Tag Archives: Ethics

Ethics, Resumes

I need a job and I will get one at any cost!

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Like the Nike slogan states, “Just Do It”. In this day and age where there are job descriptions that require 4-5 years experience it is absolutely okay to stretch the truth as long as it favors you in the end. A resume is typically viewed as a reflection of who you are before you get the opportunity to come face to face with an interviewer. The truth of the matter is if he is displeased or unimpressed with your resume, you will most likely not be called in for an interview. It is no surprise that people continuously enhance their resumes especially with the unemployment rate on a steady rise. While some people are lucky enough to get a job offer, most of them are being paid way less than they were earning, and they are being hired at under 30 hours a week so the company can avoid offering benefits.

In reality, companies typically will not mention how poor the working conditions are. They tend to exaggerate the pay, and often fail to mention that some jobs are not readily available to outsiders but under legal obligations they are required to post all open jobs, in some cases, the hiring manager has already predetermined that they will hire internally (Sullivan). This unfortunately is the bitter truth. Most job seekers prepare for interviews, drive up to 90 minutes to interviews only to find out weeks later that the company has decided to go with someone different. With that being said, I doubt companies really get hurt by an applicant’s white lie. The applicant goes unbothered if he does not land the job and resumes his job search while the company obviously moves on from that interview. In the long run, no one suffers for it. However, falsifying information that can be proven and tested i.e, drug and background tests can be detrimental to an applicant and reduce his likelihood of getting the position since employers spend thousands of dollars screening applicants during the process (Harding).

As tempting as lying on your resume can be, do you strongly believe an applicant who has been unemployed for over a year would be mindful of what he presents to the interviewer? Do you think he is concerned about the interviewer’s view of him or his resume when his main goal is acing the interview and landing the job? No, because as long as he is comfortable with omitting the truth or falsifying his resume the last thing he is worried about is his ethics.

Sullivan, Dr. John. “Opinion Recruiting’s Dirty Little Secrets — What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You .” ere.net, n. d. Web. 5 Sep. 2014. <http://www.ere.net/2011/12/26/recruiting’s-dirty-little-secrets-what-you-dont-know-can-hurt-you/>.

Harding, Ryan. “5 Lies That Damage Your Reputation as a Job Applicant .” Business2community, 18 03 2014. Web. 5 Sep. 2014. <http://www.business2community.com/human-resources/5-lies-damage-reputation-job-applicant-0815564

 

Blog Project Prompts, Ethics, Resumes

Blog #2: The Lack of Ethics in Resumes and Why It’s OK

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simpsons(Image: “Angels on My Shoulders.” 2011. Web. Courtesy of Daniebob on WordPress)

Is it acceptable to lie to a potential employer for an opportunity at your dream job? The right answer is no, but my answer is YES.

“The percentage of people who lie to potential employers is substantial” (Tomassi), and who can blame them? Employers intimidate us in ways that slightly encourage us to shade the truth. In fact, “40 [percent] of all resumes aren’t altogether aboveboard” (Tomassi). Given the circumstances of seeking for a job in a highly-competitive market, it is understandable that one of the ways people influence their resumes is by lying. “Omission is one of the most common forms of lying in the workplace” (Goman) because people want to avoid discrimination. Let’s consider Joanne Rowling. Most of us know her as J.K. Rowling. She omitted her name with the intention of misleading the reader of her sex. “Joanne Rowling had somehow gotten the idea that books by women were not as widely read or taken seriously as books by men—or that boys shy from reading female authors—and so had chosen to be known by her gender-neutral initials” (Prose).

As common as omission is in a resume, the same is not recommended for resumes internationally. In fact, resumes between the US and Asia differ tremendously. My father lives in Vientiane, Laos, and is the chairman of our family’s distribution company, KP Co., Ltd. During the summer, I visited him at the peak of hiring season and saw stacks of resumes on a desk. The sample resume below is a very similar template of one that I saw; instead of omitting personal details, they emphasize them. Click the photo below for a closer look.

International resume
(Image: “English Teacher Resume Review.” 2014. Web. Courtesy of An’nisa Khairani Haningsih on All Docs)

“Different countries expect and require certain information to be present on resumes, and therefore it is critical that your new resume meets the unique requirements of that country” (Redelman). Thus, resume-writing conventions need to adapt to their current marketplace whether it is an entirely different culture or within different domestic fields of study. It is important because the standard “one-size-fits-all” template is no longer enough to capture everyone’s attention. The field in which you apply influences the multimodal tools in your resume. For example, the following resume emphasizes the applicant’s talent in graphic design. Obviously, this would be an inappropriate template for legal professions.

Graphic designer resume
(Image: “Graphic designer resume sample.” 2014. Web. Courtesy of Vizual Resume.)

 

Between the two resume examples, there are differences in the contents. The second resume does not include a self-photograph or personal details that risk discrimination; though, both applicants could have lied by embellishing their experiences. This raises the question: how do we know that our competitors will not be lying in the same way that we are? “[We are] lied to from 10 to 200 times per day” (Firestone), so there is a great possibility that people are more likely to stretch or bend the truth on their resumes. After all, it becomes a cutthroat atmosphere when people are after the same job. However, I do believe that we have a moral obligation to our employers by telling them truthful experiences and giving them valid credentials so as not to waste their time interviewing us, or further, investing time and money to train us for our jobs. I think that the reason for interviewing someone is not only to get to know the applicant, but also to cross-examine the details of his/her resume. So, if you are going to embellish your experiences and credentials, then it is your sole responsibility to defend your claims.

While there are similarities between what U.S. and international applicants will do to make their resumes standout, there are differences in addition to the unique resume requirements of each country. When a U.S. citizen seeks for a job abroad, or when an international applicant seeks for a job in the U.S., there will be dilemmas that could prevent each from getting a job. For example, one trying to understand and adhere to the laws of that country and risking law violations on behalf of the business. I think that in whichever country you are, you should follow their rules. This applies to U.S. and international corporations and employees.

Another issue is language barriers that lead to miscommunication. What if a word or phrase in your resume means something entirely different in another country? It could offend the employer, or you may even have lied about your credentials unknowingly. Would you consider this lying?

Whether we think of ourselves as liars or not, “we certainly shade the truth to make it fit more comfortably into our lives—to keep it from disrupting anything from our careers to our relationships to our afternoons” (Firestone).

 

Sources Cited

 

Firestone, Lisa. “Shades of Truth: The Many Ways We Lie.” Huffingtonpost. Web. 5 Sep. 2014 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-firestone/telling-the-truth_b_3831304.html>.

Goman, Carol Kinsey. “The 10 Most Common Workplace Lies.” Forbes. Web. 5 Sep. 2014 <http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolkinseygoman/2013/10/17/10-of-the-biggest-workplace-lies/>.

Prose, Francine. “How Do We Judge Books Written Under Pseudonyms?” NYTimes. Web. 5 Sep. 2014 <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/books/review/how-do-we-judge-books-written-under-pseudonyms.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.

Redelman, Gavin. “How Resumes Differ from Country to Country.” Expatarrivals. Web. 5 Sep. 2014 <http://www.expatarrivals.com/article/how-resumes-differ-from-country-to-country>.

Tomassi, Kate DuBose. “Most Common Resume Lies.” Forbes. Web. 5 Sep. 2014 <http://www.forbes.com/2006/05/20/resume-lies-work_cx_kdt_06work_0523lies.html>.

Blogging and Social Media in the Workplace

Blog Post #1: What We Lose When Corporations Control Social Media

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image courtesy of www.citeman.com
image courtesy of www.citeman.com

One thing that many people often overlook when encountering a corporation on social media is that there is a single human being attached to the tweet, update, or blog that they are reading. This link shows what can happen when someone in charge of a corporate social media outlet goes too far, or posts content that is too personal. The problem, from a corporate standpoint, is how to generate content on social media that manages to attract new customers without offending their existing customer base. In other words, what corporations seek to achieve is a social media presence that almost perfectly mimics the social media presence of an individual yet inherently lacks the actual freedom of speech held by individuals.

The responsibility, of course, lies with the content creators.  A single lapse of judgement can easily lead to being fired if one is in charge of a corporate social media outlet today. One must never forget who they are representing when posting online.

Below is a tweet earlier this week in reference to a popular true crime podcast called Serial.

image courtesy of www.nydailymail.com
image courtesy of www.nydailymail.com

Within minutes of this tweet, many thousands of users on twitter attacked Best Buy for what many considered to be a crass exploitation of a tragic situation (the murder of a young woman in Baltimore in 1999). They then deleted the tweet and offered the below pictured apology.

image courtesy of www.abc2news.com
image courtesy of www.abc2news.com

Did Best Buy go too far? On one hand, they did indeed make a joke about a tragic situation, but what many people failed to take into account is the fact that the Serial podcast, which has been downloaded by over 5 million people, is in and of itself, a form of entertainment. Furthermore, the huge amount of attention the podcast has received has pushed the entire case into the realm of popular culture. This is an important distinction to make because the question now becomes, did Best Buy make a joke about a tragedy in order to sell products, or did they make a joke about a pop culture phenomenon?  I think the person behind the Best Buy social media ultimately helped Best Buy’s reputation. The apology leaves Best Buy in a position they can defend, yet the controversy created only enhanced their brand presence overall.

Image courtesy of www.startawildfire.com
Image courtesy of www.startawildfire.com

The benefits of corporate blogging definitely outweigh the risks, but only for the corporation. For the individual employee, the opposite is true. While they may be fairly financially compensated for their work, there is always the risk that something they post will either offend the company’s customer base, or the company itself. While it is unclear from the Best Buy example above, it is almost certain that the employee who wrote the offending tweet will be punished while the company is almost certain to prosper.

Image courtesy of www.theworkplacetherapist.com
Image courtesy of www.theworkplacetherapist.com

Another important issue is whether or not employers should be able to access and make decisions based upon an employees social media presence.  The answer really depends upon the individual. The web offers plenty of advice on how to navigate this terrain, yet the answers seem unsettling. Advice such as “remove every potentially-inappropriate post/picture” and to “keep language and grammar in mind,”(Driscoll) seems to be at odds with an individual’s right to freely and openly communicate.  While self-censorship is an important and integral part of interacting with society, it can be taken too far.  At a certain point, an individual loses their individuality if they are more concerned with continued employment than speaking their mind.  “A public profile is a vehicle for casually interacting with others in an informal setting, on personal free time. When companies use these profiles to find not only a professional but also an ideological match for a job, they’re misleading themselves and building ill will with talented prospective employees, who might decline to apply for a job for fear a comment about China on their blogs makes them persona non grata”(Fish).  While keeping individual social media outlets private seems like good, practical advice, it kind of defeats the purpose of “social” media. Allowing employers to dictate what you do and don’t post online allows them to, in effect, shape the internet itself. Is this something that we want to happen?

Sources Cited:

Driscoll, Emily. “What Your Social Media Reputation Says to Employers.” Fox Business. 3 June 2013. Web. 29 Aug. 2014. <http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2013/06/03/what-your-social-media-reputation-says-to-employers/>.

Fish, Greg. “Employers, Get Outta My Facebook.” Business Week. Bloomsburg, 20 Mar. 2008. Web. 28 Aug. 2014. <http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2010/12/employers_get_outta_my_facebook.html>.

Warren, Christina. “10 People Who Lost Jobs Over Social Media Mistakes.” Mashable. 16 June 2011. Web. 29 Aug. 2014. <http://mashable.com/2011/06/16/weinergate-social-media-job-loss/>.

 

 

 

 

Blogging and Social Media in the Workplace

Blog Post #1: Corporate Blogging and Ethics

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Blogs have completely revolutionized the way that we communicate in a professional setting. Using the internet allows us to communicate using smaller amounts of time and larger amounts of information, but with the use of blogs also comes responsibility (Yeganeh, Bauback, and Darren Good, 2011). When using blogging in a professional and even non-professional setting a certain set of ethical guidelines should accompany the blog post because: the lines between business and personal blogging are beginning to be blurred, and there are legal and non-legal repercussions to reckless blog posting, and ethical guidelines allow the blog-post viewer to be protected from advertising and other undesirable content.

Information on the internet is literally so easily accessible that almost anything that you are looking for can be found in just a few simple clicks. Since the internet has progressed and continues to progress the line between what is personal information and what can be accessed or perceived as professional information on the internet has began to blur. Since most personal blogging websites (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.) can be viewed by future employers and other business savvy people, I think it is responsible to accompany some set (whether loose or strict)  of ethical guidelines to personal blog entries because the blog poster may never know whether or not their content is being viewed by a third party.

The internet used purely for personal use is subject to a wide array of different uses and guidelines all of which are subjective to the person’s own set of personal guidelines and decisions, but in a corporate or business setting there are various sets of legal and non-legal risks that accompany blog posts (Strother, Judith A., Zohra Fazal, and Melinda Millsap, 2009). Communicating certain types of information in a corporate setting can lead to serious consequences. Blog journalists in corporate settings are liable to the same rights that govern traditional journalists making them or their companies liable if they post comments on internal rumors (Strother, Judith A., Zohra Fazal, and Melinda Millsap, 2009).

How many times have you read an internet blog and half-way through the blog realized it was an advertisement? I have done this a lot, and it is always frustrating. There are laws governing the advertisement legality of internet blog posting, and for good reasons (Smuddle, 2005). The audience or blog-viewer can become victim of the harsh reality of the internet. There is a lot of content broadcasted across the internet that many people would find offensive and even harmful. It should be in the interest of the blog-viewer and blog-writer to be mindful of the way certain content on the internet affects other people.

 

Sources cited:

 

Strother, Judith A., Zohra Fazal, and Melinda Millsap. (2009). Legal and ethical issues of the corporate blogosphere. IEEE Transactions On Professional Communication, 52(3), 243-253.

 

Smudde, Peter M. “Blogging, Ethics And Public Relations: A Proactive And Dialogic Approach.” Public Relations Quarterly 50.3 (2005): 34-38. Business Source Complete. Web. 29 Aug. 2014.

 

Yeganeh, Bauback, and Darren Good. “Metaphorically Speaking: Micro-Blogging As A Way To Reframe Workplace Interaction.” OD Practitioner 43.3 (2011): 12-17. Business Source Complete. Web. 29 Aug. 2014