67% of Russians Were Forced to Show Their Social Networks to Potential Employers During Job Interviews

For Russian employers, what their potential subordinates publish on social networks has become important in the last two years. Kommersant published the results of a study by AlfaStrakhovanie on the impact of social networks on employment.

Experts from HR Lab. – HR Innovation Laboratory" and the "Academy of Health" platform surveyed 1,663 Russians aged 18 to 55 from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod and other major cities.

It turned out that even before the interview, 67% of respondents were asked to show their social media profiles. After that, 19% of respondents were denied employment due to the content of their profiles, and 31% of Russians faced additional questions during the interview due to the personal content being published.

They can study not only general information in the profile and photographs, but also publications, reposts and other content. They can even look at comments under a nickname on forums and in public pages. This is done in order to understand the person, and in order to form a comfortable ecosystem in the team.

Most likely, tracking social networks and their impact on the career growth of Russians will only increase.

Understanding this, 13% of the study participants said that they created special separate accounts on social networks only for colleagues and employers in order to create a positive impression of themselves.

24% of these users collected attractive selections of personal photos, 32% deleted their previous posts and reposts and cleaned up the feed of public subscriptions. But 18% of Russians from among the survey participants came up with the idea of adding many subscriptions to thematic accounts in their field in order to form a beneficial and correct impression of their competence. However, there are also those who hide their social networks from viewing completely - this is as much as 2% of the survey participants.

In order to remain themselves in the digital space, 47% of Russians indicated that they created private profiles for personal use only for their loved ones in their new job. 21% of respondents did this after their personal life or hobbies began to be discussed by colleagues. At the same time, 62% of respondents admitted that they themselves willingly discussed information about a colleague from his profile.

Russians cannot be advised on a single correct strategy for behavior on social networks. The study says that in some cases, secrecy in social networks can play into the hands, since not all professions are suitable for a person who is open, public and media-oriented. And somewhere frequent posting on social networks and an active personal brand in them can harm. The employer may doubt whether you will have time for work tasks between posts and broadcasts.