How Can Cyber Vetting Impact a Job Search?

It is incredible just how much online data can be mined about you and your social media activity. In an age where we need to give our consent for our data to be shared to access the most inconsequential of websites, we are selling our soul to be active online. Cyber vetting is a goldmine of information for a potential employer.

The data is increasingly being utilised in recruitment. A deep dive into your online life will uncover aspects of your personality that may never surface during a formal interview process.

And here arise the questions: Is our online activity genuinely relevant for a future employer? Does it reflect the sort of person that we are at work? Should they be unilaterally cyber vetting with no right of reply? Will they make moral judgements?

Of course, they will judge what they see. Conclusions will tend to concern the moral rather than the professional sphere. Yet, that data is out there, and more employers are starting to use it as a reference point.

Cyber vetting test

So how can a job seeker minimise moral judgement?

Firstly, don’t do anything online that you wouldn’t want your mum (or kids) to know about. You never know what dodgy spyware might be sitting on your laptop or phone and who might have an interest in delving into your activity records in the future. Either browse through a reputable private VPN or keep it clean and respectable. Something you did yesterday could surface in 8-10 years and cause serious problems.

Secondly, feel free to show some personality on social media, but do your best to avoid extremes. While HR professionals will be trained not to make snap moral judgements about what they find on social media, just one poorly thought-out post can cloud their judgement. They likely won’t trawl back through years of posts, but you never know. Keep away from politics, religion, gender issues, and prejudice. You might be passionate about some of these topics but try to keep the activity as neutral as possible.

Then there is the nuclear option of deleting most of your posts over a specific time period. There is no rule that you must have a social media past. If you decide to nuke every tweet except for the most recent few months, that is your decision. Some people enjoy scrolling through old posts. Are they worth the potential judgement of cyber vetting when it comes to changing jobs? 

Most employers will take social media activity with a pinch of salt, and it is a great way to find an employer where you can “be yourself” at work. However, if you come across a recruitment manager with a particular bias, your application may suddenly find itself at the bottom of the pile.

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This blog is shared with Job Seeker Duetists.

Written by former recruitment ghostwriter Paul Drury (not AI).