Employability through Facebook

The idea of a potential boss trawling through your drunken pictures on Facebook can be a source of great fear, but according to a new study your profile can be used to quickly predict if you’ll be a good worker or a straight-A student.

The idea of a potential boss trawling through your drunken pictures on Facebook can be a source of great fear, but according to a new study your profile can be used to quickly predict if you'll be a good worker or a straight-A student. The study is part of a US study, which found that employers are able to tell how good you will be at a job based on your Facebook profile.

Researchers considered photos, hobbies and a person's number of friends before answering questions such as "how dependable is this person?" They found that there was a strong correlation between someone's job success and certain characteristics displayed on a Facebook page.

These included a high number of friends, a wide range of interests and photographs showing far-flung travels, as these demonstrate agreeability. They also found that photographs of partying were seen to be positive as it showed the person was more sociable and extroverted.