After the recent news of prospective employers asking for job candidate’s Facebook passwords, it makes sense that those searching for a job may be a little concerned about what their social media profiles say about them.
But according to an article called “Social Media Secrets from Hiring Managers,” by David Mielach, a BusinessNewsDaily staff writer, a new survey reveals that 65 percent of hiring managers who checked social networks did so to see how job candidates presented themselves while 51 percent wanted to determine whether the candidate was a good fit for the organization.
Only about 12 percent of hiring managers were looking at social media sites to find reasons NOT to hire a candidate.
Mielach writes that the most common strike against candidates was posting inappropriate or provocative pictures online. Information about drinking or drug use, poor communication skills, bad-mouthing a prior employee, making a discriminatory remark and lying about qualifications on social media were other reasons for not hiring a candidate.
Some things that helped job candidates were showing their personality, conveying a professional image, providing background info, showing a wide-range of interests, displaying communication skills, being creative and having people post references about you.
Source: “Social Media Secrets from Hiring Managers,” Fox Small Business Center http://bit.ly/ISlmTE
