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The use of social networking sites (SNWs) as a tool for gathering information about potential employees has proliferated in recent years. One report suggests that SNWs are among the most visited sites on the internet, just behind the major search engines (Ronn, 2007). These networking sites allow users to present their qualifications and pictures in a more dynamic way than the traditional resume format. Due to the public nature of these sites, recruiters are permitted to gain more information about applicants than ever before. Further, recruiters have access to vast quantities of potential applicants in a short amount of time. Various researchers have found that of the popular SNWs, the one most used for job recruiting purposes is LinkedIn (Ollington et al., 2013; Kluemper, 2013; Karl and Peluchette, 2013). This finding also extends beyond the USA (Karl and Peluchette, 2013; Ollington et al., 2013). While the utilization of social media as a sourcing and assessment tool continues to exponentially expand, the research regarding its use is lacking. The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the way in which people present themselves via LinkedIn in the US workforce. Specifically we conducted a two-phase study. In Phase 1, we surveyed a small sample of New York-based hiring professionals who routinely use SNWs for personnel decisions. The objective of these interviews was to identify the variables that they use in the evaluation of LinkedIn profiles. In the second phase, we coded LinkedIn profiles on these variables across three select occupations. We were interested in examining whether professionals from different occupations vary in the information provided on their profiles. We focus on LinkedIn because research has shown that this is the primary social media tool that recruiters use (Karl and Peluchette, 2013; Kluemper, 2013; Ollington et al., 2013).
LinkedIn is a social media site used almost exclusively for building professional relations. It is a professional networking site that has become a widely recognized tool since its launch in 2003. According to its web site, as of June 13, 2013, professionals are joining LinkedIn at a rate of approximately two new members per second throughout 200 countries (LinkedIn Press Center (n.d.)). Further, it has representation of all Fortune 500 companies since its inception (LinkedIn Press...