Many of us will plead guilty to “egosurfing” at least once, having Googled our name to see what pops up. The likes of Inc. Magazine and Entrepreneur actually recommend the practice for reputation-management purposes. Unfortunately, many people find outdated and inaccurate information—and sometimes unexpected sensitive details made publicly available—problems they then need to fix.
But should this Googling extend to the hiring process? As we covered in detail in our white paper on social media background checks, most indications are “no.”
Didn’t have time to check out that report? No problem, we’ll break down the topic right now.
The Numbers
According to a recent survey from NAPBS, only 8 percent of organizations today say they conduct social media background checks as part of the hiring process, making it more of a “fringe” practice in the human resources sphere. That alone isn’t enough to recommend against it, but it might indicate that others who have thought through the pros and cons have concerns about investing in the process or relying on the results. And, in fact, they have!
Social Media Searches & the Law
There are problems in searching online for information about candidates. The effort may turn up indications of an individual’s membership in a protected class due to race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or age. If a negative hiring decision is ultimately made, this knowledge muddies the waters with possible discrimination claims, a risk employers will want to avoid.
States are also stepping in with restrictions on what employers can require regarding social media transparency. Depending on the geography, it may not be permissible to compel candidates or employees to provide social media passwords or to go through their accounts with them. Forced “friending” of an employer, which would enable passive monitoring of their feed, may also be prohibited. These and other considerations make social media background searches problematic in many parts of the country.
(Worried about state-specific regulations affecting your organization? Check out our 50 State Guide to employment hiring and backgrounding screening laws.)
Accurate? Informative? Not So Much.
Fortunately, companies can feel grateful for the increasing legal restrictions on social media background searches—these checks aren’t all that effective anyway. For one thing, there are plenty of John Smiths and Amy Joneses to confuse matters. It’s pretty easy to land on the wrong profile, potentially one for an individual with a physical resemblance to your candidate. Who can be sure?
What’s more, the online world is filled with fake accounts, some created without the subject’s awareness and for nefarious and revenge-oriented purposes. Pictures faked with Photoshop are hard for non-specialists to detect, and “deep fake” videos are taking the threat of counterfeit imagery to a whole new level.
With all of these issues, it is essentially impossible to verify if the individual with the disturbing tweet or photo is really the candidate you’re looking to hire. Acting on such unreliable information can cause many more problems than it’s worth.
A Better Way
Investing time and effort to find information of questionable validity, while inviting legal risk at the same time, isn’t a recipe for hiring success. This helps explain why social media background searches are a tool most organizations eschew.If using online information isn’t a viable option, how can an organization learn enough about the candidates they are considering? A combination of tried-and-true human resources techniques—such as thorough interviews—and smart background checks can provide greater protection to the organization and insight into potential employees.
Want the whole story? Download our white paper, “Social Media Background Checks: Friend or Foe?”