Social Media Checks in the Hiring Process
In today's digital world, an applicant's social media presence can provide valuable insights during the hiring process. However, venturing into an applicant's digital presence comes with inherent risks that employers need to be mindful of.
Potential Benefits
Social media checks can assist employers in verifying an applicant's claims about their experiences or skills. Additionally, these platforms may showcase a person’s passions, abilities, and cultural fit. Understanding how candidates engage online can complement traditional recruitment methods, giving a fuller picture of who they are beyond the confines of an interview room or a written resume.
The Risks
Employers cannot base hiring decisions on an applicant’s protected characteristics, such as religion, gender identity, r disability. Social media may reveal information about these protected characteristics, and making a hiring decision influenced by such information could expose you to liability for discrimination.
Developing a Social Media Check Policy
If your company decides to conduct social media checks on applicants, you should have a written social media check policy. To minimize the risk of discrimination and potential liability, this policy should include:
Designation of Responsibility - Clearly establish which department or individual will handle social media checks.
Information Sought - State the purpose for conducting the social media checks and identify the types of information that you are seeking, focusing on indicators of professionalism, competencies, communication skills, and any other criteria relevant to the job role. The information sought should be limited to that which is publicly available. The person conducting the check should not attempt to friend or connect with the applicant in order to gain access to private content.
List of Platforms - Identify the social media platforms that can be checked.
Information Sharing - State what types of information learned from the applicant’s social media can and can’t be shared with the hiring manager. Information that cannot be verified or that relates to a protected characteristic should not be disclosed to the hiring manager.
