Students joke about “Facebook stalking,” which involves searching through social network website Facebook to gain information on another person. But what happens when employers begin using these same techniques to find applicants online?
This presence may be protected by privacy settings used to limit access to individual accounts, but even with just the name of a person and a little information on where that person is from, virtually anyone can be found online.
Posts, photos, videos and comments posted on Facebook can cause problems for students as they begin to search for opportunities beyond the undergraduate level, associate director of the career center Kevin Monahan said.
Monahan said the context of a post is not taken into account if an employer happens to check a profile.
“This isn’t limited to Facebook. If you rant and rave, make homophobic, sexist, or racist remarks under the guise of sarcasm, we don’t have the luxury of reading body language or the circumstances surrounding the things we read or see something online,” he said.
Companies such as Deloitte and Ernst & Young — two major recruiters of Notre Dame graduates — have Facebook pages, suggesting that while they may be there for people to “like” them on Facebook, they also navigate the online forum.
Photos depicting parties, often including underage drinking, have brought about many issues.
“I haven’t had trouble with it, but my employer back home said that any pictures posted of us doing illegal activities, while wearing any part of our uniform, would subject us to termination,” freshman Nicole McMillan said.
Some students respond by putting their profiles on full lockdown, with as much privacy as possible. A few students even change the name that appears on their profile, which senior Nick Normandin did once he began applying for jobs.
“I changed my name so it’s not recognizable. I don’t know what exactly they’re looking for, but whatever it is, I don’t want them to find it on my Facebook,” he said.
Read the full story at the Notre Dame Observer.
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.