Linchi Kwok, Ph.D.

Last week, several mainstream media networks reported a new research finding about Facebook --- it can predict job candidates’ performance at work. What is this study about?   The study recruited three raters (1 professor + 2 students) to evaluate the Facebook profiles of 56 college students with jobs. Six months later, these raters’ reports were compared with the employee evaluations conducted by the actual supervisors. The study found a strong correlation between those two sets of evaluations in “conscientiousness,” “agreeability” and “ intellectual curiosity .” In addition, profiles of “students who traveled, had more friends, and showed a wide range of hobbies and interests” received more favorable evaluations. Raters did not rate against students who posted partying pictures. Instead, raters perceived students with partying photos as “extroverted and friendly.” I think this is an interesting study even though I have some concerns about the research design and the ...

Many people are aware of the fact that there is no such thing of “privacy” on the internet and that social media can significantly speed up the process of publicizing content. Indeed, somebody is watching us 24/7 on the internet, but is it a good thing or a bad thing? @LinchiKwok According to this CNN News video , the Department of Homeland Security wants to attain information such as “terrorist attack,” “tornado,” and “home land security” from social networking sites. The information is currently collected by a third party agent called Epic.org for a price of $11 million. There are scientists making predictions by analyzing the keywords appeared in search engines and/or on social networking sites. For example, if people in a certain geographic location start searching “fluid syndromes” on Google, Yahoo, or Bing, that could be an indication of an outbreak of fluid or a fluid-related disease. There are also researchers trying to predict the “mood” of the world by analyzin...

Recently, HOSTEUR™ published a paper of mine entitled “ Seeking Jobs on Social Media: Are You Ready? ” (p. 13 – 17). The paper answers three research questions: What is social media? How do companies use social media in recruitment and selection? What can job seekers do in responding to companies’ social-media strategies in recruitment and selection? People who follow my blog probably know the answers very well. In today’s discussion, I would like to summarize and quote some of the tactics I discussed in the paper. I also hope to open up for comments because what you share may help a job seeker find a job.     Understand employers’ expectations. Job seekers must know the characteristics or qualifications that recruiters seek in candidates. Design an appropriate personal brand that fits in employers’ expectations and the job seeker’s career goal. Job seekers need to answer: “What do I want the recruiters or hiring managers to know about me?” Join the pr...

America added 243,000 jobs in January, which brought down the unemployment rate to 8.3% (Dougherty, 2012) . The result was better than anticipated, but it is still expected to take a long time before the number drops to 5% or below. A high unemployment rate means that many people are unemployed. Chances are they are all looking for a job. Then, does a high unemployment rate make recruiting and hiring easier? HR managers will probably tell you how difficult recruiting and selection have become as they need to find the right candidates in “the sea of applicants.” According to Weber (2012), Starbucks attracted 7.6 million job applicants for about 65,000 corporate and retail job openings last year (about 120:1). Procter & Gamble received almost one million applications for 2,000 new positions (about 500:1). Many companies have to rely on technology to help screen candidates (as seen in the embedded picture and video ). Often, job seekers are asked to submit their online applica...