SNSs such as Facebook and Twitter have become part of life. At home, in the classroom, and on the subway, people access Facebook through smartphones. Because of active SNS use, many companies are now looking through applicants’ SNSs. According to one employment portal site, about 44% of human resources managers said, “Refer to the applicant’s SNSs.” Also, many companies now demand a candidate’s SNSs’ information. SNS information enables companies to apprehend an applicant’s real life style, personality, and other things. Today, there are so many qualified applicants that companies want to know about an applicants’ life style to filter down the selection of possible candidates. Companies use online spaces to evaluate and anticipate an applicant’s conduct and social interactions with people in real life. Some may argue that this is an infringement on personal privacy and an applicant may feel burdensome to provide their SNSs’ information as criteria for competence assessment. Which is proper? The Sookmyung Times asked Sookmyung Women’s University students whether companies should not be allowed to investigate an applicant’s SNSs’ usage as employee candidacy.
- Debate Topic -
Companies Should Not be Allowed to Investigate an Applicant’s SNSs during Recruitment
PRO
Jun Jihyun
Department of Business Administration '13
According to PC WORLD, SNS users in 2017 will reach about 2.3 billion people. These days, many companies now look into applicants’ private SNSs’ information to identify applicant personality and personal relationships. Companies should not be allowed to refer to an applicant’s private information in the name of employment recruitment.
First of all, investigating an applicant’s SNSs’ information is invasion of one’s privacy. The biggest reason many people use a SNS is to express thoughts and opinions without social pressure and share views with friends and acquaintances. If companies start to refer to an applicant’s SNSs as recruitment criteria, people will feel like they have lost their private outlets, and there will be no way to relieve daily stress.
Second, by looking at an applicant’s private SNSs’ information and their personal lifestyles, companies can misjudge applicants. For example, in the United States, among the 10 states, dominated by Republicans, only 2% of Muslim applicants received an interview offer while 17.3% of Christian applicants received an interview offer. By viewing an applicant’s personal information and learning about their political opinion, religion, or gender identity, all of which are topics prohibited by U.S. Federal Law during employee selection, recruiters can be affected both consciously and unconsciously.
To sum up, allowing companies to refer to an applicant’s SNSs’ information for employment candidacy is unacceptable. First, searching through SNSs by companies is invasion of one’s privacy. Moreover, because recruiters can be affected by an applicant’s personal thoughts and lifestyle, it could actually end unsuccessfully. For these reasons, I strongly disagree with companies using applicants’ SNSs as part of the hiring process.
CON
Choi Hyewon
Division of Economics '13
In the 21st century, use of a SNS has become a new communication tool through which company and applicant communicate. According to the Association to Human Resource Management in the U.S, in 2011, more than 56% of American companies used a SNS to offer a job position.
A SNS is one of the clearest ways to learn of someone's character and companies are able to determine a person's way of thinking. It's an interesting way to choose the best person for a company. If a company ignores an applicant’s SNS information when it chooses new employees, the company cannot truly know them.
When a company announces that they will use an applicant's SNSs’ postings in the selection process, applicants might react with, "Why is the company invading my personal space?" To this question, a company can answer, "Why not? You did post your personal events to people all over the world." One of the biggest points of a SNS is ‘sharing.’ Some people worry that their postings could be misread or interrupted falsely. However, that problem can be solved by requiring the company to read reactions to the posting.
Indeed, using SNS information by both companies and applicants can cut costs. Blunders made during the interview can be overlooked when recruiters look through an applicant’s postings. Moreover, the employer can get a better feel for the applicant’s potential rather than relying on information and impression from a short-timed interview. Rather than reading a paper full of self-praise, looking around applicant’s SNSs could provide more helpful data on the applicant’s humanity and sociality with others.
Use of SNSs’ information by a company is an extension of communication and the information on SNS sites enable companies to hire more suitable people.
