#ruhrm

Since I’m a junior in college, I have been decided when would be the most opportune time to create my LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn, like many other social media platforms, are multi-faceted and have several techniques that can get your page noticed. While reading this article, I thought to myself “oh..this is just a typical article with stuff I already kn--”. Before I could even finish my thought, I scrolled down to the part where it spoke about adding recommendations and referrals to your webpage. Prior to reading that little snippet of the article, I never knew how important it could be to include such information. If someone endorses you on LinkedIn, their name and other information is being outted to the public. People with a lot of endorsements are people who have clearly demonstrated that they can work in a business environment. From a Human Resource Management perspective, these are the types of candidates that you would want to actively look for. Those with the capabilities and recognition of doing what they actually said they can do!

As our class comes to an end and we start looking at creating our own social media policies, it is good to look for resources on how to get a good foundation and build off of that. This article opened my eyes to a lot possible malpractices that I was unaware of. However, I think the most important thing is to be extremely cautious and meticulous when posting something on the internet. If you are a company representative using social media, you have to be conscious of what you post and when you post. Be aware of the market that you are selling too as well as the events that are going on around you. Doing anything distasteful, like making a joke out of a tragic event, is seriously frowned upon and should be avoided at all cost. Even though that seems kind of obvious, you’d be surprised by how many MAJOR companies do this on a yearly basis. The old saying that any popularity is good popularity doesn’t work in the business work. Negative attention could seriously destroy your consumer base and ultimately, your company! While writing up my social media policy, I will keep some of these topics in the back of my head and utilize them to my advantage! 

This article ties into one that I posted a few days back. It talks about the reasons as to why you should be keeping your social media accounts professional, especially when applying for jobs! Although it might seem a bit obvious, some people fail to recognize the potential danger that comes with posting negative and self-incriminating posts/images on the internet. As the article states, when you post something....it’s there forever! So remember that time you posted a picture of you drinking from keg or remember that provocative picture you posted on your blog, thinking no one would see it? Yeah..it’s all still there. When you post something on the internet, it’s possible for people to save it and copy it to somewhere else. That, in itself is the danger. Although you don’t want it on the internet anymore, it has already been spread and seen by many that it’s too late to completely remove it. Moreover, another obvious reason is that some employers might look at and judge you based on what you post. As a Human Resource Specialist, you are constantly sifting through peoples images/post to see if they are an accurate fit for your company. You would feel more inclined to hire someone who is articulate and collected over someone is derogatory and careless. Social media can be a fabulous way to express yourself, but doing so in a positive and professional way will give you an advantage the next time you go for a job interview

I believe that this article is perfect to cap off everything that I have learned in this class so far. So, with the advent of social media, human resources professionals now have a new and powerful toolkit at their disposal to assist in all areas of the firm. It may have taken the older generations a while to embrace it, but everyone seems to be used to it by now. In the past, companies did not have social media policies, which exposed them to: risks, unused potential, and wasting money. Now that most HR departments at companies are creating social media policies, the employees now know how to properly use it to it’s full potential to maximize sharing and collaboration, the right way! Social media is cheap, free, and easy to use, making it easy for firm members to communicate with one another, get work done faster, and have fun along the way. The HR and social media dynamic duo could not be any more potent than it is right now.

This should also help with our final project, as it helps tackle the legal issues that come with social media. HR professionals are responsible for creating social media policies now to help their companies avoid having to face the legal issues. But, with this new association, they will help finally settle what is acceptable and non-acceptable on social media platforms, allowing HR professionals to adjust their policies accordingly once the dust settles. The courts have always dealt with in-person legal issues, now they must deal with social media legal issues, as they are rapidly becoming a global problem.

The workforce is rapidly changing and evolving this days, and CEO’s must keep up in order to maintain their workforce. With the majority of the workforce being Millennials (as of 2015), their values are different than baby boomers and those before them. Employee engagement and future and learning are on the minds of the new generation workforce, money is no longer the top focus. I believe this is the case because everyone realizes that they have to work until there at least 60 these days, so they have to consider there future and learn new skills, and interact with there fellow employees more to build a great working environment. Social media should work hand in hand with employee engagement, as the employees can communicate, share, and collaborate easily, all the while getting their work done and enjoying it. So, CEO’s need to properly acquaint themselves with new technology in order to satisfy the majority of the workforce’s needs. 

Adecco is betting big, but I believe they are making a solid bet. The future of recruiting for the HR departments of firms lies within social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, as there are over 2 billion active social media users globally. A whole new pool of candidates has emerged, ripe for the picking, and companies need to jump on it while the concept is still fresh, and most companies are still too timid to do so. Millennials primarily use social media to find jobs these days so, as fishermen must go where the fish are, the companies need to go with their recruits so they can hire them easily. Social media accounts give the HR professionals insight never before possible on everything and anything to do with their job candidates to truly make the most accurate selections.

This may not be entirely surprising, but it further confirms the points I have managed to gather from all my learning up until this point: social media has good and bad potential in the workplace. Before I even started taking this class, I knew that social media had goods and bads (mainly bads, beforehand), but I have seen more of the goods emerge as a result of this class. So, this article shows that most people use social media to unwind in the workplace. but it does help aid with collaboration between team members. Something that was interesting and a bit funny was how once leaders put social media policies up in the workplace, some workers just refrain from using it all together! They’re not banning it, they’re just regulating it! Sooner or later, I think the positive aspects of social media in the workplace will take prominence and make the work environment more productive than ever before.