Before you add any pics of last night’s drunken antics to Facebook you should probably know that a third of companies have turned people down for jobs after checking their social media accounts.
According to The Sun over half of HR professionals said that how a potential candidate’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinedIn accounts look can affect their chances of getting a job.
Some went even further than that and a third admitted to not passing candidates on to the interview stage because of posts and pics they’d put online, The Sun reports.
The Internet’s a two-way street though and according to one survey 28 per cent of applicants also admit that what they read about a company online has an influence on their opinion to apply for a job.
Jobseekers are also very aware about the impact that a ‘bad looking’ social media account can have on their job prospects and over half of men and women are conscious to keep their online presence looking professional.
Andy Summer, the Managing Dirctor of job site Monster.co.uk’s said:
More and more employees and employers are looking for a good cultural fit, so often a Google search will tell a recruiter more than a CV can.
Candidates should think about what they use each channel for – whether personal or professional – to build a profile for themselves.
The same applies to employers. The external employer brand of a business is really significant when attracting talent – so recruiters should think of the image they are projecting as an organisation.
Many focus on the potential negatives of social media when it comes to job applications.
While it’s important to manage your profile and think about privacy settings, social media can also be a really powerful tool to build a personal brand and make a candidate really attractive to an employer.
Facebook can affect more than just your professional life though, it’s also a contributing factor in divorce as people feel the stress of competing with their friends’ lives on social media.
Remember guy’s everyone’s Facebook wall is a highlights reel of their life, no one puts on their wall when they fell asleep eating a whole chocolate orange and it melted…
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.