Friday, March 20, 2009

Facebook - as a resume tool?

An interesting thought came to me as I was eating dinner recently with a colleague that I met in the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). The thought was this: to what extent is Facebook a good tool to post a resume?
The ultimate question that came to my mind was, "how much do I want a potential employer to see?"
Social networking sites are great tools. I know it's a cliche, but it seems to me that these days, "everybody's doing it." If you can't find people on Facebook, they'll be on MySpace. If not there, try LinkedIn or Twitter.
However, Facebook is a different monster from the aforementioned social networking sites. Facebook has games, applications, groups - things that if a potential employer saw some of them, might sound an alarm.
Profile photos could raise red flags also. In my early days on Facebook, I had some strange profile pictures. Me making strange faces, me and my brother making strange faces, my cat, me and my brother making strange faces at the cat; you get the idea. Recently, I changed my profile picture to a more professional looking, suit-and-tie picture. I have to say, that's the one I'm keeping.
Making funny pictures, strange groups, games - it's all in good fun on Facebook. But, be careful, you never know who might see "the real you" posted on Facebook. Twitter is a great alternative, as you only get 140 characters to work with to get your point across.
Bottom line, it's probably better if you keep the resume off Facebook. Someone, anyone could use it against you.

1 comment:

  1. Luke,

    I agree that it makes sense to have professional photos on Facebook. We always have to be aware of the image we are portraying on the Internet.

    Brant

    ReplyDelete