In the previous post we talked about employer reticence in formalizing Social Media Background Checks as part of the process for on-boarding or monitoring employees, contractors and vendors. Conclusion: for most employers, everyone’s doing it but no one is talking about it. (Seems the opposite of high school in a different context?) Anyway, around 75% […]
Social Media usage by employers is hardly new – recruiters, for example, have been plying Linked-In and other online venues for years in search of new candidates, and this blog has described how Social Media Background Checks are often used to verify employee credentials, avoid negligent hiring, and for other hiring purposes. Employer use of […]
Employers and recruiters should not conduct Social Media Background Checks in-house; there are strong legal reasons why this should be subcontracted to a neutral third party. But if you must…
Consider Direct Entries Only. Only consider direct posts by applicants; “friends” are not at all helpful in this context. There is a big difference between “I […]
There is much discussion of how employers can learn about relevant social media entries by employees. Sometimes this is needed to verify and understand problems – sometimes it’s intrusive, unwelcomed, and illegal.
It’s generally a bad idea to simply Google a name and see what appears, and don’t even think of asking for user names and […]
Most companies conduct informal “quickie” Social Media Background Checks as recruits move through the recruiting and on-boarding routines. But – be careful. There are many ways that these ad-hoc, informal processes can backfire. At “best” you will reject a great candidate based on misunderstood information; at worst you will reject the candidate AND end up […]
A Federal District Court in Northern California recently looked at the case of Sweet vs. Linked-In, and made an interesting decision that affects the “Reference Search” tool for recruiters on this popular business oriented social-networking site. Reference Search allows recruiting parties to find their own references in checking out would-be employees, rather than relying only […]
Besides the FCRA (enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), the EEOC is much interested in your hiring practices, and use of related candidate information.
I recently heard an experienced attorney who once worked for the EEOC say “… The EEOC assumes that if you have information on potential or existing […]
A research study by Carnegie Mellon University discussed in the Wall Street Journal notes that:
A study involving dummy résumés and social-media profiles, found that between 10% and a third of U.S. firms searched social networks for job applicants’ information early in the hiring process. In those cases, candidates whose public profiles indicated they were Muslim were […]
In general –
Order your Social Media Background Check later in the recruiting process, and ideally AFTER you have made a conditional job offer.
This mitigates exposure to EEOC problems where recruits might claim that they were eliminated from consideration once your company was aware of their demographics.
When you use an applicant’s or employee’s background information to make […]
Some attorneys advise that Social Media Background Checks must be conducted on every applicant (and perhaps contractors and employee promotions too) to avoid charges of “Negligent Hiring” or “Negligent Retention.” Others advise just the opposite, in warning that firms conducting this research internally are exposed to charges of discrimination.
My opinion is that it is irresponsible […]