Social Media Profiles of Job Applicants for Hiring Decisions

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• Social Media Profiles of Job Applicants for
  Hiring Decisions

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In recent years, there has been a clear trend
among human resource professionals to verify job
applicants' information by accessing the
available information on their Social Networking
Website (SNWs) profiles. Even though initially,
this trend was confined to the West, specifically
the United States, now it is adopted as a
practice in the rest of the world. Indeed,
while this development is embraced by HR
professionals widely, it raises possible legal
and ethical concerns, not to mention concerns
about privacy and security. In this article, Au
Chat Kwan, an HR Professional with years of
industry experience discusses the advantages and
the drawbacks of verifying prospective candidate
applications by accessing their Social Networking
Profiles.  
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  The New SNW Trend What Is Social Media
Background Verification? Millennials spend more
than 80 of their time socializing, chatting, and
surfing social media. With its ease of access and
availability of information, social media
verification has become a trending topic,
particularly among human resource managers. The
term "social media background verification"
refers to the practice of performing background
checks via social media. This process entails
analyzing profile information, activity on social
media platforms, social media posts, in order to
ascertain an individual's identity, profile, and
reputation.   The Benefits A Quick And Easy
Way To Establish Candidate Authenticity The fact
that a job applicant's social media presence is
often public and readily available for everyone
to assess is an obvious advantage. Since
recruiters require detailed information about job
candidates' backgrounds and suitability,
particularly for sensitive positions that require
the applicant to be completely "clean," a quick
search on a social networking site can reveal a
lot about a job seeker in a short amount of time
and help the recruiters establish candidate
authenticity.  
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Helps With Establishing Increased Trust And
Security Furthermore, the trend is beneficial
since firms can avoid being charged with
negligent hiring, which has grown increasingly
widespread around the world. This means that
recruiters can harvest information from job
applicants' SNW profiles and identify any severe
character or integrity issues immediately. If
deemed an undesirable fit, recruiters can easily
eliminate the candidates. Helps With
Establishing Referrals A social presence can
provide insight into what other people are saying
about the candidate. People can recommend others
on websites such as LinkedIn. Testimonials on a
candidate's profile can provide insight into what
a candidate may contribute to the job. Serves As
A Complementary Channel Of Verification To make
sure that other background checks are correct,
social media verification can be an important
part of a complete background check. Social media
information can still be fake and cannot be used
on its own. Background checks and social media
background checks can be used together to get a
complete picture of an individual before hiring
or partnering with them.
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The Drawbacks The trend of recruiters accessing
job applicants' Social Networking Websites (SNWs)
profiles is concerning, as recruiters lack a
legal basis for doing so without the job seekers'
consent. Unreliability Of Information Social
media is not always the most dependable source of
information. It does not advise the employer of
the candidate's criminal history or any other
personal information that the employer may
require but which the candidate may
conceal. There are numerous accounts with the
same name or an account that is a forgery. It
enhances the likelihood that the relevant social
media account will be discovered.  Recruiters
Risk Becoming Dishonest Many HR experts feel
that it is rather a "lazy" approach to take. When
recruiters seek to verify information through
candidate social profiles, the process becomes
compromised. Job Applicants May Face
Discrimination As social media provides an
essential facet into the lifestyle of a candidate
outside of his/her professional realm, recruiters
could become rather biased. This may lead to
candidate discrimination based on their gender,
race, sexual orientation, or other qualities.
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Candidate Privacy Violation Social media is a
private space for many people.  Social media
screening intrudes on the candidate's privacy.
They share information on these networks for
personal use alone. As a result, inspecting these
records for hiring purposes constitutes an
unauthorized invasion of personal space. Key
Takeaway For Recruiters Developing a standard
screening process can ensure that hiring
decisions are made objectively based on job
description criteria rather than subjectively
based on information freely available on social
media platforms. For Candidates Job seekers
should be aware that in today's information age,
any information about themselves or their friends
can be accessed by anyone, and thus should
exercise caution with the type of information
they publish on the great World Wide Web.
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About the Author Au Chat Kwan is a
professional, people-oriented HR manager with
(insert number of years) of experience in human
resource management. He believes empathy to be
the driving force behind his successful HR
career. His expert evaluation of a candidates
personality, values, adaptability, and integrity
has placed Au Chat Kwan at the forefront as an
efficacious recruiter and an expert human
resource manager. Au Chat Kwan considers creating
a positive and conducive environment for the
workforce to be of the utmost importance for the
success of every establishment. Au Chat Kwan also
firmly believes in training and development,
providing opportunities for career progression
and growth, and cultivating and enriching
employee life as integral parts of his
profession.