Social Media Background Checks in the Energy Industry

“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.