Thu, 25 Jul 2013

Social media can promote social mobility in the job market, and using social media to blog and otherwise express creativity is one way that young users can build their profiles for success in jobseeking, panellists at a Recruitment Society event in London last night agreed. 

Yet at the same time, young people need guidance and instruction in how to use these online tools effectively and in ways that will not negatively affect their job prospects, panellists said. 

Held at the Guardian offices, the Recruitment Society panel discussion focused on whether social media was ‘friend or foe’ in helping young people find jobs. Panellists included representatives from recruitment communications firm Havas People, the Guardian and Quinton Kynaston Community Academy in St John’s Wood, North London.

But an already stretched education system is unlikely to voluntarily add social media to the subjects taught in schools. The only way social media use will ever be taught in schools beyond individual teachers’ initiatives is for the government to add it to the national curriculum, said panellist Nathan De Garis, corporate marketing and liaison manager at Quinton Kynaston.

The often-aired debate over digital privacy and the use of social media to vet candidates prompted panellist Josh Lee, a copywriter and recent graduate, to speak of a widespread perception that a digital presence was too often used to rule candidates out instead of to include them in a shortlist.

Lee added that “Facebook should be a sort of sacred place” which users could use for their private lives, instead of being turned into a vetting tool by recruiters.

About 20 people attended the event.