Over one in three jobseekers believe employers will not look at their social media profile, yet 60 per cent of employers use social media to gain a deeper understanding of a candidate’s skills and experience, according to a survey by recruiting experts Hays.
Of 561 Australians polled, 37 per cent said they do not alter their social media habits when job searching because employers won’t look at their profiles. But 51 per cent said they change their privacy settings when job searching and the remaining 12 per cent untag pictures and edit content.
Yet a separate survey of over 280 hiring managers found that 60 per cent use social media or Web 2.0 tools to gain a deeper understanding of a candidate’s skills. 57 per cent use such tools to validate CV content and 50 per cent use them to screen candidates. One third (34 per cent) do so to find out who a candidate associates with.
