77% of Companies Use Social Media for Employee Hiring - Essay Sample

Introduction

In the contemporary world, social media sites have proven a vital tool for employers who seek to recruit talented employees. However, they also create problems for employers who may plan to use them to conduct background checks. According to a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management in 2013, 77% of companies utilize social networking sites to hire employees for certain jobs (Segal & Lemay). The study also revealed that only 20% use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to gather information about the candidates. The low proportion of employers willing to collect information about recruits from social media indicates the complexities surrounding this issue. In this view, this paper presents arguments on why the use of social media to carry out background checks for employees is a bad idea. Hence, the paper presents the pros and cons of using social media as a tool for a background check.

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Although social media is an effective way of identifying qualified candidates for a specific task, there are several risks associated with the use of the information provided on the social networking site to vet the candidate and determine whether they qualify or not. According to Kluemper, use of such information particularly to disqualify a candidate exposes the employer to the risk of discrimination allegation, liability, and non-compliance with the established laws (3-16). Currently, there is little or no legal precedent about this topic but it is expected that as the use of social media grows, legislations and interpretation of case law will become clearer. As such, it is important that companies develop strong policies that protect them against discrimination tendencies and define the use of social media information in the recruitment process.

While developing a strategy for the use of social media in screening and background checking, an organization usually faces two types of legal concerns that relate to negligent hiring and discrimination (Bentley 3-8). The complexities are further exacerbated by the fact that failure to look at the candidate's social media could result in hiring someone that is unproductive and dangerous to the workplace. Looking at social media enables the employer to access tons of information including disparaging comments and inappropriate pictures which could prove vital to avoiding a bad recruit. However, the information obtained must be used cautiously or otherwise lead to problems of discrimination and privacy violation. The need to exercise caution is critical to avoid becoming aware of information that is not related to the hiring process. It is highly likely for an employer going through an applicant's social media site to acquire Too Much Information (TMI) (Maurer). Too much information refers to when the employer comes across a photo or a post that reveals unwanted details about the candidate that are legally unacceptable to justify a recruitment decision. Such details include race, nationality, religion, gender, color, age, and disability. In case social media screening is done and the candidate does not land the job, the employer could be sued for discrimination under Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964] and other state laws.

Another limitation is that social media screening does not predict job performance. From a legal and business perspective, there is no reason to use a social media screening process that cannot predict job success or failure. Currently, most of the social media background checks are conducted using ad-hoc approaches which are developed by human resource managers. That makes their application lack authority or backing to justify their utilization (Slovensky & Ross 55-69). In addition, there exists no empirical data to support the efficacy of social media screening. In the absence of data, a recruiter carrying social media screening would not accurately tell which of the several social networking sites and the type of information posted (nudity, alcohol/drug use, language, comments) would be used as a datum or the perfect benchmark (Slovensky & Ross 55-69).

Further, social media background checks are commonly used to eliminate applicants (those with low ratings are never hired) hence it is difficult to ascertain whether the rejected applicant would have performed better or worse than those hired. However, better criteria can be used whereby those hired are assigned a certain percentage or numerical score depending on the social media assessments. The scores are then recorded but should not be used to inform the hiring decision. Six months after recruitment, assessment should be conducted to understand if there is any relationship between the social media score and job performance. However, in the absence of such an approach, it is meaningless to conduct social media screening.

Social media background checks mostly focus on information that relates to "social" aspects or activities done outside the work environment. Apart from LinkedIn, all other social networking sites contain non-work information. Sometimes the screeners eliminate the applicants due to the use of alcohol, weed, or other poker games despite these activities being legal in the establishments they are carried. In instances where the screening individuals have strong political, cultural, or religious convictions, they might screen out candidates for non-work reasons that they do not subscribe to including free speech and partying. Resultantly, a talented candidate is eliminated and a less-qualified applicant is hired.

Majority of the social media background checkers are unqualified and untrained. Many human resource managers who preside over or conduct social media screening have little or incorrect knowledge in the best approach for use and how to avoid the most common problems. Given that the majority of decisions to eliminate a candidate are made in haste, there is a high likelihood of unconscious biases to affect the final verdict (Maurer). However, organizations have the options of hiring screening firms to carry out the background checks. The advantage of using screening firms is that they are compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act and other laws that protect the candidate. Even with the use of screening firms, there is the likelihood of screening the wrong person. Many people on social media today have different usernames that do not correspond with their identity on the resume. In case the correct username on social media is not provided, the assessment might be done on the wrong person. In addition, the screening firms do not have a way of determining the accuracy of the information on the social media profile of the applicant, it becomes difficult to carry out the exercise in a way that is compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) hence exposing the company to risk of litigations (Segal & Lemay). Further, hiring screening firms introduces additional costs to the business. Even with the additional costs, there is no guarantee of the validity of information obtained.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the use of social media to conduct background checks is marred by several operational and legal problems. While social media is a perfect tool for obtaining talented employees, it is not advisable to use the information of the employees on the social sites for screening. It is not possible to limit the amount of information that the screener can see and when such information is sensitive and is used to eliminate the applicant, the candidate could sue on the basis of discrimination. Currently, the legal framework on social media is young but it is expected that it will develop in the future. Also, it is hard to tell whether the information used is related to job performance. Therefore, the use of social media to carry out background checks is an unwise idea.

Works Cited

Bentley, Eric D. "The Pitfalls of Using Social Media Screening for Job Applicants." ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law, vol. 29, no. 1, 2013, pp. 1-13. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43489421.

Kluemper, Donald H. "Social network screening: Pitfalls, possibilities, and parallels in employment selection." Social media in human resources management. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2013. 1-21. doi.org/10.1108/S1877-6361(2013)0000012005

Maurer, Roy. "Screening Candidates? Social Media May Lead to TMI, Discrimination Claims." SHRM, 23 Apr. 2018, www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/screening-social-media-discrimination-claims.aspx.

Seagal, Jonathan, and Joyce Lemay. "POINT/COUNTERPOINT Should Employers Use Social Media to Screen Job Applicants?" SHRM, 11 Apr. 2018, www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/pages/1114-social-media-screening.aspx.

Slovensky, Ross, and William H. Ross. "Should human resource managers use social media to screen job applicants? Managerial and legal issues in the USA." info 14.1 (2012): 55-69. doi.org/10.1108/14636691211196941