Better get your privacy settings (or your public face) in check, Geeks. Turns out potential employers are using Facebook as an applicant screening tool more often than previously expected. The going rate for Facebook profile checking is about 76% of employers of the 91% of employers who do social media screens, which means pretty much anyone you’re going to try to work for.
About 48% of those same 91% of employers check your LinkedIn profile, by comparison, but if you’re posting inappropriate content there we can all assume you’re not really looking for a job.
So what do these results really tell us? From our perspective, there are three key takeaways:
- Whether you like it or not, hirers are using social networks to screen job applicants. This means it is important to carefully manage your image on these types of sites.
- Facebook and Twitter are being used a lot to screen job applicants. On Facebook and Twitter, we believe hirers are trying to get a more personal view of a candidate, rather than the resume-like view they will see on LinkedIn.
- Hirers are looking at the social networking profiles of candidates very early in the process. This means that job seekers need to have their online act in order before they begin looking for a job.
[reppler]