By Nancy Mann Jackson
Once upon a time, a potential employer looked at your resume to find
the references you'd hand-picked to represent you, picked up the phone,
and usually got the glowing reviews you knew you could expect. (That's
why you picked those references, right?) Now, in the days of LinkedIn,
Facebook and Google+, a hiring manager has a number of additional tools
at his or her disposal to check you out before hiring you.
No longer does a hiring manager have to contact only the references you
suggest. He or she may search LinkedIn to find someone who worked in
your department at your former employer, and contact him or her for
information. He or she may peruse your Facebook or Twitter posts to
learn more about you – and contact those with whom you interact with
online to develop a broader reference check.
According to Jeff Shane at Allison & Taylor, a professional
reference checking company, job seekers should take steps to ensure that
their social media data isn't used against them. Here are his four
tips:
1. Take the time to research yourself online prior to beginning your interview process.
(One example: "Google" yourself.) The odds are very high that your
application, resume and credentials will be reviewed by prospective
employers for inaccuracies – better that you identify them first, if
they exist.
2. Consider expanding your reference list to prospective employers beyond simply an HR contact or supervisor.
Associates like a supportive second-level supervisor or a matrix
manager(s) can be key advocates on your behalf and might be more
supportive than traditional references like immediate supervisors.
3. Find out what your references will say about you prior to beginning the interview process. Use
a third-party reference verification firm to find out what references
at your most recent places of employment (in particular) will actually
say about you. Increasing the scope of your reference search (to
second-level supervisors, etc.) may identify additional favorable
references in senior positions whose names you may wish to invoke during
the interview process.
4. Know your rights. Be aware that employers are
legally prohibited from using certain social media data they may
discover about you during the hiring process, (e.g. data pertaining to
your race, religion, age, sex, sexual preference, etc.). Employers open
themselves up to lawsuits if they base their hiring decisions on such
discriminatory information.