As a new company, particularly one established to monitor and screen social media activity of potential candidates for employment, I felt it imperative that Social Media 23 should have a Social Media Code of Conduct for its employees. Therefore, I set out on the journey to create such a Code of Conduct for Social Media 23. This article includes information about: How I went about the process, What I discovered about other organizations and institutions…
Social Media usage for hiring has two distinct categories: recruitment and screening. Each category yields value, but social media screening exposes risk to the hiring organization. This article establishes the role of each category and provides methods to minimize social media screening risk. Recruiting According to SHRM, recruiting via social media is used, or will be used, by a staggering 93% of organizations. That includes 84% of organizations currently using it and 9% planning to…
Background screening commonly includes criminal, education, financial, professional certification, employment status, and other areas of a candidate’s history. Social media is now joining the list of standard background checks. You don’t have to search very long to find many examples of social media history and behavior affecting employees and their employment status. Sometimes, people have been fired from positions based on recently discovered social media posts of their past. Others have lost jobs before they…
Bias occurs in all areas of our lives and is especially prevalent in hiring. With decades of study and action to eliminate it, bias remains an issue that haunts HR and hiring professionals. Vanderbilt University defines unconscious bias as “prejudice or unsupported judgments in favor of or against one thing, person, or group as compared to another, in a way that is usually considered unfair.” Many researchers think unconscious bias occurs automatically, as the name…
Public social media screening may be just enough to check the “screening” box. You need permission-based screening to reduce risk.
Understanding social media risk begins with knowing what is public viewable and what is hidden.
Social media analysis of prospective hires has always been a challenge. Those interested in vetting a candidates’ social media history resorted to hours of manual effort. The visual review of social media posts and pictures can lead to errors and potentially, bias. The team at Higher Education Leadership Search new there had to be a way to automate and improve this process. And that’s the genesis of Social Media 23. Read how the folks at…
Social media history of candidates and employees is a subject that has received heightened attention in the past few years. Lots of questions have been discussed, decided, and decried. Is it reasonable to review a candidate’s social media history? How do you “unsee” something on social media that might influence your hiring decision? Is it legal to ask a candidate to for their social media credentials? Are all candidates and employees held accountable to the…
