Corporate Recruiters Use Social Networks to Conduct Background Checks
September 22, 2008 at 11:01 am | In Personal Branding, Recruitment, Reputation Management, social media | 18 CommentsA lot has been on my mind this week, including a research report by Careerbuilder.com that just came out stating that “One-in-Five Employers Use Social Networking Sites to Research Job Candidates.” In the UK, this number is “One-in-Four,” which is only 3% more. Everyone started blogging and writing about this report. When this press release first came out, I thought to myself “nice, this is more evidence for why people need to care about the existence of their personal brand on social networks.” Then I took my nightly run around my apartment complex and started to think hard about this. First, I will cite the key take-aways from this report and let you analyze it for yourself. Second, I will give you my thoughts. Third, I’ll give you a few tips.
The research
Major points
- 22% of hiring managers use social networks to research profiles (+11% from 2006)
- 34% of hiring managers dismissed a candidate based on what they found (out of the 22%)
- 24% of hiring managers found information that was used to hire a candidate
Top 3 things that turned hiring managers away
- 41% of candidates posted information about them drinking or using drugs
- 40% of candidates posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information
- 29% of candidates had poor communication skills
Top 3 things that help candidates out
- 48% of candidates background supported their qualifications for the job
- 43% of candidates had great communication skills
- 40% of candidates was a good fit for the company’s culture
My thoughts
First off, this research isn’t groundbreaking. I think everyone can assume that employers are viewing your profiles on social networks. The social network tends to be the destination after an employer Google’s your name. I’ve seen reports like this one in the past year or so and they all forget to break down the research by demographic. I want to know what age groups they are recruiting for when they did the survey. I’m looking for something like this: “75% of Gen-Y’ers lose opportunities based on their Facebook profile.” To me, when it comes to social media, demographic matters a lot. In the future, say 2 years from now, it won’t matter, but while it does, I want to know the split.
Secondly, even if the numbers were dimmed down, to 5%, it would still be a big deal. I say this because as long as any recruiter is using social networks to research
candidates, then it matters! I believe more recruiters won’t admit they are going through this routine because their company doesn’t embrace social networking in the workplace. A lot of companies think that their employees use them to play games or get distracted.
Lastly, let’s quickly compare this survey to ExecuNet’s digital dirt survey of 2006. We can only assume from the Careerbuilder.com survey that it is a diverse audience (see my first point). ExecuNet is strickly executives, hence the name. The ExecuNet survey said 77% of executives are googled and 35% are eliminated based on what they find. It’s 2008 (almost 2009 now) and I bet that 77% is up to 90% and that 35% is up to 50%. Either way, the more a company is investing in human capital, the better the chances are that they will use Google/social networks to conduct background checks.
Personal branding tips
- Be a content producer, not just a consumer, in order to be visible to recruiters.
- Review your Google results on a regular basis, with a laser eye on the top 10 results for your name.
- Pass this post onto your friends immediately or you aren’t a friend.
- Use privacy options as much as you can on social networks and treat your profile, even if it’s private, as a public place.
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Well said. Now I’m waiting for the follow up post for recruiters: so you’ve found your prospect on the social web, you’ve research them across the social web, here’s how to appropriately reach out to them.
Recruiters are hot and heavy on LinkedIn, and increasingly on Twitter as well, examining your network, learning about your social and even personal life before reaching out. Great post, and as always, a well placed word to the wise.
Comment by jon burg — September 22, 2008 #
Yeah, online presense is getting to be more and more important. Here’s a report that I came across today, saying that college admissions officers view social networking sites. To be honest, I’m surprised at how low the percentage is, I’d expect something closer to 50%. But it does show a trend that this is getting really important, and it’s not just about jobs. It starts as early as admissions to college – which means even high school kids should be starting to think about this.
Comment by Derrick Kwa — September 22, 2008 #
Dan, I was one of those reporting this too on September 16, and my recommendations also echoed yours to some extent –
I agree the demographics are important in surveys like this – it would be informative to know what the breakdown was.
There is also a ‘discrimination’ issue that many employers will need to be cautious of in the future (and unions are becoming aware of this issue) – are individuals discriminated against unfairly when they have no online profile, or a ‘bad’ one – and in principal viewing online profiles makes neutrality of hiring related to gender, race, age, etc a very sensitive issue.
Regards, David
Comment by David Petherick — September 22, 2008 #
@David – excellent point..discrimination is a big deal, but it’s going to be impossible to prevent sadly…it’s too easy to track people’s online presence now…takes 2 seconds..they can do it from their own home!
Comment by Dan Schawbel — September 22, 2008 #
Good to hear your take, Dan. I was also one who jumped on that article with my own tips:
4 Things to Know and Do Before Employers Google Your Name –
http://jobmob.co.il/blog/4-things-to-know-and-do-before-employers-google-your-name/
Of course, the numbers will only increase as more people dive into social networks (it’s true, not everyone has yet) and more recruiters become Web2.0-savvy.
Comment by Jacob from JobMob — September 22, 2008 #
Great thoughts, and I agree that this is all the more reason each and everyone needs to take a hands on approach to manage their own personal brand.
Sean Bohan wrote a thought provoking post a few weeks ago asking the question What happens when one of these digital natives, who have been facebooking and myspacing, and flickring and youtube-ing their daily thoughts, ideas, location, and media every day for the next 25 years runs for office?”
Comment by Maren Finzer — September 22, 2008 #
[...] A report published by CareerBuilder recently had some interesting statistics about how employers use social networking when interviewing candidates. Dan Schawbel, over at Personal Branding, just posted about it. Check it out: http://personalbrandingblog.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/corporate-recruiters-use-social-networks-to-con... [...]
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It is amazing to read how many people have gotten fired for information that they’ve shared over social networking profiles.
The one thing I continuously ask myself is if I really want Google and the rest of the world to know something if I post it. That’s usually what determines the difference between a tweet and an email to a friend.
I really hope that schools start teaching this soon because kids can’t learn it without them or their parents guidance. One school that I know that is taking a different tack is Student Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. So interesting to watch the kids and their principal interact via Facebook and Youtube among other places.
Comment by Chel — September 22, 2008 #
[...] Dan Schawbel reminds us why we want to pay a little more attention to our personal brands with employers peeking at employees and potential employees social networking profiles. [...]
Pingback by Vibemetrix Daily Vibe - September 22, 2008 | VibeMetrix Blog — September 22, 2008 #
This is a great post and also great information. I work as a recruiter in Boston for Hollister Staffing (www.hollisterstaff.com)and come across this issue with social networking sites just about everyday. Especially with my younger candidates, they just don’t seem to realize how damaging some of the information they publish online can be to their careers. However, if used correctly, some of these sites can be great networking tools and can be very effective in finding opportunities. I can’t stress to them enough to control the privacy settings though. I am definitely going to share this information with my clients, thank you!
Comment by Louisa — September 22, 2008 #
This is such an ineresting study and I bet there are a few of us hiring managers out there saying “well I started using social networks, to check out applicants over …”
here is my story and how the next gen really needs to be aware of how “exposed” they are…
My younger sister just graduated /with an MBA in health care/ and is out pounding the pavement so-to-speak. I had the financial discussion about “paying yourself first” — ha! she FINALLY got it, after I showed her some 401k-retirement calculators.
I have also asked her to “wax and polish” her facebook for a more professional presentation and create a profile on Twitter and LinkedIn prior to submitting resumes.
You think she would be all over my advice since one of my responsibilities is hiring for a mid-size software development company.
I finally sat her down in my office and walked her through the process I use to hire an individual. Showing her the current tools HR/Recruiters/Hiring Managers are using like Dayak, a recruiting marketplace, in replace of / or in conjunction with paper-ads or job boards. Then I took an applicants resume and started googling the individual, checking his facebook, etc… her eyes finally opened.
I just want her to be smart. ; ) oh AND organized. I am buying her books to read this christmas. I think Emotional Intelligence will be at the top of the list.
Sam
Comment by Sam Brooke — September 22, 2008 #
Nice article, Dan. I’m a college senior so these types of posts are always interesting to me.
Two questions I have when reading these kind of warnings:
1. Do the people who are losing job offers because of their social networking profiles not know how to use privacy settings? If you are Job Recruiter X and you Google search “David Heiser” you will be able to see that I have a Facebook profile, but, unless you are my friend, you won’t be able to see anything more than my “Basic Info.”
2. We’ve all heard rumors that Facebook has deals in place with corporations to be able to bypass privacy settings for employees or potential hires, but I’m very skeptical that this could happen without being leaked to the public. Is there a way that this could actually happen?
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I understand that our social networking profiles now serve as partial online resumes, but with the ability to choose privacy settings like we can, how is any reasonably intelligent person going to leave negative information available to the general public?
Comment by David Griffin Heiser — September 22, 2008 #
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You’re absolutely correct… I’ve been recruiting for 10 years and in fact just published a video called “Five Secrets From A Recruiter That Every Candidate Should Know!”
and you hit one of my secrets… check it out ->
http://www.moxiemoshow.com/five-secrets-from-a-recruiter
Comment by Jeff McCord — September 27, 2008 #
Yes … writing, you become very deep and the main pravelno reveals the problem. The author went to the article very seriously. I have not read anything like this for several months. Thanks to the author.
Comment by Men Health Drugs — September 28, 2008 #
[...] has certainly changed in the past few years. It is said that 1 and 4 hiring managers use social networks to screen candidates and 10% of admission officers do the same with perspective students. What is your opinion on using [...]
Pingback by Become the Chief People Officer for the Brand Called You « Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel — September 29, 2008 #
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