Human Resource® Executive magazine (http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/index.jsp) recently had an article about Best Buy Co. posting a job listing for a senior manager in emerging media marketing. Now this in and of itself is not an unusual activity but it did garner plenty of attention – some of course from job seekers, but plenty more from people fascinated by the job’s “preferred requirement” that the candidate have 250 followers on Twitter. Now, this is a first for many of us, but it makes sense that for this job the candidate is up on the latest technologies. Many consulting firms have weighed in on this article some thinking it’s a good move and others question if “followers” have a direct correlation to someone expertise in a particular area.
This posting received so much attention that Best Buy temporarily removed the posting and asked people to log on to its IdeaX (idea exchange) Web site and help them re-craft the job posting to better reflect the skills needed for the position.
Overall this was still a great move on Best Buy’s part; look at the buzz of the Twittersphere and the mass media over this position, exposure alone should help them find a better candidate.
Other companies are asking candidates to send links to their Facebook or LinkedIn profiles as a way to help the company “get a feeling for who you are and why you would be a good match for this position.”
What do you think? Will this require us to think about our social networking from a new perspective? Will we want to post family vacation photos on Facebook and put our family updates on our “walls”? Do we need two accounts everywhere; one for personal and one for business?
Jodi Harrison
Vice President, Business Development and Affiliate Partners
Interactyx Limited
jodi.harrison@interactyx.com
interactyx.com