70% of Employers Have Rejected Applicants Over Online Info

by Amar Toor on January 28, 2010 at 02:50 PM

We know you've probably had the date circled on your calendar for months now, but, in case you needed reminding, today is the 4th annual Data Privacy Day. The Microsoft-sponsored non-holiday was created exclusively to raise the public's awareness of major online privacy issues. And to commemorate this most cautious of days, Microsoft has released the results from a recent study that show just how negligent we are when it comes to managing our online image -- and how seriously that kind of negligence can hamper our chances of landing a job.

In a survey of Web-surfers, human resource workers, and employment recruiters across the U.S., U.K., Germany and France, researchers found that, although most people acknowledge that their personal online behavior may have ramifications in their professional lives, comparatively few actually consider that fact when publishing photos or posts online. A full 70-percent of surveyed HR workers in the U.S. admitted to rejecting a job applicant because of his or her Internet behavior. Meanwhile, about 60-percent of surfers admit to being concerned that their online behavior may affect their professional or personal lives. A mere 15-percent of them, though, actually take these potential repercussions into consideration when posting content.

By the same token, digital reputation can also have an equally positive effect on an applicant's chances; 86-percent of U.S. HR workers said that a good online reputation can have a positive impact on a job candidate's chances -- and about half said that a solid image can have a major impact. It's this positive spin that Microsoft's Peter Cullen wants readers to take away from the study, saying that "online reputation is not something to be scared of; it's something to be proactively managed." He urges the regular Web-user to cultivate "the online reputation that you would want an employer" to see.

In an ideal world, of course, your personal life would be impermeably separated from your professional existence. As we all know -- and as this study plainly shows -- that's just not the case anymore. We wouldn't recommend turning your Facebook profile into some saccharine rendition of a cover letter, though, as overt self-promotion is probably as much of a professional turn-off as those pics of you taking Jell-O shots freshman year. But just be aware that your online character is as much a part of your CV as your off-line character. It sucks, but it's reality. [From: Microsoft]

Tags: data privacy day, DataPrivacyDay, employment, hr, jobs, microsoft, privacy, top

Comments

JakeJan 28th 2010 4:01PM

Highly Ranked

Your headline misstates the data. It is not that 70% of job seekers (applicants) are rejected for online behavior, but that 70% of employers have rejected at least one applicant for that reason. That might translate to only 5% of job seekers -- it might translate to 90%. We don't know, because the study didn't publish that figure. Your headline should be "70% of employers reject applicants over online info."

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yaohongyanJan 29th 2010 6:31AM

Neutral

Network is very strong, and we have to admit that sometimes our inadvertently word, may be popular online, it is likely to create a lot of trouble for himself.
let's follow the rules make internet more beauty

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SeanJan 29th 2010 10:24AM

Neutral

People shouldn't have to be careful about everything they do in case an employer sees it. Isn't there some sort of anti-discrimination law to prevent this?

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krissy knoxJan 30th 2010 9:58PM

Neutral

Sean, It's not discrimination. Just don't say or do anything you wouldn't want a future boss to see or hear about. It's simple! Be the kind of person offline and online that is respectable and you won't have to worry want ANYONE thinks of you!

krissy knox :)
visit my main blog: http://sometimesithink-krissy.blogspot.com
connect with me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iamkrissy

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AndrewJan 29th 2010 4:21PM

Neutral

We're just in a holding pattern until the majority of management positions are held by Millennials. Once that happens, online behavior generally won't matter anymore. Members of the Millennial Generation are quickly and steadily losing their capacity to experience shame. For better or worse, that basically means that we simply don't care what other people think of our online behavior. It's only going to get more prevalent from here. Though in the long run, I'm not positive that's a bad thing.

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gailFeb 1st 2010 3:12AM

Neutral

It seems to me that the period in which one's private life was unknown by one's employer has been recent and short. In most times in history, people worked close to home and their employer (if they had one) was probably their neighbor. It's only probably been since the Industrial Revolution that work life became so separated from home life. But even in more recent times like the 50s and 60s, businessmen were expected to have wives who all socialized together and reputation was so important. I'm sure there are even better examples of this.

So really the main difference now is that the village is bigger and the employer is more faceless to the employee.

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paulFeb 1st 2010 9:41AM

Neutral

Do potential employees get to do background checks on their potential new bosses? Check out the company? Talk to the person they are replacing to find out what it is like to work there? Find out how the company is REALLY doing?

Nope.

This is another example of corporations sticking their noses where they dont belong. Employees get the shaft as always, and HR folks keep up the good work. Maybe you should start shadowing your employees? Maybe you can take some time out of work and start going through potential employees garbage and start stalking them. Do HR employees have nothing to do other than sticking their noses where they dont belong? You all sound like stalkers.

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tendoctorFeb 11th 2010 9:22AM

Neutral

Well, people can just adjust their privacy settings in social networking sites so that others can't just poke their noses in other people's business. For those who haven't touched their settings and predict that they might lose their job or not get hired, then I adjust they hire Reputec. My brother had this far too personal picture of him with another girl before and he does not want his present wife to see it. So he hired Reputec and they got rid of the picture for him. They also generated a lot of positive content so that when somebody types his name on Google, the good ones come up.

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