Looking for a job can be hard work. You might be pounding the pavement enough that job hunting is taking up several hours of your week. If you find that you’ve hit a brick wall in your search for employment, some interesting statistics have been released which may help you to get inside knowledge on what employers are looking for.
800 hiring personnel participated in a survey by Jobvite in 2011. Of those 800, almost ninety percent revealed they planned to use social media as a part of their candidate search. Recent news about social media usage by hiring managers shows that a possible reason for rejection for employment could be the information they find on the social media sites of candidates.
What Your Online Personality Says About You, And What Employers Look For
While some say that employers have no business sifting through the social media sites of their candidates, it can’t be denied that your photos, status updates and other information found on your social media sites can speak volumes about your personality. But what are some of the traits hiring managers look for when browsing your profiles?
First and foremost, many are looking to see whether the information in your profile supports the qualifications you noted in your application. Many applications get rejected due to dishonesty about prior experience and education.
Communication is always a valuable skill to an employer. So in addition to checking your credentials, they will also be checking your profiles to measure how effectively you communicate, both with those on your contact list and when posting your views on different topics.
What You Can Do To Prepare For Social Media Screening
Reviewing your profile and checking for questionable photos, remarks and any evidence of drug use can be a good start. ‘Questionable’ usually defines anything that is deemed unacceptable by the majority of the public:
- Photos which are sexually explicit or have an element of violence (such as you loading a gun);
- Derogatory remarks about former employers, or remarks which are racist in general;
- Status updates which refer to drug use, either by you or those you spend time with.
If you find that sifting through all of your photo albums and examining all of your posts to be an exhaustive task, there is a solution. A site called Reppler offers a service whereby all of your social media profiles can be screened for questionable content. The service does this by analyzing the information found on several of your profiles, comparing them and then generating a matrix which highlights any inconsistencies in the way you may be presenting yourself to potential employers.
The service goes further to calculate an image score which considers several of the elements which can affect your online image, such as missing profile information, the number of people you are connected with and the tone of your communication. Users of the service can also receive an email from the company each week which provides a summary of any activity which could be considered questionable by employers. This can help you ensure that your profile stays as clean as possible.
Social Media Screening May Be Here To Stay
Despite the outcry from several job seekers and organizations, the practice of social media screening continues to be increasingly popular among hiring managers. But although this practice has been used as a part of candidate evaluation for the last few years, new laws could see this practice being regulated.
Until this happens, however, it appears that employers will continue to scour the web to ensure their candidates are not only qualified, but have the personality traits and work ethic their company needs to continue to compete in the marketplace.
Citations:
- Being Too Social Can Impact Your Job Search
Guest author Sheila Smith writes on a variety of technology-related topics. She recommends www.highspeed-internet-providers.com as a resource for consumers to research broadband.
