Job seekers have their say on social media's place in the recruiting process

It exists in the public domain, but job seekers say that’s no reason to use a social media profile as part of the recruiting process.

In an online survey by recruiting expert Hays, 38 per cent of New Zealand job seekers believe employers use social networking profiles to help vet applications, but should not do so.

35 per cent of job seekers not only believe employers use social networking profiles, but also believe that they should use such information to vet applications. Just 27 per cent think employers do not use social networking profiles as part of the recruiting process.

“This survey reignites the debate about public versus private life, but this time it’s not celebrities or politicians that are arguing their right to privacy, but every day job seekers,” said Jason Walker, Managing Director of Hays in New Zealand.

“The majority of job seekers feel that their personal life is their personal life, and their social media profile should not be used as part of the decision making process.

“The opposing argument says any actions that take place in the public domain are open to public scrutiny and assessment. From this position some might say reviewing a candidate’s social media profile is not that different to conducting a security check - although consent is required for the latter. So is a social media profile really any different from any other publicly available data? 38 per cent of job seekers certainly think it is.

“In our experience, most employers do not leap to check a candidate’s online profile. It is far more common that an employer will extend their vetting process to include social media only if they feel a candidate might not be what they are portraying themselves to be in their face-to-face interview.

“In such cases, a Facebook profile with a public setting may reveal content that could make an interviewer see you in a different light.

“So if you are job searching, it would be wise to change your privacy settings so that you do not share all your posted content with everyone. But don’t just restrict your focus to pure social sites like Facebook or Twitter. What about content on video-sharing sites, online forums or blogs? What about comments you’ve made on social bookmarking sites? A potential employer who is using cyberspace to gather information about you will not stop at Facebook, so neither should you when editing your social media profile.

“Of course, you can also make cyberspace work for you to enhance a potential employer’s perception of you. For example, you can leverage the LinkedIn network or show your passion for your particular specialisation by blogging about latest trends. This last point in particular can highlight your expertise to a potential employer and show them what you could bring to the company, which can be very powerful,” he said.

The survey was conducted on hays.net.nz and asked: Do you think employers use social networking profiles to help vet applications? The responses were:

Yes - Employers should use all available information 35.09%

Yes - But I don’t think employers should 37.54%

No – I don’t think they’re used to vet applications 27.37%

855 people completed the survey.

Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people.

About Hays

Hays is the leading global specialist recruiting group. It is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide. It operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments.

Hays employs 6,933 staff operating from 345 offices in 28 countries across 17 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2009, Hays placed around 50,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 270,000 people into temporary assignments.