Using Social Networks for Employee Background Checks

Nearly half of employers use social networks to check up on job candidates according to a study by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder.com. 45 percent of employers are using Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace or Twitter to search and do background checks on employees before they hire them and you might be one of them. The good news is that it can help you learn a more about a person outside of an interview and resume, the bad news is that it might leave without any candidates. According to the study over a third of employers say that content on social networking sites prevented them from hiring a candidate. Candidates that are being passed over have things out there like: provocative photos, drinking and drug use, bad mouthing a previous employer, giving out confidential information from a previous employer, demonstrating poor communication skills or posting comments that are construed as discriminatory. Click here for legal advice on the parameters of conducting background checks on potential workers from Cliff Ennico, SBTV.com’s legal editor.

Using Social Networking to Get Venture Capital

Getting venture capital for many enterprises is a huge challenge. Twitter founders found a venture capitalist with a business plan that does not currently generate revenue. So you may be thinking to yourself…Twitter did it, why can’t I? Well we don’t recommend you go out and start a business without a viable plan to make money but there are some new creative resources out there to help you generate some investors. 

40billion.com offers entrepreneurs the platform to use social networking to recruit investors or tap into friends and family to generate seed money. Many of their customers are college students who use the site and their social network to launch a new business. 

Lemonade Ventures caters to young entrepreneurs under the age of 35 to help them gather equity funding. 

Both of these resources offer fee based business consulting for small business owners of all ages.  Jack Dorsey, Co-founder, Creator and Chairman of Twitter says that entrepreneurs should interview venture capitalists to find the right fit.