If you’re applying for new jobs, you may want to take a closer look at your Facebook, Twitter and other social media profiles before your prospective employers do!
A new CareerBuilder survey says 70% of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates, while 7% of them plan to start.
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Here are the 10 primary reasons why job applicants have been eliminated from consideration because of their online profiles:
Be careful what you post! Here are the social media mistakes that can cost you a new job
What may be even more surprising is that 57% of employers who do social media research say they’ve found content that caused them to NOT hire candidates, the national survey of more than 1,000 hiring managers and HR professionals found.
- Posted provocative or inappropriate photographs, videos or information: 40%
- Posted information about them drinking or using drugs: 36%
- Had discriminatory comments related to race, gender, religion, etc.: 31%
- Linked to criminal behavior: 30%
- Lied about qualifications: 27%
- Had poor communication skills: 27%
- Bad-mouthed their previous company or fellow employee: 25%
- Screen name was unprofessional: 22%
- Shared confidential information from previous employers: 20%
- Lied about an absence: 16%
Employers aren’t always digging for dirt. They may be looking for information to support a candidate’s qualifications for the job, see if the candidate has a professional online persona or check what other people are posting about the candidate.
But this is a good reminder to use common sense and think about how what you post can have serious long-term consequences.
According to CareerBuilder, you shouldn’t expect social media monitoring to stop once you’re hired. Nearly half of employers (48%) say they use social networking sites to research current employees.