The SmartMoney web site has lots of good advice for job seekers. But in an article titled “Facebook Profiles Can Foil Job Searches” I found some good advice for employers, especially those considering using the social networking sites for part of background check on younger applicants.
Jeanine DeBacker, an employment lawyer with Wendel Rosen Black & Dean in Oakland, Calif., says she often cautions her clients — employers and their human-resource managers concerned about the legality of conducting online background screenings of potential employees — ‘to remember that people coming into the work force don’t always know the proper way to behave. That’s not new.’ The difference now is that youthful (and sometimes not-so-youthful) indiscretions are made permanent in cyberspace for all to see.
That’s good advice, since more and more employers are at least considering using the social networking sites as part of their screening process. CareerBuilder.com surveyed more than 1,150 hiring managers in 2006. Twenty-five percent used search engines to screen applicants. Ten percent used social networking sites. I’m sure those figures are higher today.
Remember this. Kids have acted stupidly throughout the ages. I know I contributed to that great tradition. You’re going to reduce your potential talent pool to zero if you take every stupid act by a young person as evidence of a character flaw.
Social networking sites and web searches should be part of your process. Just remember that the information on them is not always reliable. Other information on those sites may be accurate but not a good indication of the kind of employee a person will be.
Whatever else you do, make a criminal background check and pre-employment credit check part of your hiring process. Then use the web and the social networking sites with the assurance that you’ve got some reliable data to compare with your impressions.