We hear nowadays that companies increasingly use social media e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc. to check out job applicants.
As someone who does not use any social network (exception: Stack Exchange :-)) how would it be seen if I added to my resume a "you won't find me on Facebook" icon (like the one on Richard Stallman's homepage)?
How would this be seen by employers? Is this unprofessional? Would it reduce my employability?
What exactly would be the point of that?
It makes it look like you have something to hide. If you don’t have Facebook, what is the value of drawing attention to that?
Others may be different, but I would see that and spend extra time Googling you as it would make me suspicious.
A sticker/icon is usually out of place on a resume anyway.
Your resume is your sales tool. It's a 1-2 page summary of everything that's good or impressive about you that means an employer may want to hire you.
Everything that goes on that resume should be examined in light of the above. So unless you seriously think you're applying to an organisation who would view the fact you don't have Facebook extremely positively, it's not something that should go on the CV.
In this case, I would say it is much more likely to have a net negative impact with most employers. If I saw that, my initial impression might be you're someone who has a bit of a stubborn attitude, and who takes pride in going against the flow. Taking that further, that could give the impression that you'd be difficult to work with.
"10 years experience with blahblahblah. Also, I'm not a bank robber."
If you're not on social media then don't mention it at all. If it comes up then simply say "I'm not on social media."
How would this be seen by employers?
Somewhere between quirky and outright negatively. Neither is good when you're trying to find a new job.
Is this unprofessional?
Yes. What's unprofessional isn't the type of statement you're making. It's that you're making one at all. It's just Not Done. The only message a resume should convey is how you are the right person for the job. When you're adding additional messages whether they're political, activist or something else, it makes me wonder why.
The most likely reasons I'll think of are that you're weirdly out of sync with conventional professional norms, have strange priorities, might have boundary issues in a workplace context, or would just generally be difficult to work with. In a competitive field, any of these will eighty-six your application.
Hiring managers very often go through dozens of resumes for a single position. Anything that deviates from typical resume standards makes you stand out. But any attention isn't good attention here! If some studies are to be believed, during an initial screen your resume might be looked at for less than ten seconds. I imagine yours would be looked at longer but not to read through your experience and achievements.
Note how how none of the above relates to the actual statement you'd be making. But that can also limit you even further. Your example of pushing back against social media will often make people think you're behind the times for instance. But political or cultural statements can be equally problematic and divisive.
Ultimately, as mentioned in the other answers, you have nothing to gain with this and a lot to lose. Don't include this.
If your aim is to filter out employers whose values contradict with yours: this is a bad way to do it. You have plenty of ways to check for cultural fit in an interview that don't jeopardise your chances of actually being interviewed.
I have read the other answers, and while I can agree it's unprofessional to have it on a CV, I can understand why someone would put that somewhere. Other answers seem to miss the point and assume:
Yet, there can be legitimate concerns when people with the same name and without a profile picture, on Facebook, can be found.
Answers saying you have nothing to gain - I absolutely cannot agree.
Maybe the CV is not the right place, and maybe it would also help to not be passive aggressive.
My suggestion would be to put a line on LinkedIn, your website, or wherever your CV is available (again, not in your CV):
Dear recruiters, I don't have Facebook. Please check out my hobbies at x, y and z if interested.
This way you give them the information they are seeking:
It seems recruiters want to know that, although that's none of their business in my opinion, what hobbies I have should not influence my professional career. Yet, it does happen and that's a fact. Maybe they are looking for connection on a personal level, not just a business level (would be my guess).
Another suggestion is (but that misses the point): Create a Facebook account with your name, and your LinkedIn photo. That's it. Put nothing more on there - That's public info anyways (Facebook can scrap it from LinkedIn). This way, a person can refrain from mentioning "they don't have Facebook", and will avoid potential misunderstandings.
This linked picture is definitely a bad idea. But if you are worried they might mistake some other profile for you, you could expand your contact information like:
Phone: xxx-xxxx-xxx
email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: blabla
github: blabla
StackExchange: lala
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram: Not available/No account./None
The important part is not to single Facebook out and not to comment in any way, just make it part of your contact information. This section might also be a little strange if you don't have any work-relevant "social" networks, but chances are you want to point to your LinkedIn/github account anyway.
Note that not all of my phrase suggestions strictly imply you don't have an account - it's possible you have one and just don't want it listed there.
In a similar spirit to @Nobody's answer, at the maximum I would suggest something like
"Please note that profiles with my exact name exist on [social media]. Those are not mine."
Not using Facebook is fine. So is having children, not having children, donating blood, voting for Obama, being gay, preferring cats to dogs, etc. etc.
All those statements are appropriate on a bumper sticker or a t-short you wear to a party. They will for sure look out of place on a resumé. Especially if they are phrased in a charged way: even if you write it as "not f'd", everyone speaking proper English will read it right.
Firstly, bravo for not getting caught up in the oftentimes self-destructive world of social media, with its long list of promises (it'll make you more connected, happier etc.) and its long list of actual results (higher stress levels, lower self-esteem, less time for meaningful relationships due to more time spent courting superficial ones, etc.) The usual YMMV disclaimer: some people use social media more effectively than others, blah blah.
Secondly, always keep in mind that a good deal of human preferences and behaviour come from self-enhancement bias; in particular, we dislike everything that claims, directly or indirectly, that we're lesser. So if you're suggesting to recruiters that you're somehow better than them, that's not good.
Thirdly, always keep in mind that recruiters want a team player. If you're able to get a rapport going with others, that's attractive. If you're some weirdo with a superiority complex, that's unattractive. But if you're a likeable weirdo who comes off as a team player, that's probably okay, and in some contexts it will even work a little bit in your favour.
Fourth, the ideals reflected by Stallman are supposed to make not using Facebook a common and acceptable thing, by specifying that you don't use it, you make its use the default.
My specific advice is to leave this off your CV (because you don't want to come off as weird) and if you're asked about it, have an easy-to-relate-to thing to say about it. "Well, I used Facebook for awhile. It was great for organising events. Made it very easy to get the boys over for a BBQ. The chat was also a very good feature. But like many people, I was really turned off by the superficiality of it all. I guess in the end I just found better tools for connecting with others; Skype, even the humble email. Honestly, nothing beats a good face-to-face."
This is a terrible idea.
I once read the CV of someone who put a similar "bumper sticker" (as Dmitry nicely put it in another answer). My immediate reaction was "he is immature".
I am a human and unfortunately for that person this was my thought during the whole time I read his CV. This also meant that he started with -10 points when he was interviewed.
I do not expect applicants to put links to their social media on their CV
Really, this is a very bad idea.
I agree with existing answers that having the logo on your resume is inappropriate. How much it matters will vary but it's likely to be seen as unprofessional in most cases.
However, there are good places to relay this information:
If you only have a general concern about mistaken identity:
If there is a specific user that can be mistaken for you:
Be explicit about this on your personal web site (if you're using one). "I can be found at X, Y, and Z. The [name] on Facebook is not my account."
Be explicit about this if/when explaining it to someone directly.
Don't be explicit about this in your cover letter. Still treat it like contact information if you include it. That's not the right place to get into this issue.
If you're being defamed or if the other user is posting something extreme like illegal activity or hate speech, then always tell HR even if you already mentioned it. This is a big deal so it's OK to seem concerned about this by bringing it up a second time.
My personal experience with this is as a person who had the same full name as only one other person online. We had other demographic traits in common and small enough online presences that it'd be reasonable to assume it was all the same person. It was sufficient for me to be explicit on my web site about which accounts were mine and which were not.
I just have a different view here.
Customize your resume to include that or leave that out according to company or organization you are applying for.
For example, organizations like ACLU, EFF, FSF, DuckDuckGo, Wikimedia, etc. Leaving it there is a huge plus point. They will think that you take privacy seriously and have a reason to do so. I have many friends who doesn't have any social media presence and still make a living in the software industry.
For most other organization, explicitly mentioning it will create doubts, like will you refuse to work on any projects due to your strong views and such that. So, you can leave it from there. You can answer simply without going into details if asked.
If they explicitly ask for social media information for data collection, you know that it won't be a company you want to work for.
I use a different, unofficial name for all my social media accounts to partly fix the issue and I don't reveal that in any official capacity.
If you are applying for a job that requires a security clearance, this would actually be a plus. Not having Facebook significantly reduces your exposure to an investigation.
A security background investigation will go through your facebook, and your facebook contacts. In particular, the investigators will ask questions about foreign contacts. I was in a Facebook group with people with my same (German) last name. I had several friends from Germany, Austria, and Czechia. Even though I never met them, I was asked to do a disclosure about these people in my security investigation.
The easier solution was simply to remove Facebook. That was ~2006 and I haven't been on social media since, excepting LinkedIn. Even then, when at non-clearance jobs I've had to be sure not add connections with (especially Chinese) foreign co-workers, so long as I plan on retaining a clearance in the future.
