Do You Really Think You're Invisible?

I recently attended an association meeting where we discussed the impact of social media, in respect to using these venues for background checks, in our industry (staffing). YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, and the list continued. We discussed, shared stories and were educated by legal counsel as to our limitations when doing our ‘research’. Disclosure needs to be addressed and signed off by both parties.

The most benign venue is LinkedIn. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this application, it is generally used for business purposes. The page is about your work history, your resume and your interests. It leaves little room for personal detail. It’s a tool in which you can ‘see’ and ‘be seen’ by business professionals. (That’s the quick explanation). What makes it benign is that there is little room for fabrication and is limited to business.


Secret: Recruiters shared that some candidate’s resumes did not match up with their LinkedIn profile information. Jobs had been omitted on the resume but had been listed on their profile page. Not good – that’s a disqualifier right there!


This meeting went down a rat-hole when we started discussing Facebook and YouTube. If you haven’t heard about these applications, you’ve probably been living under a rock. These are very popular social networking sites. The emphasis being on social. Individuals post thoughts and there are plenty of outrageous drinking, bathing suit pictures and don’t make me tell you about the videos on YouTube! Most of these pictures and videos are not illegal, so you think you shouldn’t have to worry about them... but you do and you should.

You are not invisible with social media when it comes to background checks. It doesn’t matter how many ‘privacy settings’ you choose, there is ALWAYS the back door and employers do find them. Recruiting firms are hiring employees whose only purpose is to research candidates on all social media venues, this is their sole function. They have plenty of time to knock on those invisible 'back doors'. You may interview well, but your ‘virtual’ life may speak differently about you and even possibly make it so they choose someone else.

Suggestion: Start deleting and cleaning up your virtual world! Can you look at your profile on any of these sites and feel absolutely comfortable about what you’ve written or pictures posted? What will incriminate you?

Harry Potter had an Invisibility Cloak, you don’t!