Defense contractors may be on the fence when it comes to deciding whether or not to create a TikTok profile.
Maybe you’ve decided TikTok doesn’t have the right audience when it comes to the DoD, cleared candidates, or potential customers. Maybe the news about a masked vigilante (AKA the Great Londini) or the Chinese government taking a stake and a board seat in TikTok owner’s Beijing ByteDance Technology has prevented you from taking the leap.
Search for any federal agency and you’ll find dummy accounts. Search for cleared contractors and you’ll come up empty.
But now we’re seeing ‘TikTok resumes’…it could be a matter of time until we see cleared recruiters joining the platform as we have seen military recruiters post behind their military branch’s recruiting accounts.
Stop and think for a moment. Is it worth it?
REMEMBER OPERATIONAL SECURITY, CANDIDATES
TikTok has long been called a counterintelligence threat, and even though it has a billion users with a market you may want to become an influencer on and tap into, the federal government and contractors really are not engaging on the platform.
So, should you be creating a TikTok resume? Definitely not. Any and all OPSEC guidelines will tell you it’s a terrible idea, and you probably won’t find any cleared recruiters seeking candidates on the platform.
RECRUITERS: YOU WON’T FIND A CLEARED CANDIDATE’S TIKTOK RESUME
Despite younger generations playing on the popular video application that you probably have seen dance routines being recorded in public for, TikTok is still 80% owned by China and 100% controlled by them. Clearance holders have been aware of the security issue for some time, but as generation Z moves into the leadership ranks and the app potentially becomes more acceptable as a recruitment tool (like Instagram did), it’s critical to read the fine print and do the research before you create profile.
Would it be a waste of your precious recruiting time? Yes, yes it would.
