Thirty-seven percent of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates, down from a study in 2009 that found 45 percent of employers do so, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder.
Among the respondents that do not use social media for job screening, 15 percent says their companies forbid the practice while 11 percent of respondents say they do not use social media to screen potential employees but expect to start.
Respondents that use social media say they do so to determine whether the candidate presents himself or herself professionally at 65 percent, is a good fit for the company culture at 51 percent, to learn more about the candidate's qualifications at 45 percent, to see if the candidate is well-rounded at 35 percent and to look for reasons not to hire the candidate at 12 percent.
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"Because social media is a dominant form of communication today, you can certainly learn a lot about a person by viewing their public, online personas," says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. "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."
Thirty-four percent of respondents that use social media for job screening say they have found reason to not hire a candidate. These reasons include posting provocative or inappropriate photos or information at 49 percent, showing drinking or using drugs at 45 percent, having poor communication skills at 35 percent, bad-mouthing a previous employer at 33 percent, making discriminatory comments at 28 percent or lying about qualifications at 22 percent.
Conversely, 29 percent of respondents say they have discovered information that has led them to hire a candidate. This includes feeling good about a candidate's personality at 58 percent, conveying a professional image at 55 percent, displaying background information that supports qualifications at 54 percent, showing a wide range of interests at 51 percent, demonstrating great communication skills at 49 percent, being creative at 44 percent and finding references at 34 percent.
The most widely used social media sites used by respondents are Facebook at 65 percent and LinkedIn at 63 percent. Twitter is also used by 16 percent of respondents.
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