One in every three firms has rejected job applicants due to their social media image

36% of businesses have rejected candidates for a job due to their social media image, according to the ‘Connected Talent’ report prepared by Infoempleo with the collaboration of EY. Most businesses, more specifically 83%, say they check shortlisted candidates on social media before making a hiring decision, especially before conducting an interview (45%).

The report reveals that the aspects businesses mainly take into account when rejecting candidates are related to their defence of any type of violence or discrimination (76%), their support for the consumption of drugs or alcohol (75%), and the use of inappropriate images (73%).

For six out of every ten personnel recruiters, candidates who are active on social networks are more likely to find jobs than those that do not use social media. However, 35% believe that candidates do not develop their personal brand adequately. Businesses are also aware that their presence on digital channels is relevant: 95% believe that having a good image as a business is important when attracting the best talent.

However, when candidates have a negative experience, 40% are less prone to buy products/services from that brand, and 73% share their bad impressions about the business with their closest friends (90%), with the company itself (19%) and through their social networks or on some other ‘online’ space (17%).

Lack of response

While 71% of businesses say they keep all candidates informed about the status of their job applications, candidates state that the most negative aspect in their experience is the lack of a response (62%), followed by the excessively commercial use businesses make of their media accounts (31%) and the lack of job openings (22%).

In addition, only four out of ten candidates say they receive information about the status of their job applications. In view of this, businesses should improve their selection processes, mainly with regard to response times (70%), simplification of the tools used for the nomination of candidates (39%), and dissemination of offers (39%).

Regarding the search for new opportunities, job portals are candidates’ first choice (98%), followed by corporate websites (95%) and recruitment companies (93%). Social media are also frequently used when looking for jobs, according to 88% of users who mainly use LinkedIn (55%) and Facebook (54%). Despite this, only 48% of professionals with accounts in these media claim to have been contacted at least once through these channels regarding a job offer. However, 63% of them did not finally get the job.

On the other hand, for companies, web employment portals are still the most widely used tool when recruiting workers (97%), whereas the use of social media as a means to attract talent has fallen in importance and has lost ten points in the past two years, from 84% in 2016 to 74% today.