Job candidates who avoid building an online profile might be at a significant disadvantage when competing for a position with those who tweet, post on Facebook and have the coveted 500+ rating on LinkedIn.
CareerBuilder used survey data gathered by a Harris Poll to find out how important an online presence was to those with hiring authority. What popped up was that, to many of those surveyed, an online presence is critical even to getting that first job interview.
"More than one-third of employers (35%) say they are less likely to interview job candidates if they are unable to find information about that person online," CareerBuilder reported.
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That's because these hiring professionals are using social media to construct their own candidate profile prior to deciding whether to interview an individual. It's almost as though hiring managers are looking at two resumes – one submitted by the candidate, and another crafted by the hiring manager.
Here are some of the findings:
- 52% use social networking sites to research job candidates, up from 39% in 2013
- 60% seek information to support a candidate's job qualifications
- 56% want to see if the candidate has a professional online profile
- 37% want to see what other people post about a candidate
- 21% are looking for reasons not to hire the candidate
- 51% of hiring managers use search engines to research candidates
But the pursuit of online candidate information varies drastically by industry segment. Hiring managers in the IT field are 30% more likely to search online for information compared to those in retail. Here's the industry breakdown provided by CareerBuilder:
- Information technology: 76%
- Financial services: 64%
- Sales: 61%
- Professional and business services: 54%
- Manufacturing: 49%
- Health care: 49%
- Retail: 46%
And some managers get a bit sneaky when it comes to online candidate sleuthing – the survey showed that 35% of respondents said they've requested to be "friended" by a candidate or followed them on a social media site, and eight in 10 said they got the green light from the candidate.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
