Last week I had a customer tell me “I’ve been doing some Facebook stalking”.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google are places HR Managers, Recruiters, and Hiring Managers go to see what else they can find out about an individual.

Do I shake my head or blame them? Not at all.

As we know, the cost of a bad hire (contractor or employee) can be high, whether that is the financial cost or just the cultural cost of having the wrong person in your environment for a period of time.

Now I don’t want to be a complete prude and tell people not to be authentic, but I suggest people think very, very carefully before posting or commenting on anything political, or related to a person’s gender, ethnicity, or otherwise.

FYI the “Facebook stalking” mentioned above ended all OK. They made a comment to me on the persons cooking hobby! BUT I am aware of people not progressing through the hiring process due to what Recruiters and Hiring Managers see and read on a candidate’s social media account.

Given the current employment climate think twice about what you write or post!

Taska is an All of Government approved Recruitment supplier that supplies contractors through to permanent hires to customers throughout New Zealand. You can learn more about us here, or get in touch with me at nathan.masters@taska.co.nz