Upwards of 81
percent of
the United States population owns and operates at least one social
media account. Nearly three of every ten Americans report logging
onto social media profiles multiple
times per
day.
Even without considering these statistics, the
widespread popularity of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, and
other social platforms is likely already apparent to you.
While
most social media users are individuals, many businesses also
maintain social presences. Such accounts are most frequently used to
market products, services, and other offerings. However, another
utilization is rapidly becoming more popular here in the United
States, and across planet Earth - social media screening.
The
Benefits Of Social Media Screening For Employers
Traditional
background checks have been relied upon by businesses for decades, as
well as checking up with applicants' previous employers and other
references. However, those references could be applicants' friends or
family members, simply acting as other people to help their loved
ones land positions in the workplace.
Further, background
checks are expensive, and rarely offer insights into the
personalities or attitudes of applicants.
Social
media screening,
on the other hand, is a go-to in modern applicant screening, as doing
so is free, provides meaningful insights into applicants' personal
and business lives, and helps employers discover who applicants
associate with. It's cheap, readily available, and often provides
more information than contacting references and soliciting background
checks.
While the benefits of social media screening are
well-established, not every employer knows the most effective,
efficient, lawful, and appropriate means of conducting such
background checks.
Hiring
Discrimination Risks Are Real
The
United States government sets forth several protected characteristics
that employers aren't allowed to base hiring decisions off of,
including gender, race, and sexual orientation.
On traditional
job applications, employers aren't provided with any information
regarding these protected characteristics. When employers look to
social media, however, it's possible to see their race, sexual
orientation, gender, religion, and other characteristics that hiring
decisions legally can't be made off of.
As such, it's
important for your business to segregate executive decisions
regarding who gets hired from browsing through applicants' pages on
social media. You can either do this by delegating the latter
responsibilities to employees other than yourself, or hire an outside
organization like Fama, a social media screening servicer, to browse
through applicants' pages for you.
Don't
Look At Applicants' Social Profiles Until As Late As Possible
After
interviews have been conducted, it's time to look at applicants'
social media profiles. Never look to these accounts before extending
interviews, as applicants that don't get hired could argue that
interviews weren't extended because of protected characteristics on
their pages, like race or religion.
As such, it's considered
most safe to look at social media pages as late as possible in the
hiring process. Although social platforms can provide valuable
insights into applicants' behaviors and attitudes, virtually every
employer would rather be safe than sorry, as the saying
goes.
Document
Everything
If
you find negative marks on applicants' pages, make sure to take note
of them. It's always best to screenshot them, as applicants could
make their pages private, remove posts, or edit them.
Make
sure that whoever is responsible for such screening duties knows to
thoroughly document everything about information they uncover on
applicants' pages.
*Collaborative post
