Social media gives recruiters a glimpse into an applicant’s personal life, likes, interests, photos and public musings. However, this type of screening can lead to biased assessments if not conducted and documented properly. Employers must set clear rules and standards, use specialist tools, emphasize job-related criteria, document their screening process, and treat applicants fairly.
Defining Your Policy
A social media background check can be helpful during the recruiting process. Employers must ensure that social media screening is done responsibly and that their procedure conforms with federal laws. It’s also essential to clearly define the purpose of your social media background checks. For example, you may want to look for red flags that could disqualify a candidate or determine their fit for your company culture. You might also wish to identify illegal or violent behavior that can be uncovered on these platforms. Many candidates feel that social media searches violate their privacy and cross the line between their personal and professional lives. They can feel burdened, judged, untrusted, irritated or censored by the perception that employers monitor their social media activities.
It’s also important to remember that hiring decisions based on social media screening could be subject to discrimination laws. Employers must ensure their social media screening policy is not influenced by aspects of the applicants’ characteristics such as race, gender, religion, national origin and sexual orientation. Having clear guidelines can help mitigate unconscious bias. A reputable partner can assist with these guidelines and ensure your process meets societal and regulatory expectations.
Documenting Your Screening Process
Employers who want to independently assess candidates’ social media activity can do so if they know privacy laws and ethical guidelines to avoid potential legal challenges. It’s generally best to work with a third party to assist you in navigating compliance when handling these reviews. Whether you are using social media monitoring software or manually checking the profiles of your prospective employees, it is important to be consistent. Meticulously combing through one candidate’s profile while passing over another can cause you to make a biased decision that may lead to a discrimination lawsuit.
Social media screening aims to identify red flags, such as inappropriate language, discriminatory remarks, and evidence of illegal activities. These can be warning signs that the employee could risk the company’s reputation and legal standing. This service can also help companies identify candidates who may not fit the company culture or values well.
While the benefits of social media screening are numerous, employers must carefully consider how they use it. Many people view their social media accounts as private spaces and expect to avoid having their content scrutinized by potential or current employers. Moreover, some may feel that their employer is violating their privacy rights by reviewing their social media content and taking disciplinary action against them.
Reporting on Your Screening
Adding social media screening to your pre-employment background checks can help you uncover important information about a candidate that may not be evident from their resume or during an interview. It can help you better assess a candidate’s professionalism and ensure they fit your company culture well. However, it is important to note that social media screening can also raise legal risks for employers. Using a tool to check social media profiles and make decisions about hiring or disciplining a candidate based on this information could expose you to lawsuits for discrimination or retaliation. Many candidates may view a company’s social media screening as an intrusion of privacy and crossing the line between their personal and professional lives. It is important to use tools that only search publicly available information, not private information—notifying and obtaining a candidate’s consent before performing a social media screening. Finally, if you decide to use a social media screening tool, ensure the platform and the tools are constantly evolving and updated. This way, you can be confident that the device captures and retrieves the most recent risk factor keywords for drugs, gang activity, and more.
Conducting a Screening
With the proliferation of social media, it’s become more common for employers to conduct a social media background check on potential hires. However, a fine line exists between gathering important information and being overly intrusive. Ideally, a company should review content relevant to a candidate’s character for the job (qualities like leadership, sociability, and diplomacy). It should also be respectful of an applicant’s privacy and personal boundaries. Additionally, using a reputable third party specializing in social media screening is best to avoid violating EEOC and FCRA guidelines.
Another challenge associated with social media screening is unconscious bias. If, for example, an HR manager sees something on a candidate’s social media that goes against the company’s religious or political beliefs, they may subconsciously discount this applicant, even if the content is innocuous. To mitigate these risks, companies must establish clear guidelines for their background check agencies. It includes only looking at publicly available pages and never asking for passwords. It’s also important to be consistent; if one candidate is screened, but another isn’t, this could be considered unfair and discriminatory. In addition, they should be sure to document the entire process to defend themselves against allegations of unlawful discrimination. Finally, they should inform applicants that a social media background check will be performed.