Louisa Robinson writes for Durham’s Palatinate on a survey showing nine out of ten employers screen applicants for their online presence:

Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are increasingly being used by graduates for professional as well as personal reasons, but can job seekers really combine personal and professional personas without conflicting interests?

Such social networking sites give us space to display a more confident, well rounded depiction of ourselves that CVs don’t permit. They can give a good impression to employers, who are increasingly using social networks in recruitment efforts – and 68% have hired someone due to their social networking profile.

There are clear economic and time benefits to employers directly headhunting individuals through such sites, as the information is delivered for free, and is accessible earlier than going through traditional recruitment channels. However – as many already know – social networking sites can also have a detrimental effect: a survey by social media monitoring service Reppler has found that 91% of employers use social networking sites to screen employees, and, whilst many have hired candidates thanks to their social profile, 69% have in fact rejected a candidate after seeing how they present themselves online…

Full article here.