Screening Social Media

A scientific study showed that an individual’s personality could be determined through studying the posts made on social networking sites. Applicant qualities can be found using these methods, which is important to know before providing that applicant with a position in the workplace. Certain posts on social media indicate personality traits that may correlate with other personality traits (Stoughton, 2013). The study focused mainly on applicants with a history of badmouthing and those with a history of substance abuse. This makes sense when considering how 33% of employers turned down applicants for badmouthing and 45% for substance abuse in the career builder survey. The results of the study concluded that an applicant with low ability to agree and low conscientiousness are more likely to badmouth. However, applicants who are open to experience, extraversion, and their emotional stability were not related to a badmouthing behavior (Stoughton, 2013). When it comes to substance abuse, extraverts are more likely to make posts of substance usage. Surprisingly, the study determined that conscientiousness is not related to substance posts at all (Stoughton, 2013). This does not mean that employers should not employ extraverts because they will abuse substance, but rather to be helpful for employers to recognize these traits and how they relate to each other.