Social Media and Recruiting
Posted June 25th, 2012
As everyone knows, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn now have tens of millions of users around the world and are changing the way employers recruit new people and the way job seekers look for work.
To get a better idea of how companies are using the big three social media sites, the software maker Ciphr recently conducted a random survey of 300 companies.
The survey showed that nine out of every 10 companies used the social media sites to do background checks on job candidates. About three-fourths of them used Facebook, while about half used Twitter and LinkedIn. But the firms did the background checks at different times during the application process. A little under half checked right after they received the application, while about one-third checked after having a conversation with the candidate.
A significant number of firms – more than 60 percent – said they had rejected job candidates because of information they found on the social media sites. Reasons for rejecting applicants spanned a wide range of activities, including lying about qualifications, inappropriate photos, inappropriate comments, comments about a former employer, showing poor communication skills, using drugs, discriminatory comments, excessive alcohol usage, and for sharing information intended to be confidential.
But, on the opposite side of the coin, having a professional looking social media profile substantially helped an applicant land a job. More than two-thirds of the companies said they hired someone because they were impressed by what they found on that person’s provile. Positive information that helped applicants included a profile that supported the candidate’s qualifications, a profile that showed creativity, good references on the site, showing good communication skills, showing a well roundedness, and showing awards and recognition.
These survey results provide a cautionary tale for job applicants to make sure that their Facebook accounts are set for a high level of privacy. A photograph you might see as just having fun might be misinterpreted as something else by a potential employer.
All of your information should be set for “friends only” while you are doing a job search. If you have a large number of friends, you should look over the list and unfriend anyone who might reveal damaging information, a former coworker, for example, now working where you want to work.
When looking for work in the San Francisco area, contact a recruiter at Bayside Solutions. We can help you find work at some of the Bay Area’s top employers. Contact us today!
