What Employers look for on Facebook Profiles
As social sites like Facebook become more established, they are increasingly being seen as a source of background material for recruiters. TheNew York Timesreported in 2011 that 75% of recruiters are now required by companies to do online research on candidates. With845 million active usersas of February 2012, it comes as no surprise, therefore, that Facebook is almost certainly the first point of call for recruiters looking to do online background checks.
Understanding what recruiters are looking for, and what they don’t want to see, may initially seem pretty obvious. Inappropriate pictures, videos and other content should almost certainly be taken as a given, but it isn’t quite as straightforward as that. What you should be aware of is that your Facebook profile can help you portray the right or wrong image and that you can influence the content to your advantage.
Good social skills but no party animals
Employers are looking for people that can easily fit into the workplace. Individuals with good, rounded social skills will be attractive. What they don’t want to see is people that are constantly out getting drunk or misbehaving but that doesn’t mean that your social life isn’t attractive to them. Updates about civilized meals spent with friends and other social activities reflect well on you as a potential candidate so it’s a good idea to keep your profile updates with positive social content.
Strong ethics - selfish people need not apply
Your Facebook is a great way to advertise how you have strong ethics in your life. Details of activities to raise money for charity or to contribute positively to the community reflect very well on your personal ethics and can easily be brought to life through Facebook. Use photos, videos and links to other websites to really promote your efforts.
Emotional stability not people that are highly strung
Astudyconducted by multiple universities in the US looked at the performance of a group of candidates following an assessment of their personality profiles on Facebook. The higher the personality score, the higher the evaluation by the employer. One of the key factors in this was around emotional stability. They didn’t want to see users making lots of negative or complaining posts and a positive attitude throughout the page resonated well. Avoiding excessively emotional content is advisable too – or at least restricting it to private posts.
Expertise but not idle gossip
Your Facebook page can easily demonstrate expertise and insight that a recruiter will be interested to see. Sharing links from reputable sources and engaging in constructive intelligent conversation with like-minded friends demonstrates a clear depth of thought. This could be highly relevant to a future employer and can also show real insight and expertise to back up your resume and interview performance. Mindless chat or gossip is likely to alienate recruiters.
Truth not embelishment
Does your Facebook profile contradict something on your resume? If it does then you should quickly seek to address it because that’s an easy way to get caught out. A recentreporton the Telegraph website showed that 38% of job applicants had been rejected for lying about qualifications on their resume and getting caught out on Facebook. Never underestimate the ease with which a potential employer can compare the two sets of data. Honesty is an essential pre-requisite in any role.
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