Do Employers Check Your Social Media?
Up to 60% of employers check your social media before making a job offer.
Is Big Brother watching? You bet! A recent survey by The Manifest showed that 67% of companies will view applicants LinkedIn profiles and 65% view Facebook profiles. So, what does your social media say about you?
From a personal perspective I will nearly always look an applicant up on LinkedIn – I must admit I am surprised when an applicant still does not have LinkedIn. I started my LinkedIn profile nearly 10 years ago in the UK and the uptake of LinkedIn during that time was huge; relocating to Australia and particularly in the fashion space I was genuinely surprised how many people didn’t have one or had a very basic page.
Bottom line – if I can find you on LinkedIn easily it would be rare for me to continue that search on Facebook or Instagram. So, what are we looking for on your LinkedIn profile?
Dates, Companies and Titles match up – although this information is not exactly verified it does go some way to helping build a consistent image of your professional experience.
Good communication skills – taking the time to write an About Me section and provide detail on each role gives a recruiter insight into your written communication skills and your ability to convey your capability. These are the sections where we want to know “What you can do” and “What you have done” not just rephrasing your responsibilities. Generally, we know what your role is responsible for.
Professionalism and Culture Fit – your social media is used to ensure that you convey a professional image and appear to be a good culture fit for the company – this is a good time to think about what profile picture you use, and what you comment on and how you comment on it – these are all visible to someone looking at your profile on LinkedIn.
But Recruiters are not just using social media to snoop on you – they are also using it to recruit you. Yep behind LinkedIn, Facebook is the biggest platform used to recruit candidates. Which is even more reason to make sure that your personal branding on your social accounts is one you would be happy with!
Its always a good idea to check back through your socials to make sure that you have the right privacy settings, and that the content displayed is an accurate representation of who you are today. It could be time to delete old pictures or remove any language that you feel could give off the wrong impression.
Add in volunteering and internship experience and follow companies that you want to work for – add in skills that you know are sought after and you are making it all the easier to be found on social media.
Take it with a grain of salt though!
Insights gleaned from social accounts must be taken with a grain of salt. After all they are ASSUMPTIONS. And our personal perspective and opinions make it easy for us to have a bias when recruiting. My rule of thumb is to screen an applicant first, and then if there is anything that is cause for concern, I have some insight of how to approach that with the applicant.
And secondly approach a social media snoop with a lens of reason too – a controversial post that was shared 5 years ago may not be cause for alarm today!
But online snooping - it is a two-way street!
I always recommend that applicants do their research and check out a Brands socials too – only 18% of job seekers check out hiring managers and companies on social media. You can do some research on your potential employer too.
Company culture is going to be a big factor in your decision and the reality is you will not LOVE every workplace for whatever reason. Make sure you do some research to check that the company is a place you think you can thrive in.
There are platforms where ex-employees can review the company they worked for – for example Glassdoor, and generally an agency Recruiter will have a fairly strong insight into companies within the sector they recruit for – so ask them what they have heard!
So, who is off to check their privacy settings on Facebook?
Want an expert opinion on what image you are conveying on LinkedIn? The Talent Mill does LinkedIn profile reviews – contact me for more information on angela@thetalentmill.com.au
Are you ready to find your dream job?
