Political posts may help and hurt job seekers
Occasional Facebook status updates about success at work could help you land a new job. A post on LinkedIn about your personal politics may help too, as long as hiring managers share your politics.
Otherwise, you may never get an interview.
New research by a Clemson University researcher shows the risks and rewards of social media when looking for a job. The research shows that sharing positive information about an individual’s professional success has value, while sharing personal politics may hurt or help.
Julie Wade, a member of Clemson’s Social Analytics Institute, now a visiting professor in the department of business and economics at the University of South Carolina – Upstate, advises professionals to remember that posts on social media could influence whether they land the next job.
“When a hiring manager views what you have posted on a website like Facebook, they’re really only getting a ‘snapshot’ of who you are as a potential employee,” Wade said. “With such limited information, political statements can really jump out to employers and might distract them from your professional qualifications, so don’t let them do that.”
Wade said she resists posting about politics on her Facebook and LinkedIn profile accounts. She also encourages people who use social media to familiarize themselves with each platform’s privacy controls, which limit how users can view individual posts.
Plenty of anecdotal information exists about individuals getting fired for posting embarrassing information; however, the university researcher’s 350-page dissertation is among the first academic research to examine how political posts on social media can impact hiring. Different studies show up to 90 percent of hiring managers will review social media posts of job candidates, increasing the need for employees to be aware of the sensitivity of what they post. Some hiring managers request access to individuals’ social media accounts prior to offering a job.
Wade’s experiment involved using Clemson’s Social Analytics Institute to create eight different social media profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn. To make the profiles appear authentic, fictitious profiles were created over a six-month period. Each profile in the experiment included someone who attended college in Colorado, a state population roughly split between those who identify as Republican or Democrat.
Political posts that took a position on legalizing marijuana impacted whether a potential hiring manager liked the person with the social media profile, futher factoring in whether to call that person for an interview.
“When posting anything publicly on a social media site, it’s important to remember that we might be reaching an unintended audience, including [hiring] managers,” Wade said.
The business academic still believes professionals can leverage social media to impress current and potential employers, if used with savvy and grace.
“In many ways, you have control over the impression you make upon others,” she said. “Sync up the different social media platforms you’re on to project an image of consistency and professionalism.”
