It is safe to say that by now we all know that social media is an outlet that allows people from different nations to connect and share ideas, voice opinions and be familiar with current events. The success of social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have taken over the world with millions of subscribers always actively online. Social media has brought a whole new culture of allowing people to find their voices and to break the silence by exposing some of the social issues that are being ignored or being hidden from the world. However the likes of Facebook and Twitter have been banned in certain countries because of the liberation, education and vast information it has provided its people.
Social media or employment portal?
Recently a 22 year old man Jordan Lockett found employment with the assistance of Aaron O’Dwyer, the man who posted his CV on Twitter. The previously disadvantaged homeless man from Liverpool had his hand written CV that read “I’m sick of wasting away now, very fast learner and hard worker” went viral and received thousands of re-tweets. All from a simple act of one person that posted it on social media and received an overwhelming response to his story and luckily enough he received a job offer and will no longer have to sleep in the streets again. It was not so longer ago when a similar story went viral right here in South Africa. A homeless man, Joseph Phukubje who had his CV posted on Facebook with his story. It was also received well and he ended up getting numerous job offers, more that 1000 to be precise.
These two stories are great examples of the success of two men who were begging on the streets and one good Samaritan decided to drive awareness of the social issues that are prevalent in our society. Social media played a major role in ensuring that these two stories reached thousands of people and led to a call to action to help those who have clearly just had a nasty case of “unlucky” in the employment sector and are probably the most avoided people because of their appearance. We see these people everyday and they are judged without taking a few minutes to find out the story about their lives.
Can posting your CV on social media help you find a job?
These stories have sparked a thought in my mind, whether these acts of good deeds will lead to people posting their CV’s on social media in order to attain a job or at least spark an interest from potential employers. Jordan and Joseph both never expected the amount of responses that they received from just posting an image of their CV’s and having them go viral overnight. Will the shift from the conventional way of submitting your CV to a firm you want to work for be non-existent in the near future? Surely if Jordan and Joseph could have a successful outcome from posting their CV’s on social media, why wouldn’t the next person receive the same amount of positive responses. I am certainly going to be on the look out for similar stories that will eventually make it’s way to social media and we will see if they will end up being a success story or just another trend that will eventually die out.
Who would have ever thought that social media would change the lives of ordinary people and allow their stories to inspire people to help those who are less fortunate. The same platforms that allowed us to share images and our everyday thoughts. The story of Jordan and Joseph are an example that a for a story to trend or be regarded as a “success” the characters involved do not have to be popular or famous, their story just has to spark an interest in you to do something.
