Yes and No. Yes. You can learn a lot about potential employees. You can understand their character more by the things the post and say, as well as who they are friends with, and what they allow others to post on their wall.
No. Some people might wave the "invasion of personal privacy" flag around. My personal opinion is that you allowed it to be public when you signed up for these sites. However, the more important issue is it can also be misleading and you could risk not hiring an employee that could take your business even further than you could imagine.
The following article came across my desk the other day and I thought I'd share it with you. I think it best captures the reason why you can't always rely on these social network sites.
A Modest Proposal: Social Network Background ChecksI hope you found this article as useful as I did. One, I watch what I say and others post about me very carefully. Two, I learned to the information I might find with a grain of salt. If I'm really troubled about something, I will ask the potential employee to explain. Generally, if explained, good or bad, I'm more likely to hirer them than one who refuses to explain.So there I was on one knee with my hands cuffed behind my back in Little Italy on a beautiful day in May of 1996. Click. Someone took a picture. People started to gather around. More clicks and flashes.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this moment for a few months now since I’ve been contemplating the role social networkings sites should or should not have in the employment background screening and hiring process.
Why? Because this was one of the most important days in my life. It was the day I proposed to my wife. You see, I decided to get creative with my proposal. I always thought it would be fun to have a police officer pull me over with my wife in the passenger seat and then instruct her to take the registration out of the glove compartment. Of course, instead of the registration, she’d find the ring. And that’s exactly what happened. I just didn’t know that the officer (who was a friend of the family) would actually put me in cuffs (that was a little side idea he and my father hatched unbeknownst to me) but it definitely made the moment seem all the more real.
So why am I telling you this story? I had mentioned that a number of people took pictures. Some of those people were members of my family who were lurking around waiting for the big moment. Others were complete strangers that couldn’t believe the spectacle. So far as I know, those pictures were never posted on Facebook. But what if they were and a prospective employer saw them? Would they understand this was a gag? Would they know it wasn’t real? What if they never asked me about it?
What if it was real? Should an employer be able to use that against me?
There’s been a lot of talk for a couple years now about whether employers can and should use social networking sites are part of their employment screening processes. Findings from our annual background screening survey showed that of the nearly 800 respondants, 25% used LinkedIn, 34% used Google, 30% used Facebook and 22% used Twitter to screen candidates. 44% said they would like their screening provider to offer this service in the future. And while I was staunchly against this practice for a long time, I am slowly softening my position. However, it is stories like these that continue to give me reason for pause.
I’m sure we all have a story or two like this. So what do you think? Are social networking sites fair game?
P.S. In spite of the fact that I scared the begeebies out of my wife, she actually said yes (sucker!) and we’ve been married for 14 years.
James P
Total Payroll Soluton
