Ay yie yie. Here we go again.
I’ve well documentated the fact that I’m not on social media. I joined Facebook once and found myself avoiding people I didn’t want to talk to more than I was “networking socially”. I don’t have a Twitter account because I honestly don’t think that anyone wants to know what I’m doing. Well apparently someone does, and that someone may be my future employer.
I’m referring to an article at the Wall Street Journal today documenting a developing trend in companies’ reliance on an applicant’s social media accounts instead of resumes to gauge whether the applicant would be a good fit with the company. The trend seems to be starting with companies are in the social media space, which makes sense.
A resume consists of words on a page and more and more companies are looking for something else. Social media accounts, video applications, etc. are ways of getting a feel for the type of person someone is, a way of getting a grasp on their personality. While I don’t think resumes will ever fully go away for a lot of industries, i.e. mechanics, tradesman industries, etc., I think that more and more technology companies will start looking outside the traditional box. Looks like I better get on Twitter. Want to follow me?
Social media is going nuts because most people naturally like to socialize and share stories, photos, updates, etc. Improved technology is making it all easier, and you can keep up to date with topics or people you enjoy. Hard to say where it is all going, but it looks like social media is here to stay and will keep evolving. It’s funny these days when you’re watching tv, and under the broadcaster or athlete’s name will be listed their Twitter handle. It is becoming very pervasive and ingrained into everyday life.