Taking Facebook “Back To School”

Oklahoma State UniversityLeader: Ryan Masin

Heather WrightJoel BoaldinKelly Powell

Overview• Departmental Overview• Why Facebook?• Taking Facebook “Back to School”• The Career Services App• Theory and goals• Congruency of goals and outcomes• Potential difficulties• Departmental integration of Facebook

Note: Subscripts denote references

OSU Career Services Overview

• Mission- ”To empower all OSU community members with the passion and abilities to achieve their ideal future.”

• Goals– “Every OSU Student engage with

Career Services”– “OSU be the campus of choice of

recruiters”– “We build strong relationships with our

constituents”– “Career Services be the best place to

work in Stillwater”

The Current HIRE System• Allow students to create a user account for employers to

browse 1

• Enable students to search and apply for listings using customizable resumes for each position

• Provide students information about employers who have recruited at OSU

• Utilize an online calendar with information on interview dates, deadlines, info sessions and workshops

Why Facebook?• Facebook is the social network, burgeoning with over 500

million users2

• Efforts to create university-specific networks end up with users moving to Facebook, rather than staying with the university network 3

• Facebook allows for the creation of Applications, which can create robust experiences for their users

• Facebook is free which will save departmental and university dollars

Back to School• Facebook started as a social network linking only college

students; it has since expanded• It has become a near-universal experience shared by college

students, aiding in transitions and student growth• The site allows students to build a comprehensive framework for

themselves online; establishing the four S’s of Schlossberg: situation, self, support, and strategies 4

• Facebook aids in the transition from high school to college. The goal of the Career Services App is to see that the next critical transition takes place: college student to professional employee

“Social” Media• “Social Media” has become the new media• Originally focused on User Generated Content (UGC) in the

Web 2.0 movement 5

• Today the delivery systems- Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.- are more social than the media itself– Individuals, businesses, institutions, and others can create content

to contribute to these delivery systems• Students are already connected to each other through social

media; the App will also connect them to potential employers

Career Services Facebook App

• Opt-in App for OSU students: supplements the HIRE System 1

• Employers with established HIRE System accounts establish filter criteria– Criteria are constructed from interests,

clubs, groups, classes, organizations, activities, etc. found on Facebook

– Criteria are kept private to avoid student profile tailoring

• App automates profile creation for students and criteria matching for employers

How it Works

Candidate D•Education Major•Resident Assistant

Candidate A• Engineering Major• Computer Club

Candidate C• Business Major• SGA

Candidate B•Ag Major•Horseman's Association

Student creates Facebook Profile

Student Opts-in to Career Services App

App pulls desired fields from Facebook profiles

App builds profiles

Employer Designs Filter

Criteria

Employer Changes

Filter Criteria

App Feeds Employers

Filtered Profiles

App Feeds Updated

Filtered ProfilesEmployer

Career Development Theory• According to Donald Super’s Career Development Theory,

students thrive when given the opportunity to explore other possibilities 6 – Interests and areas of study not previously considered by students are

brought to light by the use of the Career Services App

• Students pass through the various benchmarks of Super’s theory at a higher rate due to the Career Services App acting as a catalyst for growth – The opportunity to move from the adolescence phase of career

development to the early adulthood phase comes from the utilization of the App

Social Cognitive Career Theory

• The Career Services App aligns with self-efficacy, a cornerstone of this theory 7 – Students and employers will be in control of their profiles and selection criteria,

respectively• The App will increase self-efficacy as well as align the personal goals

and interests of the students with congruent employers’ criteria • The App will help students examine all possible career opportunities,

thus providing them with the necessary support to develop professionally

• The App will help eliminate perceived boundaries to careers, thus increasing students’ self-efficacy

Congruency:Theory to Goals

• Provide additional opportunities for students to engage with Career Services through Facebook in addition to the Career Services Office and existing HIRE system

• Link recruiters to prime job candidates easily and early (Potentially as soon as students opt-in to the App)

• Allow students and employers to build and view profiles to match up key interests

Career Services Engagement

• “Every OSU Student engage with Career Services”– The provision of a Facebook App gives students another route to

access Career Services– With 90-95% of college students on Facebook, 8 the Career

Services App extends the reach of an already strong office and online operation

– According to Donald Super’s career development theory, individuals’ formation of self-concept can be augmented by the use of the App

Be The Recruiters’ Choice• “OSU be the campus of choice of recruiters”– Easily connect recruiters to potential employees through an

automated system– Provide a multidimensional perspective on potential employees so

recruiters can find the best matches for their listings– Allow recruiters to utilize a popular, quickly-evolving channel of

communication to connect with potential employees

Relationships With Employers

• “We build strong relationships with our constituents”– Enable companies to maintain a real-time connection with OSU

Career Services and potential employees through continuous matching of profiles to criteria

– Allow a constant stream of candidates to employers based on profiles• If employers’ criteria change, so will the student profiles filtered by the App

– Through the streaming of potential employee profiles, ensure consistent alignment of employers’ values, ideals, and mission

Reclaiming Facebook• Students must take pride in their profile, as it functions as an

extension of self 9

• Facebook can serve students as a resume• Profiles, groups, and friends can be used to legitimize students’

assumed social capital 10

• Social capital can be further utilized to build other relationships• Relationships are key to the support and strategy 4 of the

important transition from college life to the professional world

A Departmental Template• Other departments could utilize the Career Services App as

employers of interns or student employees• Departments could implement their own iterations of the App

to facilitate student involvement through automated profile creation and subsequent profile review

• Examples:– Counseling reaching out to disconnected, uninvolved students– Student Activities advertising to students with congruent interests– Campus Recreation advertising intramural teams to former High

School athletes

Difficulties• Integration phase and alignment with current HIRE system and office

practices• Cost associated with staffing for development of a Facebook App– It may be possible to bring a student employee on to develop and maintain

application

• Missing out on the 5-10% of students not on Facebook, 8 and catering to those who may not be “Facebook Savvy”

• Equal Opportunity Employer regulations: employer profiling through Facebook– Potential bias or discrimination based on profile information– Pictures are not included in student profiles

Departmental Integration

• The App will be developed and tested over a summer when campus population is low

• Incoming student notification will be done through “Welcome Week” orientation programming which introduces students to campus resources

• Existing student notification will be done through the existing Career Services Facebook Page or OSU email

• The App does not restrict students based on campus location- it will unify the student body of four campuses in its pursuit of career placement

Benefits of the App• Students

– Makes jobs more attainable– Broadens horizons to other opportunities

• Employers– Identifies quality candidates using cost

effective means of advertising– Gives access to a larger candidate pool

• University– Helps department achieve mission and

goals– Increases potential for job placement

following graduation

Conclusions• Career Services seeks to engage with every OSU Student, with

recruiters, and with potential employers• The Career Services App creates a third link between employers,

students and Career Services, building on an already strong office presence and the HIRE System

• The App automates candidate to employer matching, providing lists of candidates updated in real-time

• Departmental goals are further reinforced by the integration of the App

• Similar Apps can be developed to serve a variety of offices within the division of Student Affairs

References1. HireOSUGrads: an online system for connecting potential employers to candidates. More information at

http://www.hireosugrads.com/2/Home.aspx2. Zuckerberg, M. (2010). 500 Million Stories. Retrieved from http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=4097533521303. Personal Experience with Oklahoma State University “Welcome Week” site beta, Fall 2010. Witnessed students register for OSU Social

networking site for Welcome Week. The site saw few updates and new information after welcome week and users migrated to more substantial networks like Facebook.

4. Schlossberg, Nancy K., Waters, Eilnor B. and Goodman, Jane. Counseling Adults in Transition Linking Practice With Theory. New York: Springer, 1995.

5. Oreilly, Tim, What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. Communications & Strategies, No. 1, p. 17, First Quarter 2007. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1008839

6. Brown, D, and Brooks, L (Eds), ‘Career Choice and Development: Applying Contemporary Theories to Practice’, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002.

7. Brown, S. and Lent, R. (1996). A social cognitive framework for career choice counseling. The Career Development Quarterly, 44, 355-3678. Stutzman, F. (2006). Student Life on the Facebook. Retrieved from http://fredstutzman.com/pubs/stutzman_wp3.pdf, Ellison, N., Lampe, C.,

Steinfield, C. (2008). Changes in Use and Perception of Facebook. Retrieved from http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1470000/1460675/p721-lampe.pdf?key1=1460675&key2=2684140721&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=81997560&CFTOKEN=43185568

9. Bargh, J., Fitzsimons, G., McKenna, K. (2002). Can You See the Real Me? Activation and Expression of the “True Self” on the Internet. Journal of Social Issues, 58(1). Retrieved from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/118911208/PDFSTART?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

10. Grasmuck, S., Martin, J., Zhao, S. (2008). Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships. Computers in

Human Behavior, 24(5). Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.168.4349&rep=rep1&type=pdf