Do Employers Check Social Media (You Bet They Do!)

It has become an increasingly common question among job applicants: Do employers check social media? The answer: Yes. In fact, 70% of them do, according to a CareerBuilder study. In an extremely competitive job market, employers are pulling out all the stops to ensure they are considering candidates who are professional, brand conscious, highly qualified, and reflect effective communication skills.

What better way to do this than by conducting an employer social media check?

And, speaking of “check,” do your social media profiles check the criteria we listed above? If you answered “no” or even “I don’t know,” it will behoove you to keep reading! It will be worth your while beating those hiring managers to the punch by conducting your own social media audit.

How Do Employers Find Your Social Media? (Are They Allowed to Do This?)

Before we get into how you can do your own social media quality control, let’s answer the questions above.

First, the answer to how employers find your social media platforms is quite simple: They do a quick online search. Second, are they allowed to do this? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is…

While any employer or hiring manager can do a two-second Google search to find your social media, they need to be cautious when it comes to complying with anti-discriminatory laws. If for example, they violate the United States Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) compliance regulations, they could face legal repercussions. To scan your social media, your permission (as an employee or job candidate) is required.

Compliancy is a major reason why companies are being guided to utilize third-party online reputation management companies—such as our EEOC and FCRA compliant LifeBrand AI technology. Our AI is incapable of being biased in relation to gender, ethnicity, religious preferences, and other legally-sensitive factors. It protects you and an employer from prejudice and possible legal ramifications.

But, hiring managers and employers aren’t the only ones who can benefit from doing a social media scan. By evaluating your own platforms first, not only are you in control of removing harmful posts, but you are one step closer to curating the type of social media that attracts employers (and job opportunities).

What Companies Checking Social Media Find in a Scan (and You Can Too)

Some of the most common items that employers find when conducting a social media scan of employees and job seekers include:

• Suggestive and even salacious videos and photos
• Criminal behavior
• Inappropriate language and content
• Elicit alcohol or drug use (either in photos/videos or mentions)
• Deceitful and incorrect job qualifications
• Deficient communication skills
• Accusatory or defamatory posts about a previous employer or co-worker

To tell you just how many harmful posts our AI typically finds, we’ve seen an average of 33 per scan! Rather than leaving your social media to chance, why not do your own social media cleaning? We are here to help you get ahead in a competitive job market by making sure your social media checks out in the best way possible.

 

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