This document discusses how employers can use social media and the internet to screen potential job candidates. It provides tips on searching candidates' profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other sites to find more information about them. While this can help in the hiring process, the document also notes legal issues around discrimination if unsuitable information is found and used in deciding not to hire a candidate.

1. Web 2.0 / Social Media Optimization & Search Engine Optimization

2. Social Networking Sites With the increase in popularity of social networking sites, more organizations are utilizing Web 2.0 channels to help in their hiring decisions. CareerBuilder recently released a survey showing that 22% of companies check social networking sites when considering hiring a candidate. And almost one-third said that what they found on those sites caused them not to hire a candidate. Social networking sites, such as, , ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, , , , , , online forums, niche communities, etc., are great tools in locating and getting “insider” information on potential employees. Web 2.0 technologies plus an increase in employers’ understanding of how to use these tools can dramatically change hiring decision making and processes.

3. Benefits The ability to search through resume–like job histories on LinkedIn and other social networking sites. Employers’ can learn about candidates in depth - On LinkedIn, you can find out their past and present positions, who they are associated with and their references. - On Facebook, you can find the groups and people they are associated with and even photos. LinkedIn Profile Facebook photo Cost-effective way of posting jobs on sites such as - Craigslist.org - Backpage.com Social Media Optimization

4. Drawbacks By using Facebook, Twitter, etc, an employer is merely reviewing publicly available information, they could in fact learn something that they would rather not know when evaluating an applicant. - For example, you could learn that this person is a member of a non-obvious protected class such as: a member of a particular religious group, a homosexual, disabled. If this candidate is not hired, and is able to show that such information was uncovered in an internet search, they could then allege it was the reason they were not hired. It may then become the employer’s responsibility to show that they did not take this information into account when not selecting this candidate for employment. The state of New York has statutes in place prohibiting discrimination based on lawful, off duty activities. - For example if you were to learn through the internet that an applicant is a strong supporter of labor organizations and you do not hire the applicant, you must be able to provide a legitimate reason for not hiring. Most important: Treat all applicants the same. “Google” all applicants for a position or none of them. Social Media Optimization

5. LinkedIn – Finding the Right Applicant LinkedIn would be the most sufficient website for the initial process of finding the right applicant: Run an advanced search on LinkedIn. Type in the keyword relating to the job you are looking for and the specific location in which you are based (this can be broken down by industry if need be) After you run a search you can check the results to see if you have any shared connections with anybody. People often obtain a sense of comfort if they share a connection with a trusted source. Sharing a connection also provides the opportunity of contacting the shared connection to get an “inside scoop” on the potential applicant. If you find somebody who has relevant experience, you can look to see if A) They are interested in career opportunities and B) If their most recent position has an end (signifying that they are no longer employed).

6. LinkedIn – Finding the Right Applicant People often embellish on a resume, but since your online resume is open to the public on LinkedIn it is harder to hide any lies. If a past (or current) position is pertinent to the job opening specifications, the following should be checked for: Does the person have a lot of connections for a particular company? If a person has a lot of connections for a particular company it verifies that the individual is honest about their position and job tasks. People are hesitant to overly embellish when they can be easily be proven wrong. Do they have any recommendations for a position? LinkedIn provides the capability of recommending an individual for future employment based on past job experience. A connection who has worked directly with the individual or who is upper management tends to provide more credibility than just a random person/employee recommending the person. It is also important to be aware of the fact that people often do “reciprocal recommendations”. An employee might contact a fellow worker and ask them to write a recommendation for them and in return they will write one for the worker. These offer less credibility than an individual who receives a recommendation from a coworker without writing one in return.

7. Screening for Applicants MySpace: One in four Americans use MySpace You have the ability to make your MySpace private, but many individuals do not take advantage of this feature You can screen for any undesirable traits by checking the following information Profile picture Comments posted by other friends Friends might post about past drug use or other things that could turn off an employer Blog posts MySpace provides the ability to post in blogs that are visible on a user’s profile Posted pictures When clicking on the user’s profile picture, you can access all of their other posted pictures. Profile content A user’s profile content contains an array of things such as interests, music, television shows, favorite books, about me, who I’d like to meet, and more. This type of content could provide insight on the user’s “regular” personality, which will allow the employer to assess whether the individual would be a good fit for the organization. Google/Yahoo/MSN Search: This obviously falls more on the SEO side, but this works especially well if a person has an unusual name. By searching for their name on a search engine you might be able to find forums that they are a member of, picture websites where they uploaded pictures, or various other websites that mention the specific individual. This also works well by running a search on the e-mail address in which they provided you (people often use one e-mail address for everything)

8. Screening for Applicants Facebook: 36 million Americans use Facebook as of October 2008 You are only able to view a member’s full profile if you are either their friend or if you are within their network Based on privacy settings Network refers to job, location, or school You can screen for any undesirable information by checking the following Profile picture Profile content Very similar information to that of MySpace Groups the person is a member of or fan pages the person is a fan of You can check to see if a person is in a group that condones racism, drug use, or other “causes” that might not be on par with the company’s culture. Checking tagged pictures Checking tagged videos Wall posts Status Updates Refers to the one sentence random update a user types (similar to a Twitter post). There are a ton of different things you can also check (i.e. bumper stickers, profile boxes, application membership, etc.), but it might be overdoing it to list all of them in the PPT presentation.

9. Screening for Applicants : Check for uploaded videos pertinent to the individual by running a name-related search on YouTube. This is something that will be utilized more in the future for the “screening process”. Twitter is growing in popularity every day and more and more people are using it for “personal usage” If you can access a person’s Twitter account, you can see all that they are “tweeting” about unless their profile is set to private The privacy setting is used by only a small percentage of Twitter users. Since people often use this website to write their “random thoughts”, you might be able to find something unfavorable in an individual’s tweets that compromises the company’s culture.

10. Job Postings Craigslist.org Job Posting: CraigsList is a cost-effective way to find a relevant applicant. Cost is either free or $25 (depending on the popularity of location) Great for companies who are experiencing budget cuts due to the economy Select a location and a job category Create a title that will attract the right person Include job title or what you are looking for (“SEO Expert Needed” or “Marketing Manager Position Available”) Enter a specific location It is usually the most beneficial to write a region instead of a specific town (i.e. Nassau County instead of Syosset) Leaves the door open for more qualified candidates Do not post job in more than one location Craigslist will likely delete the posting if this is done Posting will expire in 30 days If it is less than 30 days and the post does not appear on the first two pages for the particular job category/location, it might be beneficial to delete the current post and create a new one in order to increase your visibility.

11. Forums Response from a recruiter Response from a member of the forum

12. Search Engine Optimization By optimizing a website or employment page , an organization can achieve top search engine rankings and attract the jobseekers who are looking for exactly the type of employment opportunities the organization has to offer. Search Engine Optimization Guidelines are as follows: Choose the appropriate keywords - If you target keywords that no one is searching for, your efforts will be wasted At the same time, be realistic, in most cases you won’t achieve high ranking for single keyword terms - 1 - 3 keywords per page, including different variations Importance of Copywriting - Actual body text is REQUIRED - Text you can highlight, copy and paste - Make sure to use the targeted keyword phrases in the page copy Utilize the title tag effectively - Target the primary keywords for the site - Use no more than 2 keywords phrases and the total number of words within the tag should be 6 or less Utilize Meta tags - The meta description tag should be used to describe the website - The tag should entice searchers to click on your site - The meta keyword tag should include words that are targeted in the title and copy Obtain quality links - Find relevant sites and directories to submit your site – quality not quantity counts

13. Search Engine Optimization Google Results – Organic vs. Paid ORGANIC

14. Thank you for your time! Questions? Andrew S. Hazen Founder & CEO www.PrimeVisibility.com www.AndrewHazen.com [email_address] 866-PRIMEV1 (631) 719-7400