Dan Schawbel is well known for his expertise on personal branding and is the author of “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success” He recently shared some interesting results with me from a new study on Gen-Y and Facebook that confirms the need for maintaining a professional brand.
The study was conducted by Millennial Branding, where Schawbel is managing partner, in conjunction with Identified.com in which more than 50 million Facebook data points were studied. The study was conducted in November 2011, and involved four million Generation Y users, 90% of whom were from the U.S. and approximately one million users listing job entries. The findings reveal several trends that could adversely affect users’ career paths. Generation Y, or Gen-Y, typically refers to those workers born after 1981.
One such finding confirmed members of Gen-Y inadvertently are using their profiles as an extension of their professional personality as they are socializing with family and friends, as evidenced by the fact that 64% of those surveyed failed to list their employers on their profiles yet had an average of 16 coworkers as Facebook friends.
As you move along your career path, it’s imperative to monitor your brand, making sure what your coworkers and potential employers see is the image you want to portray.
Schawbel said, “Gen-Y (workers) need to be aware that what they publish online can come back to haunt them in the workplace. Gen-Y managers and coworkers have insight into their social lives, which could create an awkward workplace setting or even result in a termination.”
Your social networking brand can be affected in a number ways. Schawbel said uncomfortable situations can result from having friends, family and coworkers intermingled on Facebook.
From a career point of view, the information online could easily become a career barrier, because you often don’t know how your image is affecting your career opportunities until it’s too late.
Here are some other noteworthy survey findings:
Gen-Y Facebook users tend to define themselves by their colleges instead of their workplaces. 80% percent of those surveyed list at least one school entry on their profiles, while only 36 list a job entry.
Among those surveyed, workers spend an average of just over two years at their first jobs.
“Owner” is the fifth most-popular job title, due to their entrepreneurial nature. While most start-ups won’t succeed, these people are demonstrating their entrepreneurial spirit. This is something companies should note if they want to build a Gen-Y workforce, as this indicates these workers have a strong desire to own their work time, budgets and activities.
The travel and hospitality industry hires the most Gen-Y candidates, due in large part to the challenges workers in this age group are having landing internships and jobs.
The military is the largest Gen-Y employer with corporate entities such as Deloitte, Walmart and Starbucks ranking high in the number of Gen-Y hires. Since Gen-Y workers will form 75% of the workforce by 2025, employers need to start listening to and engaging with this entrepreneurial generation.
What are your thoughts about this study?
