Also, some state laws prohibit adverse action based on off-duty conduct, except under narrow circumstances. This is a legitimate concern. People also commonly post personal information such as medical or family problems. This same risk arises during an interview. Candidates often disclose information that an employer cannot consider. I have heard it said that there are only two times when a person is perfect: at birth and at the job interview. Employers use background checks to get a fuller picture of the candidate than an interview reveals.
Social media screening is one way to enhance the background check to determine whether a candidate should be hired. Individuals have posted everything from pictures of themselves scantily clad to racist rants—reasons not to hire them!
Employers may also learn things that weigh in favor of hiring them, such as their relevant volunteer work. Rather, key questions that should be considered include when it is done, what is looked at, who is doing the looking, and what is and is not considered in the decision-making process. Here to Stay Social media engagement is a relatively new territory for both employers and employees. On the employer side, the key questions are how to get business benefits out of these platforms and how to ensure that employee use of social media while at work is neither distracting nor potentially harmful to the organization.
Today, Millennials account for 36 percent of the U. Given that this group of employees has grown up actively communicating via myriad social media sites and devices, the use of social media is a workplace trend with staying power for the foreseeable future.
Existing laws provide a useful framework for social media use in hiring. Although the communication methods are new, the legal issues they raise are not. Jonathan A. You have successfully saved this page as a bookmark. OK My Bookmarks. Please confirm that you want to proceed with deleting bookmark. Delete Cancel. You have successfully removed bookmark. Delete canceled. Please log in as a SHRM member before saving bookmarks. Employers who do social media screenings on their own often have no written guidelines, processes or procedures in place to ensure they put every candidate through an identical screening process.
For example, an employer may look at three different social networks to find public profiles for candidate 1, but look at six networks for candidate 2. They may even review what pages candidate 1 likes or follows, but forget to do the same for candidate 2.
As you can see, there are many ways to give different candidates a different screening. This negligence can not only put you at risk for lawsuits like mentioned earlier, but it defeats the purpose of a social media background check entirely. What you post on social media could have serious repercussions on your professional life.
It could cost you your current job or future job opportunities. Employers look at social media accounts for an array of reasons, but many want to make sure a candidate will be a good fit with their company. Before you apply for a job, you should audit your social media accounts. Job seekers should assume that employers will check every social media platform. While it's important to audit every account, there are some platforms hiring managers are more likely to check, such as LinkedIn.
Most employers view LinkedIn as a secondary resume and other social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as more personal. While the fear of something embarrassing or negative being discovered might tempt some job candidates to completely erase their online persona, employers say that strategy can backfire. In addition to seeming like you're trying to hide something, it's not a good idea to delete your profile, because it doesn't guarantee the data is completely gone.
Instead, it's best practice to keep your social accounts clean. Review our best picks. Despite what job candidates might think, most employers aren't scouring the internet looking for reasons not to hire them. Most employers are looking for reasons to hire someone. Having their social media pages investigated has paid off for many job seekers. It's completely legal for employers to check public social media platforms, but checking anything beyond public accounts is a gray area.
0コメント