Employers are utilising more skills during their recruitment processes to find that perfect candidate but there are many pitfalls to be aware of.
Almost half of employers (43%), research job candidates online. Of those who do, 58% check their candidate’s Facebook profiles as part of the screening process, yet 57% of them have no official policy regarding social media when it comes to screening candidates. While 33% of recruiters found posts on a candidate’s Facebook profile that made them more likely to hire them (and 23% found posts that directly led them to hiring a candidate), 46% of candidates have been rejected from the hiring process due to provocative or inappropriate photos or information on their Facebook profile.
To stay compliant when screening a candidate on Facebook, it’s important:
- to inform candidates that social media will be used to research information about them that will affect their applications.
- to only examine publically available information about the candidate. Don’t demand an applicant’s passwords for their social media accounts.
- that if you check one applicant’s profile, to check all applicant’s profiles. to focus only on the candidate’s own posts, not on what others have said about him or her.
- to print out relevant social media content upon which you base any hiring decision and record any reason for rejection.
- to give the applicant a chance to respond to any material that negatively impacts the Hiring Manager’s decision.
Using Linda Taylors to assist with recruitment would effectively eliminate these risks and take the stress out of recruiting for employers as you would receive a short list of candidate who have been face to face interviewed, ID and skills checked and a match for the role you are recruiting to.