Screening with social media: Intrusive or Savvy?

Reviewing employees via social media is becoming a common way for employers and recruitment managers. According to 2009 survey data of CareerBuilder.com, 30% recruitment managers use Facebook to investigate new employees, 26% use LinkedIn. Almost half of the respondents said they are checking social media profiles for new employees.

Is social media a legal or effective tool for screening employees? Discussion continues. Although data tracking and "social footprint" can reveal much information about someone, it may not relate to evaluating the job quality of job seekers . In addition, the information found on the Internet is not necessarily accurate and may be an indicator that could lead to misunderstandings of work performance. Linda LoCicero, Customer Relationship Specialist at Personnel Company pointed out LinkedIn's persuasive discussion topic.

"Social media" and "Career survey" are two completely different things and should be handled like this. Career surveillance includes legal fact information for backing up or refuting the content of the application. Information from social media only gives you insight into someone's personal habits, customs and thinking. "

Using selected data from social media archives may also have ethical and legal implications. It is thought to allow review of information on job candidates that are generally open to the public, but unlike employee career checks, including written permission from employees, a career using employee online social graphs The check is at best an implicit approval. LinkedIn's profile may disclose personal professional experience, qualifications and data on relationships but Facebook profile builds the foundation for potential discrimination problems Political beliefs, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, etc. Includes personal or personal details.

In some positions, it makes sense to see potential employees' online social profiles. You need a foolish person to keep looking at the originality and style of their personal Twitter handles on behalf of your department, or professionally and discreetly. Do you want a person who can demonstrate leadership in your professional organization? Please check the professional network on LinkedIn. On the other hand, searching the Internet to reveal information or photographs may involve drowning

Connecticut Law Tribune offers guidance useful to employers who wish to incorporate social media into responsible recruitment practices in the July issue. Some guidelines include limiting Internet search of employees to personnel officials rather than supervisors, notifying candidates about Internet search, never "getting information", not being able to share information publicly , Including that you can not share with others. It also recommends separating search and decision functions during the recruitment process in order to exclude inappropriate information on job seekers before contacting the recruitment agency.

Obviously candidates who deal directly with the role of the public viewpoint or social media should be smart enough to make social media material attractive. If the candidate applies for PR or social media positions and you do not have a personal account, ask the reason. They may have spent most of their time to make accounts of their brands, and you can see examples of their work. However, profiles without retouching or no retouching are different from profiles showing discomfort or cultural inconsistencies. Please think seriously if you notice that the pattern of social existence of the candidate shows "closed". One or two pale-colored remarks may be human-like, but in the era when most candidates should know that potential employers are google google them, especially the consistent nature of aggression It is a red flag.

Are you considering using social media to screen candidates? According to a survey by social media monitoring service company Reppler, over 90% of interviewed recruiters and recruitment managers have access to the personal profile of candidates on social networks as part of the selection process. Another interesting discovery of this survey is that 69% recruiters rejected candidates based on what they found on their social network. At the same time, 68% actually hired candidates based on information on their social media profile.