Social media networking sites are becoming a silent snapper for the people who are seeking employment in a recession hit job market, as employers are now compelled to run social media employment background checks as their primary tool for hiring.

1. Social Media Employment Background Checks – How To
Remove a Hurdle for Your Employment Success!
Social media networking sites are becoming a silent snapper for the people who
are seeking employment in a recession hit job market, as employers are now
compelled to run social media employment background checks as their primary
tool for hiring.
A real life story can be a better example to let you understand how social media
employment background checks are hurting employment careers of people in a
silence of midnight. Josh is a social media friend of mine; we have got
connected almost 5 months ago through Facebook. One day, he told me his
story about how social media employment background checks have affected his
employment venture.
Let’s hear it from him,” Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace: The opportunities to
join the wave of social networks are seemingly endless. Not wanting to be left
behind, I jumped in feet first and joined all the popular social networks and
posted all sorts of information about my likes and dislikes.
Like many people I joined Facebook as a way to connect with old friend and to
make new friends/connections. I populated “my page” with information about
where I live, my gender, my marital status, my desire to meet new people, my
birth date, hometown, political views, religion, my favorite activities, favorite TV
shows, favorite films, music preferences, contact information, and a simple bio.
All the stuff is for my “friends” of whom I now have hundreds, most of whom I
have known from work.
In much the same way, I have made access on LinkedIn where I have more than
500 friends on this more “business-like” network. My work history, references,
job duties etc. are openly displayed and all you have to do is search for my
name and you too can know too much about me. A number of colleagues have
me recommendations and they are openly posted for the world to see.

2. I did the same social website relevant activities on MySpace and Twitter as well.
After sometime I got a call from a recruiter who viewed my social media “public”
profiles and wanted to talk to me about a CEO position at a new startup
business. The truth is I am not looking for a job and I am very happy with my
portfolio of entrepreneurial activities like writing, consulting, teaching etc. Yet,
this call is clear evidence that social media networking works.
Yes, you can say that I am a real player in the social media universe. But, here is
the rub. The employer already knew all about me, I mean he knows each and
every thing about where I have been working in past years, what are my
interests, about the co-workers who recommended me (he referenced me from
them for cross check), he knows my current activities.
Candidly, I realized that he knew too much about me and it is my own fault. I
disclosed all the information on these social networking websites—yep, I am
really a player or, should I say, I am really a chump!
Listening to that story, anyone can understand that employer and recruiting
agencies are peeking into your social media networking profiles and activities,
whether your share a picture, commented on a friends note, shared a video etc.
They are seeing everything and whenever you want your employment they will
unveil all the facts, positive or negative, in-front of you.
Social media employment background checks are becoming a infectious these
days as every employer want to screen his prospective employee from every
nook and corner of his life to make a best hiring decision.
For job seekers, it is becoming another hurdle between their employment
successes. Recently, The Federal Trade Commission of United States of America
ruled that your postings on any social media site can be saved by on-line
background screening companies for up to seven years. It may not sound so
bad if you're a teen, but those postings could come back to haunt you in the
future when you're job hunting.

3. Existing employees are as well in a row which will be hit by a strict monitoring
through continuous social media employment background checks for different
activities; their seven years of social media history can be checked for
compliance to company laws.
Social media employment background checks are compiled into a report with
examples of professional honors and charitable work, along with negative
information that meets specific criteria, like online evidence of racist remarks;
references to drugs; sexually explicit photos, text messages or videos; flagrant
displays of weapons or bombs and clearly identifiable violent activity.
How to Resolve the Situation – Let Me define the 9 Simple Ways to Survive a
Checks
Social Media Employment Background Checks:
1. Be friendly but don’t be stupid. Be careful about who you allow in your
network since friendship is about quality not quantity.
2. Keep your profile page simple. Try not to overload the page with goofy
widgets, bells and whistles.
3. Post tasteful photos only. Pictures of you and your friends in a drunken
stupor from last weekend could prove to be hazardous to your career.
4. Avoid trashing your friends, classmates, work colleagues and employers.
5. Use spell-check and write in English. Text-speak can be unbecoming to a
professional.
6. Always respond to your friend’s requests and messages.
7. Be-Aware and Create Awareness: This is darn need of a time to raise
awareness and caution among the people over how digital footprints
remaining on social media can affect current and future employment
prospects.
8. Now everyone must have to understand that if they are becoming social
then they should know that they are being watched and every single
comment on a social networking site is recorded to be used when the one
is going for a job hunt.

4. 9. Always prompt for tight privacy settings on your personalize profile on
any of your social media site, so only that information can be accessed
which you want to be seen publically.
Concluding with another interesting anecdote:
My dear friend Robert smith told me about inappropriate picture sharing can
hurt, he explains, “A former employee of mine and a “friend” just sent me a
FaceBook “news feed” showing pictures of her at a bachelorette party stuffing
dollar bills down a male stripper’s thong. She seemed to be having a great time,
but what image does this portray to a potential employer doing a background
check? Might it kill the job offer? I think it might.”
My Personal Recommendation:
Make sure your social media public profile on these websites is purged of any
information that might be controversial or extreme, since your next employer
might be viewing it for social media employment background checks.