Best etiquette should rule, especially in social media

A public relations firm I was familiar with was looking to expand. I had attended a seminar given by one of the partners and was really impressed with the technical skill set of the speaker as well as their compelling presentation style. They said they were easily reached in many online forums and preferred to be contacted through one of these, I imagined, as a test the applicants social media proficiency. This emphasis on social media savvy found me helping a colleague redesign her resume to include links to both personal and client social media projects. She also linked past employers to their respective websites. She chose to submit her reformatted resume with a cover letter describing how she had come to know of their work. She then dropped notes to both indicating her interest through traditional email and two separate social media forums. She followed up after about 10 days with a “checking in” message. She has never received any type of response.

What made this particular situation especially annoying was the very transparency that social media prides itself on worked against these potential employers. Through the various social media platforms, we followed as rather snarky comments were posted about applicant’s cover letters and resumes. The very transparency that was carefully crafted and channeled for the benefit of clients had been disregarded when the client was, in fact, themselves. A simple indication of the start of a new employee or an acknowledgement of the abundance of applicants would have been sufficient to communicate with those applicants following through social media, a requirement of this position. When discussing this with another colleague, we concluded that lack of experience had probably been most responsible.

With all the lists that have appeared about the dos and don’ts of social media, the predominating sentiment is “Play Nice” and “Do unto others…”. These are also the most basic tenants of real life socially preferred etiquette. This should be even more important when what is written is chronicled and archived online. It will be there forever. This experience of my friend has certainly forever changed how I now view this public relations firm that I once considered a professional leader.