Hiring Managers looking at Social Sites of Applicants

More employers are turning to social networking sites to find additional information on potential candidates and they’re not entirely impressed and not hiring some because of what they’re seeing says a new survey from CareerBuilder.com. The report found that 51% of employers who research job candidates on social media said they’ve found content that led them to not hire the candidate, up from 43% last year. CareerBuilder’s Jennifer Grasz says social media can be used to a candidate’s advantage. “Nearly one in four hiring managers, 24%, said that the fact that the job candidate had interacted with their company’s social media accounts had influenced their decision to hire that candidate.” It’s important to keep a positive image online, adds Grasz. “They got a good feel for the job candidate’s personality, they could see they’re a good fit within the company culture. The job candidate’s site conveyed very professional image, they had great communication skills and they were creative.” More than half of all employers surveyed said they found content that stopped them from making a hire, concludes Grasz. “They talked about finding inappropriate photographs or information about the candidate drinking or using drugs, maybe that candidate had bad mouthed a previous employer or shared confidential information from that employer. Those were all things that were immediate turnoffs for that employer.” Discriminatory comments and lying about qualifications also led to candidates being removed from consideration.