We’ve all ‘Googled’ someone to check up on them, but incorporating social media screening into the recruitment process can be an effective way to double-check candidates’ backgrounds. It can also uncover red flags and help assess the cultural fit of candidates. With billions of people using social media, it’s no wonder recruiters are embracing this strategy. Here are the top five benefits of implementing social media screening in your hiring process:
Reduced Risk of Hiring Mistakes
Many recruiters use social media screening to gain a deeper insight into candidates beyond the professional information on their CVs. This helps them to understand their personality and motivations, assess cultural fit, and identify skillsets. Moreover, it helps them make informed hiring decisions and decreases the risk of hiring mistakes. However, it is important to remember that not all social media content is public and private. Hence, it is crucial to be transparent with your candidates about the nature of these checks and to get their consent before running them. Otherwise, you risk violating their privacy and exposing them to unconscious bias and prejudice during recruitment. To avoid this, it is best to outsource these digital footprint checks to an expert. A reputable background check agency can help you get the insights you need while respecting your candidate’s right to privacy and ensuring all reviews are promptly conducted. In addition, these agencies can redact sensitive personal data – such as age, sex, religion, and disability information.
Boosts Employer Brand
Billions of people use social media daily to post and share personal and professional life information. This information is visible to everyone, making it easy for recruiters and hiring managers to learn more about candidates than through an interview or a background check. Social media screening can be a valuable tool in recruiting, but ensuring that this information is collected fairly and legally is also important. This means using a third-party company compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines.
Additionally, ensuring your employer brand is visible on social media can boost recruitment. By sharing behind-the-scenes content, highlighting company culture, and encouraging candidate engagement, companies can attract the best talent while building their employer brand and creating a positive candidate experience. While some traditional recruiting methods may be past their sell-by date, social media is an excellent way to engage with a large talent pool and improve recruitment processes. 57% of job seekers research a company’s culture and values on social media before applying for a position.
Increases Efficiency
Social media screening can help recruiters to verify a candidate’s application. This can be done by comparing their LinkedIn profile with their CV to ensure the information is consistent and accurate. In addition, checking social media can help recruiters to spot any red flags, such as inappropriate photos or content. However, recruiters must remember to be careful not to discriminate against candidates. For example, recruiters can uncover off-limit hiring information such as religious affiliations, family status, sexual orientation, or political views on a candidate’s social media profiles. This can lead to legal problems if the recruiter uses this information in their decision-making process. To avoid this, recruiters need to set clear policies and guidelines on how they will screen applicants for social media content. This will also ensure the procedure is carried out consistently for every candidate. Additionally, recruiters should train their staff on conducting social media screening properly. This will help to reduce any biases or misunderstandings.
Boosts Candidate Engagement
Recruiting isn’t always as simple as posting an open role and waiting for applications to pour in. With the average candidate search taking 42 days to fill a position, recruiters must proactively reach passive candidates before losing them to competitors. This is where social media screening comes in. It allows recruiters to find candidates where they already spend their time online. LinkedIn searches can identify a candidate’s professional profile. Facebook, TikTok (becoming more common as a workplace communication tool), and Instagram can show a glimpse into their personality and lifestyle if they have public accounts. However, it’s important to remember that social media is a private space and inspecting a potential employee’s privacy without their permission could be seen as intrusive. It’s also difficult to know how an employer can make a fair judgment on a candidate’s social media content when it does not reflect their work or professional persona. Generally speaking, people adopt different personas in their personal and professional lives and keeping the two separate is the best approach.
Reduces Costs
Social media screening is a more practical, budget-friendly method of identifying suitable candidates than paying for various background and assessment services. Additionally, using these platforms can help recruiters discover positive attributes of applicants that they wouldn’t have found with other methods. Unfortunately, it’s easy for recruiters to be swayed by a candidate’s online persona and start favoring them over others. After all, most people tend to post only their best moments on social media. This can lead to a false correlation between how candidates spend their free time and their dedication to a new role. This is why recruitment teams must set clear rules and standards, educate their staff on best practices, use specialist tools, emphasize job-related criteria, record the screening process, and treat all applicants fairly. This way, they can avoid the pitfalls of legal and ethical difficulties that may arise. Moreover, they can ensure their social media screenings comply with employment and privacy laws. This will reduce the risks of being fined or losing valuable business opportunities.
