What Employers Look Up On Social Media Sites

Mostly what HR professionals are looking up online is pretty standard information about candidates, like LinkedIn recommendations. Fewer — but still quite a few — are trying to find out more controversial stuff, such as photos or what groups on Facebook a job candidate belongs to.

That's the upshot of a SHLPreVisor study of more than 460 human resources professionals. The majority (53%) were in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, with 39% in the Americas and 8% in Australasia. Here's a chart showing what's being searched:

What Employers Look Up	Currently look at	Plan to
Previous work history	46%	15%
Education	46%	14%
Recommendations from others (e.g., on LinkedIn)	33%	19%
Other candidate information (e.g., hobbies, interests)	24%	16%
Candidate's stated interests, "Likes", current activities	21%	15%
Comments/links posted by candidate	21%	15%
Group affiliations (e.g., community or religious groups)	21%	11%
Pictures	15%	8%
Comments/links posted by candidate's friend	10%	11%

 

Thanks to Todd Raphael / ERE Media