Generation Y Women at Their Best

By Allison Jameson

Today, women of generation Y (yes, that’s me!) who can bring our social networking skills and technology-friendly attitudes into a workplace definitely have an advantage. Many organizations today are looking for people who are tech savvy and who know how to utilize social websites to the company’s advantage.

Being a woman of Gen Y, I have a definite edge over some older workers who don’t have the computer knowledge and technology exposure that I do when looking for a job.

Growing up, technology was all around me and each day there was something new to try or to have. This wasn’t the case for older generations as there weren’t social networking sites, iPods, or even high tech cell phones.

I know many baby boomers and even some generation X'ers (I won’t mention any names, but you know who you are) who barely know how to use a computer, and the idea of text messaging baffles them. Now it’s not their fault, they just weren’t exposed to these kinds of technologies growing up, so it wasn’t the norm for them.

The new norm is that companies are using social networking and collaboration tools as standard business strategies. This allows us Gen Y women to use our social and tech skills to build software applications and work together with colleagues across the country, even if we aren’t IT majors.

Social networking and Internet communication is also effecting how Gen Y women hear about and find jobs. During my internship search for this summer I found many internship postings through my school website and on the Internet.

In fact, I heard about this internship through a classmate who sent me a message on Facebook. I corresponded with her through Facebook, and then finally sent an e-mail with my resume attached to Ken (my boss) and was e-mailed back to come in for an interview. The rest is history!

Image by: lightfusio

Update: Facebook's squirmy chapter

On the heels of yesterday's post, the Boston Globe featured an article today focusing on the fine line between social and professional networking. Their approach to the issue focused on the employer perspective. Check out what they had to say!

Facebook: would you like to confirm your boss?

In one of my first posts I suggested cleaning up your Facebook profiles before applying for jobs. In my class last week, we had an intense discussion about this very topic-- except this time, with different results.

My classmates--a relatively diverse group of 20 somethings-- were infuriated with this practice. They--yes, every single one of them-- felt no need to clean up their Facebook profiles. In fact, they thought employers had no right to look at their Facebook profiles, not to mention make judgments based on it.

Some highlights of the discussion:

-One classmate recounted an experience she had with a potential employer. The day after her phone interview for a position, the HR director of that company requested her as a friend on Facebook. She immediately cleaned up her profile-- removing her wall and her photos of a recent trip to Las Vegas. She then accepted the request, giving the HR director limited access to her profile.

-Another outraged student said that aside from the possibly inappropriate content (photos, wall posts), he wouldn't want an employer to know basic, personal information: his age, relationship status, sexual orientation, etc. Further, he thought it was wrong for an employer to make a decision based on that outside information. He saw this as a form of discrimination.

-Other students felt their personal lives had no impact on their ability to work and do a good job. One student went as far to say that "just because I drink on the weekend doesn't mean I am not a hard worker."

-One student shared a story of a previous job, where the company had a Facebook group and encouraged all the employees to join without changing their profiles. She said the CEO sent an email urging the employees to join, telling them that he realized everyone had personal lives and assuring them that no judgments would be made based on their profiles.

-The majority of the class felt that their resumes should carry more weight and be a better gauge of their future work potential.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you side with my classmates, or do you have other opinions? Do employers have a right to check your Facebook profiles?

Photo by Joey DeVilla

5 Tips for Foiling the Phish

My alumni office sent out a note today, warning of a new email phishing scheme targeting alumni. Maybe you got one too.

I didn’t catch the phish this time, but have received tons of them in the last few months in the form of random job offers, eBay or PayPal notices, bank and credit card things.

This circles back to Jenna’s post about Facebook privacy policies -- it’s exactly the potential outcome of lenient privacy on sites or emails from sites we tend to trust (especially our schools or social networking sites). You’ve seen some of these before, but here’s a quick updated list of what you can do:

1. Never Verify. Don’t respond to an email that requests that you “verify” any private information – this includes not just bank or credit card info, but even university email account info – password or pin numbers.
2. Dear Member. If it’s all non-specific (Dear Member), but is still asking for private info, be very suspicious. A legitimate communication from an organization that maintains some of your private information will often contain a piece of that private info (special login name, etc.)
3. Don’t Reply. If you’re interested in an unusual offer from what should be a trusted source, don’t reply to any links in the email. Instead, go to the main page of the site as you normally would, and see if you can navigate to the offer. If you can’t verify that an email is legitimate, report it to the website using their contact us link off their homepage (again, don’t click on any links in the email).
4. Use Closed Systems. Try to restrict the places where you store private data to more secure, closed systems such as the Experience Portfolio that require you to login and don’t grant widespread access to user info.
5. Be Positive. Take advantage of the anti-phishing filters in your email or IM, as well as the positive identification steps that sites like PayPal have taken to help.

Have you been phished? Let us know what happened at contribute@experience.com


Photo by Doubting Augustinus

It’s time for a Facebook lift

This past May I saw my classmates make the transition from college to the working world. They traded in their sweatshirts for business suits, swapped their flip-flops for more appropriate shoes, and replaced their backpacks with chic totes. Their voicemail messages started sounding more professional and less like my friends. They did all of this to look more appealing to employers. However, most of them forgot that employers may be looking somewhere else to differentiate their potential employees—online.

It’s true. Employers are increasingly using internet sites such as Facebook and MySpace to conduct background checks on their job prospects.

According to a New York Times article, many users see their social networking profile as a relatively private form of self expression, a place for them to post often risqué photographs and provocative comments about drinking and recreational drug use.

Many social networkers think that what happens in these social networking sites stays there. However, a lot of these sites have become more lenient in their privacy policies. Take Facebook for example. It started as an exclusive social networking site for college students (a college e-mail address was required), and has since opened its doors to the rest of the world (well, anyone with some type of e-mail address). Furthermore, as CNN reported, Facebook announced last fall that users’ public profiles will find their way into search engine indexes (Google, Yahoo, etc.).

So before you work on brushing up your resume and practicing those interview questions, you may want to take a look at your MySpace profile. If your mom wouldn’t like it, there’s a good chance a hiring manager wouldn’t either.