I had the pleasure of speaking to about 75 students and staff at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, New York earlier this week. I was invited by the school to talk with the students about how employers are using the web to both include and exclude them from the hiring process. What an impressive group of students.
During the hour long and very interactive discussion we talked how many Gen Y’ers think nothing of posting photos and other information to sites such as Facebook and MySpace under the mistaken impression that employers either can’t see it or won’t care about it. I showed some examples of students using the web to enhance their employment opportunities and others who are killing their chances because of what they’ve posted on-line. We also talked about what candidates can do to remove harmful information that they’ve posted or which has been posted by others and to bury information that can’t be removed.
I was very impressed with the students. In addition to be attentive and focused, they frequently asked great questions so we had much more of a dialogue than a presentation. That made it more interesting and educational for them and a lot more fun for me. Several of the students approached me afterwards to discuss their situations.
One takeaway that I need to chew on for a while: of the 75 or so attendees, only one indicated that he had heard of LinkedIn and that was because his boss had insisted that he sign-up. He uses it and understands its phenomenal potential for job seekers so hats off to him, but what about the others? Why are the others not using LinkedIn? Is it a generational gap? I can’t imagine that the answer is that they feel that it won’t help them because apparently only one had heard of it. If you don’t know about a tool, you can’t know whether it is going to help you or not. Perhaps the real question here is why haven’t these students even heard of LinkedIn and are they representative of students at other colleges across the country?
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Steven,
I think this issue boils down to very simple truths about young people starting their careers: 1) they’ve never done it before, 2) the people in their own networks (upon which social networking sites are based) are in the same uninformed/naive boat and are therefore not that helpful, and 3) networking feels very daunting to most people – especially when it’s perceived as asking for favors with nothing to give in return…!
I’ve had the pleasure of working with students at MSMC, and they are not alone in their limited participation with LinkedIn (and other professional networking sites)… You are absolutely right that they need more support and education to understand the fantastic tools available to them – as well as guidance on how to use them successfully!!!
Thanks for sharing this post – it’s always amazing how all of us in the trenches of the HR world forget that the general population is not nearly as well-informed about the tools, services or issues in this fast-changing arena!
Jenny
I enjoyed the useful information you have provided on your post. I do hope to read more post in the future that would be just as helpful material to keep my mind always active with this reading. Thanks
http://www.jobzillia.com/career_development
Great issue you’ve touched on. Linked In is just one of several social sites not being used by college students. Awareness and relevant examples go a long way in helping to get students connected.
I just graduated from college and I have never been introduced to LinkedIn. Like you said in your post, “if you don’t know about a tool, you can’t know whether it is going to help you or not.” I am just learning about LinkedIn and wish that I would have known about it before. It is important to get the word out about how LinkedIn can help students in the professional world! Great post, thank you!
Unless a student is pursuing a career in HR, IT, Sales, Paralegal or home businesses then Linkedin really isn’t useful. I work with criminal justice students and very few people involved in criminal justice actually use the site.Anyone interested in working in veterinary care is less than likely to find any opportunities on linkedin. Linkedin doesn’t appeal to the masses.
[...] On Finding a Job: We’ve reported plenty on using tools like LinkedIn and Facebook to create professional online resumes, as well as how to drive traffic to these profiles once they’re built. However many Gen Y’ers are still catching on to the concept of using devices like LinkedIn and Facebook, according to an article on Recruitingfly.com. [...]
[...] On Finding a Job: We’ve reported plenty on using tools like LinkedIn and Facebook to create professional online resumes, as well as how to drive traffic to these profiles once they’re built. However many Gen Y’ers are still catching on to the concept of using devices like LinkedIn and Facebook, according to an article on Recruitingfly.com. [...]