As social media plays a significant role in our everyday lives, recruitment through social media is no exception. Currently, 84% of companies are harnessing social networks for connecting to a large pool of talent. It has become a reliable source for background verifications and screening.A survey of CareerBuilder states that 70% of companies use social media to screen prospective candidates. Platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram &Twitter enables hiring agents to seize additional information about job applicants other than their cover letters & resumes.Since social media presence is now a major deciding factor for hiring or rejecting a candidate, it is quite possible for a potential employer to turn you down based on some gaps in your profile.

Social Media Red Flags to Avoid

Every time you upload a status, picture, or story, you leave an online footprint, which is of great value especially when a majority of employers use social media for screening. Although their main purpose of using social sites is to ease the hiring decisions, but they end up disappointed due to the blunders which candidate’s make online.

There are several red flags which employers never fails to ignore when screening a candidate’s profile. Beware of these mistakes:

  • Fake information about qualifications- Employers discreetly verifies the work experience & education history by evaluating the social media accounts of candidates. You can get into a big trouble if there is a huge difference between the education qualifications & professional achievements displayed on your social media and the one written on your resume. Thus, be cautious of committing such a blunder.

  • Ranting former company– No company wants to hire a person who make negative remarks about his/her previous company, boss, or colleague on social media where a large number of people can access it. Employers counts it as a major put off.

  • Posting inappropriate or provocative content– It’s good to be self-critical when it comes to sharing something on social media. Your posts reflect on you as a person, so closely analyze your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram accounts.
    If you find any inappropriate video, image, or status, you should instantly delete or hide it as 75% of applicants got rejected for sharing inappropriate content.

  • Spelling Mistakes and Poor use of Grammar– You may have been using tons of slangs and abbreviations on your social accounts, but from a professional perspective it looks undesirable. Seasoned recruiters have the ability to spot even the slightest errors on your profile like writing “you’re” in place of “your.” They regard it as a reflection of how you would perform in routine tasks and may hesitate to hire you.

  • No Profile Picture– An account with no profile picture never stands out in the eyes of recruiters since the hiring agents scroll through hundreds of profiles per day. Consider using a background image that might be enough to prompt interest of the employers.

  • Discriminatory Comments (race, religion, gender)- Nowadays organizations embrace diverse hiring and select candidates solely on the basis of merit. A recruiter can reject your job application if you have made or liked any discriminatory comment on your social media profile. Employers look for open minded candidates who can work with people belonging to distinct gender, caste, race, & culture.

  • Being overly active or less active-Recruiters usually keep a track of your online activities, if you are always online posting, commenting, tweeting and sharing posts. It looks like you don’t have any other work in real. Draw the line and maintain a right balance between your work and online activities.

  • Less impactful Profile Summary- Does your LinkedIn profile precisely describes your qualifications, skills, & experience in one go? It needs some modification, if your answer is in negative. A haphazard profile won’t land you a job, you need to make it more compelling by using descriptive words, relevant keywords, previous company’s logo, first-person pronounces, job title, etc. Regard your LinkedIn account as virtual resume to drive more job opportunities.

Why Employers use Social Media for Hiring?

The concept of social media recruiting is not novel anymore. Due the rise in hiring and turnover costs, employers actively look for candidates through online channels. The online profiles give a true insight of candidate’s personality and help recruiters understand their professional expectations. It also facilitates employers to ensure if the shortlisted candidate have the required skills, personality traits, and qualifications needed for the position.

Following are the reasons for using social media recruiting:

  • To strengthen online presence of their company across different social networks

  • Find qualified candidates and evaluating their personality

  • To cultivate interest of top-notch talent in the job openings

  • For conducting background checks and screening of the applicants

  • Listing job openings

  • Reaching out to both active & passive job seekers

  • Quicker and cost-effective recruitment

The modern-day employers have understood that social media is a powerful tool to attract, engage, identify, and hire candidates. Also, it is much cheaper and less time-consuming for the recruiters to hire candidates through social media as compared to the traditional hiring methods.

Most used platforms to Search & Hire candidates

As the above remains the most popular choice of recruiters to hire candidates, it is utmost important for you to have active accounts on these platforms.

Build a strong Social Media Presence

Nearly 47% of employers say that they are less likely to screen a job applicant, if they can’t find them on social media. Thus, it is essential to improve your social media presence.

Ways to build a credible presence online:

  • Add online links to your work samples

  • Broaden your connections with LinkedIn’s Recommendations

  • Create your professional portfolio online or form your personal blog

  • Complete and update your social media profiles

  • Be more active on social media and share informative material

With a solid online presence, you can sail through exceptional job offers. Reform your online presence by deleting derogatory photos and posts to attract potential employers. If you need more insights on screening and interview preparation get in touch with our staffing consults. ImpetusIT- A staffing company you can trust!