Your future boss can use Facebook to predict your work ethic
Feb 21, 2012, 12:34 PM | Updated: 2:50 pm
Do you spend time crying in your cubical? Your boss could have predicted your emotional instability if only he or she had read your Facebook profile before hiring you. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
All that crying you do in your cubicle, or that undermining you do of your co-workers, your boss could have predicted it with only 10 minutes of reading your Facebook profile.
We know that future employers check out your online life before hiring you. Now, a study indicates that whatever is on your Facebook profile could be a sign of your future job performance.
Three universities got together to evaluate how Facebook profiles are perceived and whether or not they could predict meltdowns in the workplace.
According to the Wall Street Journal, findings from Northern Illinois University, the University of Evansville and Auburn University say three profile-raters evaluated Facebook profiles of college students with jobs. Photos, wall posts, comments, education and hobbies were the basis for answers to personality trait questions.
The answers for each of the profiles were then compared with job reviews six months later.
The findings matched up so well that the three universities and the WSJ think Facebook should be used as a screening tool when hiring. If it isn’t already used, of course.
This might leave us with two major dilemmas: If someone doesn’t have a Facebook profile, or a public Facebook profile, does that mean they’re a less desirable candidate or more desirable? The WSJ says pre-screening Facebook profiles could also open up the possibility for discrimination related lawsuits.
