To all graduates and unemployed: BE CAREFUL!

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Last week, I posted a status on Facebook addressed to all fresh-graduate friends and followers. Some of the lines went like this (in Filipino):

“‘Wag na kayong magtaka kung mahirap makahanap ng magandang trabaho kung mga photos n’yo naman sa Facebook at Twitter ay puro lasing kayo, magdamag na puma-party at palaging nakahubad. At ‘yong mga status n’yo ay puro negative at tungkol sa mga pinagdadaanan n’yo sa pag-ibig.”

The number of jobless Filipinos grew in January this year compared to 2013 despite the country’s strong economic performance as reported. Last month, the Labor Force Survey (LFS) released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed the country’s unemployment rate at 7.5 percent or an estimated 2.9 million individuals.

Note that the unemployment rate in January 2013 was at 7.1 percent or 2.7 million individuals.

This has been a perennial problem and the number is constantly alarming – especially now that we live in the time where selfie runs the digital world. A recent study conducted by researchers at Old Dominion University in Virginia shows adding another task to Human Resource officer’s checklist when hiring a staff: stalking the hopeful employees on Facebook.

For the benefit of all especially the fresh graduates and still unemployed, let’s take a closer look on the science that explains the relationship between social media to employment – and how your Facebook profile can tell your boss how well you work.

DEFINE WHAT IS ‘PRIVATE’ AND ‘PUBLIC’ FOR YOU

 A 2009 study in United States, for example, revealed that 45 percent of employers admit to using social media to assess job applicants and 35 reported that the information contained in those profiles has caused them to avoid giving offers to some candidates.

Some social media users, especially those who have left school to enter the workforce, have been surprised when potential employers routinely utilize all their force and sometimes discover information that one would not necessarily want a potential employer to see.

Just recently, did you know that some employers have demanded that job applicants provide the password of their Facebook accounts so that private sites can also be accessed? After being hired, it is also noteworthy that their employees have subjected many employees to cybersurveillance.

Most people are simply unaware of the nature and extent of the files being compiled about them. And for those who do become aware – and concerned – they quickly find movements on the Internet tracked. The written privacy policies on websites are typically too long, vague, and complicated to understand, and the options for changing the settings that some sites offer are too complex and difficult.

Marshall McLuhan, who is widely known for his work “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964), once said, “We share our tools, and thereafter, our tools shape us.” It should not be surprising that it is beginning to reshape the way we think in ways both trivial and profound – but sweeping and ubiquitous.

People cannot blame everyone, especially the younger generation, why they are so confident in posting should-have-been-private posts. Remember that whatever you post online, without you knowing it, are actually who you are. And it goes the same for posts that are deemed public.

 All of your searches, everything you download – it’s all linked to you. It’s not about your security anymore. It’s about your privacy.

 Many scholars who have specialized in the study of technology’s interaction with the pattern of society have described important new technologies as “extensions” of basic human capacities.

Many people use the Internet – and the devices, programs, and databases connected to it – as an extension of their brains. This is not a metaphor; the studies indicate that it is a literal reallocation of mental energy.

To better understand this, the automobile, in terms of this metaphor, is an extension of our capacity for locomotion. The telegraph, radio, and television are, in the same way, described as extensions of our ability to speak with one another over a greater distance. Both the shovel and the steam shovel are extensions of our hands and our ability to grasp physical objects. Atty. Camilo “Bong” Montesa, who runs a thinking school in Manila, once told this writer that Facebook, Twitter and other social channels are extensions of our emotion.

When you’re happy, you post it. When you’re sad, you post it tell the world to comfort you. If you’re heart broken, you share it to your friends and followers online. It’s indeed true – you are how you behave online. Having said this, you must be very careful whatever you post online. Others will see it (no matter how ‘private’ your account is), your future employers will check your social networks, and worse, imagine your future partner in life and in-laws will check your profile!