The Social Screen

Your digital breadcrumbs may cost you a future job. Employers are looking for clues into a prospective hire’s personality on social media sites, sometimes rejecting candidates based on what they find online

- Vidya S.

WE SAW THIS candidate’s Instagram account and this person is always travelling. So, how can you say that this person will work hard?” Founder Vikram Ahuja of Talent500, which enables global companies to set up remote teams, was recently privy to this conversation with a recruiter about a potential hire. While this is an extreme instance of how your social media presence can be perceived by a prospective employer, it’s an example of why you may want to hold off on tweeting your impassioned and radical views on a politically charged topic. Chances are it could cost you your future job.

Recruiters and hiring managers are not just stopping by your digital avatars to cross-check factual information but also to size up whether you are a match culturally for the organisation; in some cases they are rejecting the candidate based on what they find online.

A 2020 poll among 1,005 hiring decision-makers by US-based staffing solutions firm Express Employment Professionals found 67 per cent respondents saying they use social networking sites to research potential job candidates. A 2018 CareerBuilder survey carried out in the US found the number to be at 70 per cent. While a similar study could not be found in India, several recruiters and experts in the field admit they do pick up on the digital breadcrumbs left behind by jobseekers. Those, along with their résumé, interviews, psychometric tests, panel discussions and other assessment tools are used to make hiring decisions.