Not so long ago, all the insight you had into potential job candidates before the interview was a black-and-white resume outlining their qualifications — and, in some cases, their interests or hobbies.

Then employers discovered social media.

“The Internet, and especially Facebook, has really opened up people’s identities beyond what you’d see on a resume,” said Rick Marini, founder and CEO of BranchOut, the largest professional network on Facebook. “Any good recruiter can search your identity beyond places like LinkedIn — they can search you on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or other sources that would give them a broader sense of who you are.”

In fact, more than 90 percent of recruiters admit to checking social media before making a hire, according to a 2011 survey by Reppler, a social media monitoring service.

The survey also found that while 68 percent of respondents said they’ve made a hire after surveying a candidate’s presence on social networks, 69 percent of them said they didn’t offer positions to certain candidates after unearthing information about them on social networking sites that served as red flags.

Use It Wisely
Amidst the plethora of available candidate information, companies can strategically leverage social networks in the following ways:

Get to know the candidate and assess cultural fit. Social networks can be a rich resource for employers and recruiters, Marini said. Following a potential candidate on sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook — or, depending on privacy settings, even viewing something as harmless as people’s interests on Facebook or groups they’ve joined on LinkedIn — can provide a more comprehensive picture of the individual and help determine cultural fit.

Use it as an ice-breaker. Tracking potential candidates on social networks can also be useful in terms of serving as an ice-breaker, Marini said. “If you go on Facebook and you see that I’m a fan of the Red Sox or that I’ve joined a social media group on LinkedIn, someone can call me and say, ‘Hey Rick, I’m also from Boston’ or ‘I also went to Harvard,’ ‘I’m also a Red Sox fan,’” he said.