According to the data collected in an infographic developed by Reppler, more than 90% of recruiters, hiring managers and human resources managers have visited the profile of a potential candidate in a social network as part of the selection process. This statistic is the result of a study that surveyed more than 300 business hiring professionals.

Of these, 69% have rejected some candidate because of what they found in that person’s profile. However, do not be discouraged because the profiles of social networks can also benefit us. Almost 68% of recruiters have made the decision to hire a person after seeing the profile of the candidate.

What are the networks that you usually observe? First, Facebook, a social network of friends and in which we must be very careful about what we share and what our privacy preferences are. If we want to comment on private things and have it only for us, the necessary adjustments must be made in order to avoid being discarded in a process. In second place with 53%, we see that recruiters take a look at Twitter and in third position is LinkedIn with 48%.

Something that many will want to know what are the reasons for discarding a candidate. In this sense, we find that having lied about a qualification (13%) is among the main reasons, followed by uploading inappropriate photos, making negative comments, having made negative comments about an old job or showing little communication skills, each one of them they with 11% are. They continue to make racist comments or apology for drugs (10%), upload content where we can be contemplated drinking alcohol or in a state of doubtful drunkenness (9%) and share confidential information about a previous job.

However, not all the signs and information shared through our social profiles can have negative repercussions. There are also others that can benefit us.

39% of recruiters and human resources managers say that candidates win whole when they get a good impression about personality and personal organization. 36% value the fact that the candidates do not lie and really have the qualifications we mentioned in a CV.

In parallel, 34% highlights the references and recommendations of third parties, that is, when they see good references on the candidates, to which add the opinion of 24% who value the acknowledgments, awards or decorations.

Our profiles on social networks can give recruiters a more accurate image to see if we have the skills to have the position, and about our personality. Keeping profiles clean and professional is not difficult, but we should only look at our pages and eliminate everything we consider, or believe it can be considered, unprofessional or negative. This includes networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter, although the limit will be set by us according to the networks we have.

The percentage of recruiters who observe our trail in social networks is increasing, so we must protect ourselves and protect our career by placing only what is necessary in our profiles.