Number of Employers Passing on Applicants Due to Social Media Posts Continues to Rise, According to New CareerBuilder Survey

Employers Share Most Unusual Things They Found on Candidates' Social Media Profiles

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Jun 26, 2014, 04:00 ET

CHICAGO, June 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- More employers are turning to social networking sites to find additional information on potential candidates – and they're not entirely impressed with what they're seeing. A new survey from CareerBuilder found that 51 percent of employers who research job candidates on social media said they've found content that caused them to not hire the candidate, up from 43 percent last year and 34 percent in 2012.

Forty-three percent of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates, up from 39 percent last year and 36 percent in 2012. Additionally, 12 percent of employers don't currently research candidates on social media, but plan to start, according to the national survey, which was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder from February 10 to March 4, 2014, and included a representative sample of 2,138 hiring managers and human resource professionals, and a representative sample 3,022 full-time, private sector workers across industries and company sizes.

Beyond Social Networking
Employers aren't limiting themselves to social networks when it comes to researching candidates' web presences. Forty-five percent of employers use search engines such as Google to research potential job candidates, with 20 percent saying they do so frequently or always. Additionally, 12 percent of employers say they've reviewed a potential job candidate's posts or comments on Glassdoor.com, Yelp.com or other ratings sites.

Helping or Hurting?
So what are employers finding on social media that's prompting them to eliminate candidates from consideration? The most common reasons to pass on a candidate included:

Job candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information – 46 percent
Job candidate posted information about them drinking or using drugs – 41 percent
Job candidates bad-mouthed their previous company or fellow employee – 36 percent
Job candidate had poor communication skills – 32 percent
Job candidate had discriminatory comments related to race, gender, religion etc. – 28 percent
Job candidate lied about qualifications – 25 percent
Job candidate shared confidential information from previous employers – 24 percent
Job candidate was linked to criminal behavior – 22 percent
Job candidate's screen name was unprofessional – 21 percent
Job candidate lied about an absence – 13 percent

However, one third (33 percent) of employers who research candidates on social networking sites say they've found content that made them more likely to hire a candidate. What's more, nearly a quarter (23 percent) found content that directly led to them hiring the candidate, up from 19 percent last year.

Some of the most common reasons employers hired a candidate based on their social networking presence included:

Got a good feel for the job candidate's personality, could see a good fit within the company culture – 46 percent
Job candidate's background information supported their professional qualifications for the job – 45 percent
Job candidate's site conveyed a professional image – 43 percent
Job candidate was well-rounded, showed a wide range of interests – 40 percent
Job candidate had great communication skills – 40 percent
Job candidate was creative – 36 percent
Job candidate received awards and accolades – 31 percent
Other people posted great references about the job candidate – 30 percent
Job candidate had interacted with my company's social media accounts – 24 percent
Job candidate had a large amount of followers or subscribers – 14 percent

"It's important for job seekers to remember that much of what they post to the Internet – and in some cases what others post about them – can be found by potential employers, and that can affect their chances of getting hired down the road," said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder. "Job seekers need to stay vigilant, and pay attention to privacy updates from all of their social networking accounts so they know what information is out there for others to see. Take control of your web presence by limiting who can post to your profile and monitoring posts you've been tagged in."

Watch What You Post
Employers shared the strangest things they've discovered on job candidates' or current employees' social media profiles, including:

Candidate's profile included links to an escort service
Candidate posted a photo of a warrant for his arrest
Candidate posted an exercise video for grandmothers
Candidate had sued his wife for shooting him in the head
Candidate featured a pig as his closest friend
Candidate posted his dental exam results
Candidate bragged about driving drunk and not getting caught on several occasions
Candidate was actively involved in a demonic cult
Candidate posted Sasquatch pictures he had taken

Privacy
Many workers and job seekers are taking measures to protect their privacy and avoid over-sharing with potential employers. Nearly half (47 percent) of workers only share posts with friends and family, 41 percent have their profile set to private, and 18 percent keep separate professional and personal profiles. Twenty-eight percent of workers say they don't use social media.

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,138 hiring managers and human resource professionals and 3,022 workers ages 18 and over (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government)between February 10 and March 4, 2014 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With pure probability samples of 2,138 and 3,022, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have sampling errors of +/-2.12 and +/-1.78 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

About CareerBuilder®
CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract great talent. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 24 million unique visitors and 1 million jobs. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing everything from labor market intelligence to talent management software and other recruitment solutions. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

Media Contact
Jennifer Grasz
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SOURCE CareerBuilder