Three in four employers perform online background checks on job candidates, with LinkedIn and Facebook the most commonly used channels, a Jobscentral online survey found.

The survey, which was conducted from August to September last year, involved 396 hiring managers and human resource personnel in Singapore.

These checks were mostly to ascertain that the information provided by job candidates was credible.

The survey also found that most employers (62.1 per cent) do not spend more than a minute looking through a resume. Only 4.8 per cent spend more than five minutes screening an application.

The top mistakes applicants make in their resume is including irrelevant job experience, nearly two-thirds of employers (68.9 per cent) reported. About half said they were turned off by insufficient information and gaps in the resume.

Other turn-offs for employers include unreasonable salary demands (39.4 per cent), poor language (33.3 per cent), resumes that are too long (26.3 per cent) and unprofessional photographs (22.2 per cent).

A majority of employers (90.4 per cent) also noted that they would leave room for candidates to negotiate their salary.

When negotiating a better starting salary, the dominant advice to candidates was for them to employ specific accomplishments and results they achieved for previous employers as a useful bargaining chip (79.3 per cent).

Only 16.9 per cent said that indicating an offer from another employer made a difference in salary negotiation.