Take a look at your Online Presence because employers certainly are!
A recent study of employers, commissioned by Microsoft, found that online reputation has become a significant factor in making hiring decisions, so be careful what your online presence says about you!
Highlights of the study’s findings include:
The recruiters and HR professionals surveyed are not only checking online sources to learn about potential candidates, but they also report that their companies have made online screening a formal requirement of the hiring process.
Of U.S. recruiters and HR professionals surveyed, 70% say they have rejected candidates based on information they found online.This is done even though recruiters and HR professionals surveyed report being very or somewhat concerned about the authenticity of the content they find.
Positive online reputations matter. Among U.S. recruiters and HR professionals surveyed, 85% say that positive online reputation influences their hiring decisions at least to some extent. Nearly half say that a strong online reputation influences their decisions to a great extent.
Compare these numbers to the fewer than 15% of consumers surveyed who believe that information found online would have an impact on their getting a job.
What does this mean for you? It means that you should maintain an active role in monitoring your web presence, especially social networking and other sites where you may be depicted in a “less that professional” manner. Be attentive to your own privacy settings and to what others post about you on these sites.
While you may think it is inappropriate for employers to be checking these sites, nevertheless the study notes that 63% of recruiters and HR professionals surveyed do review these sites, as shown in the following table.
Percent of recruiters and HR professionals who use these types of sites when researching applicants:
Search engines- 78%
Social networking sites – 63%
Photo and video sharing sites – 59%
Professional/ business networking sites – 57%
Personal Web sites – 48%
Blogs – 46%
News sharing sites (e.g. Twitter) – 41%
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.