Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

It seems that we are relying more and more on social media every day. Facebook, once used to chat and keep updated with friends, has become a medium for advertising, selling, and now even hiring. I never would imagine that Facebook could be used to get a job. But company’s love how easily and quick social networking can spread the word of a new product or a great service. I think everyone has at least one friend who is always promoting all kinds of products and events on their Facebook; and companies are using that to their advantage. The Brand Ambassador in my opinion, is actually a great idea; it works for both the company and the person appointed ambassador, “Companies such as JetBlue, Sony, Microsoft, and McDonald’s, among others, are now developing a new breed of brand ambassador programs that organize and supercharge consumer-to-consumer interactions about their brands.” I think this works because the ambassador is promoting a product they truly love and feel positive about, in return they get free stuff and they feel loved by a company, which they already loved to begin with. It’s much easier to believe in a friend’s honest opinion than to just believe what is shown to you in a commercial or other advertisement. The ambassadors don’t really think of it as a job, so much as just sharing something that they love, “It’s not really about sales; it is about sharing of information. If you go about it in a way that is positive and relatable, it’s a positive experience for [both parties].”

I don’t really feel that Facebook is a proper method of hiring employees. I think that my personal self and my professional self should be kept apart. I wouldn’t want a possible employer to have access to my Facebook; I think they would judge me by everything that I post, and who I am with my friends is not who I am in the workplace. Although definitely not yet the top mean of hiring someone, Facebook is growing, “Matt Mund, Monster.com's vice president of product management, acknowledged that Facebook as a recruiting platform is growing rapidly.” Although I agree that it can benefit companies because they would not have to spend as much money on postings, and it would be easier to target people, because everyone spends a lot of time on Facebook. “Some recruiters say they have all but eliminated their spending on job boards, which can charge a few hundred dollars per job posting, depending on volume.”