What’s in Applicants’ Social Media Profiles? Effects on Recruiter Ratings and Job Performance

Abstract

Many organizations now assess applicants’ social media information (e.g., Facebook) when making personnel decisions. This study examines three issues related to the use of social media information during the staffing process: (1) the prevalence of job-relevant and job-irrelevant social media information and its relation to recruiters’ evaluations; (2) relations between positive versus negative social media information and recruiter evaluations; and (3) relations between social media information and job performance. We coded data from 140 Facebook profiles and then examined relations between the coded information and recruiter ratings of perceived hireability and supervisor ratings of job performance. Results revealed that job applicants’ gender, marital status, and education were related to recruiters’ judgments. Results also suggested that negative social media information (e.g., vulgarity) has a stronger impact on recruiter evaluations than positive information (e.g., participation in extracurricular ac...