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The Pitfalls Of Using Social Networking To Screen Potential Employees

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Here’s an excellent article on using social networks for employee screening.

Source: IT Business Edge

Lora Bentley spoke with Jacqueline Klosek, senior counsel and privacy law practitioner at Goodwin Procter, about the pitfalls employers want to avoid when using social networking and other Web sites to screen potential employees.

Bentley: I’ve read about the public outcry that resulted from the City of Bozeman, Montana’s decision to ask job applicants for their social networking site user names and passwords. Obviously, there are enough problems associated with that practice that the city discontinued it. Can you explain?

Klosek: It’s just, in my mind, fraught with legal dangers. For example, what you post on your own Web site, the writings and photos and such, you’re really using someone else’s service. And for the most part, if you provide your password to the sites in which you participate, you could be violating their terms of use, which could leave you as the user subject to potential claims, including termination of your account or worse.

Then, as an employer, say you ask someone for their user name and password and then give it to another employee to do the screening, you don’t know exactly what they’re going to do with that information. With the user name and password, they’re basically impersonating the person whose account it is. They can send e-mails that purport to be on that person’s behalf, they can review e-mails that were sent from other people… It could be mundane personal communications, but there could also be trade secrets being exchanged, or a host of other things behind these protected e-mails. It’s just a minefield of dangers, in my view.

Bentley: What if you are using the Internet to screen prospective employees without their user names and passwords? Aren’t there still risks in doing that?

Read the rest of the article here.

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Photo Credit: AdamSelwood

The Hottest, Newest HR Technology for Background Screening – A Revolutionary Ordering Process

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Ordering background screens is faster and more powerful than ever – for new and seasoned users alike.

Simplicity meets flexibility in a revolutionary ordering process.

We put convenience and ease into the ordering process with innovative web technology.

  • Order a complete background check on one page, with simple controls to add, remove and edit search details, all on the same page.
  • Intuitive workflow makes ordering easy
  • Choose from convenient pre-built packages or save your own search groups for easy re-ordering
  • Dynamically add and remove searches throughout the entire ordering process
  • Strong data validation helps ensure accuracy
  • System tracks your search price in real time as you add and change search requests
  • Upload release forms and other documents at order time to greatly speed up processing
  • Order additional searches for an applicant at any time after the fact

Request a Free Online Demo

The Hottest, Newest HR Technology for Background Screening

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Your Background Screening Portal Has Never Looked Better

We’re pleased to announce the release of our newest background screening technology.  It’s the most attractive, most intuitive and most user-friendly interface available in the industry.

Revolutionize the way you approach background screening with our visually stunning client portal

From the first moment you see it, you will be blown away by our easy-to-use and powerful client portal for ordering and managing background checks.

  • Smart, effective layout and design
  • Quickly review common report queues, including the Discrepancy queue for possible hits
  • Quick search feature allows real-time applicant name searching without leaving home page
  • Locate in-progress and completed applicants with ease, using visual guides and status icons
  • Order searches from our list of pre-built packages, or customize your own for convenience
  • Manage your account settings, add and remove users, and access statistics, past invoices and documents all from your secure portal

Request a Free Online Demo

The Other Background Check: What Does Google Have To Say About You?

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Employers have long known the value of background checks in reducing liability and protecting their investment in recruiting and training employees. But now employers augment this process with their own internet search.

Typically employers are looking for red flags, information that calls into question a candidate’s ethics, responsibility, or professionalism. But often employers also look for experience not listed on your resume and to verify your credentials. Managing your online presence requires proactive tracking of existing mentions and creation of new ones that will make you a stronger candidate to a potential employer.

  1. Do your own search. Use Google, Yahoo!, and MSN and search for various iterations of your name: “James Smith,” “Jim Smith,” “James Smith Arizona,” “Jim Smith Tucson,” “Jim Smith ABC Company,” etc.
  2. Evaluate. Visit each link with a mention of you and determine whether the content is positive, neutral or negative in relation to your job search. Bookmark both positive and negative mentions.
  3. Subtract. For all negative mentions, if it’s something you posted, delete it. If it’s thanks to a friend, contact them and ask them to remove it. Anything else, use your best judgment as to whether you might get it to disappear with a polite letter to the website owner, or whether that might make it worse. It takes only seconds to post something online, but can take months to remove it. Even once something no longer exists on the page, it can live on in cached pages, links, and other references.
  4. Add. Start a professional blog, participate in forums and online communities related to your field, volunteer for organizations where you may get some visibility, and create profiles for yourself on LinkedIn, Fast Company, and other online networking sites. All of these have the potential to rank high on search engines, pushing any potential blemishes in your record off of the first page of search results, and showing potential employers even more that you have to offer their organization as a new employee.
  5. Utilize. Once you have a good library of positive references online, think of ways that they could enhance your job search. Submit web links with your references when requested, or refer an interviewer to a link as a follow up to a question you were asked.

Take your online image into your own hands, and you can maximize your advantage and minimize any potential damage.

Photo credit: jonas_therkildsen

This is a guest post by Kristi Daeda.  Kristi is a Success Coach for organizations and individuals, and counsels professionals at all levels on effectiveness and maximizing talent.  She writes about career development, leadership, management, talent and job search at kristidaeda.com.