THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2006
NEWS
3A
》 INTERNET
Social sites aid career searches Facebook, MySpace help graduates get the inside scoop on potential employers
BY DAVID LINHARDT
- Prevent embarrassing information from getting online. As a job applicant, assume you'll be Googled, at the minimum.
Vince Barken, associate professor of business, and David Gaston, director of the University Career Center, offered several tips for using social networking Web sites;
A new Facebook stalker may arrive soon.
Online tips
Call this one the job-stalker, said Vince Barker, associate professor of business.
Employers have used Facebook and MySpace to screen applicants for jobs, and now potential employees are using social networking sites to search for insider information about companies and job opportunities.
- If you're passionate about market research or any other job-related discipline, list it in your profile.
- Ask current employees what their days are like or what they enjoy about their jobs.
"A savvy person can recognize when they're being used for job connections." Barker said. "But you can use that connection with people to find out what it's like to work somewhere or to find hot-button issues with interviewers."
Searching "marketing" or "accounting" can bring up the names of people who may have jobs in that field. During the summer, MySpace partnered with SimplyHired.com to create a basic job search engine.
- Use online networking to find "hidden" jobs that haven't made it to job application boards yet.
The service allows a user to search for jobs at a company or in a particular field, contact others within that field or even talk to current employees who list a place of work on their profiles.
MySpace is the career Web site of choice for Mandi McCoy, Olathe senior. McCoy's online profiles on MySpace and Facebook showcase her modeling career and regularly draw job offers from photographers.
"Everything I've done in the last year has been through e-mail and the Internet," McCoy said. "I don't really use my modeling agency at all."
McCoy's most recent shoot, a Kansas City Chiefs calendar, came about because of a contact she made through her MySpace account.
- Don't lie about past jobs or experience. Such deception may soon be as frowned-upon as lying in a résumé.
McCoy uses networking sites to post pictures of previous shoots, her modeling portfolio and contact information for prospective pho-
mouth.
Beware the fakers, though,
McCoy said. If a photographer
promises an all-expense-paid trip
to the Caribbean, the job probably
isn't real.
And though the profile may help land a job, the information is out there for anyone to review, not just a prospective employer.
"When you throw information about yourself out there to everyone else, you lose control over how it's used," Barker said.
Despite opening Facebook to the employees of major companies like Overland Park-based Sprint Nextel, the job search isn't the biggest item on Facebook's plate, said Melanie Deitch, a Facebook spokeswoman. But Facebook's founders discovered
that students tended to stay with Facebook's social network even after graduating.
"As people leave colleo to make sure Facebook continues to serve this purpose for them," Deitch said.
About 45 percent of recent college alumni check their Facebook profiles daily, Deitch said.
The University Career Center encourages students to research companies that they are interested in working for, said David Gaston, the center's director.
Being too gossipy or picking up bad attitudes from a few disgruntled employees won't help if an applicant is eager to land a job somewhere,
"Everything I've done in the last year has been through e-mail and the Internet."
Gaston said. Interviewers may ask what kind of research an applicant did to prepare for the interview, and it's best to present positively what was learned
MANDI MCCOY
Olathe senior
Online networking can be a "proactive and useful thing for people if it's used in the right way," Gaston said. "If someone's obie
》 HEALTH
tively done their research across the board, then they'll be in the best position for a good job."
Kansan staff writer David Linhardt can be contacted at dlinhardt@kansan.com.
Edited by Natalie Johnson
Marriage can make life longer,better
Eight-year study finds that married people have longer lives
BY ANNA FALTERMEIEP
Looking to live longer? Try getting married.
According to an eight-year study of more than 80,000 Americans, people who never marry are 58 percent more likely to die prematurely than those who marry.
Two University of California researchers conducted the study. They used data from the 1989 National Health Interview Survey and death certification data from 1997. The study didn't include gay couples or unmarried heterosexual couples living together.
"The findings underline the importance of social support," said John Wade, counseling psychologist at Watkins Memorial Health Center.
Wade said a stable relationship could reduce stress and help people build a plan for the future.
"I think especially as you get older, if you're single, it's stressful in a practical way," Wade said. "Financially, it's easier to make it if you have two working spouses."
Anne Peterson,
Hoyerswerda,
Germany, graduate student, met her husband,
Ted, graduate student in education, in 2003, after she replied
were ruined.
"It makes it so much easier when there are two people who can deal with these sort of things," Anne said. "It was a very difficult time for us."
Besides help in dealing with disasters, Anne said she thought marriage could lower stress levels because of the peace of mind that comes from being settled.
"You don't have to go out every Saturday," she said. "Last night we stayed together and knitted."
As the song goes, one is the loneliest number. Wade said loneliness could be stressful and difficult.
"I think we're social beings and we need affirmation and emotional support," he said.
"It's nice to come home to somebody and not only a cat," Anne said. Last year Ted had to work nights and she said it was horrible.
Wade said good communication, mutual respect and expressed affection were all important for a healthy marriage.
"It's nice to come home to somebody and not only a cat."
ANNE PETERSON
Hoyerswerda, Germany
graduate student
to his online ad for a spare room. Peterson came to Lawrence in 2003 and they married in 2004.
Annie said she and Ted tried to support each other's freedoms.
About a year and a half later, their apartment suffered severe damage from a fire in a neighboring apartment. They saved their cat, but most of their belongings
Her husband has a room, which she referred to as "Ted's dungeon," that he keeps to himself. It's a place where he can "keep his clothes on the floor."
"Things like that are important," she said.
Kansan staff writer Anna Faltermeier can be contacted at afaltermeier@kansan.com.
Edited by Natalie Johnson
THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS
August 31,2006
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