As Bob Dylan once sang, the Times They Are a-Changin’. According to a study done by Forrester Research, nearly half of all adults in the United States with Internet access (42%) are active on one or more social networking websites. Two years ago, this number was only 20%. Much of this increase can be attributed to the sky-rocketing growth of Facebook, which now boasts 250 million users worldwide.
Of course, with the growth of Facebook and other social networking sites, there is also a need for social media users to be responsible for how they represent themselves online. Increasingly, hiring managers and recruiters have been turning to social networks to identify potential job candidates. In a different study conducted by CareerBuilder, 45% of employers reported that they use social networking sites to screen potential employees. This number is up from 22% the previous year, indicating the fast growing importance of pro-active Online Reputation Management.
Some other interesting tidbits from the CareerBuilder study:
- 11% of employers plan to start using social networking sites for employment screening.
- Of the 45% of employers who conduct online searches of job candidates, 29% use Facebook, 26% use LinkedIn, 21% use MySpace, 11% search blogs, and 7% use Twitter.
- 18% of employers said they found content on social networking sites that encouraged them to hire the candidate, while 35% of employers found content that caused them not to hire the candidate.
6 comments ↓
Times are truly changing and individuals need to start taking really seriously their online reputation and become proactive in the way they present themselves on the internet.
This is where blogging or displaying one’s talent on the internet in any way can be helpful in advancing one’s career prospects.
While this article is true and many employers are using social network sites to get an insight on the behavior of their potential hires, The fact is this method of finding information is not the determining factor when employees pre-screen. I am an employee of a large background Check Company and we run thousands of Background Checks monthly. The fact is what employers want to know is truth in the application, criminal record checks and information that would expose them to liability.
Most employers whom use a reputable background check company can realize these requirements in less than 5 minutes.
Terry Sweet
Integrascan
[...] you owe it to yourself to create and incubate an online identity for yourself or your company. 45% of employers will conduct an online search to screen potential employers – do you control what they will [...]
[...] you owe it to yourself to create and incubate an online identity for yourself or your company. 45% of employers will conduct an online search to screen potential employers – do you control what they will [...]
[...] of Santa Claus, and not just at Christmas time either. Whether it’s a recruiting manager dismissing a job candidate over a nasty blog comment, or a college admissions officer rejecting an applicant because of an [...]
The use of social media screening will, of course, only expand as more and more people continue to share every aspect of their private lives online.
Social networking will still remain, in most cases, only a “tipping point’ in the employer’s decision whether to hire or deny the applicant.
A candidate’s prior experience, education, criminal history and “real life” presentation will continue to be the key factors in any applicant evaluation.
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