CareerBuilder News Release (04/18/12)

Approximately 37% of companies use social networking sites to research job candidates, according to a new survey from ASA corporate partner CareerBuilder. Of the employers who do not research candidates on social media, 15% said their company prohibits the practice. About 11% report they do not currently use social media to screen, but plan to start.

The nationwide survey, which was conducted by Harris Interactive from Feb. 9 to March 2, 2012, included more than 2,000 hiring managers and human resource professionals across industries and company sizes. When asked why they use social networks to conduct background research, 65% of hiring managers said they wanted to see if the candidate presents himself or herself professionally, 51% checked to see if the candidate is a good fit for the company culture, and 45% sought to learn more about the candidate’s qualifications.

“Because social media is a dominant form of communication today, you can certainly learn a lot about a person by viewing their public, online personas,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “However, hiring managers and human resource departments have to make a careful, determined decision as to whether information found online is relevant to the candidates’ qualifications for the job.”