Effective use of social media can give you a tremendous advantage in your job search—in fact, it may be just what you need to find the position you truly want. While traditional job search tactics (such as responding to jobs posted online or in the newspaper) can certainly bring success, building a network—and knowing how to tap into that network—is truly your best bet.

Create a LinkedIn profile—LinkedIn is by far one of the best online websites for professional social networking. Recruiters often use this site to find prospective employees, so developing your profile should be one of your top priorities. It’s free to use and it’s pretty simple to get started: just create a profile, fill out your personal and professional information and then build your network. You can receive recommendations from colleagues, supervisors or friends that will be displayed on your profile.

Follow and tweet on Twitter—don’t be intimidated by this fantastic tool. Many employers use Twitter to recruit new employees, so it is to your advantage to “follow” employers of interest, to communicate with them and to fine tune your own Twitter page (you can even link it to your LinkedIn profile so that recruiters will know exactly how to reach you).

Start a professional blog—this will allow employers and recruiters to really get a sense of who you are (and you can showcase your portfolio, if applicable). Focus your blog on topics that are in line with the kind of job you are seeking. Subscribing to other professional blogs and posting comments will help you to build a large network and could lead to job opportunities.

Be sure to remember if you have a personal Facebook, Linkedin, or any other online profile, be sure to keep all of your information private. Recruiters often look at personal profiles to get an inside look at a prospective employee’s personality. Checking into applicant’s social media and online presence is rapidly becoming a part of business’s background screening program. So be sure to represent yourself well and clean up any pictures or blogs that may hinder your chances at finding a job.

Download the Social Media Guide free to find even more tips to help you know what a potential employer is discovering about you—both online and off. The Social Media Guide is packed with useful advice and helpful hints to create the most effective and employer-friendly online profiles possible.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter announced his intention to support efforts to remove the box on employment applications that asks potential employees to check "yes" or "no" if they've been convicted of a crime. Despite a disclosure that answering "yes" will not necessarily disqualify the candidate from employment, the mayor maintains that checking "yes" often does result in automatic disqualification.

Many ex-offenders have trouble finding a job because of the question on applications, and finding employment is a vital step in beginning to live a normal life after serving their time. Even if an application does not include a question about criminal convictions, many employers now require criminal background checks.

Mayor Nutter signed Philadelphia Bill 110111-A, the Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards Act on April 13. The act prohibits the controversial criminal conviction box from appearing on applications, and does not allow employers to ask about any criminal arrests that did not result in a conviction. Additionally, employers cannot ask candidates about any past convictions during the application process or first interview.

A criminal background check is still permitted, but employers may not run a check before conducting the first interview. Employers that do not interview candidates before offering employment are not permitted to collect any data about past arrests or convictions.

The act is partially aimed at helping lower Philadelphia's 25% poverty rate. Many ex-offenders are released from prison and unable to find a job because employers have asked about their criminal record, adding to the poverty issues Philadelphia currently faces and adding to the draining of welfare funding. The mayor hopes that the act helps ex-offenders make a positive impression on employers during the application and interview process, before any criminal history is revealed.

To encourage employers to hire those with past convictions, the city of Philadelphia has developed a program to give tax incentives to employers that hire ex-offenders. The city hopes to set an example by having first removed the conviction box from applications for government employment. Philadelphia has also hired 132 ex-offenders in an attempt to encourage employers to do the same.

Philadelphia is not the first city to advocate the employment of ex-offenders and "banning the box". Boston already has a "ban the box" policy, and several state governments, including Hawaii and Massachusetts, have passed laws banning private employers from asking about criminal history on job applications.

MyBackgroundCheck.com encourages job seekers to know what’s on their background before anyone else views it.  For around $10 a month, job seekers can monitor their background check, know what’s on it and receive email alerts when information changes.  Additionally, a free guide, “The Ultimate Job Seeker’s Guide”, is available for download at http://www.mybackgroundcheck.com/JobSeekerGuide which includes valuable tips to ace interviews and land better jobs.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act, a federal law, requires that you are required to know when a background check is being performed on you, although there is one possible exception. These checks are normally performed by businesses as part of pre-employment screening, and the FCRA applies to background or consumer checks performed by a third party in exchange for financial compensation.

In order to conduct the background check, an employer must first have written permission from the person the check will be performed on. This notice of a background check must be on a separate sheet of paper than the rest of a job application. However, federal law does not require that the results of the screening have to be made available to you, although some states do require this. If a background check leads to adverse consequences for you, such as being denied employment, denied promotion, or being fired, the employer does have to provide a copy of the background check. They also must provide contact information for the screening company, so that you can dispute the results if there is incorrect information contained in the report.

If the company you're applying to or work for does a background check on their own, without contracting a third party entity, they are not required to provide forewarning to you regarding the screening. Additionally, the company would not have to provide a copy of the background report. If you are fired or denied employment and the company claims this is for other reasons, they would not have to provide a copy under the FCRA, either.

Some state laws close these loopholes in the FCRA by mandating that subjects of background checks are able to receive a copy of the report whether or not adverse actions were taken. These state laws also ensure that employees have to be notified of background checks even when a company performs them on its own.

Make sure that you know your rights with regard to background checks, both under the FCRA as well as with regards to state law so as to avoid being surprised by any background checks you could undergo. It is your right to know what is on your background check and your responsibility to yourself to find out.

Given the current state of the economy, more Americans are job hunting than at any other time in recent history. As a part of the process, many are subject to a background check before they are offered the position. Everyone one must provide written consent – but not all companies require the background check before an interview.  Some must even consent to it before being offered an interview. 

If you're concerned about what may be reported on such a personal background check, it's important to consider that a few items may not be included in the report.

Exclusions

As set forth under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), a background check will not include information on bankruptcies that you have filed more than ten years prior to the date the report was compiled.  Additionally, information about civil suits and the resulting civil judgments, as well as arrest records, will not appear if they are more than seven years old.

Your credit history will report your current accounts, past due accounts, accounts that have been sent to collections, but accounts older than seven years will not be included in your personal background check.  Likewise, tax liens that are seven years or older will not be included in the report either, nor will your credit score be provided.

At one time, the FCRA mandated that criminal conviction records could only be reported on background check reports up to seven years from the date of disposition or conviction.  However, a recent change to the Fair Credit Reporting Act now allows criminal conviction information to be reported on your background check indefinitely.   There are a few individual state exceptions to this particular reporting law.    For instance, California, Nevada, and New Mexico have a NO EXCEPTION rule that limit consumer reporting agencies from reporting criminal convictions on a consumer’s background check report that are older than seven years.   In addition, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Washington have a seven-year reporting limitation unless you meet the salary requirements set by those particular states. 

Other Things to Consider

While it helps to know what cannot be included in a personal background check report when job hunting, that information alone should not ease your worries about what potential future employers will be able to learn about you by pulling a background check.

The only way to truly ensure that your past doesn't haunt you without your consent is to pull  a personal background check on yourself and review each item that appears on the report before it is ordered or provided to a prospective employer.  Make sure that each item is accurately and correctly reported as errors due occur and are a possibility.

Always keep in mind that, erroneous or not, the items on your background check report could hurt your chances of landing a job. That's why it's important to constantly monitor things like your background check information, credit report and tax filings, as well as stay away from arrests and nefarious civil judgments.

The most qualified candidate will get the job -- and in this case, the most qualified candidate is one who thinks ahead and does the appropriate research.

Embezzler's tax credit prompts changes

State: Conduct company officers' background checks

Updated: Thursday, 18 Mar 2010, 6:46 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 18 Mar 2010, 12:40 PM EDT

• By Tony Tagliavia