Social Intel

Social Media Screening for Intelligent Hiring

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Questions to ask your background screening company before running social media searches

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In one of our recent blog posts, we clarified some common misconceptions surrounding social media background checks. In addition to answering some of the questions that we field most frequently, we also thought of a few questions that companies should be asking. We’ve shared some of these Should Ask Questions below.

What you should be asking your background screening company

 

  • Are your reports FCRA compliant?

This is a critical issue because compliance to the FCRA means the company adheres to identity resolution strategies, conducting investigations that do not go beyond seven years, and can assist in the adverse action process. 

  • Do you hide protected class information?

A protected class is defined as “a group of people with a common characteristic who are legally protected from employment discrimination on the basis of that characteristic.” There are Federally and State protected classes which include gender, race, religion, and many others. It is a best practice to hide this information on a social media report to protect your company from discrimination lawsuits, and to protect the candidate’s privacy.

  • What do your reports reveal?

Social Media reports should reveal potential red flags on candidates. The goal is not to see how they spend their free time or what their social lives are like. Rather, the purpose is to figure out whether the applicant will be a risk to the company.

  • Do you require consent?

The FCRA requires that employers get written consent from their employees or applicants before any consumer reports are conducted. The candidate has the right to know if a background check is being completed on them. Therefore, this should be a requirement of your vendor.

  • Do you help with adverse action?

If a social media hiring report comes back with negative material, the company that ordered the report will have to decide whether they want to move forward with hiring the applicant. The FCRA has requirements in place regarding the steps that an employer must take before sending notice of adverse action. More details about that process can be found here.  

Check back next week for part two of this series. We’ll focus on questions you should be asking your company’s HR department before running social media searches.

 

Contributing author: Caitlin Rogers

Misconceptions about social media background checks

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Approximately 80% of employers conduct some type of pre-employment background checks on job candidates. Those reports typically include criminal checks, but many organizations are starting to look at an applicant’s social media too. In fact, CareerBuilder found that the process of using social media when screening job candidates has grown by 500% over the past 10 years.

As more and more companies learn about social media background screening, many questions and preconceived notions start to arise. Is this ethical? Do you hack into accounts? I can make the applicant give me their Facebook password, right? Our client services team fields calls and emails daily regarding these type of questions. We are hoping to clear up some of the common misconceptions about social media background checks below.  

Misconception #1: Companies can force candidates to give up their account passwords.

This is not a good idea. In many states it is illegal for an employer to ask an employee (or applicant) for their social media passwords. There are also many states with laws against requiring employees to provide their usernames. Asking for passwords can also be a violation of federal laws.

Misconception #2: Social media reports are an invasion of the candidate’s privacy.

Our goal is to highlight potential workplace safety issues. That includes content pertaining to violence, unlawful activity, demonstrations of intolerance, and sexually explicit material. We only perform searches for pre-employment purposes and do not provide our product to individuals. Therefore, Joe Schmoe cannot call us up and have us run a report on himself, or on anyone else that he knows. Employers must get consent from their job candidates before we will conduct a social media background check for them. That way all applicants are aware of the investigation.

Misconception #3: Social media screening companies hack into people’s accounts.

This is the number one question we receive. We absolutely do not hack into anyone’s profiles or accounts. We only review information that is publically available. If you have followed our tips about how to protect your privacy on Facebook then you should be be able to rest assured that your content is private. Additionally, many of the more popular social media sites such as Instagram and Twitter also have options to make your pages private to anyone who is not your friend or follower.

Misconception #4: HR departments should do all social media screening in house.

This is incredibly risky. One quick look at an applicant’s Instagram account or any other profile can reveal all kinds of personal information, such as their sexual orientation or religion. This can open your company up to discrimination lawsuits if the candidate does not end up getting the job. On the other hand, a third-party screener such as Social Intelligence will protect your company from seeing what is called protected class information.

Misconception #5: Social media checks only search popular sites like Facebook and Twitter.

We can only speak for our product specifically on this one. Our proprietary software searches the entire web for each candidate. We do not have a list of social media sites that we only look for. Therefore, when you conduct one of our searches on your applicant you are getting a full view of your candidate’s online presence.

Misconception #6: A candidate can’t be hired if negative material is found on their accounts.

We never tell companies what to do with the information that we provide. Whether an organization chooses to move forward with the hiring process for any given applicant is entirely up to them. Our goal is simply to help businesses make better informed hiring decisions.

Have any lingering questions or concerns about social media reports? Be sure to check out the FAQ section of our website. Additional information about our product can be found here. Contact us today for a free sample report.

 

Contributing author: Caitlin Rogers

20 ways to fail a social media background check

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Each week Social Intelligence completes hundreds of social media reports for companies who are screening their potential hires or current employees. We specifically look for anything that a candidate has posted that might make them a workplace safety threat. After scanning the internet and verifying that we’ve located the right person, we review their content for any material that is potentially violent, unlawful, sexually explicit, or demonstrates racism or intolerance. Roughly 10% of the reports we complete come back with negative material on them.  

In the past, we looked at six instances where social media posts have led to employee termination. However, those examples were not based on reports that our company conducted. The following content consists of real posts that some of our subjects have made over the past few months. Names and usernames have been redacted to protect the identity of those involved.

*Warning: The following content is of a graphic nature and suitable for mature eyes only.*

Potentially Unlawful Activity

1. blog unlawful activity 1

2. “Who got bud?! I’m tryna wake and bake.”

3. “Just parallel parked my aunts car like a champ while intoxicated!!!! Soooo goooood!!!”

4. blog unlawful activity 2

5. “In high school my parents would always let me go to all the parties but I would have a vigorous amount of chores I needed to do the next day. Teaches you REALLY quick how much you can drink and still function the next day.”

Potentially Violent Behavior

1. “Now we can all legally beat the sh** out of Justin Bieber. :)”

2.  blog potentially violent behavior 1

3. “F****** barbarians. Would someone please put me on a flight with a baseball bat and flamethrower.”

4. “Your ignorance don’t pay my bills. #haveaseat #kickthesh**outofyourmouth #idontmindhittingfirst.”

5. blog potentially violent behavior 2

Racism or Demonstrations of Intolerance

1. “I laughed my a** off when that walking vagina appeared at a Trump rally.”

2. blog racism 1

3. “Nasty a** Staten Island food. Fake a** Jamaicans.”

4. “U have a beautiful, faithful girlfriend…Why throw that away for some HOE?”

5. blog racism 2

Sexually Explicit Material

1. “Life’s a b**** but sometimes she can suck a mean d***.”

2. “Call me old school but I still watch the pamela anderson s*x tape from time to time.”

3. blog sexually explicit 1

4. “Eat her p****, get her thick, push her to do better & support her dreams #2017.”

5. blog sexually explicit 2

Worried that your current employees or applicants are posting this type of content and might fail a social media background check? Contact us today to learn more about how our reports can protect your company from a host of workplace safety issues, as well as discrimination suits.

 

Contributing author: Caitlin Rogers