Employers using social or professional networking sites need to use care to avoid attaining and using information in a discriminatory way. Employers need to ensure that they don’t break privacy laws and make sure the information obtained is accurate.
Types of social and professional networking sites available
Some of the most popular are social and professional networking websites:
• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
Twitter is a website which offers a social networking and microblogging service, its users send and read messages called tweets. Twitter is owned and operated by Twitter Inc. Since its creation in March 2006 it has gained in popularity worldwide and has approximately 190 million users.
Facebook is a social networking website founded by Mark Zuckerberg while he was still a student at Harvard University. The free-access website is privately owned and operated by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, school, workplace and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends, send them messages and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves. Website membership was initially only available to Harvard students, but now has more than 600 million active users worldwide.
LinkedIn is a site mainly used for professional networking. The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details on people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called Connections. Users can invite anyone (site user or not) to become a connection.
Pitfalls of using social and professional networking sites to screen job candidates
Some employers may feel that they should take advantage of the “free” information that is available on these networking sites. Before employers use information obtained from these sites, they need to consider:
• The use of personal information
• Accessibility issues
• Accuracy of information
It is important that a hiring manager not discriminate against a candidate because the person included something strange on a social network website. Consequences of misusing the information on social and professional networking websites include discrimination lawsuits and claims of invasion of privacy from job applicants.
A Safer Alternative
For an affordable, safe way to screen potential employees it’s best to rely on a professional pre-employment screening firm. These firms offer employers unbiased and accurate information screens for:
• Employment
• Criminal Records
• Driving Records
• Drug Testing
• Social Security Number
• Worker’s Compensation
• Licenses & Credentials
• Education
• Credit Profile
This information should be handled by a background screening company.
Any information on a candidate’s background needs to be handled in a legal and confidential manner. The reality is that Human Resource departments or business owners will not have the time to weed out the good information from the bad information obtained through social and professional networking websites. Even if they have the time, they may not know what information is allowed under the law.
Social and professional networking websites may be useful to gain a better understanding of who the candidate is, but should not be relied upon to make a sound hiring decision.
In order to avoid privacy violation and discrimination claims it is best to get the assistance of a professional and experienced employment-screening firm.
