What a Candidate’s Social Media Behavior Says about Them

Like it or not, a candidate’s social media presence should certainly impact your overall opinion of them during the hiring process. Irresponsible social media behavior could end up causing your business an issue down the road should you choose to hire this individual. When you’re taking a peek at how this candidate expresses their opinion online, here’s what you should keep in mind:

It’s okay to show some personality

Showing some personality online isn’t a bad thing. Particularly if you’re hiring for a social media role, you want someone who can create social media content that has a unique and engaging voice. People don’t want to read boring tweets that sound as if they were generated by a machine. If your candidate is quirky or funny or nerdy online, that’s great.

It’s okay to express an opinion

Some hiring managers are hesitant to make an offer to a person who expresses their opinion on social media platforms, but doing so doesn’t necessarily mean that person is reckless online. It’s okay to have an opinion about issues, as long as these opinions don’t include spouting off derogatory speech about certain groups of people. They also shouldn’t be laced with profanity. However, before you extend an offer to someone who seems to have their fair share of opinions, you’ll want to make sure that they understand that these opinions should remain on personal accounts only and aren’t appropriate for company pages.

If they seem like all they do is party, there’s probably some truth to that

Posting a few pictures or statuses about going out with friends is great. However, if every photograph or tweet discusses getting sloppy drunk, you may want to rethink your decision to hire this person. You want someone who has fun, not someone who has to be the life of every party. If it’s clear that the person’s only interests include discovering the bottom of a bottle, it may be time to reconsider that offer letter.

Yes, spelling and grammar do matter, even on social media

Sure, we all fire off a tweet too quickly and make a typo. It happens. But if you notice that someone is constantly mixing up “their” and “there” or misspelling basic words, these are definitely candidate red flags. Good grammar, proper punctuation, and accurate spelling count, even online. Failure to pay attention to these matters could indicate a more serious problem with good writing skills.

How do you evaluate your candidate’s online presence? Share with us in the comments!

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