Students spend hours sifting through photographs and status updates on social networking Web sites like Facebook and Myspace.
Whether it’s photographs from spring break or a detailed account of an alcohol-filled weekend, be advised: Employers and graduate school admission officers are looking, too.
Kaplan, a test prep and admissions organization, released its fifth annual college admissions officers survey released last week.
The survey showed that of the 320 graduate admissions officers polled, ten percent visited an applicant’s social networking Web site as part of the admissions decision-making process.
According to the survey, 25 percent of admissions officers who used social networks as a tool in the admissions process say these sites have had a positive impact on their evaluations of the potential employee.
However, 38 percent report the sites as having a negative impact.
The survey found that nine percent of graduate-level business schools check Web sites like Facebook or Myspace.
Accounting sophomore Josh Wong said he plans to get a master’s in business administration and wants admissions officers to base their decision on his academic performance — not his Facebook page.
Accounting sophomore Kelly Guinan said that on his Facebook page, he displays information about his political affiliation and has concerns that a potential employer may see his page and form an opinion of him based on his politics and not his resume.
For people entering the workforce, the statistics are even higher.
A 2007 study by the University of Dayton in Ohio, found that 40 percent of employers take what they see on these social networks into consideration when hiring.
The study also found some employers had rescinded job offers based on what they saw on the applicants’ Facebook page.
Brian Gidley, regional manager of TechniPower National Staffing Solutions in Mesa, has witnessed this type of hiring practice.
“I’m a bit old-fashioned — I’m still working on e-mail. — but I have clients who do check that sort of thing before they hire someone,” Gidley said. “They will often check to make sure [the applicant] meets certain social norms.”
Kelly Leyden, a talent acquisition manager for Ingersoll Rand Industrial Technology, has also seen employers who use Facebook as a sort of pseudo background check.
Leyden said she doesn’t check Facebook when deciding on potential employees, but she probably would in the future.
The Web site Internetducttape.com offers a guide called “How to use Facebook Without Losing Your Job” that offers solutions to the privacy problems that come up with social networking Web sites.
The website explains the levels of privacy in regards to the relationship of the sites members.
The guide breaks Facebook privacy down to three levels: strangers, networks and friends. The user can set privacy settings based on who they want to allow access to their page.
Political science senior Michael Davis keeps his Facebook profile private but said he doesn’t think employers should use social networks as a judge of character.
“I don’t think it’s fair,” Davis said. “I’m in college. I drink, I smoke and I act a little slutty sometimes, but I keep all my s--- private.”
Reach the reporter at jaking5@asu.edu.
