Written by james | 19 January 2010
Posted in Social Media

While social networking sites have been spreading like a bushfire on the hottest day of the year, employers have recognised them as an invaluable tool. As more people than ever display their entire life stories and let loose their personalities on the world using the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Bebo, employers are checking out their unsuspecting applicants as they interact with friends and family.

The Carrerbuilder.co.uk site has found in a survey of employers, as many as 53% are using social networking sites to ‘screen’ their potential employees. It’s proving a smart choice as they can now find out the characters and attitudes of applicants to avoid hiring those “bad eggs”. If you are hoping to find job opportunities in 2010, you may want to read our lists of top reasons to recruit or boot.

 

Top reasons to recruit:

1. (61%) The profile shows and helps to support professional qualifications
2. (41%) Excellent communication skills can be seen on their profile
3. (37%) The profile shows a good well-rounded candidate
4. (28%) The personality shown provides a good feeling that they will fit
5. (24%) The applicant showed substantial creativity
6. (22%) The applicant showed that they have a professional attitude
7. (15%) There were awards/accolades displayed on the applicants account
8. (15%) Others had posted good references about the applicant on their profile

Top reasons to boot:

1. (38%) Qualifications were found to be false
2. (31%) The applicant showed poor communication skills on their profile
3. (13%) The applicant had used discriminatory remarks
4. (10%) Applicants posted comments saying they had been using drink/drugs
5. (9%)  Applicant had shown indecent/inappropriate photos of themselves/others
6. (9%)  Previous/current employers, colleagues or clients being insulted by applicant
7. (8%) Applicant had leaked confidential info from previous employers/clients

So if you want to still be employable, don’t be stupid and post anything from the latter list on your profiles because the employers are watching...