Are You Non-Existent Online?

So, are people with no social networking profiles at risk of being disenfranchised?

I’m not in a hiring position, but if I were, the lack of an online presence wouldn’t necessarily be a deal breaker for me. But it would be a bit of a concern, and all things being equal, if I had one candidate active on Twitter, and one with no presence at all, I’d probably prefer the one who uses social media.

Now, when I say that, also understand that I’m talking about someone with a professional profile, not someone who is publicly sharing things that they really shouldn’t let perspective employers look at. On the other hand, responsible social media use shows some initiative. It shows that you not only do good work, but you have a curiosity about your industry and a desire to educate yourself and do better work. The good candidate without any online presence doesn’t seem to have the same drive and initiative. That’s not to say that candidate doesn’t have those things, but they are going to have to do more to prove it.

As a hiring manager, if I can find you on LinkedIn and Twitter, I can get an idea of how much you are doing, what kinds of things you are sharing, what you consider good sources of information about your industry. I can also get a feeling about what kind of communicator you are, and how open you are to different ideas. If you don’t have those things, I have to guess a little bit more about you. When you are competing with other qualified candidates, the last thing you want is for me to have to guess anything about you when I don’t have to guess about the others.

What do you think, would the utter lack of online presence bother you when making a hiring decision?

Follow these topics: Career