Yo, that picture of you in a hot tub with a beer in your hand and two attractive chicks sitting next to you sure looks great as the profile picture on your Facebook page, but can it prevent you from getting a job? The answer, somewhat surprisingly, is yes. Employers have been doing standard background checks and credit reports on employees for decades, but in recent years hiring managers have also begun checking out the personal social media pages of candidates under consideration for a position, a practice known as “social media background checks,” to determine as much as possible about a candidate before they hire them. The more pictures you have of yourself in compromising positions on Facebook and Twitter, the more damage you are doing to your employability status. Various reports suggest that between 50 and 90 percent of employers use social media background checks to vet out prospective employees.
