A great article in the NY times last week sheds a little more light and throws out a kind reminder for those using social networks. In this article, the New York Times refers to a report (click for .pdf) called Online Reputation in a Connected World. Nearly 75% of human-resource professionals and recruiters are required by their employers to conduct online research about potential candidates–including the likes of Facebook, Twitter, personal web sites, blogs, and other information-sharing ‘sites. This comes as little shock to me, as many of my career advisors during my last year of college emphasized the importance of one’s web appearance and reputation. Not only do 75% of companies look at one’s online reputation, a shocking 70% of U.S. recruiters report they have rejected candidates solely based on information that is found online. But, hey, at least they’re nice about. The survey reports that 86% of these companies inform declined candidates they have been rejected due to what’s been found online about them.
There is no question that a majority of the people in the United States are just simply not aware of internet data privacy concerns. U.S. citizens don’t have as much of a sense of privacy or concern for who delves into their private lives. That information is freely available for all to browse, so companies like Google (who everyone loves, right?!) have no problem taking advantage of it. The report also states that candidates around the world are starting to get the picture. 80% of the 1,106 worldwide consumers surveyed in this report claimed that they have attempted to keep their private and business lives separate–keeping personal information online protected.
So, for now, everyone out there looking for jobs (especially recent grads): know the ropes. It’s really pretty obvious that no employer wants to hire someone that appears to spend more time doing keg stands than anything else. Just take an extra few seconds in the account settings and adjust your privacy settings a bit to make sure any information you’re posting is information you want everyone to read.
Here is another great article related to this report and other issues regarding online privacy.
