Social Intel

Social Media Screening for Intelligent Hiring

Social Intel

Social Intelligence employee spotlight: 7 questions with Ben

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We’ve added a few new members to our team over the past few months. Keep reading to get to know our fantastic Marketing Manager, Ben!

7 Questions with Ben

What is your role at Social Intelligence?

I am the Marketing Manager for Social Intelligence, which means that it’s my job to get the word out about who we are and what we do– not unlike these questions!

Where would you like to travel to?

I’m very fortunate to have traveled all over the world (I even lived in Kenya for a few years growing up), but I’ve never had the chance to visit Iceland and I have some serious FOMO about it.

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?

That’s a tricky one… there’s so much to be learned out there! If I had to choose, I would learn to speak every language in the world. Just imagine what else you could learn if you had the world as your teacher.

What is your favorite indoor/outdoor activity?

I have one favorite activity that I suppose you could classify as both indoor and outdoor. I love to sing, anywhere and anytime, but especially when it rains.

What is your favorite aspect of your job?

The best part of being a marketer is the daily privilege of getting to know your own brand. Every time I write something, plan an event, or talk to a customer, I get a little bit closer to the center of who we are as a business. It’s a process that gives as much as it takes, and it’s not hard to find a moment of joy in that at least once a day.

What did you want your adult profession to be when you were a kid?

When I was a kid I wanted to be a famous actor with side gigs in marine biology, psychology, and international trampolining. Totally attainable, right? I think the dream is still alive in me somewhere.

Fill in the blank: If you really knew me, you’d know _____.

If you really knew me, you’d know that every moment is an opportunity to quote musical theatre.

The rest of our employee spotlight series can be found here.

Social Media Background Checks in the Security Industry

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Sterling Talent Solutions, our partner, conducted a recent survey that revealed that 89% of organizations run employment background checks. Yet just one-third of the employers surveyed are performing social media checks on their candidates. Like it or not, social media is here to stay, and more people have an online presence today than ever before.

We conduct thousands of social media hiring reports a month, and we’ve found that our product is a particularly good fit in several industries. Those include, but are not limited to: Healthcare, Education, Law Enforcement, Energy, and Finance. Today we’ll wrap up this series by focusing on the Security industry.

Security and social media in the news

Security guards are often the eyes and ears of a community or corporation. These individuals should align themselves with their company’s values and do their part to protect the public. Unfortunately, countless negative news stories about employees in the security industry have circulated over the past few years.

Many security employees have gotten into trouble because of their social media posts. This was the case in 2014 when a Sears security guard was fired after he posted photos of breastfeeding customers on his Twitter account. He pulled the images from Sears’ security camera footage. A security guard at a New Mexico hospital was also terminated after engaging in a Facebook conversation about his job. The man worked in the Behavioral Health Center where children and adults received therapy. In a Facebook post, he called the children “demons” and said that he wished he could give them Nyquil.

Just about everyone is equipped with a cell phone these days. People are constantly recording their surroundings, which makes it likely that an employee’s red flag behavior will end up online. We’ve all seen the footage of the United Airlines passenger who was dragged off an airplane by security guards. Last year, an NFL security guard was captured on video behaving inappropriately by fans in the stands. He was subsequently fired.

How can social media background checks help?

Security companies are judged on their past performances. In the case above, the hospital dismissed the entire security firm that they were using because of one guard’s actions. Our social media hiring reports identify individuals who display behaviors that could lead to instances of workplace violence, substance abuse, and other liabilities. Social Intelligence helps keep lawsuits at bay by ensuring that you hire the right individuals for the job the first time around.

During the report process, we search each candidate’s social media accounts for any red flag behavior such as racist, illegal, violent, or sexually explicit content. If we discover any such behavior, we capture the content (as pictured below).

Our FCRA compliant social media background checks present actionable adverse information about potential employees so that you can make a better informed hiring decision. Call us today to learn more about our product, or request a sample report here.

TV Office characters who would fail social media background checks

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A few months ago, our friends over at Sterling Talent Solutions wrote a blog post about movie characters and employment. They specifically focused on characters who should have undergone an employment background check. Remember Jack Black’s character in School of Rock? He was somehow able to get a job as a substitute teacher while impersonating his roommate. That got us to thinking about television characters who work in office settings. We’ve put together a list of characters who would likely have failed their social media background checks.

Michael Scott – The Office

Michael vacations to Jamaica during one Season 3 episode. Upon Michael’s return, we learn that Jan, his supervisor, was there with him. That alone could violate company policies regarding relationships. To make matters worse, Michael attempts to email a vacation photo to one coworker as proof that Jan was there. Instead, he ends up forwarding a topless photo of Jan to the entire office. This episode aired in 2007 before social media was as mainstream as it is now. However, it’s not difficult to imagine Michael accidentally posting such a photo on his Facebook page. Something like that would be flagged for sexually explicit material.

Kelly Kapoor – The Office

The majority of the characters on The Office are guilty of having said or done something that we would consider to be red flag behavior. In one 2010 episode, Dwight found Kelly and Ryan pouring over her computer and asked what they were doing. The following conversation ensued:

This would be flagged as a demonstration of aggressive online behavior/cyber bullying.

Tom Haverford – Parks & Recreation

Aziz Ansari’s Parks & Rec character, Tom, is a social media enthusiast. He starts every day by “hitting up Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.” Unfortunately, he accessed his social media while driving. One Parks & Rec episode starts with Tom sitting in a courtroom. An attorney asks him to read the following tweets:

The town of Pawnee is fictional, but it is set in the state of Indiana where typing, reading, or sending emails or text messages is illegal. In this scenario, Tom’s tweets can be considered an admission of illegal activity.

Donna Meagle – Parks & Recreation

During another episode, one member of the Parks & Rec team got the entire department into trouble on Twitter. Donna tweeted, “Hope you like tongue baths, you big, nasty fireman” on the Parks and Rec account instead of her personal account by mistake. The tweet was deleted, but not before a press conference was called for a town discussion.

Donna explains that her personal Twitter account is private, but these tweets would be flagged for sexually explicit language.

We know these are just TV characters on comedy shows meant to entertain us, but some lessons can be learned from them all the same. There are countless examples of real employees who have been fired due to their social media posts. In fact, we find that 10% of our social media hiring reports come back with red flags, and those are usually conducted after a candidate has been interviewed.

Have you considered running a social media background check on your potential employees? Contact us today to learn more at 805-472-6365.

Social Media Hiring Reports: What is considered Racist content?

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Social Intelligence conducts thousands of social media background checks a month. During our search, we look for four types of red flag behavior: anything sexually explicit, racist and/or intolerant, illegal, or violent. We are often asked how exactly we determine that content falls under one of our red flags.

In the coming weeks, we are going to break down all four red flag behaviors. Today we’ll start by taking a closer look at what we deem racist and/or intolerant content. Racist content was found on 68% of reports that were flagged over the past year.

Racist or Intolerant content is defined as any derogatory language or behavior (including images and videos) used against or towards a protected group of people because of their protected class status. Protected groups are defined by federal and state discrimination laws.

Federal protected classes include race, color, sex, religion or creed, national origin or ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, veteran status, genetic information, and citizenship.

Therefore, the following would be flagged as derogatory language towards a protected class (women):

 

What about politics?

We frequently receive questions asking if political discussions would be flagged. In some states, political affiliation is a protected class. We would only flag a political viewpoint if it contained something pertaining to our red flag behaviors.

For example, we would flag the following:

However, we would not flag these tweets:

We are not saying that candidates can’t or shouldn’t engage in political discussions or express different political viewpoints online. However, we would flag any political discussions that include racist statements, violent threats, indications of illegal activity, or sexually explicit references.

Still have questions about what exactly we flag when we’re looking for racism and/or demonstrations of intolerance? Reach out to us today at 888-748-3281.

 

Contributing author: Caitlin Rogers

Social Media Background Checks in the Energy Industry

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“Social media is no longer cutting-edge; it is mainstream. For HR to overlook it today would be like ignoring e-mail 20 years ago.” – Jonathan A. Segal

These days, social media is more pervasive than ever before, and its prevalence only continues to grow. If your company is running criminal background checks, they should consider running social media checks as well. We’ve spent the last few months discussing why social media background checks are a particularly good fit for the Healthcare, Law Enforcement, Finance, and Education industries. Today we’ll focus on the Energy sector.

Employees and social media in the news

Companies in the energy sector have the difficult task of ensuring that they are compliant with the ever changing laws and regulations in the industry. That makes it even more important for them to find the correct hire the first time around. It is becoming increasingly difficult for companies in all industries to identify candidates who possess the essential skills and also maintain that organization’s standards. In fact, you don’t have to look very hard to find news headlines about employees and organizations getting into hot water because of their social media posts.

Several years ago, an employee at Tenaris Algoma Tubes Inc (a manufacturer of gas and oil tubing) was terminated after he made offensive comments about a coworker on his Facebook account. The former employee referred to the coworker by a “cruel nickname” and referred to a “violent and humiliating sex act.”

More recently, a gas station employee made headlines after a YouTube video went viral. The video shows the employee wordlessly spraying a fire extinguisher in the face of a customer who was smoking a cigarette next to a vehicle parked at the station. The vehicle in question was not pumping gas at the time.

How can social media background checks help?

Our social media background checks focus on workplace safety and brand reputation. Our goal is to help you ensure that you are only hiring individuals that uphold your company name. The reports identify individuals who display online behaviors that may lead to instances of workplace violence, substance abuse, theft, manipulation of data, or other liabilities caused by negligent hiring.

Once we have located your candidate’s online presence, we review their social media accounts for red flags such as violent, illegal, sexually explicit, or racist content. If we discover that type of material, we capture it (as pictured below) and send the report back to you.

Are you interested in learning more about our product? Contact us today to receive a sample report.

 

Contributing author: Caitlin Rogers

Social Intelligence employee spotlight: 7 questions with Jonny

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This week we continue our employee spotlight series by getting to know our business development manager, Jonny, a bit better. You can find the complete series here.

7 Questions with Jonny

What is your role at Social Intelligence?

I am the Business Development Manager. My role is to identify new business opportunities like new markets, partnerships, new ways to reach existing markets, or new product or service offerings to better meet the needs of existing markets. Then I go out and turn those opportunities into more revenue.

Where would you like to travel to?

I would love to go sailing in the British Virgin Islands or in the Mediterranean around Greece and Turkey. But I have a feeling the next trip will be to Italy…

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?

Be a pilot!

What is your favorite indoor/outdoor activity?

There are a lot. Basketball, camping, hiking & sailing with my wife top the list.

What is your favorite aspect of your job?

Sales and sports have so much in common, and like in sports you play hard and see results. That’s what I like most about my work. I know that if I work my hardest I’m absolutely going to see results and be rewarded for it.

What did you want your adult profession to be when you were a kid?

I loved trains as a kid and wanted to be a train engineer.

Fill in the blank: If you really knew me, you’d know _____.

I got my wife’s phone number at a Star Wars movie.

 

Contributing author: Caitlin Rogers