You all probably suspected that prospective employers may Facebook stalk you during the interview process, but I'm hear to assure that they do. In a regularly cited survey released by Microsoft Research last year 70% of recruiters asked said that what came up when they googled you lost you a job.
Reppler, a start-up tool for monitoring your social media usage, recently conducted another survey to see how 300 recruiters are using social media to screen candidates. The results are astounding. A whooping 91% of them are using social media tools to pre-screen candidates. About half of this 91% screens before they even met you and the other half screens during the interview process. 69% of these recruiters said they had denied a candidate employment based on what they saw. The biggest fault they identified, lying about your qualifications for a position.
It isn't all bad though. 68% of recruiters also said that more than once a candidate's Facebook profile landed them the job over someone else. Why? Because it showcased their honestly, relevant qualifications, creativity, and personality.
All this in mind it shouldn't come as a shock that in June the Federal Trade Commission approved a company called Social Intelligence which runs background checks of web content. The FTC determined that the company is in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act allowing them to operate. Their service uses data mining to compile full records of what you have said and posted to Facebook/Twitter/Flickr/Craigslist/Blogs/etc. If something job threatening shows up in your report it is saved on file for seven years. This certainly makes posting things to the internet a bit more risky. You do have to sign off on this the same way you would a criminal background check or credit report, but none the less think before you post.
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