Increasingly employers admit to using social networking sites and search engines as hiring tools for reference checks in the employment process. Social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and search engines like Yahoo and Google have become very popular employment tools for employers to search and screen job applicants.

The Business Reason

The main reason that businesses conduct reference checks in the employment process is to avoid the cost and liabilities of a bad hire. A bad employment decision can cost a company dearly in morale, productivity and so on. An employee who engages in illegal, immoral or scandalous activities even when not on the job, can cost a company millions. So if cost avoidance is the motivator, should these companies also consider the cost from negative public perception especially from the Gen X and Y’s (who worship Facebook like an unofficial official religion)? Since it is this group, those currently younger than 30 who make up the majority of social network users. It would be interesting to survey public perception on employers using search engines and network sites to screen job applicants. It would be especially interesting to then split the results by age group. Anyway here is another post we wrote about the impact of social networking sites like Facebook on your career.

Posted by HRinmotion.

Take our interactive online course and ace your next interview!

Hire a personal job interview coach and learn from HR professionals

For more see our online job interview and resume writing courses. So until our next post, we wish you much luck and success in your career search.

______________________________________

if you enjoyed this post, we invite you to subscribe by email or RSS feed. Leave us a comment or contact us by email.

Email: