While social media checks can reveal important information, they must be conducted by a professional to ensure compliance with EEOC and FCRA laws. It is also important to only pull public information and not to ask for passwords or friend requests.
Recruiters and hiring managers can use social media to check for creativity, leadership, and work ethic. This article will discuss the benefits of using social media background checks to find top talent.
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Saves Time
A social media check can save you time by allowing you to find out about an applicant’s interests and behavior quickly. It can help you to avoid hiring someone who may not be suitable for your business. In addition, it can also help you verify the information on a candidate’s resume and ensure that their skills match what they have been claiming.
This vetting benefits companies looking to hire people with particular skills and experience not easily explained by an employee’s resume or during an interview. It is also a good way to identify any risk factors that could affect staff, customers, or the integrity of your company. For example, sexist or racist behavior can have lasting impacts and damage your company’s reputation, even if the individual was not hired directly by your organization.
A social media screening service will search key platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and TikTok, to surface public content that can reveal deeper insight missed by criminal background checks alone.
Accurate’s social media screening tool searches for offensive language and dangerous behaviors, as well as identifying affiliations with criminal organizations or groups linked to violence and extremism, to assess the level of risk that an individual poses. As with all of our vetting services, social media searches are carried out by the FCRA, and candidates are given clear notice before their profiles are searched.
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Reduces Risk
Social media background checks can save your organization from hiring the wrong person. It also helps you identify hidden skills that you can use to assess their suitability for a position. However, it is important to remember that a social media search should be carried out after you have informed and obtained the candidate’s permission. It should also be done as the last step in your selection process. It should not be used to replace traditional assessments such as skills tests.
A professional social media screening service can reduce the risks associated with such checks using software combining automated processes with human oversight. Such tools locate candidates’ profiles and can even look for deleted accounts. They can also help you identify incriminating information, such as illegal activity and affiliations with criminal organizations or groups linked to violence or extremism.
In addition, they can also check for any endorsement of illegal activities such as drugs, theft, and weapons possession. Such findings can directly impact the safety of employees and the general public and your company’s reputation. It may damage your organization if the media picks up on an incident highlighting your employee’s poor behavior, such as sexist or racist comments. A reputable third-party provider can reduce these risks using a process that carefully adheres to EEOC and Fair Credit Reporting Act guidelines.
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Finds Out Additional Skills
One of the biggest benefits of social media background checks is that they help employers discover additional skills a candidate may have. Many candidates need more time to list their skills on their resume or discuss them during an interview. A social media check can reveal hidden talents like graphic design, writing, etc.
It can also be a good way to assess how well-suited someone is for a particular role. For example, if you’re looking for a social media manager, you can check their social media to see how they communicate with others. You can also find out about their interests and hobbies. For example, if they’re into gardening, this might be a good indication that they’ll be able to relate to the company’s employees.
However, it is important to remember that while social media screening can be useful for finding out more about a candidate, it should not form the basis of any hiring decision. Using it as a substitute for other pre-employment screening processes could lead to unconscious bias and discrimination. Employers must be cautious and ensure they have a well-defined plan of what they’re looking for, how that will manifest in a report, and how it will fit into the screening process.
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Saves Money
For many candidates, social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Tik Tok are private spaces where they share personal information about themselves with family and friends. Looking at these accounts for hiring purposes invades their privacy without their consent.
It can also lead to bias and discrimination that could be costly for a business. For example, if you learn an applicant is married with children, is religious, or that they smoke or drink alcohol, it can cloud your judgment and prevent you from making a fair decision. In addition, some of the online content could be illegal, particularly if it reveals a candidate’s political views or affiliations.
Companies need to outsource their background checks to a third party to avoid making biased decisions that may affect the company. Some use automated software with human oversight to scan and analyze public social media posts and news articles to identify potentially risky content.
Conclusion
This information is then compiled into an easy-to-read report that humans review for critical content. It saves time and costs for the employer while ensuring that the most qualified candidates are hired. It also reduces the cost of turnover, which is a major expense for most employers. According to research, it can cost an organization up to $12,800 to replace a single employee.
