Social Media is the New Background Check

Hiring employees is not just about finding someone who can do a particular task, but finding someone who has the necessary skills for the job and the right personality for the organization. Social media gives recruiters the tools they need to learn more about candidates and make better hiring decisions, but that isn't always a good thing for applicants. If you use social media, you need to understand how it can affect your job search.

Recruiters check LinkedIn and other professional networks to see if applicants have endorsements and recommendations from their colleagues. Although LinkedIn endorsements generally don't carry a lot of weight with hiring managers, recommendations are another matter, especially if you have a recommendation from a key player in your industry. Because recommendations are so important, you need to monitor your profiles carefully.

Checking social media is a good way for recruiters to determine if the qualifications listed on your resume match up with the qualifications displayed in your online profiles. If you just started your job search, it is essential that you check all of your social media accounts and make sure the information is up to date. Review your profile to determine if you made any mistakes when entering employment dates, job titles or previous employers.

Before you start applying for jobs, go through your list of contacts and make sure none of them have posted inappropriate content to your feed. You may take great care not to post anything offensive, but if a profanity-laced tirade from one of your acquaintances shows up in your profile, hiring managers might see it. You don't have to remove people from your list, but you should take steps to hide their content from your profile. For example, Facebook has a setting that allows you to prevent people from posting to your wall.

You don't need to use overly formal language on social media, but you do need to review your content and make sure you haven't made any typos or grammar errors. Most hiring managers understand that social media is less formal than other forms of communication, but if you consistently make the same errors, you might raise red flags about your ability to write reports or communicate with others via email. If you have trouble spotting your own errors, have a grammar-savvy friend review your social media posts and help you make corrections.

Although you need to consent to a formal background check, your social media presence makes it easy for a recruiter to conduct a virtual background check before offering you an interview. Before you apply for a new job, check your profiles and remove any content that does not align with your professional image. If there is any chance one of your photos or posts might make recruiters think twice about your professionalism, remove the content from social media immediately.

In this day and age, employers expect you to use social media, so deleting all of your accounts probably isn't an option. If you want to make a good impression, check all of your profiles and make sure there isn't anything you don't want a recruiter to see.

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