Managing Your Online Reputation

Nearly half of U.S. human resources professionals are using social networks to research job candidates at least occasionally, according to a new survey by Harris Interactive and CareerBuilder.com. The survey found that HR professionals were most likely to use search engines such as Yahoo! or Google to research candidates online (41 percent), followed by Facebook (29 percent) and LinkedIn (26 percent). Respondents also said the information gathered from researching online profiles was more likely to get candidates rejected than hired, with 35 percent saying the information caused them to eliminate a candidate and 18 percent saying it caused them to employ someone.

The top reasons for rejection were "provocative or inappropriate photographs or information" (53 percent) and "information about drinking or using drugs" (44 percent). Job candidates also were thrown out of consideration because of negative posts about their previous employers, poor communication skills and discriminatory remarks.

Still, HR professionals also reported hiring a candidate because an online profile gave them a positive look into the candidate's personality, conveyed a professional image or showed the candidate was creative or had great communication skills.

As I noted back in June, it can also hurt job applicants to not have an online profile at all. If anything, the report highlights the importance of effectively managing your reputation online, as I'm sure the use of social networks among HR professionals to research job candidates will only increase in the future.