According to a US survey by Careerbuilder.com (source, marketing charts) - 45% - so nearly half, of employers check up on potential staff on social networks. To be honest, I am surprised it's so low.
29% use Facebook, 26% use LinkedIn and 21% snoop on MySpace. However only one in ten (11%) searched blogs while barely one in twenty (7%) followed candidates on Twitter - the two sources that will often tell you the most.
And what don't employers want to see on there? 53% of bosses that trawl through social media turned people down for posting "provocative or inappropriate photographs" (inappropriate according to who?) while 44% didn't give someone a job because they were drinking or using drugs.
My own view is this: I don't do a Facebook search for candidates as I find that kind of creepy. Despite 'Facebook is public' bleating (actually it's not if you change the privacy settings), I still see Facebook is somewhere where you hang out with friends, and not something for potential bosses to be raking through.
I do however take a cursory look on Twitter - after all, unless someone has protected their settings it is public - and I definitely check through blogs. The latter isn't even done to look for any skeletons in the closet, rather it normally tells me a lot more about a person's writing style and interests than a standard CV ever will.
Image - Jovike
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