Social Networking for Hiring

by Larry Neilson 15. July 2010 17:00

If you are wondering what value social networking provides to our society, consider a study in the March issue of Psychological Science which says Facebook Users do not overstate their profiles and that viewing a profile would be the equivalent of a first impression. The test was done by the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Mainz in Germany. Research assistants studied a Facebook profile and guessed how the person would score on a personality test based on the five common personality traits used in psychological research. They guessed correctly on 4 out of 5 personality traits. The only one they couldn’t nail was neuroticism, which is not easy to diagnose in person. Could this be a useful hiring tool?  I think I would use it to check a person out before an interview in order to have a better idea of what to expect. I’ll take all the help I can get as far as hiring the right people is concerned. If you have any good ideas on pre-screening or interviews, I would love to hear your comments.

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7/15/2010 5:18:56 PM #

Jeff Neilson

I'm no doctor, but we have gone through lot's of W2's having a call center on site here at the home office.  From what I know neuroticism is associated with low emotional intelligence, which involves emotional regulation, motivation, and interpersonal skills. It's also a risk factor for a person being able to "internalize" mental disorders such as phobia, depression, panic disorder, and other anxiety disorders. Candidates with neuroses respond more poorly to environmental stress,  While online social media tools such as linkedin, Facebook and Twitter can be useful in learning about a prospective employee there's nothing like calling the past employer's for feed back or better yet get agreement to have dinner at the prospective employees house.  This will give you an a big picture over view of the individual and there life style.  Of course this method depends on who and what position you're hiring for. This idea was presented years agao and proven to work by a very successful agency CEO Tom Williams InterWest in Northern CA.

Jeff Neilson United States | Reply

7/16/2010 10:37:42 PM #

Annie George

Facebook I think is a great way to get a first impression too. You get a peak into what this person is all about, via NewsFeeds posts, the types of organizations he/she is a fan of. It's interesting to see how this will change the face of hiring as so many younger people have no filters on Facebook. They just post whatever they want to without thinking about the potential consequences in someone done the road looking at his/her page to see the type of person he/she is.

I just read a book by Ken Blanchard for an upcoming interview in Insurance Unplugged. And he says that a great leader spends the time hiriing the right people for the right position. In the example, the leader interviews the person four times before making a decision, and may take him/her out to lunch... Face-to-face interviews can never be replaced I believe but social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) sure gives you an insight into whether you even want to meet the person in the first place.

Annie George United States | Reply

3/2/2011 2:24:09 AM #

freelance writing jobs

Social networking website like Facebook can be a good source of freelance and online jobs, It offers job that related in marketing and advertising. For sure you can earn instant cash from it so don't waster this opportunity.

freelance writing jobs United States | Reply

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