Employer Use of Social Media for Applicant Screening Declines

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Employer Use of Social Media for Applicant Screening Declines Posted: 31 Aug 2011 09:39 AM PDT A Society for Human Resources survey reports that more employers have backed away from using social networking sites and search engines to screen employment applicants. Reasons cited: Legal risks, including discovering information about protected characteristics. Lack of verifiable data. Lack of job relatedness. Who's doing it & what's the result? 26% of surveyed companies fessed up. That's down from 34% in 2008. Almost two-thirds of respondents, 64%, say they've never used on-line screening. Of the employers who perform on-line screenings, up to 30% have used information they've found to disqualify candidates. Why do they do it? To get more information about you than your resume and cover letter provide. It's easy. Whom do they check on? Executives (47%). Other management (37%). Everyone else (less than 30%). Where do they check? LinkedIn (85%). Facebook (78%). Anywhere else (less than 15%). Twitter (11%). Do you get a rebuttal? Probably not. Only 27% of the organizations that use on-line information give the candidate an opportunity to explain adverse findings. Conclusion So, that's a nice reality check, isn't it? The more senior you are, the more risk you have. Keep LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter suitable for inquiring minds who want to know. Also, and the report doesn't make reference to this, consider the type of job you're seeking and the industry. There are probably higher rates of checkage for certain job titles and industries. One final caveat, if an internal or external recruiter is direct sourcing, then they might well be looking at your on-line presence and deciding whether or not to reach out to you. Nuff said. AvidCareerist Written by Donna Svei, One of Monster’s “11 for 2011: Career Experts Who Can Help Your Job Search”

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