By Jacqueline McClure
Marketing & Communications, Genesis Background Screening Services
It is likely you are already using social media for recruiting your job openings. Although it’s a great resource, not all job seekers use social media. Using a mix of recruiting tools will give you a more diverse group of talented candidates, but when you do use social media postings, you need to follow all the same policies and regulations that you would for any other advertisement used for recruiting.
In addition to recruiting with social media, some companies are now incorporating it into their screening process. Here are some things to consider if your company has decided to include screening social media during your hiring cycle:
- Always be consistent with every applicant.
- Document by printing or taking screenshots of the content you are using for your decisions.
- Only pay attention to your candidate’s public posts – never ask for a password
- Have your HR staff or a qualified 3rd party check social media profiles. They will know what to look for and what is permissible to use in HR decisions.
- Check social media after you’re well into the hiring process, such as after a conditional offer letter has been sent to the candidate.
- Do not use social media pictures as a way to discriminate against age, race, etc.
Although social media has been around for a while, engagement between employers, employees, and job applicants is still fairly new territory. For employers, recruiting and getting insight into who their applicants really are can be quite useful. However, applicants and employees need to be very aware of how they are perceived based on their social media both during job searches and when they are employed. With more than 35% of the workforce made up of Millennials that have grown up with this type of communication, it is important for companies to be aware of the legal issues. For help with how to use social media within your hiring process or create employee policy, you can call Genesis Background Screening Services at 866 944-0041 ext 106, email getstarted@gbsspro.com or visit www.genesisbackgroundscreening.com
