Social Media: Hiring for Work or Hiring for Life?

Job recruitment seems no longer only focuses on one’s ability on work, but way more. A study reveals that South Korea employers routinely demand irrelevant information during interview, along with personal details like an applicant’s age, religion, occupations of their family members and even “drinking and smoking capacity”. This discrimination against people who are less affluent or deviate from the mainstream is not only happening in South Korea, but worldwide. Even if you are blessed to get a job, “social media screening” may make you jobless. Hiding behind the screen, employers might be scrolling your Facebook profile and find out more about you in all aspects.

One’s working ability could not be completely reflected by a sheet of resume or a one-hour interview. It might be acceptable that employers would like to know more about employees and get along well with each other. However, over-stalking might affect one’s perception on the employer. Therefore, it is necessary to issue clear guidelines on building interview questions, or to involve several managers and HR in the interview session to provide fair evaluation and proper governance.