Dec 09 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)
Facebook, Twitter Current Status: Hirers are Watching You Closely
Sneha Shah & Rica Bhattacharyya
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Mumbai
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Prospective employees who post radical views on various subjects, get tagged in inappropriate pictures face risk of rejection
Sachin Keshav's (name changed) rile about a past employer on his Facebook page might have earned him many likes and forwards, but it has spoilt his chances of landing a better job next time.Keshav, a mid-level employee of an information technology firm, is among scores of prospective employees whose Facebook and Twitter accounts are under close employer scrutiny. Candidates who post radical views on various subjects apart from negative comments about previous employers face the risk of never being called for an interview or receiving job offers. Having a clean image on social media is equally important, according to executive search industry experts.
“A profile on a social medium like Facebook is normally woven in with traditional recruiting programmes. This helps HR personnel to do background checks and screen profiles of potential recruits,“ says Manoj Biswas, managing director, HR for Accenture in India.
Though Facebook is meant to be a leisure activity, it is important to keep a professional profile while looking out for a job. “Employers, to a great extent, have second thoughts on an individual who appears to be insensitive and tactless on such an open forum,“ says Biswas.
While more than 90% of hiring managers use professional networking site LinkedIn as a tool to source candidates, in certain industry sectors, such as IT, more than 50% of hiring managers scan candidates' profiles on Facebook and Twitter before shortlisting them.
“An online scan does not just save time, but also helps get an insight into the candidates' personality traits which is critical for assessing their cultural fit with the organisation,“ says Prashanth Nair, managing partner and country head of Inhelm Leadership Solutions, a global headhunting firm.
According to Nair, even blogs and comments on various public groups are scanned. Everything on social networking sites -being tagged in inappropriate pictures, communication skills in comments and blog posts, negative comments on an issue, comment bombing or having an opinion on everything, friends and followers and even the posts shared -can come in the way of prospective employment with a company .
Such scanning of social networking sites could be mostly for role-specific hiring for managers at the middle level though not for CXO-level hiring as most of them are not present on FB, says Sinosh Panicker, associate principal at executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles. However, Rohit Karnatak, senior director, Asia for Pinkerton, a corporate risk management services provider, says there are cases of such scanning even for senior and top-level hiring.
“A firm is more worried about the image the top-level executive will create about the company and hence such checks are rampant in that league,“ he says.
“People should be careful of not sharing information online that the company treats as confidential, controversial or proprietary, no matter how exciting it is -even long after leaving the organisation,“ says Karnatak.
Karnatak's firm, which helps companies perform background verification checks on candidates, has seen a steady rise in such mandates. “Earlier if one in every hundred clients asked for such a check to be carried out, today there are ten in hundred. We definitely are witnessing an encouraging upward trend here,“ he says.
There are a couple of other dos on social media networks that prospective employees need to keep in mind.
One: Consistency in information about educational background and employment history. “I did not bother to update my Facebook and LinkedIn about employee history. Some of the information did not match with information provided in the resume. I was almost rejected by my employer had they not sought a clarification,“ says the vice-president of an information technology company.
Two, when using Facebook to land a job, you need to modify your profile so it reads like a resume. It is imperative to list your education, former employers and volunteer organisations you have worked for. “This gives the employer an overview into the kind of work you previously performed as well as some credentials,“ says Biswas.
Importantly, keep pictures on your profile to the bare minimum. You can also highlight your accomplishments through some good photographs. Ensure that the captions are concise and adequate.
Expect the employer to read your profile, and edit it carefully. Make it professional, informative and well written. “Networking has always played an important role for job seekers. Social media just takes traditional networking to a new technological level,“ says Biswas.
Besides “behaving well“ on public social networking sites it is important to keep your privacy settings in place. Also, you need to search your name on search engines from time to time to see what comes up.
It's not just enough to walk tall in the real world. What you do, say, and above all, how you project yourself in the online world is key.
“A profile on a social medium like Facebook is normally woven in with traditional recruiting programmes. This helps HR personnel to do background checks and screen profiles of potential recruits,“ says Manoj Biswas, managing director, HR for Accenture in India.
Though Facebook is meant to be a leisure activity, it is important to keep a professional profile while looking out for a job. “Employers, to a great extent, have second thoughts on an individual who appears to be insensitive and tactless on such an open forum,“ says Biswas.
While more than 90% of hiring managers use professional networking site LinkedIn as a tool to source candidates, in certain industry sectors, such as IT, more than 50% of hiring managers scan candidates' profiles on Facebook and Twitter before shortlisting them.
“An online scan does not just save time, but also helps get an insight into the candidates' personality traits which is critical for assessing their cultural fit with the organisation,“ says Prashanth Nair, managing partner and country head of Inhelm Leadership Solutions, a global headhunting firm.
According to Nair, even blogs and comments on various public groups are scanned. Everything on social networking sites -being tagged in inappropriate pictures, communication skills in comments and blog posts, negative comments on an issue, comment bombing or having an opinion on everything, friends and followers and even the posts shared -can come in the way of prospective employment with a company .
Such scanning of social networking sites could be mostly for role-specific hiring for managers at the middle level though not for CXO-level hiring as most of them are not present on FB, says Sinosh Panicker, associate principal at executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles. However, Rohit Karnatak, senior director, Asia for Pinkerton, a corporate risk management services provider, says there are cases of such scanning even for senior and top-level hiring.
“A firm is more worried about the image the top-level executive will create about the company and hence such checks are rampant in that league,“ he says.
“People should be careful of not sharing information online that the company treats as confidential, controversial or proprietary, no matter how exciting it is -even long after leaving the organisation,“ says Karnatak.
Karnatak's firm, which helps companies perform background verification checks on candidates, has seen a steady rise in such mandates. “Earlier if one in every hundred clients asked for such a check to be carried out, today there are ten in hundred. We definitely are witnessing an encouraging upward trend here,“ he says.
There are a couple of other dos on social media networks that prospective employees need to keep in mind.
One: Consistency in information about educational background and employment history. “I did not bother to update my Facebook and LinkedIn about employee history. Some of the information did not match with information provided in the resume. I was almost rejected by my employer had they not sought a clarification,“ says the vice-president of an information technology company.
Two, when using Facebook to land a job, you need to modify your profile so it reads like a resume. It is imperative to list your education, former employers and volunteer organisations you have worked for. “This gives the employer an overview into the kind of work you previously performed as well as some credentials,“ says Biswas.
Importantly, keep pictures on your profile to the bare minimum. You can also highlight your accomplishments through some good photographs. Ensure that the captions are concise and adequate.
Expect the employer to read your profile, and edit it carefully. Make it professional, informative and well written. “Networking has always played an important role for job seekers. Social media just takes traditional networking to a new technological level,“ says Biswas.
Besides “behaving well“ on public social networking sites it is important to keep your privacy settings in place. Also, you need to search your name on search engines from time to time to see what comes up.
It's not just enough to walk tall in the real world. What you do, say, and above all, how you project yourself in the online world is key.
