节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-10-12
难易度:Medium
关键字:profile, candidate, trustworthy, distinction, background check
Hi, friends.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
My name is Steve.
Thanks for joining us today.
Our VIEWPOINTS feature this month asks the question:
Should your boss be able to look at your Facebook page before hiring you?
In many countries it is illegal for bosses to do this.
But some do it anyway because, well, because they can.
Knowing this then, maybe the question should be:
If a potential boss asks you to look through your Facebook account, how would
you respond?
Would you compromise your privacy for the sake of a job?
Let's open our magazines to page 26 and read a conversation about this sticky
topic - Facebook in a Job Interview.
(Music).
Facebook in a Job Interview?
Should your boss be able to look at your Facebook page before hiring you?
Nicole, I have a problem.
What kind of problem?
I have a job interview tomorrow, and I heard that the boss will ask to see my
Facebook profile.
I'm not comfortable with that.
That's illegal in some countries, like Canada.
Can you refuse?
I want to, but I'm afraid that if I do, I won't get the job!
I guess I see the boss's point.
Looking at a candidate's Facebook page will tell him a lot about the person's
life and personality.
That's true.
Most of my life is on Facebook.
My profile could tell him about my hobbies, my interests and what my friends
think of me.
I find the idea of showing a boss that much personal information disturbing.
Hello, friends.
Thank you so much for joining us here in the studio.
My name is Kaylah.
And my name is Ryan.
And friends, we are looking in our VIEWPOINTS article today.
And as you know, VIEWPOINTS articles usually discuss a certain topic.
Well, what are we talking about today, Kaylah?
Well, today we are discussing Facebook.
Now friends, we're all familiar with Facebook.
I bet you use it.
And if you don't, you know someone who does.
But Facebook is usually thought of being a "friend" thing.
But Ryan, we're taking Facebook from a different perspective.
Yeah. Friends, today we're looking at Facebook in job interviews.
This is an interesting discussion.
That's right.
You know, jobs don't usually mix with my social life.
So how does Facebook work in a job interview?
Well, we're asking the question now:
Should your boss be able to look at your Facebook page before they hire you?
Ooh. That's a very deep question.
Should your boss be able to look at your Facebook page before you even get
hired?
I don't know, friends.
My first reaction says: No! I want my privacy.
Now I don't know about you, but I often don't think about my boss being able to
see what I put on Facebook.
So this is an excellent question.
I guess, friends, this is a test to see are you the same kind of person, and
what are your thoughts on work privacy.
Well, we're going to talk with two ladies - Tara and Nicole.
OK. Now Tara starts off this conversation and she says: Nicole, I have a
problem.
And Nicole responds: Well, what kind of problem?
OK. Well, obviously she's talking about Facebook here.
But first, Tara says: I have a job interview tomorrow, and I heard that the boss
will ask to see my Facebook profile.
Ooh. So her boss is the potential boss - she's not even hired yet - is going to
ask if they can look at her Facebook profile.
Now a "profile" is what, Ryan?
A "profile," Kaylah, is a short description on someone's life.
Usually it describes who the person is and some of what they have done in the
past.
So there are different kinds of profiles.
You could have a work profile, a student profile.
But a Facebook profile is a profile on your social life, your friends.
And Tara is not really comfortable with this.
She says: I'm not comfortable with that, with this person looking at it.
Right. Now on Facebook, you have the main page that is all about you.
This is your profile; and sometimes they might call it a timeline.
And usually you don't want just anyone to be able to see it.
So it might make you uncomfortable if your boss does see it.
That's right.
Nicole says: Well, that's illegal in some countries, like Canada.
Can you refuse?
That's a good point.
Ryan, in some places, and she uses Canada as the example here, they... it's
illegal to look at someone's Facebook profile without having hired them already.
Right. And here, Kaylah, she asks an interesting question.
She says: Can you refuse?
If you refuse something, that means you say you will not do it no matter what.
Now Tara says: Well, I want to, but I'm afraid if I do that, I won't get that
job.
Whoo... So she doesn't want to tell her boss not to look at her Facebook
profile, but she really wants to get the job.
And so if she tells her boss that she can't, then maybe she won't get that job.
Nicole says: I guess I see the boss's point, though.
You know, looking at a candidate's Facebook page will tell him a lot about a
person's life and personality.
Right. Now a "candidate" here is someone who is trying to get a job.
They are someone who is competing with other people.
And so if one person says the boss can't look at their Facebook profile and the
other one does, then maybe the boss will take the second person.
And candidate refers to a formal competition.
So here it's for a job.
Sometimes it's for a position at a school or even for a government position.
Yeah, or an award.
There are many types of uses for the word "candidate." Well, Tara says that is
true.
Most of my life is on Facebook.
That's right.
He can get an understanding of her personality by looking at Facebook.
Personality is what you like, who you like and kind of just who you are when
you're around people.
Yeah. And we see here that her profile could tell him about her hobbies, her
interests and what her friends think of her.
That's right.
Your Facebook page shows all of this about you.
That's a lot of information about who you are.
Now Tara thinks that... she finds the idea of showing her boss that much
information a little disturbing because it's personal.
Right. And if it's disturbing, then it makes her feel uncomfortable.
Friends, we're going to learn a lot more.
But right now let's go visit Liz with Grammar on the Go, and then watch this
interview.
Hello, friends.
It's time for Grammar on the Go.
And my name is Liz.
So what do you think about having your Facebook page be shown at a job
interview?
Some people think it's a great way to really learn about the job applicant.
But then there are those, like Tara in today's article, who says:
I find the idea of showing a boss that much personal information disturbing.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Our focus today is on the sentence pattern: I find the idea of something plus
adjective.
This is another way of saying: I think the idea of showing a boss that much
personal information is disturbing.
So if you have to share your opinion or feeling about something, give this
sentence pattern a try.
For example, let's say you belong to a health club,
and you think it is ridiculous that the club is making its members pay an
additional monthly cleaning fee on top of the original membership fee.
So you can say:
I find the idea of paying an extra monthly fee ridiculous.
Or let's say you know someone who expects people to text message him first
before they call him on his cell phone.
And you think this is very strange.
So you can say:
I find his demand that we text message first before calling very strange.
If you have a copy of this month's magazine with you, be sure to check out
today's Grammar Tip section for more example sentences.
That's it for today.
This is Liz with Grammar on the Go signing off.
Bye-bye.
Should the employer be allowed to look at my Facebook page before giving me an
interview?
I would lean towards no because for me, I... I act rather differently when I...
when I'm in private in my personal lives because I'm more relaxed.
But when I work, I'm more disciplined and more serious.
So I don't want the boss to get the wrong idea of... OK, OK. This is how he
works.
Um, he's... he's really... he likes to joke around when he works.
But I'm not like when I'm at work.
So I would lean towards no.
And in this... in this Internet age, I think the boundary of a... the privacy is
sometimes blurred.
So that's what I don't like about um, this Internet age and about this whole
Facebook thing.
So for me, personally, I don't use Facebook.
In my opinion, I think letting my boss see my Facebook page in a job interview
is acceptable for me.
Since some companies they do run background checks on some employees beforehand,
so actually, I think there is nothing much too hide.
However, I do agree that everybody wants to leave a good impression on the first
interview.
So just remember to double check your Facebook profile page the day before the
interview.
And make sure all the information that your future boss sees brings out a
positive effect on yourpersonality.