Social Media Background Checks: Modern Day Job Screening [Chart]

I was listening to a radio show the other day while I was working, and as they were talking about the role of social media in the hiring process, the guest speaker said that an experienced hiring manager can make a surprisingly accurate prediction about whether or not a candidate will be a good fit for a job by simply looking at the person’s Facebook page for less than two minutes.

That bold statement shocked me. If I could remember the name of the person who said that, I would credit him in this article. Is it possible that is true? I did a little research on the relationship between social media and career recruiting.

We’ve all known for a while that potential employers scan our social media sites, but what we may not have realized is to what extent and how much weight they put on that. Forbes published two articles about this last year, and both are fabulous reads. You can check those out at:

Social Media Background Check Company Ensures That Job-Threatening
Facebook Photos Are Part Of Your Application

What Prospective Employers Hope To See In Your Facebook Account:
Creativity, Well-Roundedness and Chastity

According to a recent survey, 69% of employers said they had at some point rejected a candidate based on what was on that person’s Facebook page. Talk about making the competition for jobs even tougher… The thought of a friend tagging a photo and having it displayed on your wall and that one photo being considered as part of the hiring process is downright spooky to me. From what I understand though, hiring managers are using Facebook a bit more as a fact-checking tool for your resume than a tool to bust you out partying naked and dancing on tables.

Reppler, a company that helps people manage their online image across social networks, recently did an extensive study on this. You can read the fascinating results on their website. They also created this chart below with the data they collected. The bottom line is this: Companies are using Facebook and Twitter more than LinkedIn since LinkedIn is just an extension of a professional resume and not so much a personal look at the candidate, they are checking these things at the beginning of the hiring process, and don’t lie on your resume since you will most likely be busted cold.