Aspiring interns with mad Facebook skillz should listen up, as your next place of employment could be at decorated digitalistas, R/GA.
The agency is launching the “The Social Interview,” which makes prospective interns prove their worth using social media. On R/GA’s internship page, a roll-over image situated over former intern testimonials instructs applicants to apply through Jobvite, and then connect to R/GA’s internship Facebook app. Then, applicants’ friends will answer three questions the agency posts to the applicants’ Facebook walls. What questions are being asked? Well, it’s a surprise (duh), but an R/GA employee tells us, “We’re asking questions that [elicit] a creative response and demonstrate [an] applicant’s ability to leverage social media in an innovative way. They can show creativity by mobilizing their friends to respond in a unique or creative way.”
But, the big question remains: Will R/GA have access to view the applicants’ many Facebook pictures of shotgunning beers, taking off their clothes at parties and hitting Michael Phelps-level megabongs? “The social interview application only grants us the ability to post questions to the applicants’ Facebook wall and see the friend’s responses,” the agency says. “We’re not saving or accessing any other personal information. We only see the candidate’s public Facebook profile and the public profile of the friends responding.” That’s the public profile people, so if you’ve never explored your privacy settings, now might be the time. Make sure you’re sober in your profile pictures, and unfriend anyone who might respond to R/GA’s questions like an idiot.