IT and marketing employees aren’t the only workers browsing social media during the workday in the office.  CareerBuilder reported that approximately 60 percent of employers use social networking sites to research potential employees.  This is about 50% higher than last year.

CareerBuilder has performed its social media recruitment survey every year since 2006.  The survey was conducted by Harris Poll from February 10 – March 17 and included representative samples of over 2,000 hiring managers and HR professionals, and over 3,000 full time United States workers in the private sector.  The survey included people from all industries and all company sizes.

Social media allows HR experts and human resource managers to gauge what a candidate is really like outside of what’s on paper.  Hiring managers in IT and sales proved to be the most likely to screen candidates using social media as a tool.  Professional and business services were least likely, according to the survey results.

These hiring managers aren’t always looking for something negative either.  Some managers admit that they are looking for anything that supports their qualifications for the job, while others say they want to see what other people are commenting about the candidate online.

Keeping social media profiles private might also hurt in the long run.  About 41% of employers say they’re less likely to interview candidates if they’re unable to find any info about the person online.  In that case, it’s important to carefully screen what goes live on a profile page.  Human resource experts urge employees and potential employees to steer away from things like inappropriate content, anything that suggests drug use, and anything that might suggest ill will towards a previous employer.