Social Intel

Social Media Screening for Intelligent Hiring

social media hiring reports

The importance of re-screening current employees’ social media presence

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According to Statista, there are more that 1.71 billion monthly active users on Facebook alone. The number of worldwide social media users is expected to grow to 2.95 billion by 2020. Since such a substantial number of individuals are using social media, it follows that a large percentage of the workforce also has an online presence.  

One of the first steps in protecting your company from the risks of social media is to run pre-employment checks on potential employees. Our Social Media Hiring Reports are designed to locate your candidate’s online presence. Once we have found the right person, we review their content for any material that is violent, illegal, sexually explicit, racist, and/or demonstrates intolerance. We find red flags on roughly 10% of the reports that we conduct. Much of what we find is both graphic and alarming.

The wrong hire can be costly, threaten workplace safety, and can even harm your brand reputation. Screening applicants during the pre-employment process is a great first step towards protecting your company. In addition to pre-employment screening, we also recommend re-screening current employees. A best practice is to re-screen all employees annually to ensure that no red flags slip through the cracks.

Why is it important to re-screen current employees?

“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

Applicants typically put their best face forward during a job interview. They may even clean up their social media accounts and profiles if they know that a potential employer is going to be screening for so-called negative content. Once they have the job, new employees may return to posting lewd jokes. They might even start venting about their job, boss, or coworkers.

As time passes and promotions start to pile up, a company could wind up with a senior executive whose Twitter is filled with violent threats and racial slurs against fellow employees. This type of content would be revealed when re-screening all employees’ social media. That way you can catch red flags early and prevent workplace safety incidents.

Contact us today to find out more about our product and make sure that your employees don’t end up on a list like this in the future.

 

Contributing author: Caitlin Rogers

Questions to ask your HR department before running social media searches

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Last week we considered a few of the questions that we think would be valuable for an organization to ask their background screening company before they start running social media searches. Today we’ll go through some questions that a company should ask their HR department when considering whether it would be valuable to conduct social media searches.

Questions to ask your HR department

  • Can social media provide insight into employee behavior?

A candidate will typically put their best foot forward during a job interview, but a social media background check can reveal the true character of an applicant.

  • Can screening social media lower the risk of a negligent hire?

We understand that protecting your company’s employees is a top priority. Social media background checks can weed out potential hires who might decrease workplace safety or become negligent hires.

Consider the following example: Company A interviewed Jane, thought she was a good fit for the job, and hired her. Two months later she physically assaulted a co-worker, who then sued the company for damages. Company B interviewed Jane, thought she was a good fit for the job, and then hired a third-party screener to run a social media background check on her. The report revealed that Jane posted a series of Tweets stating “I haven’t had to smack a hoe since September. New record?” and “AJ just held me back to stop me from slapping this b**** at the club. Lol. Stay in ur lane.” The information in this report prompted Company B’s decision not to proceed with hiring Jane.

  • Would this save us money?

A bad hire is said to cost a company approximately 30% of the individual’s first year potential earnings. Purchasing this type of screen helps employers avoid those risky hires. In doing so, they spend a small amount of money upfront to minimize the risk of spending thousands down the road to clean up the mess of a negligent hire.

  • Is it better to do this in-house?

It can be costly and time consuming to perform social media searches in-house. The average HR employee makes $17-35 an hour. HR employees are typically not trained on how to search for and identify their applicant’s online presence. They may go down the rabbit hole, so to speak, looking at the wrong person’s information.

In-house searches can also open the door to potential lawsuits. For example, an applicant can claim that they were discriminated against if they don’t get the job and your company viewed their social media and protected class information.

  • Does conducting social media searches solve a problem?

This is the ultimate question that your company needs to consider. Have you had internal investigations? Do you have unruly employees? Is your workplace unstable? Has social media impacted your company? It’s never too late to screen your employees. You can clean up your company today by reaching out to us here.

 

Contributing author: Caitlin Rogers

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

Why employers shouldn’t view candidate’s protected class information

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As social media usage continues to grow, more employers are starting to recognize the value of using social media as a tool to screen job applicants. A candidate’s online presence can reveal important information about their character. For the most part, potential employees put their best foot forward during a job interview. Yet they may have a history of posting violent, sexually explicit, racist, or unlawful material online.

It is great that companies are starting to incorporate social media into their hiring process. However, organizations should deliberately avoid looking at protected class information that pertains to their candidates.

What is a protected class?

‘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. Protected classes are created by both federal and state law.

Federally protected classes include age, color, disability, genetic information, military status, national origin, race, religion, sex, and veteran status. State protected classes widely vary, but common ones are marital status, gender expression/identity, HIV/AIDS, lawful use of lawful products (e.g. alcohol, tobacco), and sexual orientation.

Why hide protected class information?

Looking at a candidate’s protected class information can open your company up to discrimination lawsuits and breach of privacy claims. If a candidate is not offered a job because they were unqualified, but they know that an organization’s HR team looked at their social media, they can claim that they have been discriminated against.

In 2012, a man brought an age discrimination lawsuit against Grange Mutual Casualty Co. The company claimed not to know the applicant’s age, but the judge allowed the case to proceed after the man’s attorney argued that his age could have easily been deduced from his LinkedIn which showed his high school graduation year.

Example: Facebook with protected class information visible

Consider the following example. Company A conducted an in-house search on their candidate Dosi Doe during which they discovered the following Facebook.

There is an extensive amount of protected class information visible on this page. One can conclude that the candidate appears to be pregnant, and her post indicates that she is religious. Additionally, her profile also reveals that she previously served in the military, and that she is from Iowa.

Example: Facebook with protected class information hidden

Company B decided to hire a third-party screener to investigate their candidate right from the start. The following screenshot shows Dosi Doe’s Facebook with the redactions that Social Intelligence would make if we were your third-party screener.

Company B provided Social Intelligence with this information:
Name: Dosi Doe
Education: Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota; St Mary’s Roman Catholic School
Address: New York, NY

As you can see, the only visible information is that which was already provided by the company about the candidate. Furthermore, all protected class information is redacted. That way the applicant’s information remains private, and Company B is further protected from discrimination lawsuits.

Hiding protected class information is just one step in our report process. Call us today to find out more information about our social media hiring reports, or fill out this form for a free sample report.

 

Contributing author: Caitlin Rogers

Social Intelligence participates in Women in Tribal Gaming Symposium

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On February 13th, Social Intelligence attended the Women in Tribal Gaming Symposium held in Cabazon, CA. The event was a joint endeavor between Morongo Tribal Gaming Agency and the Tribal Gaming Protection Network, a professional networking group within tribal gaming. Approximately 200 tribal attendees participated in the symposium designed to “bring awareness to women in the industry…and to learn what we can do to support each other.”

In addition to honoring women in the gaming industry, the symposium also included complimentary headshots and the option of resume review and feedback. Storytelling offered the participants the chance to share their life stories and to talk about the adversity they have overcome. They also shared their experiences as women in tribal gaming, and focused on career advancement.

Social Intelligence was honored to sponsor the Women in Tribal Gaming Symposium. “Empowering women in the workplace is such an important and relevant issue,” said Bianca Lager, Social Intelligence’s General Manager. “Learning about each woman’s path within the tribal gaming industry was incredibly insightful and inspiring.”

Following the successful event, TGPN Chairman, Andrew Hofstetter, said that he looked forward to having it again next year. “Morongo was our gracious host and without them we would not have had a venue. We also would like to recognize the symposium board that coordinated the event: Oscar Schuyler, Joe Osterloh, Frances Alvarez, Les Stanley, Dave Vialpando, Mark Powless, Julie Hakman, Billy David and myself, Andrew Hofstetter. Together as a team we were able to provide a profound symposium.”

Schuyler, Executive Director at Morongo, shared those sentiments. “This was a truly powerful event and we were glad to be part of it.” Schuyler also stated that Morongo offered to host the Women In Tribal Gaming Symposium again in 2018, and to expand the agenda to include two full days.

This isn’t the first time that Social Intelligence has participated in a TGPN event. In December, Lager was asked to speak at the Tribal Gaming Protection Network Background Licensing Symposium. She focused on the various ways that social media can be utilized in the workplace. Lager discussed how social media is a powerful tool that can help users connect across the globe. However, social media can also get people into trouble. Social Intelligence’s background checks can help organizations screen their employees at all levels. From the people who work within casinos all the way up to the top executives, just about everyone has a social media presence these days.

Our social media hiring reports are designed to search the web for negative content about a potential job applicant. We specifically look for potentially illegal activity, potentially violent conduct, sexually explicit material, and demonstrations of racism or intolerance. Our reports are FCRA compliant and follow State and Federal laws. We hide protected class information such as religion to protect applicants’ privacy. This also protects companies from discrimination lawsuits.

Additional information about our product can be found here. Contact us today to receive a free sample report.

 

Contributing author: Caitlin Rogers

Social media hiring reports can improve workplace safety

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Last week we started a series examining the possible implications of a bad hire. We began by exploring some of the financial ramifications. Today we’ll focus on how bad hires can pose a threat to workplace safety, and how conducting social media searches can reduce those threats.

Unfortunately, regardless of whether you have personally experienced this or not, many employees have encountered aggressive, derogatory, threatening, or sexually explicit language at some point in their professional careers. These workplace incidents can lead to a whole host of issues from negative employee morale to decreased employee retention, and even mental anguish. A bad hire can also be a threat to an employee or customer’s physical safety.

Bad hires can threaten your company

Broadly speaking, workplace safety threats can be found across all industries. Sexual harassment lawsuits in particular are extremely prevalent in both the United States and in the European Union. In 2016, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was asked to investigate a whopping 6,758 sexual harassment allegations. That likely represents a small minority of instances since roughly 75% of people who experience sexual harassment don’t report it. Furthermore, studies have found a link between sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Of course other workplace safety threats exist outside of sexual harassment and assault. In 2012, a factory worker was dismissed after he made a throat-cutting gesture at a fellow employee. In another case, an employee was let go after threatening physical violence against a fellow worker.

Red Lobster recently came under fire after a former employee filed a lawsuit against the company. Mary Laurich alleged that a Red Lobster cook repeatedly called her a “bitch.” She complained to the management team about the incidents. The cook told her that “snitches get stitches” after he heard that she had complained. He also reportedly physically assaulted Laurich by shoving her into a shelf, and punched her in the face.

Managers failed to do anything after Laurich made verbal and written complaints.The suit claims that the cook physically harassed another employee as well. Red Lobster may have been negligent in failing to discover the cook’s criminal history before he was hired. The company wouldn’t commit to firing the cook after the punching incident. However, Laurich was fired for unknown reasons.

Social media hiring reports can reduce workplace safety threats

According to a study by Statista, 78% of Americans had a social media profile in 2016. With such a large portion of the workforce using social media, it is becoming increasingly important to make social media screening part of the hiring process. If Red Lobster had ran a social media background check on the employee in the previous case, the report may have shown the following red flags:

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A social media hiring report can reveal important information about job candidates and employees. By screening for workplace safety issues such as unlawful activity, violence, sexually explicit material and racism, you’ll be provided with a real-time assessment of your candidate’s behavior outside of the interview. With this knowledge, companies can make better informed hiring decisions to keep the work environment safe and positive.

Check back next week for the conclusion of this series. The final post will focus on bad hires and the way that they can negatively impact brand reputation. In the meantime, you can find more information about our product here.

 

Contributing author: Caitlin Rogers