Phoenix Business Journal : Thursday, April 19, 2012, 9:58am MST
Social media is becoming a favored tool of research for companies looking to fill positions.
A CareerBuilder survey released Wednesdaysaid 37 percent of companies are turning to social media sites to help screen candidates. They're looking for the job candidate's professional presentation, whether he or she will fit into the corporate culture and look at qualifications.
Twelve percent told CareerBuilder that they use social networking to find out if there's a reason not to hire a candidate. The top reasons include posting an inappropriate photo, evidence of using drugs or drinking and criticizing former employers.
"You can certainly learn a lot about a person by viewing their public, online personas," CareerBuilder Vice President of Human Resources Rosemary Haefner said in a statement. "However, hiring managers and human resources departments have to make a careful, determined decision as to whether information found online is relevant to the candidates' qualifications for the job."
She suggested that candidates tailor their social media profiles to maximize attractiveness to employers and get rid of anything that puts you in a bad light.
Interesting fact from the survey: Eleven percent of those hiring professionals said they couldn't glean anything from social media sites about candidates because their corporate policy doesn't allow it.
To test your company’s social media presence, you can enter the Phoenix Business Journal’sSocial Madness presented by Capital One Spark Business. It’s a competition designed to test your company’s social media presence in a tournament-style challenge. Here are all the details.
