Finding You Online is Easier for Employers Than Ever

Jennifer Fry
Careerminds Consultant

You’ve been warned a hundred times—and several warnings have come from this very blog—about employers screening potential job candidates by means of their social media profiles. Since April 2011, however, it’s become increasingly easy for employers to find not only your Facebook or LinkedIn profiles by searching through those websites or typing your name into Google to see what comes up, but to find your entire social presence collected into one complete profile.

The Social CV (a sort of “Google for people” as co-founder/director Bill Fisher has called it) aggregates data from over 30 social media platforms and allows employers to search this information using keywords (i.e.: data analyst, financial advisor) in order to find prospective candidates, and being so new, it’s possible you’ve never even heard of it. In the handful of months since its official launch, The Social CV has compiled information on upwards of 105 million candidates worldwide, and the numbers keep growing—their goal is to reach 1 billion, and with 400,000 new profiles added daily, they’re well on their way.

So, what does this mean for you, the job seeker? Well, the answer is two-fold; the implications of The Social CV’s ongoing efforts to compile all of your online information for easy access to employers are both good and bad, depending on what your profiles say about you.

First, assuming your profiles are in good shape, employers are able to find you easily, whether or not you’re aware of an opening at their company, whether or not there is a current opening—employers use this technology not only to fill current needs, but also to build a talent pool that will be available to them when a position does open up.

The catch, of course, is that, assuming your profiles are not in good shape, employers can still find you and judge you accordingly. The Social CV’s database is compiled by the company, itself, not by the candidates whose profiles appear on the site—there is an option to have your profile removed, but it is first compiled by The Social CV without your help.

The lesson here is simple: keep your social profiles in top shape, because it’s become even easier for employers to find them. Additionally, know what information The Social CV is giving the most attention. When an employer searches through profiles, the results are presented in ranking order, based on several components including quality of current/past jobs and places of employment, quality of colleges/universities, and others that combine to create a Talent Rank.

In an increasingly technological world, the job search is moving toward the digital along with everything else, and job seekers need to be aware of this ongoing shift. With over 105 million profiles from over 200 countries, The Social CV is quickly becoming the easiest way for employers to find those candidates who they may not have found using traditional job postings, even online, and ready or not, they may just stumble across your profile in their search.

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Careerminds provides scalable, strategic solutions to organizations seeking affordable, web-based outplacement services. Using a Web 2.0 e-learning platform that delivers affordable, online career transition services, Careerminds provides a high-tech and high-touch blend of on-demand career transition education supported by senior-level career consultants to help displaced workers reenter the workforce quickly.