allowed to know. There is a reason that these companies are not
allowed to know this information until a person is hired, and they should not be allowed
to use social media as a loophole to find out beforehand.
The current laws that govern this social media and potential employees were set
with the lawsuit Pietrylo vs. Hillstone Rest Grp (Abril). The general overview of the law is
this: employers can search the applicants social media sites as long as they are not

Wolfe 5
password protected. If the account is password protected, or private, any attempts to
view it are seen as illegal. A private account is one that cannot be seen by people who
are not friends or followers of it. To become a friend or follower, one must send a
request to the owner of the account, who then must accept it. However, most
companies have found a way to get around this law. They cannot force the potential
employee to hand over their passwords to their social media accounts, or their personal
information posted on them. Rather, the company simply requests to be friends with or
requests to follow the potential employee, who can either accept or decline. The
applicant then feels pressure on both sides, because if he/she accepts the request, the
employer may find something they dont want seen on the account, but if the applicant
denies the request, he/she may have less of a chance of getting the job. Scholarly
research has shown that many companies are taking full advantage of this loophole.
Patricia Snchez Abril, a professor of business law at the University of Miami, found in
her study that over 45 percent of employers check social media before hiring a potential
candidate (Abril). Abril also found that, More than a third of employers in that survey
also reported having found publicly available content on applicants social media profiles
that caused them not to hire the applicants (Abril). Another study, done by Microsoft in
2010, found that 78 percent of recruiting and human resources personnel use search
engines to evaluate potential employees, and 63 percent visit social networking sites as
part of the screening process (Peebles). That same Microsoft study found that 70
percent of those that did use social media to screen a candidate rejected at least one
applicant due to unsatisfactory material (Peebles). Therefore, it doesnt matter if it
should be legal or not, because it is happening anyways. In the next paragraph, I will go

Wolfe 6
through what college students can do to make their social media accounts more
attractive to potential employers.
It is obvious that employers will check social media accounts. It is also obvious
that most, if not all, college students have at least one social media account. Therefore,
college students must be careful with what they post online. According to a study done
by C. T. Carr and J. B. Walther, people are just as heavily influenced by information
shown to them online as they are by information they gleaned from a face to face
encounter. Carr is a professor of Communications at Illinois State University, and
Walther is professor in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication in Singapore. A
student may think that social media is their own personal realm, where they can post
whatever they want and it will only be seen by their closest friends who wont tell
anyone, when in reality; this is simply not the case. Take Facebook for example.
Facebook has over 1 billion monthly active users (Protalinski), which includes parents,
grandparents, professors, and yes, even potential employers. This does not have to be
a bad thing, however. In Carrs study, people were equally influenced by both positive
and negative information shown to them online about someone else. So, if a college
student were to start now with posting things on social media that appeared positive to
potential employers, it could help them in the long run when they go to look for a job
after graduation. What, then, would be something positive that could be posted?
Students can do many things to boost their social media rep when it comes to
future employers. The first and main thing is to not post anything that goes against what
was put on their job application. The number one thing that caused a company to not
hire an applicant, according to Abril, is information revealing that the applicant had lied

Wolfe 7
on the job application (Blurred Boundaries). The second factor is to not post anything
excessively violent or inappropriate. If a student who regularly posts inappropriate
pictures were to compete with one who did not for a job, the one who posted the
pictures would more than likely not to win the job. The third main factor is to not post
anything involving drug or alcohol use. Students have all heard stories of other students
getting arrested because they posted a picture of themselves drinking underage online.
While this particular scenario is highly unlikely, there is a good chance that if that photo
persists online, it could come back to haunt the student in their future attempts at
employment.
However, social media accounts are not all bad if you are attempting to land a
job as a college student. There is no reason for all college students looking for jobs to
rush off and delete all social media accounts. If a student is friends with someone who
already works in the company, HR personnel are more likely to pick the student with
prior connection to the company. Social media can also be used to express interest in a
company. If a student follows a company on Twitter, or likes them on Facebook, this
can help to show that they have interest in working for the company, which looks better
than a student who doesnt follow the company on social media. Social media can also
be used to be involved with the company or keep up with what they are doing, which is
basically another way of showing interest. If a prospective applicant repeatedly likes
and comments on a companys posts, it can help the student in two ways. First, the
student is up to date on what the company is doing, which can help them in a possible
interview. Second, the student is expressing repeated interest in the company, which
looks good to HR personnel. Again, a student who is active with a companys social

Wolfe 8
media page is likely to get the nod in a head to head competition over a student who is
not.
The most effective thing that a student can do using social media to help their job
chances is to sign up for a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn, as defined by
HowStuffWorks.com, is a social media site, designed specifically for professional
networking -- finding a job, discovering sales leads, connecting with potential business
partners -- rather than simply making friends or sharing media like photos, videos and
music. A user can fill out a profile, which acts as a sort of rsum. This profile contains
information about both current and former jobs, and also includes education experience
and a section to list any and all rewards won by the profiles owner. Once all this
information is filled out, the user begins to form his or her network. The user can
search by jobs, by education history, or by name to find people they know, who the user
then invites to the network. Once this person joins the users network, it is
considered a connection. A connection is considered to be more serious than
Facebook friends or Twitter followers, because a connection implies that the user and
the other person know each other well and that they trust each other. Companies can
then use these connections to search for potential employees. In other words, this is
the perfect social media site for an up and coming college student to capitalize on the
real life connections that he or she has already made. This site could be especially
useful to Notre Dame students, as our university boasts one of the largest and most
active alumni networks in the world.
It is tough entering the job market is a freshly graduated college student in
todays day and age. Most positions are already full, and everywhere is looking for at

Wolfe 9
least 3-5 years experience. There is no reason for a college student to make it harder
on him or herself by having a negative social media profile. College students should use
their social media to help them get a job in the future, and at the bare minimum, not post
anything that can negatively impact their employability. We are living in the golden age
of social media, where people across the globe learn about comet landings through
Twitter and long-lost relatives reconnect through Facebook. What a college student
should do to maximize their job-gaining potential with social media is first, not post
anything illegal or inappropriate. Second, students should use their profiles to be active
with the companies that they wish to be hired by. Lastly, a student should create a
LinkedIn account and begin networking as soon as possible. Its a given that companies
will check social media accounts, why not give them something positive to look at?

Wolfe 10
Works Cited
Abril, Patricia Snchez, Avner Levin, and Alissa Del Riego. "Blurred Boundaries: Social
Media Privacy and the Twenty-First-Century Employee." American Business Law
Journal 49.1 (2012): 63-124. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Acquisti, Alessandro, and Christina M. Fong. An Experiment in Hiring Discrimination Via
Online Social Networks. Tech. no. 2357759. N.p.: n.p., n.d. SSRN. Web. 12 Dec.
2014
Carr, Caleb T., and Joseph B. Walther. "Increasing Attributional Certainty via Social
Media: Learning About Others One Bit at a Time." Journal of Computer Mediated
Communication 19.4 (2014): 922-37. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Gibbs, J. L., N. B. Ellison, and C.-H. Lai. "First Comes Love, Then Comes Google: An
Investigation of Uncertainty Reduction Strategies and Self-Disclosure in Online
Dating." Communication Research 38.1 (2011): 70-100. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Lane, Frederick S., III. "The Naked Employee: How Technology Is Compromising
Workplace Privacy." Choice Reviews Online 41.03 (2003): 41-1651. Web. 11
Nov. 2014.
McCullagh, Dean. "Does Your Future Boss Have a Right to See Your Facebook Page?
- CNET." CNET. CNET, 6 Mar. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Noguchi, Yuki. "Can't Ask That? Some Job Interviewers Go To Social Media
Instead." NPR. NPR, 11 Apr. 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
Peebles, Katherine A. "Negligent Hiring and the Information Age: How State
Legislatures Can Save Employers From Inevitable Liability." William and Mary
Law Review 53.4 (2012): n. pag. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

Wolfe 11
Protalinski, Emil. "Facebook Passes 1.23 Billion Monthly Active Users." TNW Network
All Stories RSS. The Next Web, 29 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Roos, Dave. "How LinkedIn Works." HowStuffWorks. N.p., 11 Dec. 2014. Web. 12 Nov.
2014.
Terms of Service. Facebook.com, 15 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.