What’s the opposite of Twitter?
Imagine if a job seeker could evaluate each prospective employer by using a database that aggregated the social networking profile information of all of that companies employees. The information for every employee with any kind of online profile (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc) could be shoveled into a great big database and a Meta Corporate Cultural Index could be formed. Song preferences, schools attended, locations visited, restaurant choices, product mentions, favorite TV shows, etc could all be added up and collated and presented to an aspiring applicant before any online application or resume were submitted. The applicant could then decide for themselves if this was a place where they would feel comfortable and welcome, or if they should pass and go to the next opportunity. If Twitter is at one end of the scale (What are YOU doing?), this idea is at the other end of that spectrum (What are ALL OF YOU doing?). That is an amazing thought and one that Dr. Charles Handler suggests in this piece for ERE.Net
Another interesting thought that comes to me after reading this piece is the idea that applicants could turn the tables on companies in terms of using social networks as a vetting tool. Many an applicant has lost an opportunity to an ill-chosen FaceBook party picture, what if the highly skilled applicants had that sort of power to screen companies? Would companies be more aware of the social network activities of their workers?
I absolutely love the idea of data being free and above the fray in terms of subjective judgments so this idea excites me. I also love relational databases but lack anything more than rudimentary Access and SQL skills. I’m also not accustomed to digging into the APIs that lay behind these sites. So who’s ready to start building this Corporate Profile Aggregator?
Category: BIG Idea, Recruitment Process 3 comments »
February 4th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I dunno, Ben. That actually sounds sort of creepy. Didn’t the gov’t propose something like that with TIA? What about your current employees. How would they like all of their social networking stuff gathered together into a company database?
I can see where a job seeker might like it, but I question whether the *other* employees would do so.
BTW, you might want to install the Subscribe to Comments plug-in that lets you know when there are follow-up comments, because I’d love to know what other people think.
February 4th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I wasn’t thinking the any one company would have the list. I was thinking more like the company profile page on LinkedIn with things like 65% of ABC company graduated from Iowa schools and 75% of the employees identify as active in their community. Sorta like the metrics Google uses to target ads. I see the scary factor though…
I will be working on the site structure over the next 2 weeks and will look into the comments feed. Thanks
March 28th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
[...] seem to be very similar to what I yearned for in one of my previous posts. The difference is that Jiibe appears to only use information voluntarily posted by [...]