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Why employers didn’t hire you after seeing your Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn profile!

Dave Gallagher, The Bellingham Herald

More employers have caught on to the fact they can find interesting information about a job candidate online, and that can be bad news for some people looking for work these days.

CareerBuilder recently surveyed employers about whether they took a look at social networking sites to learn more about job candidates. According to the survey, 45 percent of them did. Of those employers that did look up candidates on these sites, 35 percent of them found content that caused them not to hire a candidate, while 18 percent found content that was a factor in ultimately offering the job to the candidate.

The top examples on why employers didn’t hire a candidate after seeing them on sites such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn were not surprising. According to the survey, the posting no-no’s were inappropriate photos or information (53 percent), content about the candidate drinking or using drugs (44 percent) and badmouthing previous employers, co-workers or clients (35 percent).

Something that did surprise me was the number of employers who disregarded a candidate because they sent a message using an emoticon such as a smiley face (14 percent). Another 16 percent disregarded a candidate who used text language in an e-mail or job application, such as GR8 (great).

Of the employers who hired candidates because of what they saw on networking sites, the top example was that looking at the profile gave the employer a good feel about the candidate’s personality and how they would fit in the organization.

I would have expected more than 45 percent of employers to be looking at social networking sites when reviewing job candidates. With the national unemployment rate at 9.4 percent, there are plenty of qualified candidates to choose from, so a quick check online might help employers find which of the top candidates would be a good fit for the company.

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