Companies Do Use Your Social Media When Making a Hiring Decision

When you search for a job, expect your future employer to check your social media accounts. With a simple search, employers can determine your professionalism, cultural fit and overall attitude. Employers want to get as much information about a prospect as possible before making a hiring decision. Take a look at this guide for maintaining social networks that give employers a positive impression of you.

Online Presence

It's essential to manage your social media accounts properly to avoid leaving the wrong impression with employers. For example, even if the wild party you attended two months ago was a blast, the risqué photo of you at the party might turn off potential employers. Get rid of posts that make you appear too wild or unprofessional. If you have many of these posts on your social media profiles, consider getting rid of your old accounts and starting over with fresh ones.

What Companies Don't Want to See

Social media plays a role in millions of people's everyday lives, and companies take advantage of this to market themselves, find prospects and gather information about potential hires. Companies don't necessarily seek damaging information about each candidate, but rather, they want to see how you might react to certain situations at work and how you handle yourself. For example, a hiring manager might see that you disparaged a co-worker or spoke negatively about your former boss. This type of negativity is a red flag to employers.

Hiring managers might also use social media to verify claims you make on your resume. If you claim to have worked for one employer for five years and that employer isn't listed on your resume, that might seem a bit suspicious.

Avoid making discriminatory remarks or posts. Companies generally prefer people with progressive minds and frown on individuals who openly say negative things about certain groups of people. Someone who is discriminatory against any group of people goes against the philosophy that differences are a good thing.

Why Have an Online Persona?

You might have considered getting off of social media completely, but having an online persona can actually help with your job search, if used correctly. As many as 92 percent of recruiters use social networks to find candidates, and approximately 70 percent of hiring managers use social networks as tools to help them make a decision about a candidate. Hiring managers can gauge how well you communicate with others and learn a bit about your personal interests through your social media accounts. Think about this when creating your profiles to ensure employers like what they see when they find you online.

Social media searches represent a continued trend in the hiring process that helps employers make hiring decisions. If you want to improve your chances of landing a great job in a highly competitive labor market, maintain professional social media profiles that help tip the scales in your favor.

Photo courtesy of KROMKRATHOG at FreeDigitalPhotos.net