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How public social cues changed candidate ratings

Social-media content affected ratings in one hiring experiment. That does not mean the ratings predicted job performance.

What a public profile can and cannot show

The evidence supports a real effect on judgment. It does not support treating a public feed as a reliable personality test or a proven measure of future performance.12

Facts and assumptions

A profile is not a reliable personality assessment.

Someone can check your professional details without drawing reliable conclusions about how you would perform at work.

FIG 01
Reasonable to verify

Facts tied to the work

  • Titles and dates
  • Published work or portfolio pieces
  • Professional credentials and links
Not reliably established

Personal conclusions

  • Personality from a post
  • Future performance from interests
  • Professionalism from an incomplete profile
For your own profile: check your titles, dates, credentials, and work links. A profile review alone cannot establish whether someone is suitable for a job.
Fig. 1 / Evidence and inferenceOnline screening can change a judgment. That does not make every judgment valid.Baker, Grimm & Ofek-Shanny (2024); SIOP Social Media and Selection white paper.

What the experiment actually showed

Evaluators reviewed candidates for a hospitality role while the researchers varied the social-media information available. Hashtags and liked pages changed candidate ratings. The result persisted in the experienced-recruiter pool.1

Why social screening can be unreliable

A 2021 systematic review concluded that social-media screening creates privacy, discrimination, and accuracy concerns when employers lack clear, consistent procedures.2

  • •A public post may be incomplete, old, decontextualized, or unrelated to the job.
  • •Profiles can expose protected characteristics before a structured review.
  • •Different reviewers may interpret the same content differently.

What is worth doing

Our advice: check the professional information you publish and decide what to keep private. The research does not identify a personal profile that every recruiter will interpret favorably.

  • •Reconcile titles, dates, credentials, and public work links.
  • •Use privacy settings intentionally on personal accounts.
  • •Keep public work samples current when they are part of your candidacy.

Limitations

  • •The 2024 experiment used one hospitality role and designed profile cues; it is not every hiring market.
  • •The experiment measured candidate ratings, not later performance.
  • •Employer practice varies. This article does not establish legal guidance for any jurisdiction.

Common questions

Do recruiters check social media beyond LinkedIn?

Some employers do. The evidence here shows that public social cues can affect ratings, but practice varies and the validity of those judgments is a separate question.

Should I link a portfolio?

Link it when it gives the reviewer useful work evidence that the resume cannot show on its own.

What should I check on my public profiles?

Check that titles, dates, credentials, and work links are accurate and consistent with your resume. Review the privacy settings on personal accounts and decide what you want to share.

How this shows up in your report

01

The submitted document only

The resume report evaluates the document you submit. It does not search or score personal social accounts.

02

No personality inference

We do not turn hobbies, politics, or lifestyle cues into a candidate score.

Sources and related research

Sources

  1. 01To Be or Not to Be on Social Media: How Social Media Content Impacts Recruitment — SSRN working paper (2024).
  2. 02Social Media Screening and Procedural Justice: Towards Fairer Use of Social Media in Selection — Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal via PubMed Central (2021).

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