Hello World, welcome to my first every blog post. ;-)  As part of a course at Durham College called Social Media & Society, students are required to create a blog (nailed it) and comment on a published article about social media. This is mine.

While searching for inspiration I stumbled upon an article titled "Can social media rescue your career?"
by Melissa Neiman published Tue. May 7 2013 at Bankrate.com. I thought it would be a fitting discussion as the course focuses on how social media has, and will continue to change casual, business, and even private/personal interactions and behaviors. Also I am an unemployed college student at the moment, so maybe I can learn something to up my own game.

OK lets get to the task at hand. This is homework with a due date after all.

The premise of the article in question is that companies are increasingly turning to social media to recruit and vet potential candidates.  The article quotes Dan Schawbel, a personal branding expert and author as saying, "Increasingly companies looking for workers are investing more resources into social ads on Facebook, Google, Craigslist, Twitter and blogs." Schawbel stresses that "social media is replacing classified ads" and having an online presence is essential because, "if you aren't visible, you don't exist to the world". The author goes on to suggest classified ads should be disregarded if you are a serious job searcher. Schawbel takes that sentiment further by suggesting, "If I search for your name, or someone with expertise like yours, and you don't come up, you will lose an opportunity each time that occurs. If two candidates have the same background, but one has a popular blog, the blogger will be hired," he says.

In my previous career as a Business Manager, controlling expenses while maximizing the efficient use of resources was a daily job focus. Posting ads on sites such as Kijiji allowed me to reach a vast pool of potential candidates quickly and cost effectively, thereby reducing my initial recruitment costs. In my experience social media tools delivered many more responses in much less time then traditional means of recruitment. I also regularly turned to online searches on sites such as Google, Facebook and LinkedIn as a secondary source of information to gain further insight into applicants before making a final decision. Despite the case made,  I believe the writer has overstated the current  importance of candidates having an online presence. I have removed many candidates from the selection process do to unflattering content online, however I have not eliminated candidates do to a lack of an engaging online profile. For this reason I can not support the writer's notion that without an visible online presence, we are invisible to the world.

 While I agree that social media allows employers to reach a broader pool of applicants, quantity does not equal quality.  I would argue that the process for job seekers has gotten simpler, however the selecting of the right candidate for the job has become much more challenging for hiring managers. Just a few years ago job seekers had to buy and search a local newspaper or go to the job bank offices to identify job opportunities, individually customize and print their resume for each company, and then hand deliver or direct mail their resume to each potential employer. The time consuming nature of the process caused many uncommitted or under qualified applicants to eliminate themselves from the process. Why go through the expense, time and hassle for a job that I not willing, able or likely to secure. Today social media allows information to reach a much broader pool of people almost instantly. Combined with the technological advances making it easier to research employers,  create and electronically deliver resumes quickly around the globe for free, has eliminated the natural constraints previously in place. Job seekers can apply for hundreds of jobs across the country in just a few hours, with virtually no cost all from the comfort of their living room sofa. There are few natural deterrents preventing seekers from applying for jobs they have no or little chance of landing. The ease of the process for job seekers has caused employers to be bombarded by thousands of resumes resulting in what I would classify as nothing more then SPAM.