How to Do a Social Media Background Check Before Your Employer

When applying for a job, your social media presence can play a more significant role than you might expect. In fact, a 2019 survey from First Advantage found that 60% of all employers screen all job candidates and current employees’ social media accounts. An additional 28% screen employees when the job requires it, while 7% are considering adding social media screening to their processes.

With more than half of all employers prescreening potential employees on social media, it’s more important than ever that job candidates do their own research beforehand. Read on to see what type of content you should be careful about posting and how to hide it from employers once it exists.

When it comes to content published on social media, you never know what’s going to rub a potential employer the wrong way. Remember that cute meme you posted last week that upset your cousin, for seemingly no reason? Our likes and dislikes are entirely subjective, and while we may think our content is harmless, you never know whom it might offend.

When it comes to prescreening your social media content for red flags, here are a few topics you should look out for:

• Photos that are suggestive, provocative, or inappropriate. Your beach vacation might even fall under this topic.
• Posts with sensitive information about a former or current job. Don’t air your company’s dirty laundry online. Not only could this be a breach of privacy, which can get you in some serious trouble, it also looks really bad to potential employers who won’t be too thrilled to see you badmouth your job.
• Posts with discriminatory content. From politics to gender or race, many employers will view it as a red flag if you’re making light of another group of people.
• Posts or photos showing you drinking or doing drugs. It doesn’t matter if you were at a bachelorette party or celebrating with family – employers don’t want to see these images in your profiles when screening you.
• Posts with poor grammar or communication skills. You may be all business on the job, but abbreviating every other word, misspelling, or falling into colloquialisms can cause employers to believe you’re a poor communicator.
• Frequency of posts. Some employers might see it as a bad sign if you’re posting too often. Not only does this suggest addiction to technology, but they may also be looking at timestamps and noting how often you post during the workday.

You should also be aware of how your screen names and social media handles present. Fun nicknames and quirky phrases might be inside jokes or witty references, but may not be appropriate for potential employers to read.

It’s always safe to assume that any employer may be checking your social media profiles, but more and more industries are utilizing social media for job screening.

No matter the type of company you’re hoping to work for, it’s important to know that 60% of all companies will do some form of online research on you before making a hiring decision.

If you think it might make sense to erase your entire social media presence, think again. Many employers will choose not to interview a candidate simply because they can’t find any information about them online. If you’re one of the 30% of Americans without a social media presence, you might experience this issue when applying for jobs.

To comply with local and federal laws, most employers will conduct a job screening social media check using the Social Intelligence Corporation (SIC). This protects the employer and also pulls more information than you can typically find through a Google or Bing search. The SIC won’t turn over all of the information they find — they have to comply with Federal Credit Reporting laws — but will send a report with any information matching the company’s predetermined search criteria.

Even if you aren’t in the market for a new job, or have recently landed one, the social media checks don’t stop after you’re hired. According to a recent study by PEW Research, 51% of the workers surveyed indicated their job had rules about using social media at work.

In addition, 32% of workers claimed their workplace had rules regarding how they’re allowed to present themselves on social media. That means employees can get into trouble not only for using social media at work but also for what they post on social media outside of work.

There are some rights employees have regarding social media, however. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has clearly outlined employees’ legal rights when it comes to social media conversations.

Here’s what you should be aware of in case your employer tracks down your social media outlets.

• Your job’s social media policies cannot punish you for discussing your pay, job conditions, or job terms. This includes discussions about managers, colleagues not pulling their weight, and unfair or low pay.
• Most state laws also protect you if you are a member of a political organization off-the-clock, no matter how distasteful it might be to your employer. Online hate speech, however, is not protected by the NLRB. Employees can be fired for making disparaging remarks against an entire gender, religion, or race.

While there are some protections in place, not hiring and firing employees for social media content is still a fairly new topic. The courts review many instances on a case-by-case basis. You should take every effort to protect yourself online to avoid workplace discrepancies.

You can’t eliminate social media entirely without potentially missing out on job opportunities, and you also can’t post every thought that pops into your head. So, how can you secure your online presence and keep your posts professional?

Before applying for a new job, you should do a social media screening of your own. Here’s a quick checklist of how to secure your social media profiles as much as possible.

• Review your profile picture. You cannot hide this photo on most social media outlets, so make sure it’s professional and showcases you in a positive manner.
• Get rid of inappropriate, questionable, or sensitive photos. If there are any images you’re tagged in or have shared that you wouldn’t want a new boss to see, delete them or make them available to friends only.
• Run a privacy checkup on Facebook. This social media platform allows you to do a quick checkup on your profile. To run the checkup, click on the question mark icon in the top bar of your Facebook account. Select “Privacy Checkup” and run through all of the steps outlined. This option will let you select who can see future activity and lets you decide how much to share publicly. You’ll also be able to go through past posts to hide any sensitive information.
• Create a professional Instagram. If you would like to have Instagram posts employers can see, or that represent your personal brand, consider making your personal Instagram private and creating a professional, public one.
• Check your Twitter posts. It’s easy to get involved in public debates on Twitter, and while you may stand by your views, you might not want your employer seeing them. You can make your tweets private by going to Settings, Security and Privacy, then Protect My Tweets. Selecting this option ensures only your followers can view your tweets.
• Revisit your personal blog or website. If you have a website you use regularly or an old blog that’s still alive on the web, you should revisit it. Check to see if there are any posts that paint you in a bad light. If so, remove or hide them. If you no longer use the website or blog, it may be easier to take it down completely.

Even after you’ve landed the job, you’ll be faced with coworkers requesting you on social media. While some coworkers may become trusted friends, others might be mere workplace acquaintances whom you may not feel comfortable sharing personal details with.

Set privacy settings appropriately and only add colleagues and managers to professional social media profiles.

Regularly check your online social profiles, so you never have to worry about scrambling to remove sensitive content before a job interview again.