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Employment Background Checks and Social Networking

Increasingly, employers are monitoring social networks as part of their background checking and preemployment screening process.   The review of an employment candidate’s social networks is considered a legitimate background check and is part of  a growing concern for most employers as they search for “red flags” and various indicators as to why the job candidate may not be the right fit for that working environment.

Whether what someone posts on his social network is truly reflective of his behavior pattern is a matter of debate.  Rightful debate, I might add.   There are talented eccentrics out there, or merely playful young employees who may post items of questionable taste.  But that doesn’t necessarily make them incapable of excelling in their skill sets.

Nevertheless, with the economy as bad as it is,  and jobs scarce, employers are looking for that slight difference in acceptable behavior when comparing two or more otherwise qualified job candidates.  According to a recent study, sponsored by Microsoft and posted  on Media Post, Center for Media Research, there is a disparity in the number of job candidates who believe that their social networking posting will have a negative effect on their job opportunities and the recruiters and the HR people who actually consider them.  According to the article, entitled, Your Life Could Be an Open Book, only 7% of the consumer believe their social networking behavior will have a negative effect on them.  Meanwhile, 70% of the HR Manager and Recruiters have rejected candidates because of what they saw online.

Here is some of the article. Well worth reading.

This study explores the attitudes of consumers, HR professionals, and recruiters on the subject of online reputation. Highlights of the study’s findings include:

  • The recruiters and HR professionals surveyed are not only checking online sources to learn about potential candidates, but they also report that their companies have made online screening a formal requirement of the hiring process. Of U.S. recruiters and HR professionals surveyed, 70% say they have rejected candidates based on information they found online.
  • Recruiters and HR professionals surveyed report being very or somewhat concerned about the authenticity of the content they find.
  • In all countries, recruiters and HR professionals say they believe the use of online reputational information will significantly increase over the next five years.
  • Positive online reputations matter. Among U.S. recruiters and HR professionals surveyed, 85% say that positive online reputation influences their hiring decisions at least to some extent. Nearly half say that a strong online reputation influences their decisions to a great extent.

Like I said, I may not agree with all the conclusions here, but there are certainly some valid points.  More so, monitoring social behavior is a growing and even fundamental background check for preemployment screening.  The employment candidate better start taking note of this.  It is one background search that isn’t about to go away.

In any event, I urge everyone to read the article.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.

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