I recently had the opportunity to speak at the Raleigh Convention Center as part of the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Network 2019 Conference. I was one of three speakers leading a breakout session on “Building Your Brand”. I addressed how companies are using social media to evaluate candidates for employment. Below are snippets from my 10-minute TED-style talk. If you are interested in understanding how an employer might view your online presence, take a moment to google yourself and then contact me to learn how you can use social media in your career in a positive way.

In October, a Texas company publicly shamed a female candidate by sharing her bikini picture on Instagram. They said that it was a public service announcement to other candidates of what not to share on social media if you want a “professional job”. While the company rightfully received considerable backlash for how they handled this situation, there is an important lesson in here for all of us.

Prior to transitioning to career coaching, I was a recruiter for 18 years. In preparation for today, in addition to using my own experience, I reached out to several other recruiters and HR professionals to better understand the role that social media plays in how companies view and assess your candidacy. Whether the social search is part of a formal or informal hiring process or out of natural curiosity, you can be sure that someone is looking. The question is, what are the looking for?

Among the recruiters and HR professionals I connected with the level of digging ran the gamut from casual google searches out of curiosity to in-depth deep dives through like & follow history.

• When I asked whether or not companies had formal social media policies, more often than not I found that companies do not have a formal process outlining:
  • what should be searched
  • when a search is conducted or who is responsible for conducting a search
  • what they do with the information they find
• A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management unveiled that 57% of companies do not have a policy relating to screening potential employees’ social media.
  • If they have one, the social media review policy would define both what the employer is and is not looking for in reviewing social media. For example, a company might include a search for negative postings about past employers, material relating to alcohol or drug abuse, crime, dishonesty, etc.
• Many in HR will not check social media until the candidate has signed off on the background check because of concerns about discrimination based on the information they now know about a candidate from seeing them online. It is illegal under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and discrimination laws to use the information found to discriminate against someone because of a protected class. If the information is related to religion, race, gender or another protected class, employers need to be careful before using it as the basis of an employment decision.
• At the other end of the spectrum are the recruiters who said that checking is part of their MO. Recruiters in this camp will tell you that social media history is one of the most effective ways for a company to get a truly honest snapshot into who a candidate is as a person, and whether or not they are a “cultural fit” with the organization.
• And if it’s not the recruiters, it’s hiring managers. According to a 2018 CareerBuilder survey, 70% of employers are using social media to screen candidates during the hiring process. Of those who conduct social media screening of candidates, 57% say they discovered content that caused them not to hire a candidate.

First, let’s talk about why they are looking. Several reasons:

• It’s a great way to find candidates, especially in a competitive job market. In fact, more than 70% of the global workforce are passive candidates. It’s our job to find you. And not just on LinkedIn. One recruiter that I spoke with recently found a candidate on Instagram. She said sliding into people’s DMs is part of her job.
• Your social media can give a recruiter a more accurate or complete picture of who you are when you aren’t trying to be perfect on your resume and in an interview.
• They want to know if your brand matches theirs and if you’ll be an advocate for the company. When you work for a company, you become a walking piece of marketing collateral for the company and ambassadors of the brand.
• Your posts tell me something about your judgment. Employers want to hire someone who has strong decision-making skills and good judgment and ethics. Is what you post how you will behave on the job, at a meeting or on a client’s site? Will you potentially be disruptive to the work environment or create a potential liability for the company? Do you understand what types of content are appropriate for different types of social media accounts?

Let’s dive into things that companies care about.

• Drug use, heavy drinking, sexually offensive materials, violent imagery or anything else that reflects poorly on the applicant, especially discriminatory comments related to race, gender, religion or other sensitive issues.
  • A few years ago, we did not move forward with a candidate because of an excessive number of pictures of drinking/partying on her social media. She was going to be the assistant to a senior partner and communicating with clients on his behalf. If I could easily find these pictures, so could our clients. Right or wrong, the partner did not want those images to be a reflection of him or the services provided by our company.
  • When it comes to drinking (images of taking shots, drunk on spring break, passed out), the concern is how you will conduct yourself, especially if your role involves travel for work, attending conferences or working on a client site. How will you conduct yourself in those places – will you harm the company’s reputation or hurt a relationship with a client?
  • I’ve been involved in 2 situations in which we had concerns about the safety of our employees based on the number of images of guns and gun-related violence on their social media.
• Bad-mouthing previous employer or fellow employees.
• Lying about qualifications.
• Poor communication skills
  • I once passed on a candidate because of the quality of her writing on her Facebook page.
• Links to criminal behavior.
  • This is where it can get tricky for an employer if someone googles a candidate’s name before a background check is run and/or someone outside of HR becomes aware of this information and passes judgment on a candidate before they should or in a situation where that criminal behavior may not be relevant to the job they are being hired for.
• Sharing confidential information from previous employers.
• Unprofessional screen name or handle – I have passed on candidates for this before.
• Posting too frequently. Will you spend your workday posting online?

So, what do we do when we find something that concerns us?

• In a number of situations, there’s a broader conversation between HR, recruiting and the hiring manager. From an HR perspective, we need to make sure that we are not potentially discriminating against candidates and making sure that we are treating all candidates equally (meaning a hiring manager can’t look at one finalist on Instagram but not another).
  • If the information comes up as part of a background check covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, then we need to give the person a copy of the information, say it was the basis of our decision, and allow them to correct or clarify. But it does not mean that we have to hire the person.
• Often hiring managers/recruiters will just decide not to move forward and the candidate never knows that they didn’t get the job because of something found on social media. If the information is not subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, then the employer does not need to share the information with the candidate.  
• Sometimes, companies will ask for another interview for a candidate who is otherwise a great – this interview is focused on cultural fit.

If you think you can let your guard down once you’re employed, that’s not necessarily the case. In the CareerBuilder survey, half of employers surveyed monitor the social media activities of current employees. This has resulted in disciplinary action, either terminating or reprimanding an employee.

So, does this mean you shouldn’t have an online presence?

Absolutely not. We know that you are human and have a life outside of work. And social media can be a great way to find a job. Most of us, assuming we have a LinkedIn profile, have been approached by recruiters about job opportunities. In fact, 31% of all hires are proactively sourced. We want you to have social media so we can find you. 1 in 5 employers expect candidates to already have an online presence and nearly half of hiring managers say they are less likely to screen an applicant if they can’t find them online.

You can use social media in a positive way by:

• Providing information that supports your qualifications
• Showing your creativity, especially if you are working in a creative field
• Conveying a professional image
• Sharing your wide range of interests
• Aligning yourself with the values of a positive company culture
• Using strong writing skills
• Sharing awards and accolades
• Asking others to write recommendations for you on LinkedIn
• Interacting with a company’s social media

The best strategy is to be vigilant about what you post online and to monitor when others are tagging you in their posts.

• Keep it PG-rated – you don’t know how people will feel about profanity, politics, drug use (even if legal in some states), religion and guns.
• What do you find when you google your name? Who can see your social media accounts? Are you connected to co-workers or potential future co-workers? You don’t want to share information that’s too personal or deceitful, such as photos of you living it up while you’re supposedly out of the office sick.
• Post work-related content – with the use of technology and how it’s blurring the lines between work/life, think about how you can incorporate a positive work image into your social media such as attending conferences and participating in a company-sponsored event. These things send a positive message about how you will behave as an employee.

As long as you are purposeful and aware of what you are sharing online, you shouldn’t have to worry about your candidacy for jobs or keeping a job you enjoy.