The Potential and Pitfalls of Social Media
By Jill Randolph
July 2, 2010
The following is an interview transcript with Michael Major, SPHR, Director of Career Services at Saginaw Valley State University. Mr. Major earned a Bachelor of Arts in French with teaching certification in French and Social Studies from SVSU. He obtained a Master of Education and a Master of Arts in Communication and Multimedia. He became Assistant Director of the Career Services office in 2006. He served in the Michigan Army National Guard as a Chaplain's Assistant, as an Ensign in the US Navy Reserve and was recently promoted to the rank of Lietenant Junior Grade.
SVSU, which is a baccalaureate and masters level university with an enrollment of 10,500 students, offers over 90 undergraduate programs. Situated on 756-acres, SVSU is in the heart of the Great Lakes Bay Region of Saginaw, Bay City and Midland, Michigan. SVSU offers small classes as well as modern facilities, and has begun $45 million in new projects in the past year. The office of Career Services assists students and alumni in choosing a major, résumé and cover letter preparation, interview techniques, job search strategies, and general career guidance.
Jill Randolph: There are currently many unemployed people applying to jobs, including those for which they may be overqualified. What do you recommend students or recent graduates do in order to outshine their competition?
Michael Major: We use the fact that competition is very high in order to sell the value of co-op and internship opportunities, because there is nothing like having relevant experience on a résumé. Students work jobs in college like bartending or waitressing, and they can make great money this way, but they are denying themselves the opportunity to gain experience in a professional office environment. It's difficult for graduates to get into a field like accounting if they have spent their entire college career working in the food service industry instead of gaining practical experience within their degree field.
Often, this can be caused by fear of the unknown and by students enjoying their college jobs. Many students waiting tables or bartending can make a lot of money in the course of a weekend, which takes care of their spending money for the week, gives them plenty of free time, and it's a very comfortable life style.
Entering into a professional office environment is new and may be somewhat intimidating. However, college is an ideal time for students to become acclimated to this environment, because that's what internships and co-ops are all about--helping students segue from entry-level jobs to the professional working world.
One nice thing about college jobs is the networking advantages they provide. Students can network anytime and anywhere, and that's where food service jobs can be really beneficial, because they are a great way for students to meet a lot of people.
There is nothing, however, like having insight into a company, and internships and social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn are very useful for this purpose. Both help students network, but with Facebook, students have to be knowledgeable about the information they are posting or allowing on their profile. The student with beer pong pictures posted will be viewed differently by potential employers than the student whose profile picture is one of him or her smiling at work.
Students must be aware of the public information about themselves that is posted online and to ensure they are represented appropriately, because employers are making decisions about interviewing or hiring based on what they find online about applicants. I don't advise students to avoid Facebook, because there is nothing wrong with having an account, but they need to be aware and responsible about the content on their pages.
Jill Randolph: Which social media service do you think is the most useful for students and graduates looking for jobs?
Michael Major: The one that has the potential to be the most useful is LinkedIn. It's helpful for networking because members are able to view their second and third level contacts, or in other words, their contacts' contacts. These additional people may be within organizations that LinkedIn members are interested in applying to, so it is a very useful tool and provides some company transparency. Facebook can help too, because it is a lot larger than LinkedIn, but it's not really designed to be an effective job search tool like LinkedIn.
Jill Randolph: Do you know of any companies or organizations that are beginning to use Facebook in a more professional manner?
Michael Major: Facebook is still primarily a social networking tool. However, organizations such as the Armed Forces are creating a much stronger Facebook presence and are using it as a recruiting tool; other companies and organizations are doing the same thing. Recent studies suggest that students who use Facebook want and expect a distinction between their social and professional life. Therefore, students are generally more receptive to corporate LinkedIn marketing for that specific reason; they perceive LinkedIn as professional and Facebook as social.
One key is that students don't always realize that there is not a clear distinction between the two, and that employers review both sites and consider the information they see when making hiring decisions. I recently read that students are somewhat resistant to employer networking through Facebook, because they prefer to connect with people rather than companies on Facebook.
Jill Randolph: How can employers access applicant information on their Facebook pages if they aren't friends with the applicant?
Michael Major: It depends on the students' privacy preferences on Facebook. Every time I give a class presentation, I ask the students if they are aware of their Facebook privacy settings, and a few will raise their hands. I make sure these people are okay with me searching for their names in front of the class, and about half of the time, the students do not have anywhere near the level of privacy that they thought they had. I am able to search through all of their photos, and the students are often appalled that someone who is not their Facebook friend is able to view as much information as they can.
Additionally, blocking people on social sites isn't as effective as some students may think. I am able to access someone's album even if they have blocked me, if I have the same friends that they do, or if their friends have more lax security settings. Students can't really protect themselves from inappropriate pictures being viewed by employers through Facebook unless they remove them completely, and that is a hard message for the students to realize.
Jill Randolph: How has the job search process has changed from the past?
Michael Major: The search process has expanded. The introduction of social media has opened up a whole new avenue to explore and look for career possibilities. It is now much easier to find information on potential employers than it was 10 to 15 years ago. For example, if I wanted to learn more about the Dow Chemical Company, I could contact their human resources department, request an informational packet, and gather information that way.
Now, that information is available on each company's website and I have access to their mission statement and values. I can easily find information that would have been harder to obtain in the past. Even mom-and-pop companies have a web presence.
The traditional methods of obtaining employment included attending career fairs, networking, face-to-face interaction, and mailing résumés, and now it's expanding into the virtual zone. Education and teaching jobs are probably one of the largest areas that have been impacted by the addition of technology into the job search.
A typical teaching position received 150 to 400 applications in the recent past. Now that districts can post job openings on their websites, the pool that may have been 400 people is now reduced to 150 because of technology. For example, some of these applications are quite extensive and it takes a long time to apply for one teaching opportunity.
Jill Randolph: Do you think that part of the lengthy online application process is also to screen people and find candidates willing to make the effort to fill out such a long application?
Michael Major: Yes, if it takes someone an hour to fill out an application for one job posting, the candidate is making a commitment that he or she is serious about working there.
Jill Randolph: What is one of the biggest mistakes job seekers make in this economy?
Michael Major: Errors made through frustration with the volume of other applicants competing for similar positions is one example. Some job seekers send 100 résumés via email or online job boards and wait to see what happens. They send the same résumé with the same generic cover letter to 100 different companies and they are not making themselves a fit for any specific positions. Though there are job opportunities available, it's still very much an employer's market.
Most times, employers do not select candidates for an interview if the candidate has made no effort to show how he or she is a fit for the needs of the position or sell his or her unique talents to the organization. Some employers will receive cover letters and résumés that are written to a different organization altogether. At that point, the candidate has immediately eliminated him or herself by not proofreading the application thoroughly enough.
It's a frustrating time for job seekers. However, the key is to take an extra five minutes to personalize their applications and résumés, because that makes a huge difference in being noticed or not. Then, jobseekers can keep a document where they are copying and pasting different answers to the questions they are asked, because they may see the same questions multiple times. One example would be answering essay questions for a school district's online application form, it's not a bad idea to save those answers in case they run into the same questions again.
Cover letters and résumés can be standardized and applicants should have a generic template available, but they should also customize and sell themselves to each individual position or company.
Jill Randolph: If candidates use the same generic cover letter and résumé, doesn't that make it easier to send, becasue they don't have to customize each and every detail?
Michael Major: Absolutely. However, some applicants don't take the extra effort to customize their résumés. I don't recommend customizing every bullet statement for every employer. Applicants can simply tweak their objective statement and their relevant experience to suit the demands of the position.
Jill Randolph: Do you think that employers spend more time reading cover letters or résumés?
Michael Major: It depends on the position and on who is doing the reading. Commonly, the résumés will be screened first. Employers often review résumés and eliminate candidates who simply aren't qualified for that position, and then they will read through the cover letters of those who made the first cut and create another yes/no pile. Applicants therefore have about 20 seconds to catch the employer's attention with their résumé, as résumé are often used as a way to cut the pool to the most desirable candidates.
Jill Randolph: Which form of résumé do you think is best?
Michael Major: The standard template for résumés we teach our students is a hybrid between functional and chronological. For those who have been in the same field for 10 or 20 years, a summary of qualifications makes sense. Recent college graduates, however, may not have as many qualifications to put into a summary of qualifications section.
There is considerable debate among career services professionals regarding the objective statement and whether or not it is a thing of the past. I personally look at the objective statement as information that can be very useful to assist people with the theme of their résumés when used appropriately. The practical purpose of the objective statement is to make sure that résumés are directed to the proper search committee.
For example, if I am applying for a fifth grade classroom position and I am sending the résumé into a district's central office, I will make sure my résumé specifically references the fifth grade position, so that it is routed to the correct search committee. This technique works with any company.
The other part of the objective statement is that it can serve as a professional introduction for job applicants. It creates anticipation of what is to follow for the reader of the résumé, showing the skills the applicant will highlight throughout his or her résumé.
On our website, we have broken down each section of the résumé, cover letter, job search process and interview, and put them in to very small, easy to download net movies. They provide clear and useful information, such as suggested verbiage to be included in an objective statement and how applicants should fill out their relevant experience section. Instead of a summary of qualifications, I sometimes list that information in the relevant experience section. This can and will change based on the position that candidates are applying for.
Jill Randolph: Can these movies be stored on a disk?
Michael Major: Yes, they can; they are very small. The typical format of a movie is about a megabyte and a half to two megabytes in file size. However, our tutorial videos are small enough that even 56K modems can access them.
Jill Randolph: Do you have any other websites or career related books that you recommend to your students?
Michael Major: Our website is www.svsu.edu/careers, and our online tutorials link is a great resource for students. The other site we recommend is called graduateguide.com. It helps students identify where potential graduate degree programs are.
Lindsey Pollak wrote a very good book called "Getting from College To Career, 90 Things to Do Before You Join the Real World." Another author I have recently enjoyed reading is Malcolm Gladwell. He wrote "The Tipping Point", "Blink", and his newest is "Outliers". These books are nonfiction and not career related. "The Tipping Point" was Gladwell's first book, and it deals with why certain things succeed and why everyone pays attention to them. He discusses his different theories behind why that happens. These are books I enjoy reading, and I recommend them to marketing students or those interested in the fields of psychology, sociology, or communication.
Jill Randolph: What is the most unusual interview question you have ever been asked or heard about from your students?
Michael Major: The most unusual interview question I have ever heard was, "If you were a type of salad dressing, which one would you be?" The key to that type of question is that there is no real correct answer. The question is designed to catch people off-guard and check their ability to think on their feet.
This is what I call a water question. I recommend to students that if an employer ever offers water during an interview, they should accept it. This is the type of question they will use it for. The interviewee may be completely stumped, so they should take a drink, collect their thoughts, and then provide their answer. Employers ask these types of questions to learn more about an applicant's personality, so there is no specific answer to questions like these other than to explain the through process behind the answer.
Jill Randolph: How has the job market has changed over the past year? Have you seen any signs of improvement?
Michael Major: Yes, the job market has been changing over the past several years. In Michigan, we were driven by the auto industry's Big Three - Ford, Chrysler and General Motors - so Michigan as a state has had to reconfigure its economy because of the decline in the auto industry.
For example, the Great Lakes Bay Region is becoming one of the leaders in green technology, while the Dow Corning Corporation and Hemlock Semiconductor are doing a lot for the solar industry. We are starting to see our entire economy shift. SVSU is currently working on bio-fuel projects and doing a lot of eco-friendly work with our engineering department. The entire university, including the College of Science, Engineering & Technology, is showing an increased green focus.
Jill Randolph: Has the push in Michigan been to turn empty factories into green factories instead, in order to reemploy the workforce?
Michael Major: Hemlock Semiconductor has recently begun constructing a new facility, but another employer, GlobalWatt, will be renovating one of the old manufacturing plants and converting it into a green producing factory. In theory, it would be great to take an old manufacturing plant and simply move in green technology and start mass production, but it is not always feasible based on industry needs.
Jill Randolph: In your opinion, is the move towards solar panels and other forms of eco-friendly technology gaining momentum, or is there still some resistance towards green energy?
Michael Major: It's a bit of both. There have been many wind turbines built in Bay City over the last two years, and the green initiative is growing. The issue now for the state of Michigan is its budget difficulties. There is some uncertainty as to whether or not the state will be able to provide economic support for green initiatives. There is a lot of eco-friendly momentum, however, so we are in a wait-and-see mode.
The green industry is not too different from the auto manufacturing industry. For example, when the Big Three auto companies were in their prime and producing massive amounts of units, they also required specialty roles filled by finance and accounting majors, while people with liberal arts degrees were also employed in other professional capacities. Non-engineering professional positions will be required within the green industry as well.
Social networking, face-to-face networking, and interning can all help students learn about these opportunities. If students are shy or unsure where to start, Career Services can facilitate their transition from college to the working world and their introduction to and possible entry into companies.
