Facebook expanding to employers

By Grace Tapia

A staple in the lives of many college students is grabbing the attention of employers.

Companies are using the Facebook Web site to recruit and talk with students, said Grace Hahn, the employer relations associate at UK’s Stuckert Center.

For example, Procter and Gamble uses the social networking Web site to post events. Local business Big Ass

Fans uses Facebook to notify people about recruitments events and accessible updates on their fan page.

Big Ass Fans uses Facebook not to recruit, but to get feedback on the business, said Cathy Steinhauser, who was a contract recruiter for Big Ass Fans through last week.

“I think the cross-section of the population you get there, it just gives you a variety of comments and opinions,” Steinhauser said.

Big Ass Fans doesn’t check potential employees’ Facebook pages before hiring, although they do validate information on resumes and perform a background check, Steinhauser said.

However, some businesses have started to use social networking sites for background checks on job applicants.

Twenty-two percent of employers check networking sites like Facebook during the hiring process, according to a 2008 survey by CareerBuilder. In 2006, about 11 percent used such sites.

Danitra Wallace, a staff support associate at the Stuckert Career Center, said the center does not check Facebook for information or pictures of students for its database.

The Stuckert Center uses its own database that has a profile for each student.

The database has specific and helpful information about students, but they only list the professional information needed about students such as past employers, Hahn said.

The scope of Facebook even reaches high school students, although many students may not need to worry.

A Kaplan survey of admissions officers from the nation’s top colleges and universities showed 10 percent of the officers check networking sites of applicants. UK does not use Facebook in its admissions process.

Middle Tennessee State University is among those that use Facebook for undergraduate applicants, but it is more for recruiting purposes, said Lynn Palmer, the university’s director of admissions.

Interested students can become “fans” on their Facebook page, allowing the page moderator access to their profiles. But they don’t look at them for incriminating information.

“It’s not for screening purposes,” Palmer said.

Megan Boone, a career counselor at the Stuckert Center, said the main focus of users should be maintaining a professional image on these sites.

She said students are marketing documents of themselves and should be careful about the information they make available. Even things like political opinions could be too personal.