Red Solo cups and embarrassing late-night Facebook comments are the target of a new initiative by University Career Services.
Socioclean — a new program recently acquired by Career Services — evaluates the text in streams from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and provides a report card for students.
Gary Miller, assistant director of University Career Services, said the department is providing the initiative to show students the importance of their social media presence.
“I don’t feel like most UNC students are whiling out to the point of embarrassing their institution or messing up their career,” he said. “But it doesn’t take those extreme examples to have an impact on their career.”
A 2010 Microsoft survey cited that 64 percent of hiring managers said it’s appropriate to look at online profiles of applicants, Miller said.
The Socioclean software — which will cost $2,500 for a one-year pilot — will be paid for from the portion of the student education and technology fee that career services receives to offset office technology costs, said Ray Angle, director of University Career Services.
Morgan Siem, vice president of social media for Raleigh-based advertising company Media Two, said a popular industry phrase is, “Google is the new business card.”
Siem said most companies only spend 30 seconds scanning resumes before searching the applicant online.
“They’re going to look at your information, figure out how to spell your name and Google you.”
